Dark History - 153: Creators Ruined By Their Creations: Great Ideas, Deadly Consequences

Episode Date: December 11, 2024

Hi friends, happy Wednesday! Lawrence Sperry, the inventor of autopilot had ONE vice, and it's that he was... well, really horny. Allegedly, Lawrence would use autopilot to step away and have sexual relations with women on the plane.  Lawrence was later involved in a plane crash… some say it was because he was using his autopilot to service a lady, others say it had something to do with the weather.  He and his lady friend survived… but they were found completely stripped of their clothes. And the media went wild. Lawrence became kind of a joke and maybe because of that, he kind of gets forgotten for inventing autopilot.  But this made me realize: the very thing Lawrence invented almost killed him. How ironic. And… he’s not the only one. Lawrence is just one of many creators who have had near death experiences with their creations. And some weren’t as lucky as he was.  Welcome to the Dark History of creators RUINED by their creations. I appreciate you for coming by, and tune in next week for more Dark History. Want some cool Bailey Merch? Shop Dark History Merch: https://www.baileysarian.com ________ FOLLOW ME AROUND  Tik Tok: https://bit.ly/3e3jL9v Instagram: http://bit.ly/2nbO4PR Facebook: http://bit.ly/2mdZtK6 Twitter: http://bit.ly/2yT4BLV Pinterest: http://bit.ly/2mVpXnY Youtube: http://bit.ly/1HGw3Og Snapchat: https://bit.ly/3cC0V9d Discord: https://discord.gg/BaileySarian RECOMMEND A STORY HERE: [e-mail]  Business Related Emails: [e-mail] Business Related Mail:  Bailey Sarian  4400 W. Riverside Dr., Ste 110-300  Burbank, CA 91505 ________ For listeners of the show, Dipsea is offering an extended 30 day free trial when you go to https://www.DipseaStories.com/DARKHISTORY.  For a very limited time only our listeners can shop HexClad’s biggest sale of the year for up to 42 percent off with our exclusive link. Just head to https://www.Hexclad.com/DARKHISTORY to unlock their best deals of the year. Stop putting off those doctors appointments and go to https://www.Zocdoc.com/DARKHISTORY to find and instantly book a top-rated doctor today.  Check out https://www.Squarespace.com for a free trial, and when you’re ready to launch, https://www.squarespace.com/DARKHISTORY to save 10 percent off your first purchase of a website or domain.

I heard the most insane story the other day. Listen, there was once this famous pilot named Lawrence Sperry. Lawrence was an interesting guy and was sent to be like a very good pilot, but he did have one vice. He was a very horny young man. So one day he's flying along because he's a pilot. You know, summer day. Lawrence turns around and he sees a very attractive young woman on the plane. They lock eyes, they're flirting. Things are getting a little hot and heavy, but Lawrence, he can't really do anything about it because he's flying the plane. So he thinks to himself,

wouldn't it be nice if this plane could fly itself? wouldn't it be nice if this plane could fly itself? Hmm, you know? And that is how Lawrence invented autopilot. Swear, swear, swear. Now, allegedly Lawrence would use autopilot to step away from flying and have sexual relations with women on the plane. Swear.

And apparently he is the one that actually started the Mile High Club. Swear. Lawrence was later involved in a plane crash. Some say it was because he was using his autopilot to service a lady. Others say it was because something to do with the weather. But either way, the plane crashed.

Well, once the media got word of this, they went wild. And Lawrence became kind of a joke. And maybe because of that, he kind of gets forgotten for inventing autopilot. And honestly, a lot of people don't think about him for inventing the Mile High Club, but he invented those two very fancy things that people love. But this made me realize that the very thing Lawrence invented, you know, it may have killed him. It's very ironic, huh? And he's not the only one. Lawrence is just

one of many creators whose lives have been ruined by their creations. So welcome to the dark history of creators ruined by their creations. Hi friends, I hope you're having a wonderful day today. My name is Bailey Sarian and I'd like to welcome you to my podcast, Dark History. Hi! Look, history doesn't have to be boring. It might be tragic, sometimes it's happy, but either way it's our dark history. Before we get into it, don't forget to like and subscribe because I'm here for you every week posting new content and let me know what you think down in the comment section. but I will shut up and let's get into it. Now some of you might remember over on Murder Mystery Makeup a few years ago I

did an episode about Blucifer the 32 foot tall horse statue with demonic red eyes that lives at the Denver Airport. Do you remember? Flashback memory. Yeah it's an old episode. Well if you remember in 2006 this sculpture, Blucifer, fell onto the creator's name was Louise and it ended up killing him. Well Blucifer actually reminded me of another freak accident that like no one saw coming and like this was a scandal that defined the 2000s. Maybe you can tell by my friends here. Oh my God, there's two of them.

But maybe you remember if you're listening on podcast, you can't see, but Joan is a lion. And we have Paul who's dressed up as Siegfried and Roy. Paul's like, who is that though? They're so cute, oh my God. Christmas card. Thank you. So it was a scandal that defined the 2000s.

I have two words for you, Siegfried and Roy. So when you think of Las Vegas, you probably think like, oh my God, what? Shit show, right? No, I'm just kidding. There's like extravagance, hotels, buffets. There's so many buffets. Dancers, gambling, alcohol, cigarettes,

your singer, your favorite singer doing like a crazy show and you're like, oh my God. And of course, well, there was a bunch of magicians. There aren't like that many magic shows when you think about it today, huh? I don't know, magic for me personally, there was a bunch of magicians. There aren't like that many magic shows when you think about it today, huh? I don't know, magic for me personally, it kind of makes me uncomfortable and I don't know why.

They're just kind of creepy. Like they always make it so sexual. Like disappearing is sexy. I mean, that's a way to turn it, I guess. Like if you ghost someone, just be like, well, I'm a magician. So back in the day before technology, magic shows were all the rage.

People loved them and still do. I know they do because one time, this is a side note, one time I made a comment about Chris Angel because Chris Angel, kind of low key, makes me like, like, ugh, like I wanna rip my skin off and I don't know why, but ugh, but a lot of people think he's so hot and would bang. I don't know., but, eww, oops. A lot of people think he's so hot and would-be. I don't know. You guys are wilds.

It must be the rhinestone like crosses and stuff. Just does it for you. Okay, anyways, but listen, back then, magic shows all the rage. And these shows really defined big cities, especially places like Vegas. At one point, Vegas was actually defined by a couple of world famous magicians,

Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn. Okay, is everybody packed and ready for the holidays? Joan over here is reading her fabulous book. You've been so into that book, it's so cute. What's it called? Forbidden Passions, Joan? Are called? Forbidden Passions, Joan? Are you reading Forbidden Passions, Joan? Books!

The only type of book Joan reads is a romance novel, okay? It's hard to get her to do anything else, any type of other reading around here, huh Joan? Look, I'm about to change your life, Joan, because did you know that there's actually a better way for you to enjoy as much romance as you want. Oh yeah, listen. Dipsy.

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And listen, they've got something for everyone Joan. I know you love a Scottish sailor. They got that on Dipsy. Yeah they do. And they got Rugged Cowboys. Yee-haw. Plus everything in between. And there are a ton of different genres to choose from.

So if you like some kind of historical little lover fantasy or maybe just like a romanticie, they've got it all. So you can like mix it up whenever you want. So if you're getting a little bored, maybe skip on over to like historical and then you can hop and skip right over to a sailor. You know, it's fun.

So much to choose from. Plus on top of that, there are new chapters released every week. So there's always something new to get into. So trust me with a pair of headphones and the voice of some sexy Faye royalty, anywhere you go this holiday season, it's gonna get you there pretty wet, pretty wild. Oh my God, that was so quick Joan,

how quickly you downloaded Dipsy. Probably gonna be busy for quite some time, aren't you? For listeners of the show, Dipsy is offering an extended 30 day free trial when you go to dipsystories.com slash dark history. So that's 30 days of full access for free when you go to dipsy, D-I-P-S-E-A, stories.com slash dark history.

Dipsystories.com slash dark history. So both of these men were originally from Germany and they each had a very like special connection to magic. Siegfried, it was said he had a tough childhood. His father struggled with alcoholism and depression and I guess when Siegfried was only five years old he performed a coin trick for his father like trying to cheer him up. Now according to Siegfried for the first time in his life his father like acknowledged him and he started asking him questions about the coin trick like he was impressed, you know?

So like this became a core memory for Siegfried and like for the rest of his life, it seemed like he was chasing that high or that acceptance, that interest, that reaction, you know? Roy, Roy is going to be hard for me. You Roy, Roy is gonna be hard for me, you know, our words are always hard for me. Roy also, it was said, had a tough childhood. His father didn't seem to care about him at all and I guess Roy just didn't fit in at school and he didn't really do well in school and he just wanted to get away from it all. So at a young age,

Roy runs away from home and becomes a bell boy at sea. I know I was like, what does that mean? Essentially it's a boy who carries guest luggage up to their room on a cruise ship. So there was like one fateful night in 1959 on a German cruise ship. Siegfried and Roy finally meet. Siegfried was working in the first class section of the cruise ship. And Roy was a guest on the ship.

And on certain nights, Siegfried was allowed to perform as his alter ego, Delmer, the magician. Now Siegfried was said to be very handsome and popular among the guests. I guess he had, well, if you look at pictures of him, he has like the signature sharp sculpted jawline, great bone structure, great job. You know, wow.

So he's just hot fire. and people are impressed by this hot cruise ship magician. That is everyone except for one man, Roy. So Siegfried I guess is on stage like doing his act and if you've ever been on stage it's awkward but you look out and sometimes you can see people when they're not paying attention to you and it'll mess with your head. And you're like, why isn't that person paying attention to me? This happened recently because like I had to do a, um, I did like a panel and I kept like seeing the people who were not paying attention. And I was like, dude, what the hello? I'm up like, hello? You know, and it was kind of like, I don't know, it's hard to mess with you.

Damn, you know, shit. Okay, anyways, so Siegfried is on stage and he sees Roy who's just like not impressed and Siegfried is like, dude, this guy's kind of driving me nuts. Like, hello, I'm doing magic. Aren't you impressed? Yeah, I think it may be at the end of the show or something. I'm not sure, but at one point Siegfried actually goes up to Roy and is like, what's up? You didn't like that? Was that not good? You too busy?

What? I guess right away, Roy has some feedback for him. He's like, yeah, it wasn't that great. He essentially tells him like his magic tricks are, they're good, but like the act was boring. And it's like, damn, that hurts, but that's valid. Roy basically tells Siegfried a rabbit is boring, been there, done that, like we don't care.

Then he tells him, look, if you can make a rabbit disappear, could you do the same thing with a cheetah? Which honestly is like quite a jump, but okay. Siegfried is like um yeah I guess okay. But then this is when the story gets weird and I question this origin story but we'll go with it. Because Roy tells Siegfried to follow him to his room. Remember they're on a cruise ship okay. Okay so he follows him to his room. As soon as Siegfried gets to the door Roy stops and like looks at Siegfried and is like, are you ready to meet Chico?

I'm like, okay, hot threesome. I don't know. Like this. Okay. Yeah. You know, he's like, show me Chico. What is a Chico? I want to know. Well then Roy swings open the door to his cruise ship room and inside was a giant 100 pound cheetah named Chico. Yeah again this is where I'm like what? No one has any idea how Chico got on this ship. Why is Chico on this cruise? We don't know. I don't know. I don't know. After Chico entered the picture, I guess this is like the rest is history, really. The captain, I guess, was upset, you know,

that there was a cheetah on the ship. Yeah, I mean, isn't that like kind of like a danger to everybody? I don't know. Times were different, maybe. I don't know. But there wasn't much that they could do. They can't like throw the Chico overboard. Siegfried and Roy end up like coming up with a magic act together that they're going to perform and they're like let's use Chico instead of your dumb little

bunny. Let's like use Chico to impress all these cruise ship people. So they end up putting on like their very first magic show together and it was a hit. Like it ended with a standing ovation and Siegfried knew in that moment that one he just like I don't know met his partner for life and and and this cheetah and this cheetah, and he just knew he had struggle. He just knew. On stage, Siegfried played this uptight blonde perfectionist engineer, while Roy was the wild black-haired animal whisperer. I guess he brought the spark to the show,

and most importantly, he made the show stand out. How? I don't know. Right off the bat, these two worked really well together. I mean, there were like no secrets between them. They just became very, very close. Their manager said, quote, "'They literally communicate on stage with a glance.' After their time on the ship ended,

they took their show on the road, playing in clubs and theaters all across Europe. And their act was full of like classic tricks, like someone getting into a box disappearing and then showing up again. Whoa. So like, yes, their show wasn't much different than the other magic shows out there,

but Chico the Cheetah elevated it to a whole new level. So Siegfried and Roy ended up selling out everywhere they went. All of their shows were sold out. Now Roy was so good with Chico it was like second nature to him. I still don't know why he had them in the first place. Well this is what I heard. Apparently Roy had worked at a zoo and he was like around animals all of his life so he said that he had like training on how to handle these animals, but I still couldn't find out why he had it with him on a cruise ship. I still don't know. Roy, I guess trusted his animals, you know, and he never thought he would have

anything to worry about. But at the end of the day, you know, they're wild animals and and it was gonna lead to a very, very unfortunate event. All right, the holiday party is tomorrow. I've got the decorations done, the entertainment. Paul, check. Paul is handling the entertainment. And then that just leaves the food, right? Who's gonna handle the food? Joan?

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Siegfried and Roy's successful run in Europe caught the attention of an American talent agent. After a show, the agent approaches the pair and offers them a life-changing job in America. He tells them that there's this new hotel opening up called the Tropicana. The Tropicana was hosting this variety show and they wanted Siegfried and Roy to join the act. And the best part? This new hotel was going to be in Las Vegas. Oh yeah, lights, bling, fashion, feathers, fire. Like I don't know, cool.

Well Siegfried and Roy knew this was like a huge opportunity so they were, they agreed. They were like okay, let's, let's do it. And in 1967 they traveled to America for the very first time. Now at this time, it's a big gamble because before this point, most Vegas shows were old school singers or like dance shows. So magic and like tigers, I don't know. America was a little different from Europe. There were almost like no big magic shows,

let alone ones with animals. So no one was sure how audiences would react. In this show, Siegfried and Roy, they're like part of early long lineup. They were the 14th act in this again, big show. So not the stars, but it was like pretty clear from the start that the audience really loved them. They loved their act and they loved Chico.

They love this whole live animal situation. It was wild. So the two keep doing their show and throughout the 1970s they developed their show into something even more and more spectacular. They even come up with their own catchphrase, SAR-MO-TI. It stands for Siegfried and Roy, masters of the impossible. It was kind of like their Abrac Kadabra. They'd be like Saramoti or Marto. I already figured what the catchphrase is. But it becomes very very popular. They even recorded an entire album with music from their show. Honestly I listened to the album the other day and it's kind of... it's a vibe.

Like you want to be in like a bedroom that is like 80s themed with like a dry martini, cigarette, glass stables, lion rugs. It's something, you just gotta listen to it. You gotta listen to it, it's something. Maybe your hair's wrapped up in like a towel cause you just got out of your pool, you know? And you got like some pink lipstick on and like some cute glasses

and you're smoking a cigarette inside while you're vacuuming. It's the vibe it's giving. I liked it. Anywho, by the 1980s the two of them aren't just part of an act. They were now headliners. They moved to a new hotel and they get their very own show called Beyond Belief. Yeah. And by this point, they're really the talk of the town. Like if you go to Vegas and you don't get a ticket to see Siegfried and Roy, you were... What was the point of going?

Honestly, like that's why you went to Vegas, really. I mean, there are big names that saw their show. Sylvester Stallone, Dolly Parton, Robin Williams, Barbara Streisand. I'm having a stroke. What? They all came to see them. Even Michael Jackson was a really big fan. He wrote a song called Mind is the Magic and he let the guys use it. That was like their song for them. Ah, don't talk to me. You've done nothing for me, Joan. Well, you're a lion, so you can't really write me a song.

You two, back there. Make some magic, goddammit. One of you disappear. Okay, great. By 1983, Chico had to retire. Now Chico was just Roy's pet. And so Roy began adopting more tigers and chinas. He even adopted some extremely rare white tigers from India.

I know, I know. We watched Tiger King. We know it's not okay. But this is the story, okay? Then he allegedly started his own tiger farm. Yeah, I'm sorry. You know, he wanted to breed his own white tigers. In their minds, I don't know if it was Siegfried Anroy

or just Roy, but they really wanted people to associate white tigers with their act specifically. Like, you know, they were all about that branding. Many of his white tigers were products of inbreeding because that's pretty much really the only option when breeding in captivity. Not sure what that looks like for the tigers, but you know, not great.

Plus it's so hot in Vegas. Like, my God, those poor tigers. Are they used to warm climates? I don't know, I don't know anything about tigers really. I just know they don't belong on a stage and stuff. Yeah. In 1986, the show moved to a new theater on the strip, The Mirage.

Around this time, the show would have almost 800,000 audience members per year and the seats, they would sell for around $100 each. Do the math? Beep-bop-boop-boop-boop-boop. I don't know. I'm not good at math. But the hotel's profits grew by nearly $40 million each year just because of their show. Icons, legends, wow. They changed the game. We can hate on it all day because you know they played with live animals and whatnot but you know it's I think they kind of like made Vegas interesting. I don't know. I don't know what I'm talking about. Anywho the show kept on growing. Soon around 250 people worked on stage and behind the scenes and there were

even a couple of assistants who helped with the magic tricks. Wow. And I guess there were some professional animal wranglers on staff but they never came on stage because the audience was supposed to believe that Siegfried and Roy had everything under control. Don't freak out. But honestly, that was far from the truth. Paul, Paul, if you try it again, I'm gonna freak out. Paul, I'm shocked because you're all bones and like you just can't sit there cracking them one by one.

You need to see a chiropractor or you're like gonna break your neck off, Paul. I don't know. But you can easily find a new chiropractor on ZocDoc. ZocDoc is a free app and website where you can search and compare high-quality in-network doctors, choose the right one for your needs, and click to instantly book an appointment. And it's not just for chiropractors. We're talking about like in-network appointments with more than 100,000 healthcare providers

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it's usually because like I waited to the last minute and I need an appointment right now. You know what I'm saying? But don't worry, Paul, I already got you an appointment for tomorrow, so look, stop breaking your bones and we'll just go see a professional because we've got ZocDoc, huh? So stop putting off those doctor's appointments and go to

ZocDoc.com slash Dark History to find and instantly book a top rated doctor today. That's ZocDoc, Z-O-C-D-O-C dot com slash Dark History. ZocDoc.com slash dark history. Roy kept collecting animals. I mean, he just couldn't help himself. He loved them. He got more animals.

So he got swans, goats, horses, a python, alpacas, and even a turkey. Yes, a turkey. The turkey's name was Merlin so makes sense. These actually weren't just for the show they were his pets also. Roy's pets. Now apparently, allegedly, I don't know but this drove Siegfried nuts. He only saw the cats and animals as part of the show and he really didn't care about them like um you know off stage. He only cared about the show and like that's fair. As the show got bigger so did Siegfried and Roy's egos. You know

I don't blame them. They were... have you seen the outfits? The hair, the jawline, the animals. I mean it was it was sex. It really was. So their egos are just you know and on top of that I guess they were both like pretty hot-headed and they could set each other off at the drop of a hat. Plus they'd always bring their personal problems into work so things were just always tense. And you know, animals are sensitive around those things. Cover your ears. They're very sensitive. They can read when you're upset. But Roy in particular, it was said that he could be a very angry man.

Like he would shout at anyone instead of talking. One employee said, quote, it was a lot safer for me to be in a small space with a cheetah or a tiger than with Siegfried or Roy." Well, you know, I believe it, honestly. The only way to get to the top is by screaming. Apparently the only time Roy wasn't shouting was when he was talking to the tigers.

Now there was a moment in the show where Roy pretended to be transformed into a tiger. He would get into the cage, you know, and then the cage would go behind a curtain. And then when he pulled the curtain, it'd be a tiger instead of a human. And then Siegfried would come on stage and act surprised to find a tiger. He's like, what? That's crazy. And then the tiger, this was part of the the bit, the tiger would almost bite him but would just miss and the audience would be like

I mean it was a classic no-fail trick. As long as Siegfried moved fast enough it always uh worked out. But there was one night when Siegfried he had moved a little too slow and the tiger actually bit his arm. He was rushed off stage and he went to the doctor and he ended up getting a dozen or dozens of stitches. But luckily doesn't lose his arm. And while the show was clearly starting, it felt like it was starting to get kind of out of control. It was definitely downplayed by Siegfried and Roy. They would even play into accidents. If like an accident did happen on stage,

they would be like, see, what we do is very dangerous and only we can do it. But honestly, I don't blame them for doing that because that's just putting on a good show. You go with it, right? You make it seem like that was planned. Cause if you freak out, then everyone's gonna freak out out so I get why they did that but they really just wanted people to believe that they were masters of the impossible I don't know.

Siegfried and Roy they continued to dominate Vegas all the way into the 2000s. There was even an animated TV show called Father of the Pride about the tigers that were part of their performance. Do you remember this show? I had a vague memory of this and I feel like maybe I'm making it up but I'm pretty sure I remember it. Good for them. It's kind of hard to understand just how famous these two and their tigers were. Icons I'm telling you icons. But then all that changed one night. I love these two. They look so good. You guys look so good. I think you should dress like this all the time. And Paul, whoever your friend is, I don't know,

we just met. What's his name? Robert? Oh, that's cute. You guys are very cute together. Oh, that's cute. You guys are very cute together. Again, I wish I was part of this costume idea. You guys always come up with the cutest costumes and I just get left out. I mean, what could I be? I could be the... I could have been the turkey. I could have been the turkey. If you would just include me, I could be part of the show. Ah! It's not fair. You guys get all the cuteness. Just loving this. Can't get over it. Okay, back to the show, huh? October 3 2003. The house was packed. Everyone's excited to see Sigfreud and Roy show that evening. They get to

a section called the rapport. This part of the show is very low key. It's supposed to be a moment where everyone in the audience gets to relax for a few minutes, reset, and get ready for like their next big trick. Now during this time, Roy brings out a tiger named Manticore. Oh yeah, Manticore. He would tell the audience to give Manticore a big round of applause. And he would tell the audience to give Manticore a big round of applause

and he would tell the audience every single night he was like it's Manticore's very first show everyone applause and the audience is like oh my god it's Manticore's first show and they're like going crazy it wasn't his first show it was his first show every single night, you know? It was like his 2000th show, but who cares? Anything to put on a good show. Manticore. So Roy and the tiger, they go on stage together, they sit down and Roy would just like, I guess talk to the tiger. He'd ask questions and hold the microphone to its mouth. He'd be like,

how's your day Manticore? Wow. And then I guess like Manticore would actually growl or meow into the microphone. And you know, as an audience member, you're like, oh my God, living. How's it going Manticore? Manticore, tell us what's your favorite color? Manticore, Manticore, who is your celebrity crush right now? Then Roy gets up and like the tiger also gets up and puts his paws on Roy's shoulder. You know like they're slow dancing. Yeah and they're like slow dancing kind of swaying around the stage. They're, yeah, they're swaying around, I guess you can say, and then they leave the stage. I'm like, that's the whole bit.

It's supposed to be like sweet, simple, and I guess the audience just really loved this part because it was just like, I don't know, tiger love with its owner. It was a moment for the animal to show their personality, I don't know, tiger love with its owner. It was a moment for the the animal to show their personality I guess. Okay but this night, this night the show gets to the rapport but right from the very first moment behind the scenes something was off. The animal handlers bring Manticore to the stage and they notice like, I don't know, he's acting a bit different. Like Manticore seems moody. They said, I'm sure realistically like he's agitated, right? Doing these performances night after night. He's like, I'm a goddamn tiger for

christ's sakes. But he's moodier this night. And as soon as Manticore is on stage, he's not doing what he's supposed to be doing. You know? He's not like standing or walking where he needs to go. He's not hitting his marks. And on top of that, Roy, he was a little off too. It was just his 59th birthday. And you know, the night before, went out, we don't know what he did but he was a little

tired he was a little off. Now Roy even says out loud into the microphone asking Manticore what's wrong what's wrong you know and the whole auditorium can hear and like everyone is dead silent and it's clear to everyone in the audience that like something isn't right. There's, they just, you know, you're like something's not right here. I don't like this. Then Roy tries to get the tiger into the correct spot but Manticore isn't cooperating. So Roy then tries to like push Manticore's body, you know? Like you do with your cat or your dog when they're like on your bed And they're like right on your feet funny or they're taking up all the bed So then you try and shove them and they're they're playing kind of they're just being dead weight

And you're like, yeah, come on You know like that he's doing that they like to do that Anyway, so he shoves him into the correct spot. He's like, gone. But imagine, like this is a huge ass tiger. It's not like your dog or your cat, okay? Big tiger. Then Manticore suddenly starts to come to life, but like not in a good way. He kind of turns more like into an animal, you could say.

He first turns to Roy, then he looks down at Roy's hand and tries to bite it. But Roy moves his hand quickly so he doesn't get bit. But you know, it's kind of like, oh shit. And then the animal handlers backstage are like looking at each other and wondering like, you know, should we do something? Like this is kind of weird. Should we go out there?

So one of the handlers goes on stage and tries to get you know the cat's attention. It's like look at me. I guess he had like a piece of meat and he's like hey meat! But Manticore does not take his eyes off of Roy for a second like he is locked in. They're like hey over here over here like trying anything. So Roy tries to reassert dominance. And I guess he bops the tiger with the microphone just right on the nose. I'm sure that's going to do it for him, huh? Oh, look, like this. Live reenactment.

Boop! And you think that's going to get a good response? OK. So he looks at tiger right in the eyes and says out loud, he boops, boop, and then says, no. And that was it. That was it. What are you two doing back there?

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Manticore knocks Roy off his feet with his paws, then lunges at his body. Again, live on stage. People are like, oh shit. Manticore was over 400 pounds. So once he's on you, I mean, good luck. Good luck. Manticore goes straight for Roy's neck. Blood starts going everywhere.

Just gushing. It's, oh man. Are you gonna attack me? Oh my God, did I boop your eye off? Oh my God, Joan, I think I booped your eye off. Oh, I booped Joan's eye off. That's okay. Oh no, I didn't.

Okay, sorry, I didn't boop her eye off. Okay. Manticore has Roy by the neck so he can like barely scream, you know? I was like, damn, what a show. Could you imagine being in the audience? You're like, damn, okay, like this is it. Shit, we're gonna watch them die on the stage. Like, what do you do? I don't know. But once he does manage to scream, which he does, the sound gets picked up by the microphone and it's just amplified throughout the stage. The audience is horrified. Everyone is screaming.

It's a lot. It's a lot. Now I don't know if some audience people are getting up and leaving at this point. I would assume people are probably starting to move. But that's just what I'm imagining. I'm not sure. I'm sure. But Manticore then, you know, has Roy by the neck, starts dragging Roy's body off the stage. And I mean, it looked like Roy was like a rag doll. And as soon as the tiger gets off stage,

everyone backstage is now, you know, trying to hit Manticore or bribe him with food, anything, because he would not let Roy go, okay? Someone on the staff was brave enough to grab Manticore's tail, which at least like stopped him from walking away with Roy, but still he would

not let go. Finally someone... it's not funny it's just like they had these animal wranglers or like these professional animal people and the best they could come up with was grabbing a fire extinguisher and spraying it at manticore so he would let go of Roy's body. Yeah. The professionalism of it all, huh? So, okay, let's go. Because of the fire extinguisher. So if an animal's attacking you, grab a fire extinguisher, I guess. And the handlers are able to get Manticore into his cage. I know, I thought like they would have some kind of protocol in place for situations like this,

because again, this is a professional place with a lot of money involved, and it's Vegas, and it's a show, you just think they would like, you know, protocol, but a fire extinguisher. Okay, whatever. Anywho, so Roy rushed to the hospital. The audience, they're still there. Some of them are. They don't even know what to do. Everyone is in shock, okay? They're like, do we get a refund? You know, apparently people just start praying. Others are crying. There are people just wandering through the casino like, I don't know what I just witnessed.

I mean, it would fuck them up, right? At the hospital, the doctors are rushing to save Roy's life. I guess his heart stops three separate times and he's bleeding out everywhere. I mean, Roy can't breathe because of the damage to his neck. And at this point, everyone's assuming Roy isn't gonna make it. There's no way. But miraculously, Roy pulls through. Close call. Now he stayed hospitalized for months and besides his horrific injuries, he was said to have suffered severe brain damage.

Now, I don't know if you remember this. I remember when this was in the news and stuff and it was like a really big deal. It was like, oh my God, is he gonna be okay? I thought he died. He didn't die. I was misinformed. But of course, after this,

like future shows immediately canceled. And then almost every single one of the 250 employees had to find new jobs. And then the giant theater stayed empty for a while. It's like a ghost theater, you know? So the media is reporting on this. And then this part had me a little confused. I was surprised.

I was like, what? Because the government released a 233 page report about the incident. And I was like, why? Well, I guess they were concerned that this attack was a sign that the animals were being mishandled. So they did the whole investigation into it. And the results showed that Siegfried and Roy,

their show had failed to protect the audience because there was no barrier separating the animals from the crowd. I'm kind of laughing because we're… what about the animals? Maybe they shouldn't be there on stage. But okay. It's okay. Everyone, people refused to believe that the tiger would turn on Roy after all of Roy's experience. You know, there were conspiracy theories flying around saying that the attack was due to foul play. Others were saying, oh, that that manticore had been distracted by like an audience member,

probably an audience member that wasn't paying attention. And but in the end, like, none of that was proven to be true. At home Siegfried had to help his lifelong partner learn how to walk, talk, and even eat food again. I mean their lives were completely changed just in an instant. And you know throughout his healing journey and throughout the years Roy always defended Manticore after he attacked him. He said that Manticore actually saved his life. This is according to Roy. Roy said that he had a stroke on stage.

Doctors believed it's after Manticore attacked him. But Roy said it was before Manticore attacked him. And Manticore just wanted to drag him off stage to safety. I can get behind that because again animals are very intuitive and like maybe he was like not doing well and just trying to protect him. I don't know. From that moment on they never really appeared in public. Apparently they gave one last magic performance a few years later for charity. It was like a very small show in comparison to like their Vegas days. But the

two of them just stayed in Vegas with their animals for the rest of their lives. Sadly in 2020 Roy caught COVID and died and then later that year Siegfried discovered too late that he had cancer. I know, in 2021, he died in a matter of months, just like less than a year after Roy. Siegfried and Roy are iconic, but you just can't get around the fact that this horrible accident never would have happened to Roy if he hadn't started training

and breeding tigers to begin with. You know, magic shows still today are pretty popular. I know. I'm really like hesitating to say that because I'm like, really Bailey? Are they? Yeah, I mean when you look it up, Vegas has over like 14 headliners for magic shows alone. No animals. But still, 14 headliners for magic alone no animals but still 14 headliners for magic shows magicians there you go that's the word so i don't think magic's going anywhere but i definitely think using animals i think we're more aware now as time has gone on that you know we shouldn't be doing that shit huh yeah yeah i don't know though if it's a turkey is that okay okay? Because like they're smaller, you know? I can understand the tigers,

cause like, no, no, no, no, don't do that. But like the turkey, like what if the turkey is like in the cage and then like you do the little like, you disappeared, you know? Would you feel bad then? Let me know down below. I'm not saying they should do it. I'm just wondering, like,

is it case by case with animals? When it comes to some people, they care more about the flashiness of their creations than the actual safety of them. I mean, high risk, high reward. It makes sense. So maybe the lesson with today's story is to never let consequences get in the way of a good idea. is to never let consequences get in the way of a good idea. Yeah. Right? Well, I don't know. Today's tricky. Sometimes you have a good idea and then you do it.

And then it turns out that was a bad idea. And welcome to life, baby. Huh? Yeah. You live, you learn, and that's it. That's the takeaway. Or sometimes the thing kills you, like the Blue Supper situation, or the autopilot guy.

I don't know, but at least they try to invent something. And autopilot's pretty sick, you know? I'll give them that one. The Vegas thing, I think we can do without all the animals. I'm still thinking like turkeys are okay. I'm okay with that. I'm gonna have people upset with me like, B, that's really fucked up.

But you know, I'd rather someone put a... I just feel like they use... Magicians still use bunnies, don't they? Isn't that kind of mean? Okay, let me knock it off track here. What I'm saying is, that's life. Q, Frank Sinatra, that's life.

I wish we could. that's life. I wish we could. That's life. You know. Speaking of never letting consequences get in the way of your vision, next episode, guess who we're going to be talking about? You're never going to guess. I know it's like Christmas.

And here we are talking about like a little man who was crazy and killed a lot of people. I'll give you two seconds to guess. That was a good guess. Yeah. Did you hear her? No? Okay. This man's horrific actions were felt all over the world. And even Hitler was inspired by this psychopath.

And no, it's not Stalin. Join us next week when we dive into the dark history of Benito Mussolini. Yeah, it was my idea. Sorry. I know. I was curious. I wanted to know. I've always heard about Mussolini, but I didn't know anything about him.

So I was like, I need to do a story on Mussolini because, you know, what's up? What's up with that guy? And I found out. So tune in next week okay? Great. Well friends, thanks for hanging out with me today. Did you know you can actually join me over on my YouTube where you can watch these episodes on Thursday after the podcast airs and you can see what my co-hosts dress as because they always come in cute costumes. Oh and while you're there you can also catch my murder mystery and makeup. That's right, and you can subscribe because I'm here for you all the time.

I'm here weekly, all the time. Always got something to say. Now let's read a couple of comments that you guys have left me. Yeah, Issy8679 left me a comment saying, you've been my comfort person for so many years now. I fall asleep to your vids, watching them while I'm cleaning, getting ready,

walking around, you're awesome. You see, that is so sweet. Thank you so much. Yeah, everything means a lot because I've said this before and I'll say it again. Like a lot of the times I'm just sitting here in a room and like talking to a camera. I'm like, is anyone like watching or listening? Like is anyone? You know? I don't know. And also um,

I kind of like that people fall asleep to my videos. Like I'm glad that I can bring some kind of comfort, soothingness, I guess. Like safe, safe. I make you feel safe enough to fall asleep. And that means a lot. That's really nice. I fall asleep to Judge Shoojee a lot. I love Judge Shoojee. I'm stuttering. I need to freaking go home.

Anyways, thank you for the love. It really means a lot. I hope you keep hanging out. I appreciate you. Thank you. DN2328, sorry if I said your name wrong. I'm trying to figure it out, really am. I feel so sad Paul had died again,

but to see him at the window made me spit out my wine. Spit my wine out. Yeah, we did. We had a little funeral for Paul, but you know, Paul's like, he's dead, but is he? You know, Paul actually lived a lot of people's fantasies. He showed up to his own funeral to see who was crying and who wasn't.

I don't blame them. You know, good for him. And now there's he found a partner in the afterlife. I'm really happy for him. He's just he's really thriving. Yeah, he's doing great. I'm glad he can make you giggle a little bit. I love that. Princess Jania 9037 left me an episode suggestion. I love you and your work. You should look into doing the dark history of casinos. I feel like that would be very interesting. Princess, you're onto something here.

I've been looking into this and I've been kind of like Googling and gobbling some things. And yeah, I think we're gonna do an episode on Vegas. I think so. Do you think that's okay? That's kind of the same thing, right? Gambling, money, booze, what else? Feather hats, stay on the lookout.

Thank you for the suggestion. I'm always looking for dark history or murder mystery suggestions, so keep them coming coming I love you guys for watching and engaging if you didn't know dark history is an audio boom original and I'm your host Bailey Sarian hope you have a good rest of your day I'll be talking to you soon goodbye One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.