All language subtitles for Hazardous.History.with.Henry.Winkler.S02E07.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

[gentle music]

- Do you remember when model
trains required a fire exit?

[train whistling]

- One moment you have your
beautiful little village,

the next moment the
forest fire comes

and burns it to the ground.

[flame whooshing]

- [Henry] Did you know that
there was a time

when flying a kite
sent you sky high?

[transition thudding]

- What if we made it big
enough to strap a human onto it

and lift them up in the air?

[wind whooshing]

- Imagine dangling with no
seatbelt in gale force winds.

- Or when skyscrapers became
the ultimate climbing gym.

[transition whooshing]

- An error in this case
means a fall, not from feet,

but from stories.

- It's completely insane,

[transition thudding]

but pretty marvelous as well.

- These are the things
we used to do for fun,

for money,
[metal clanging]

or maybe out of boredom
[crowd clamoring]

that we'll never see again.

Were they dangerous?

Certainly.

Deadly?

Occasionally.

But boy, wasn't it exciting?

[suspenseful music]

[graphic whooshing]

[suspenseful music]

Remember back when
free time meant hobbies

where you actually
made things by hand?

When I was growing up, the
space race had folks everywhere

building model rockets
in their backyards,

and for kids left to
their own devices,

it was a real blast.

[rocket whooshing]

- In 1957, the Soviet
Union launches Sputnik.

[suspenseful music]

The first manmade satellite.

- [Newsreader] Today, a new moon
is in the sky

placed in orbit by
a Russian rocket.

- And this really kicks
off the space race

between the Soviet Union
and the United States.

- America is lagging,

and people become afraid
of Russian dominance,

so space becomes a
national obsession.

[gentle music]

- Suddenly kids everywhere want

to make their own rockets,

but do-it-yourself rocket
kits are not yet a thing.

- [Henry] So kids in
the '50s are allowed

to build their own explosive
rockets from scratch

and adults are happy
to show them how.

- Magazines like
"Popular Mechanics"

actually run these
how-to guides.

[suspenseful music]

Kids could look at and go,
"Okay, so I need this much pipe.

This is the diameter, and
this is how to build one."

- [Austin] Kids start scavenging
garages

and local hardware
stores for parts.

Suddenly everyone's basement
is a mini Cape Canaveral.

[model rocket whooshing]

- [Henry] But you
don't get liftoff

without serious combustion,

and kids have no problem
getting their hands

on the explosives they need.

[firecrackers popping]

- [Lance] Kids tear apart
fireworks.

They tear open dad's bullets
from his hunting rifle

and they build black
powder rockets.

- [Rutledge] What's so
wild is that

you might burn
down the garage,

and parents are like, "Oh, cool.

Glad you got a hobby.

This is great."

- [Natalia] The rockets kids are
building

are not these
little, dinky toys.

They are actually,
on a small scale,

rockets with a lot
of force and power.

Some blast off

between 100 and 200
[rocket whooshing]

miles per hour,

and they can go hundreds
of feet into the air.

[model rocket whooshing]

[gentle music]

- [Austin] Today, you can't
fly a drone anywhere

in New York City.

Uh-uh.

But back then,
"Hey, you wanna go

to Brooklyn and
launch some rockets?

Let's go."

[model rocket whooshing]

- But there's a reason
it's called rocket science,

because it's hard, and it
requires some know-how.

If you have the fin angles
off by just a little bit,

instead of having a
rocking go airborne,

you have a missile
coming at you.

- [Lance] This isn't NASA.

This is kids messing
around in the backyard.

It's not exactly safe.

[explosion booming]

- [Rutledge] You can only get
lift off if you can control

how the fuel burns.

- [Hakeem] You need a
controlled combustion

that ejects hot gases
at a high speed,

and that's what's gonna
give you your thrust.

- [Rutledge] But if you use
too much gunpowder,

you are building up too much
fuel for what it can burn.

You're essentially just
building a pipe bomb.

[explosion booming]

- [Henry] And if gunpowder
isn't powerful enough,

kids rip up something
with even more oomph.

- Kids actually create a
thing they call rocket candy,

and it's potassium
nitrate and sugar.

[transition whooshing]

And it burns real, real fast.

[rocket whooshing]

- [Austin] Depending on how you
make it,

rocket candy produces 50%
more power than black powder.

So if you want your rocket
to make it to the moon,

rocket candy's the
only way to go.

[gentle music]

- [Rutledge] There's no
oversight on this.

The fact that a kid could
go to like a pharmacy

and buy potassium nitrate, just,

"Here you go," that's insane.

- [Lance] There's no law against
this.

This is no secret formula.

They're giving you the recipe,

encouraging rocket science.

[dramatic music]

- [Rutledge] It's just total
mayhem.

[explosion booming]

There's all kinds of accidents.

[rocket whooshing]

- [Hakeem] Kids are getting hit
by the rocket fuels

that are 2,000 degrees.

That's hot enough to melt
gold or vaporize human skin.

[model rocket whooshing]

- [Natalia] 30 kids are hurt and
11 are hospitalized in New York

[graphic thudding]

after a rocket explodes.

- [Rutledge] People are losing
fingers, eyes,

they're setting garages on fire.

[explosion booming]

- [Austin] Things get so bad

that the National Fire
Prevention Association

and even the American
Rocket Society

recommends banning the hobby.

[graphic thudding]

- [Natalia] So, by
the early 1960s,

a few enterprising
businessmen make standardized,

mass-produced toy rocket
sets designed for children.

[suspenseful music]

- [Austin] They develop a
rolled paper motor

with a measured
amount of gunpowder.

They also create a launch
pad that allows the rocket

to be ignited from a distance.

[model rocket whooshing]

- [Rutledge] But I gotta say,
there's something cool

about building your own rocket.

These kids really had something.

I mean it's physics, and
when making their own fuel,

it's also chemistry.

[model rocket whooshing]

- You might remember that in
the old days, go fly a kite

meant get lost, go away.

And for some
extreme kite flyers,

that's exactly what happened.

[gentle music]

- Kites are a really
popular hobby,

especially in the early
part of the 20th century.

They are relatively
cheap, relatively simple,

but also pretty magical.

- Kite technology
seems very simple.

You got a piece of cloth

and you spread it out
over a frame, you know,

it lifts it, it catches a
breeze, it goes up in the air.

What a peaceful
day on the beach.

[suspenseful music]

And then somebody was like, "I
got a better idea than that.

What if we made it big enough
to strap a human onto it

and lift them up in the air?"

And I gotta be honest,
I wanna do this.

[gentle music]

- [Bryant] Samuel Perkins is an
inventor from Massachusetts

and he has invented
a man-lifting kite.

[graphic whooshing]

- Perkins' man-lifting
kites are essentially 10

by 15 feet wooden frames
wrapped with canvas,

and he put multiple kites linked
together in a single line.

- Each one adds more

and more lift until
you get enough

that you can lift the body
weight of a human being.

It's pretty wild.

[gentle music]

- Perkins debuts his
system at the 1910

Harvard Boston aero meet in
front of 67,000 spectators.

- According to reporters,
the biggest spectacle

of the day is Perkins,

who's lifted 200 feet off the
ground by five huge kites.

[suspenseful music]

- [Don] This is revolutionary.

In 1910, airplanes are
still experimental,

and many don't stay up for
more than a few minutes,

but Perkins' kites can
remain aloft for a long time.

- [Kavitha] People are very
excited about this.

Newspapers are all over it.

There's a ton of publicity,

and it feels like this
could be the next big thing.

- [Brian] Does it not
sound like

the greatest thing ever?
[graphic whooshing]

I mean, you're flying.

You're flying.

- [Dan] Perkins' kites inspire
others to make their own kites

to get into the action
and get up in the air.

And some kite builders
even start selling rides

on their contraptions
to members of the public

for just a few cents.

And just like that,

the man-lifting kite
craze takes off.

[gentle music]

- [Henry] But it's not nearly

as breezy as flying
a regular kite.

- [Dan] These kites are about
three times the size

of an average person,

and they're so
powerful that you need

a crew of 10 just
to keep them steady.

[suspenseful music]

- [Bryant] On the ground, wind
might be 20, 30 miles an hour,

but if you go 400 feet
above, that can double.

[suspenseful music]

- [Don] That's like highway
speeds, 40 stories in the air.

Gusts can come out of nowhere.

The line twists,

and suddenly that whole
rig can be spinning

like a corkscrew.

You're whipping through the air

with nothing to hold
onto but a rope.

- [Henry] If you've
ever flown a kite

and had it crash into a tree

or nose dive into the ground,

[graphic whooshing]

now picture that with
a human being attached.

[suspenseful music]

- [Kavitha] There's no harness
or seatbelt or really anything.

There's nothing between
you and the ground.

[transition whooshing]

- [Dan] Imagine dangling
in a lawn chair

with no seatbelt in
gale force winds.

[suspenseful music]

- [Kavitha] During one of
Perkins' demonstrations,

a rope snaps and a rider
falls 75 feet to the ground.

- [Dan] Another time,

Perkins himself falls 12 stories

when heavy winds snap
one of his kites.

His remaining kites
acted like parachutes,

so he survives the fall.

But not everyone's so lucky.

- [Jason] Despite fatalities
and countless injuries,

these kites continue
to be popular

for about the next decade.

And kinda like the
kites themselves,

the casualties, they
just keep going up.

- [Kavitha] Eventually enough
accidents happen

that the government
finally steps in.

- [Jason] In 1954, the Civil
Aeronautics Board

restricts lifting any
person via kite power,

effectively grounding
this high-flying hobby

once and for all.

[gentle music]

- [Brian] It's dangerous.

That being said, I
think as a country

we have given up on
kite technology in a way

that's unbecoming of us,

'cause it sounds awesome.

Nothing is gonna convince me

that gliding on a
kite wouldn't be fun.

[gentle music]

- As the saying goes, what
goes up must come down,

and down they came.

- There was a time when
model trains were the hobby

of choice and fun
for the whole family,

but you'd be surprised

how quickly things
could go off the rails.

- [Austin] After World War II,

Americans are working
shorter hours,

and they're fleeing
to the suburbs.

So now they've got
more time, more money,

and more space to pursue new
hobbies like model railroads.

[suspenseful music]
[train whistling]

- [Brian] You're in your
basement with model railroads,

you're playing God, you're
creating the landscape,

you're creating the town,
you're creating the tracks.

- [Austin] This is not a
kid's toy.

This is like an
adult hobbyist realm.

- [Speaker] A miniature
railroad has come to be regarded

as standard equipment
for the young male.

- [Rutledge] This is like a 300
million a year industry

in today's money.

[bright music]

- [Natalia] People got
really fancy

with their electric
train sets,

not just all the scenery,

but you had electric bridges
that went up and down.

The problem is that the
wiring would come loose

and the bridge
would stop working.

- [Dan] But magazines and how to
guides have a great solution.

Where the wires go, you
just fill that little cup

with liquid mercury

and then the wire will
always be touching metal.

But what the magazines
don't tell you

is that you're also gonna
get mercury poisoning.

[suspenseful music]

- [Henry] And what they
also don't tell you

is that a short circuiting
bridge might be the least

of your problems.

- [Lance] Early model train
sets plugged into the wall

in the 110 volt outlet,

just like you're plugging
in major appliances,

your washing machine
or your dishwasher.

- [Austin] But most of these
have fuses or cutoffs.

The trains don't. They're
just drawing unyielding power.

[suspenseful music]

- [Hakeem] These little train
sets may look like toys,

but they pack a lot of power.

There's enough
electricity going through

that thing to stop your heart.

- [Austin] We've all heard that
in real life you can get killed

by touching the third rail,

so it's sort of like this,

but on a smaller scale.

[dramatic music]

- [Henry] And when they add a
transformer box in the 1950s

to make them safer,

it just gives you a
new way to get burned.

- [Lance] The transformer's
gonna take this power

that comes from the
outlet at 110 volts

and it's gonna reduce it
down to about 12 volts,

which is about enough to
run a cell phone today.

- [Bryant] But they weren't
really properly insulated,

and if they got too hot,

these transformer boxes,
they could burn you.

But if they really got too
hot, they'd catch fire.

[gentle music]

- [Don] All across the country,

newspapers run stories
about electric trains

setting homes ablaze.

[graphic whooshing]

- [Lance] One moment you have
your beautiful little village.

The next moment the
forest fire comes

and burns it to the ground.

[gentle playful music]

- [Brian] But I would say that
if any hobby

is worth the dangers,

I think it's model trains.

My first model train set

was my father's that
he had as a kid.

The same things that were
unlocked in my imagination

were unlocked in my father's
imagination when he was a kid.

And I think that that's rare,

and I think that that's
kind of beautiful.

[bright music]

- [Lance] There's still a whole
lot of hobbyists today

who prefer the old-style
trains for their durability

and their nostalgia.

Just remember to rewire the
whole thing before you set it up

or have a fire
extinguisher handy.

[train whistling]

- Remember the CB radio craze?

It wasn't just for truckers,
everybody wanted to try it,

including my best
friend, Gerald,

but what people didn't see
coming was pretty shocking.

[suspenseful music]
[horn honking]

- [Hakeem] CB radios were all
the rage back when I was a kid.

25 million were sold in just

the years between 1974 and 1977.

- [Lance] People are learning CB
talk.

You know, "Hey, good,
buddy, what's your 20."

"I'm on a super slab
with the hammer down on,"

which means that you're on an
interstate highway going fast.

[bright music]

- [Rutledge] You gotta pick your
own CB name,

your handle, if you will, like
Love Muffin or Tiny Dancer.

"Breaker breaker 1-9,

this here's the
bearded lady comeback,"

that's what they called me.

[gentle music]

- My poor father was forced
to purchase a CB radio

for the car by me

because of the movie
"Smokey and the Bandit."

- We ain't gonna make it, son.

- We've come this far, aint we?

[wood clacking]

[dramatic music]

- [Kavitha] Long before chat
rooms and social media,

this was kind of the
nascent version of that.

This was a way to kind of jump
on with your family members

and friends and start chatting,

and sometimes you would jump on

and not even know who
was on the other end.

- [Austin] CB radio's
become so popular,

people aren't just using them
in their cars and trucks.

They're turning their
attics, their basements,

their homes into recreational
CB radio stations.

- [Hakeem] During this boom,
people start buying

these monster antennas so
they can get more range.

- [Martin] Typical CB
radio is giving you

maybe five miles of range.

The longer the antenna,
the better the range

and the clearer the signal.

- [Hakeem] When it comes to CB
antennas, size does matter.

These antennas can be
15 or 20 feet tall,

and they're attaching
them to their roofs.

[dramatic music]

- [Austin] Now you've
got your dad,

a hobbyist, not a professional,

getting up on a 20-foot roof

to erect a 20-foot
aerial with his buddies.

This is a recipe for disaster.

- [Lance] Once you get it
up there, you have

to make it stand upright
like the mast of a ship,

and you have to attach
wires to hold it up.

And remember that these
are roughly three times

the height of an average man.

[dramatic music]

- [Henry] Safely
installing your CB antenna

is a high wire act in
more ways than one.

- [Austin] This is a time when

most power lines are
above ground

and regulations stipulate
that they only have

to be 12 feet from your house.

- [Lance] Even if that antenna
only lightly brushes

a power line, it's gonna
conduct all of that power,

up to 14,000 bolts
of electric energy

straight into your body.

[electricity crackling]

It's like a human bug zapper.

[electricity crackling]

= [Austin] To put it in
perspective,

old-fashioned electric chairs
used 1,000 to 2,000 volts,

so this is enough electricity
to kill you seven times over.

[gentle music]

- [Lance] So people are losing
control of these antennas

and they are falling and
crashing into power lines,

and we're not talking
just a few people.

[graphic thudding]

- [Hakeem] In 1976 alone,
there are 92 deaths

and 156 injuries reported

due to electrocution
from the CB antennas.

[bright music]

- [Henry] But the hobby
continues to grow.

- [Austin] By the late 1970s,

there are 40 channels
across CB Radio,

but it's impossible to
monitor how many people

are on and what
they're talking about.

- [Henry] And the CB
airwaves could provide

their own kind of shock.

[gentle music]

- [Lance] These were public
airwaves,

and people, especially kids,

would be on the CB
saying all sorts

of outrageous things just
to get a rise out of people.

- [Brian] It was wild on those
CBs back in the day.

You could say whatever you want

and then just switch
to the next channel

and then start
harassing those people.

Harassing.

Start talking to those people.

[gentle music]

- [Austin] By the early '80s,
people have had enough

of the CB radio fad

and eventually
will start yelling

at people on the internet.

- [Lance] But I have to say, CB
radios have something

over the social media of today.

There's no record of anything
I said over a CB radio.

You can't say that about
social media today.

[gentle music]

- Once cell phones
came along, it was over

and out for CB radios.

- Remember butterfly
collecting? I do.

We all ran around
with nets chasing one

of nature's most
beautiful creatures.

Well, it turns out
the butterflies

weren't the only
ones in jeopardy.

[bright music]

- [Natalia] In 1951, Alexander
B. Klots releases this book,

"A Field Guide to
the Butterflies,"

which becomes the Bible
for butterfly collectors

around the country.

- [Austin] America is suddenly
crazy for butterflies.

[gentle music]

Clubs spring up,

schools send kids out
into fields with nets,

seeing what butterflies
they come up with.

It's a huge craze,
and it's everywhere.

- [Natalia] The butterflies are
beautiful,

but if you really
wanna collect them...

[graphics clicking]

you have to kill them.

[bright music]

- [Austin] Butterflies are very
delicate.

Their wings are paper thin,
so killing a butterfly

by force will wreck
your specimen.

- Killing something without
profound overt physical damage

has long meant the use of one
thing in particular, poison,

with cyanide being at
the top of that list.

[dramatic music]

Cyanide is what they famously
put in the Flavor Aid punch

at Jonestown to kill everybody.

[bright music]

- [Lance] Cyanide for as deadly
as it is, was crazy easy to get.

You can order it mail
order, you can get it out

of a science catalog.

- [Henry] And kids
can take it right out

of their own chemistry sets.

- [Natalia] Kitchen tables turn
into these little science labs,

and kids set them up with their
wax paper, with their pins,

and of course with
their killing jar.

[suspenseful music]

- [Lance] Everybody that's
collecting butterflies

has their killing jar,

and you just take a
standard glass jar,

you dump in a few
cyanide pellets,

you screw the lid on top,

and so you have a perfect
specimen every time.

No big deal.

[dramatic music]

- [Austin] It's not like
people don't know

that this stuff is dangerous.

It's been proven for decades.

In 1923, a collector,
Martin A. Meyer,

was found dead next
to his killing jar.

People know this is toxic stuff,

but they're still
using this chemical.

- [Adam] Now this breaks my
brain a little bit

because at some point
hobbyists say, "Wait, wait,

wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

We can't give cyanide
poison to children.

[bright music]

We need to find a
safer alternative.

What chemical should
we give children

to use for their hobby?"

- Eventually they ended up
substituting chloroform.

[gentle music]

Just so you know
what chloroform is,

it's that thing you see
a lot in like spy movies

where they put it on
someone, they breathe it in,

and they immediately
like collapse.

That's chloroform.

And in the 1950s,
it's just kind of like

readily available to you.

- [Natalia] The movies make
chloroform look like melatonin,

but it is not that.

[eerie music]

- [Adam] In real life,

chloroform creates
respiratory failure,

cardiac arrest, kidney
damage, liver damage,

and, oh, what's that called?
[fingers snapping]

Death.

- [Natalia] In 1960,

the Federal Hazardous
Substances Labeling Act

draws a line.

Anything with a serious toxin
in it has to carry a label

that says danger, poison,

and its prohibited from
being sold to children.

[gentle music]

- [Austin] By the 1960s,
schools and clubs

moved to new ways of
asphyxiating your butterflies,

ethyl acetate jars,

short freezing, carbon dioxide.

All of these new methods
are way safer for the kids.

For the butterflies,
though, not so much.

- Did you know.

There was once a
time when taxidermy

was a very popular hobby.

Now it wasn't great for
the animals of course,

and it turns out it wasn't so
great for the people either.

[bright music]

- [Kavitha] In the 19th century,

taxidermy becomes a huge
hobby and all the rage

among the wealthy,

who preserve the trophies
from their game hunts.

[gentle music]

- [Rutledge] People can actually
preserve these animals

that they've shot or captured

and really kind of
show off their wealth.

Because taxidermy is
popular with people

that are really affluent,

the trickle down
comes to normal folks

who also want to feel
a little bit fancy,

so they start doing
it themselves,

and it really takes off
in that arena as well.

[gentle music]

- [Bryant] You can learn
taxidermy at a museum,

at a club, and even at the YMCA.

- [Rutledge] In 1911, the Boy
Scouts actually

made a badge for taxidermy,

and even 4H starts doing
taxidermy in their courses.

- [Lance] There's specialty
magazines

that are all about taxidermy.

They will give you instructions

and you have the ability
to get all the materials

you need by mail order.

- [Rutledge] Whoa, artificial
animal skulls for rugs.

Those are bear heads.

You can order a bear head to
make your own bear skin rug.

This is great.

[gentle music]

- [Natalia] People are stuffing
everything.

Yes, hunters are
mounting deer heads,

but people are
preserving roadkill.

I mean, even a bird
that hits a window

is a subject for taxidermy.

Everything is fair
game, including pets.

[gentle music]

- [Henry] But the process
involved in this booming hobby

gets even hairier
than you might expect.

- [Kavitha] After skinning
the animal,

you rub soap over the
insides

and the hide so it
kills the insects

and actually prevents decay.

- [Lance] It's wonderful because
it stays on the pelt.

The problem is its magical
ingredient is arsenic.

[dramatic music]

- [Austin] Because it has no
taste and dissolves so easily,

arsenic is used as a
poison for centuries.

So many noblemen die
from ingesting arsenic

that it's called
the king of poisons

and the poison of kings.

- [Negin] At the time, they knew
that arsenic was poisonous

if you ingested it,

but nobody thought
about the consequences

of handling arsenic
or breathing it in.

And, you know, these
amateur taxidermists

were just slathering it
on with their bare hands.

[suspenseful music]

- [Kavitha] Pretty soon
people who do a lot

of taxidermy start
suffering from symptoms

like stomach
problems, skin cancer,

and their fingernails
start falling off.

There're even deaths attributed

to arsenic poisoning from
just handling the soap.

- And that's not
the only problem.

The soap is used to
preserve the animal's skin,

but if you wanna
preserve the fur,

you have to add
another ingredient.

Mercury.

[pensive music]

- [Negin] Today we know that
handling mercury

and arsenic is
really bad for you.

In fact, it's so bad

that you shouldn't even
handle vintage taxidermy.

- [Lance] Museums today bag all
these taxidermy specimens

that test positive for all
these dangerous chemicals,

and they put a label
on them that says,

dangerous for human contact.

[gentle music]

- [Rutledge] Eventually, better,
safer methods

are used for taxidermy,

but up until the 1980s,
this is what people use.

They just thought it was fine.

- [Jason] In the end, it's
not the deadly arsenic

or the mind-altering mercury

that brings an end to taxidermy.

It's just a change in taste.

- [Natalia] These big stuffed
animals

just fall out of fashion,

and so taxidermy starts to
lose its luster as a hobby.

[bright music]

- The next time you see a
stuffed fox at a flea market

and you think, "Wow,

that would look great
in my living room."

Think twice.

- Kids have always loved
playing with toy soldiers,

but did you know
that there was a time

when they made them at home?

It was a hot hobby for a while.

A little too hot.

[gentle music]

- [Austin] In the early 1900s,

collecting toy soldiers
is a huge hobby.

Companies are
pumping out as many

as 11 million figures per year.

- In 1931, AC Gilbert is a
toy manufacturer in New York,

and he looks at
this and he thinks,

"You know what would
be an even better hobby

than collecting toy soldiers,
[lips smacking] making them."

[gentle music]

- [Rutledge] So he develops the
AC Gilbert casting kit.

Cast your own metal toys.

You're gonna need an open
flame to melt this metal.

This is wild.

[gentle music]

- [Austin] You take your metal,
you put it in the ladle

and melt it over whatever
flame you've got,

then pour it into the mold.

Press it tight,
wait till it cools.

It's absolutely insane.

[bright music]

- [Negin] The mold works a lot
like a waffle iron,

but instead of pouring
batter in there,

you're pouring in molten metal,

which you have to heat

to 600 degrees for it
to actually liquefy.

- [Don] This isn't happening in
foundries with safety goggles

and the leather aprons.

This is happening in kitchens
with Mom's pot holders

as the protective gear.

- [Negin] If it spills on you,

you're getting third
and fourth degree burns

with nerve damage.

[suspenseful music]

- [Henry] Sure, kids
might get a burn or two,

but smelting your
own collectibles

does have its advantages.

- [Kavitha] If you mess up, you
can melt it down and redo it.

- [Austin] Bad guys get melted
down into good guys.

Run out of infantry,
melt down some cavalry.

It's constantly renewable,
and it's awesome.

[gentle music]

- [Rutledge] Today, if you heat
up metal on your parents' stove,

most moms would be like,

"If you get anywhere
near this stove,

I will kill you
in this kitchen."

- [Henry] But in the
1950s, anything goes,

and there is another surprise
hidden in that hobby kit.

- The metal these kids
are melting, it's lead.

[pensive music]

- [Negin] Lead was used
because it melted

at a lower temperature
than steel or iron,

so it was kind of perfect

for casting these
little soldiers.

[dramatic music]

- [Jason] But lead is
extremely toxic.

There is no safe level
of lead exposure.

It's especially dangerous
to inhale its fumes,

which are created
when you melt it.

[pensive music]

- [Negin] When the kids are
done, the dust that settles

around the kitchen,
that's also poisonous.

- [Jason] Kids are handling
these things,

they're storing them
in their pockets,

they're even putting
them in their mouths,

and all the while they
don't realize this metal

is slowly building up
inside their bodies.

[dramatic music]

- [Henry] Despite the dangers,

the United States doesn't
start banning lead

until the 1970s.

- [Jason] So parents finally
steer their kids away

from these metal casting kits.

The old lead army
men are now replaced

by the green plastic ones we
know and still love today.

- [Rutledge] You know what? You
keep your plastic toys.

Give me your
dangerous casting kit.

Sure, you could burn
your parents' house down

and it's not healthy for
you at all, but it is cool.

- In the old days,
creativity didn't come

in a box with instructions.

Now, we didn't need much
to keep ourselves busy.

A blank page, a lump of
clay, a block of wood.

Fun was hands-on, even if
it meant an occasional trip

to the emergency room.

[bright music]

- [Kavitha] In the 1950s, toy
store aisles

are brimming with hobby kits,

model airplane kits,
and paint by numbers,

and wood burning,

which is also known as
pyrography or writing with fire.

[bright music]

- [Austin] Pyrography dates back
into ancient times.

There is evidence of
people using fire to write

on pieces of wood,

but now it's used
via electricity,

and it's marketed towards kids.

[bright music]

- [Rutledge] In the 1950s, wood
burning kids are pretty basic.

It's got your pen,
which heats up,

and you can write with that

on the wood plank
that it comes with,

and then it's got
some designs included

that you can use to
kind of get started.

[transition whooshing]

- [Austin] This is an extremely
popular hobby in the 1950s.

The Boy Scouts even run articles
on all the things you can

make with your wood burning kit,

from camp signs to
coasters to name badges.

- [Rutledge] You feel like
you're a tattoo artist

for a piece of wood.

If you're an eight-year-old boy

and someone hands you this
pen that gets really hot

and then it'll burn wood.

I mean, sign me up, I'm in.

[gentle music]

- This is clearly marketed
for kids, not for adults,

and it was normal for
parents to buy these

for young children, but
it wouldn't happen today.

- [Henry] Today there's a
limit to how hot

items sold to children can get.

But in the 1950s, nothing is too
hot for a kid to handle.

- [Austin] The heating element
of these pens is a nichrome wire

through which the
current is run,

and it hits 900 degrees.

[pensive music]

That's like pizza oven hot.

- [Rutledge] It's funny because
parents weren't really thinking

about what was
actually happening.

They were just thinking like,
"Oh, cool, it's a project.

It's safer than building
a rocket in the garage.

This is great."

But it was inherently
dangerous what they were doing.

[suspenseful music]

- [Kavitha] This pen can
obviously burn

through wood in seconds,
which is helpful,

but that also means that it
can burn through your skin,

and there are no safety
measures whatsoever.

There's no screen, there's
no temperature control,

there's not even
an on/off switch.

[suspenseful music]

- [Austin] A heating element
of that temperature

will ignite a piece of
paper faster than a match.

It will scorch, sear,

and ignite a curtain
[flame whooshing]

before you can smell the smoke.

[fire crackling]

- [Negin] Fire departments
start getting calls

of like cinched tables

and melting cords
[electricity buzzing]

and curtains on fire,
[fire crackling]

but wood-burning kits aren't
pulled from the market.

[gentle music]

- [Rutledge] But pretty soon,
insurers start pushing

for more safety in
kids' toys like this,

especially things
that are electric

and have heat as a
component to them.

And shortly after that,

manufacturers start adding
things like on/off switches

and even heat controls.

[gentle music]

- [Kavitha] These days, the kits
come with safety controls

and wood-burning
is still a hobby,

but it is decidedly for adults.

- You know, I had a wood-burning
kit when I was a kid,

and after I burnt my
fingers several times,

I left it on the shelf.

Probably for the best.

- World War II sparked a
model plane craze in America.

Bedrooms became mini
aircraft hangers

filled with all the parts,
paint, and glue they needed.

Fun was in the air, but
so was something else.

[dramatic music]

- [Kavitha] After World War II,
plastics

along with injection molding

makes model kits
sturdier, more affordable,

easier to assemble, and
more realistic than ever.

- [Adam] There was so much
detail.

You see the rivets on
each plate of the wing.

You see the bullets
in the cannon

and the attention to detail

sort of sparked
your imagination.

- [Don] As a kid, you would
do anything you could,

mowing lawns,

washing cars to get
that little bit of money

to go down to Bob's Hobby Shop,

and it could take a
whole Saturday to build

one of these planes,
and it was worth it.

[gentle music]

- [Adam] A survey of Boy Scouts
asks,

what do you like to do for fun?

And 99% of them
say model building.

99% of them.

- [Laurie] Parents love this
because the kids are building.

It's educational.

So you think, "What
could possibly go wrong?"

- [Henry] These new
plastic modeling kits

requires something new

to hold them together.

[gentle music]

- [Adam] Plastic has a
different type

of bonding surface than
things like paper or wood.

So you can't really use
that white Elmer's glue.

You have to have something
called modeling glue.

- [Kavitha] This glue contains a
substance called toluene,

which is a
petroleum-based solvent

that actually creates a
tiny chemical reaction.

So the plastic melts
and can fuse together.

- And so after a time, if
you're really one of these kids,

you are in a bedroom
full of models.

They're hanging
from your ceiling,

they're up on your bookshelves,
they're everywhere,

they're little friends
of yours, you know?

You've spent so much time

with these models understanding
how they were built

that you were organically
attached to them.

[gentle music]

- [Henry] But something
doesn't smell right.

- Kids are spending
hours in their rooms

building these cool model kits,

and these glue fumes
they're building up,

and these kids
discover the fumes.

They have a side effect.

- Kids are just straight
up getting high.

[dramatic music]

They're getting
lightheaded, foggy,

dizzy, all from this glue.

- [Don] In middle school I
remember

a little glue in the baggy

and then it gets passed
around and everybody smells,

and I would take it and
this is when I learned

to just say no.

[dramatic music]

- [Jason] Eventually the
model-making

becomes secondary for some kids,

or they completely skip it

and just buy the
glue to sniff it.

[pensive music]

- [Natalia] At first, there's a
buzz,

but that quickly turns into
hallucinations, mood changes,

and brain and organ damage.

It's no joke. And this
stuff is so easy to get.

- You can pretty much
walk into any store,

and at 15 cents, you know,

a kid can get many
tubes of this glue

for the cost of a candy bar.

- [Henry] And most parents
are none the wiser.

- [Adam] That is until 1959.

[gentle music]

When an article in the
"Denver Post" talks about

how kids are getting high
from sniffing modeling glue.

- At first,
authorities just think

these are isolated incidents,

but stories are coming
in of kids getting high

and sniffing glue from
all over the country.

- [Adam] In the fall of 1962,

police in Washington DC
handled roughly 300 incidents

of kids sniffing modeling glue

to get high in just two months.

[bright music]

- [Henry] By the mid
1960s, every kid in school

knows what to do if
they want a buzz.

[dramatic music]

So glue becomes public
enemy number one.

- Schools start
holding assemblies

to like teach kids about the
dangers of sniffing glue.

- [Don] Principals tell parents

to search their kids'
rooms for tubes of glue.

States restrict the
sale of glue to minors.

There's even public
service announcements

about the dangers
of sniffing glue.

- [Speaker] Well,
here's a deadly poison

that some young people
play with for kicks,

the glue sniffers.

[gentle music]

- [Brian] People like that are

the ones that ruin model
building for everybody else.

Like suddenly, if you want
to build the Enterprise,

you're a glue huffer.

It really sullied the reputation

of the model-building community.

- [Laurie] Our children were
building these amazing things,

but they were
definitely doing it

while they were a
little or a lot high.

[upbeat music]

- [Henry] The modeling glue is
allowed to stay on the market

for a few more
decades with a change

that doesn't protect
you from the toxins

as much as it punishes you
for trying to sniff 'em.

- [Don] Manufacturers use
these bitter additives.

They're so strong
that if you sniff it,

it will make your eyes water

and send you into a
coughing and sneezing fit.

They essentially make the
experience of sniffing glue

so awful that the high just
isn't really worth it anymore.

[gentle music]

- [Natalia] By the 1990s,
many manufacturers

switch completely from
toluene into epoxy glues.

This makes the
activity much safer.

- [Jason] But it turns out
there's an innocent victim here.

It's good, old-fashioned
school glue.

Parents and teachers
have been warning us

about its dangers for decades.

But as it turns out, you can't
get high sniffing Elmer's.

[bright music]

- Once sniffing glue
stopped being a thing,

I guess kids just went
back to eating paste.

- Lots of people enjoy a
nice hike up a mountain

or a little rock climbing,

but there was a time when
thrill seekers took climbing

where it was never meant to go,

armed with nothing but nerves
of steel and a good grip.

[bright music]

- [Natalia] Most people look
at skyscrapers

and see an office building,

but for a certain kind of
daredevil, they're a playground.

- [Hakeem] People have been
climbing buildings

since the early 1900s.

It's a hobby known
as buildering,

though today we call
it urban climbing.

- [Henry] And the
bigger the building,

the bigger the payoff.

[dramatic music]

- [Jason] In the 1970s, there
is a skyscraper boom,

the World Trade Center,
the John Hancock building,

and the Sears Tower in Chicago.

These things are
going up everywhere.

- [Hakeem] In 1977, the World
Trade Center's South Tower

is the third tallest
building in the world

at 110 stories tall.

A climbing hobbyist,
George Willig,

decides that's what
I'm gonna climb.

[gentle music]

- [Adam] So Willig does a
reconnaissance mission,

and he notices
three-inch,

C-shaped
stainless steel channels

that run along the
building's corners.

And that's his eureka moment.

- They're meant to be
tracks for window washers,

but for him, they're
the path to the top.

- [Jason] He goes into heavy DIY
mode,

and he develops these clamps

that can hook into the tracks
on the skyscraper itself.

Then he can sort
of pop them off,

slide up and then
lock them in again.

But there are no safety lines.

In fact, there was no
safety equipment whatsoever.

So it's completely insane,
but pretty marvelous as well.

- [Natalia] It looks good, but
he can't test it.

It's totally illegal
to climb a building.

So the test run is
gonna be the day

that he actually does it.

[suspenseful music]

- [Jason] So in the morning of
May 26th, 1977, he sneaks

through a construction fence

and starts climbing
the South Tower

of the World Trade Center.

[suspenseful music]
[siren howling]

By 6:30 AM, he's already
gathering a crowd.

- When Willig reaches
the 55th floor,

police officers on a washing rig

try to get him to
stop, but he won't.

- [Martin] I watched it on
Channel 7 News, and I was like,

"I wonder if that
guy's gonna make it."

- [Natalia] Just falling
off the roof of your house

has a one in five chance of
being fatal.

[suspenseful music]

Anything over 60 feet would
take a miracle to survive.

And he's hanging off
the side of a building

that's over 22 times
higher than that.

- [Hakeem] Keep in mind, an
error in this case means a fall

not from feet, but from stories.

- [Jason] By the time he gets
close to the roof,

his feet are blistered,
his hands are raw,

and he's tempting
fate with every move.

- [Adam] At 10:05 AM, after
nearly three hours

of hauling himself upward,

he finally reaches the top.

[crowd cheering]
[crowd applauding]

Then they throw the book at him.

[gentle music]

Reckless endangerment,

disorderly conduct,
criminal trespass.

They even slap him with a
quarter-million-dollar fine.

- [Hakeem] But everybody thought
it was the coolest

thing that ever happened.

So they dropped the
charges against him,

and his fine was
reduced to $1.10.

One penny for every
floor he climbed.

- [Reporter] George, when
did you first get the idea?

- [Henry] Other climbers
aren't so fortunate.

[transition whooshing]

When Dan Goodwin tackles the
John Hancock Center in 1981,

he gets a very chilly reception

from Chicago's fire department.

- [Martin] He reaches the
37th floor

and they spray water
from hoses at him

to deter him from going higher.

- He's 300 feet up on
the side of a building

and you're gonna start
pummeling him with water?

I mean, this is probably
not gonna go very well.

[dramatic music]

- [Adam] He almost comes off the
building and falls to his death.

But somehow this wild man
manages to keep going.

[bright music]

And seven hours later
he reaches the top.

- [Natalia] I gotta have
admiration for people

who see a skyscraper and think,
"I wanna climb that."

There's like something
pure and optimistic

and courageous about
like man over building.

- [Jason] The crazy thing is
you think about someone

doing a stunt like this today,

they're gonna have sponsors,
they're gonna get paid for it,

but these guys,

they're not doing this for
any kind of reward like that.

They're doing this for
the love of the game.

- [Adam] Eventually, building
owners say enough is enough.

They hire more security,
they install cameras,

they put better fencing
around to increase obstacles.

- [Jason] Architects even
develop vertical prismatic glass

that doesn't have ledges

that makes it really
hard for climbers

to even start climbing.

- [Hakeem] People are still
climbing buildings.

One just happened in Taipei.
[people cheering]

But this was a staged
event with cameras,

and it was broadcast
for the world to see.

So today, these climbs
are much more controlled

and planned than in the past.

[dramatic music]

- Looking back at the
hobbies that we loved,

it was a lot more than
just a way to pass time.

Whether it was attaching
ourselves to kites,

making homemade rocket fuel,

or smelting our
own lead soldiers,

we let our
imaginations run wild.

Sometimes a little too wild,

but that's what made our
hazardous history a hobby

we never quite gave up.

[graphic whooshing]

[dramatic music]