- In all my time doing
research for Dark History, I've read some pretty wild headlines. But friends, listen, I gotta
say this one headline I read, it really takes the cake. It's honestly like perfect
chef's kiss. I have no notes. It comes from the New York Times and it says, "Pigeon was
cleared of being a Chinese spy, but served eight months anyway." I know I had so many questions. Oh my God. Why didn't the pigeon just fly away through like the jail cell bars? What did it say under interrogation
? Did this pigeon have access to a lawyer? Is there such a thing
as like a pigeon lawyer? I wanted to know. Well,
here's what I found out. In May of 2023, a pigeon was spotted just kind of hanging
around a port in India. When authorities got close to the bird, they saw a ring around the bird's leg that turned out to be a
microchip, gasp, I know. On top of that, there was
Chinese writing on the wings. The Indian authorities were like, this is for sure a spy, and
we can't take any chances. And the
y threw that bird
in jail for eight months. Well, in the end, it turns
out it was a racing bird from Taiwan, and the Chinese writing had faded and was unreadable. So I got to wondering, why did all these people believe a pigeon of all animals could be
gathering top secret information? So of course, me being curious, I was like, I have to look more into this. And the Indian authorities
knew something that we did not. We've all been lied to. Listen, now, most people think that they are just diseas
e
infected rats with wings, right? I did. I'm sorry to say
that, but I thought that too. But actually, pigeons were
our companions for centuries. We humans domesticated them because we realized they
had so many hidden powers and they returned the favor by
saving countless human lives. It was a beautiful relationship.
Hold your pigeon tight. But somehow today they've become
a flying annoyance, right? So like what the hell happened? Well, welcome to the
Dark History of Pigeons. This is my favorite
episode
because I freaking love pigeons. Thank you. Okay, fly away pigeon. (upbeat music) 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. Here, we believe history
doesn't have to be boring. Yeah, it's like really
tragic a lot of the times. It's sometimes happy, but either
way, it's our Dark History. So all you need to do is sit back, relax, and let's talk about that
hot, juicy pigeon, goss. Pigeons everyw
here. Oh, it's a takeover. Joan, did you throw a party or something? Or did Paul like leave the door open? If you're watching over on YouTube, there's pigeons everywhere. And Paul seems to be the pigeon
lady from "Home Alone 2." (dramatic music) You did great in that movie,
by the way. I loved it. Okay, listen, pigeons.
What? Why are we here? Lemme tell you. Let's start with a little
tidbit of information that's gonna change the way
you look at pigeons right away. The common pigeon, aka, the
kin
d of like dumpy gray bird you see, just bobbing
its head around the city or like hanging out with Paul,
the lady from "Home Alone 2." Yeah. Pigeon is not technically its name. They used to be called rock doves. Yeah, a dove. How cute a rock. Everyone loves a rock, right? Rock dove. So why are there two
names for the same bird? Well, scientifically,
there is no difference between a pigeon and a dove. My mind was blown at that. But today, like humans just decided to refer to the smaller ones as do
ves and the bigger ones as
pigeons and really that's it. The word pigeon itself actually just describes
what the bird does. It comes from an old French word. I'm gonna nail this one, pigeonne, which loosely translates to chirping bird, which is interesting because to me the sound of a pigeon
is more of like a coo, coo, coo, you know, whatever. I nailed it. Now all pigeons and doves are part of one big happy bird family, and they all have a common
ancestor, the rock dove. And that's where it all
starts. So keep things simple though. I'm just going to say pigeon, right? Pigeon. We all get it. So pigeons come from Europe, north Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, and they were important all the way back in early human history. Oh yeah. There's a place on earth
called the Fertile Crescent, which sounds like you
might get pregnant there. But it's called that
because this is essentially where humans first started farming, which allowed us to really
begin building society as we know it. F
ertile as in the soil.
Makes sense, you know? Now there is evidence from
about 10,000 years ago that pigeons were an important food source and people had to eat them to survive. I know. I was like baked, fried. I wonder I would love a pigeon recipe. I'm just kidding. I won't eat you. (pigeon coos) Pigeons first appeared in written history on
Mesopotamian stone tablets. This is when we start to learn a ton about how humans treated
pigeons back in the day. Ancient Mesopotamian, people started to w
orship the
pigeons as fertility symbols. No one knows why, for sure,
but many people believe it's because they breed
a lot like they're busy, kind like rabbits. And to honor the pigeons, the people living in Mesopotamia started building clay
statues dedicated to them in their temples. They even had a goddess of
love, sexuality, and war. Her name was Ishtar and Doves, aka pigeons came to be her symbol. And then one day someone
was watching the pigeons and noticed something
interesting about their
behavior. No matter how far away they
flew or where they went, pigeons always had the ability
to find their way home. And this changed
everything for the humans. Paul, Paul, dear, you are
looking a little stressed out. Are you okay? I mean, I know you've tried
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as far away as
1,100 miles. Now realizing that
pigeons had this ability to somehow remember where they
live, gave humans an idea. They started to think, hey,
pigeons could be sent anywhere to deliver a message. I mean, I was like, great, this is great. But like, how do the pigeons
do it? There's an answer. By using a mix of
miraculous God-given skills, first of all, experiments have
shown that pigeons keep track of the location of the sun. Wow, I know. And then they use something
called magneto reception. And
this allows them
to sense the direction and intensity of the
Earth's magnetic field. Ah, smart gene. Ah, okay. With this information, they have everything they need to know. They know where to go. You know, it's like they
have a built-in compass. They're incredible. Some researchers say they can do all this because they have these
magnetic iron crystals in their beaks. Other people think it has to
do with like their inner ears. But what I'm saying is that we actually don't
really know how they d
o it. Maybe it's magic, or
maybe it's Maybelline. ♪ Maybe it's Maybelline ♪ But either way, they use all these skills when they're far from home. So when they close in
on their destination, they switch to their sense of smell. The scent of home becomes
stronger the closer that they get. And once they're back in
like their neighborhood, they zero in on their home
using visual landmarks like buildings. I mean, it's crazy. So pigeons are born with like a GPS system inside their heads and they
have
the ability to remember what things look like around them. They essentially understand the concepts of space and time, respect the pigeon. But to really like
harness that pigeon power, humans had to figure out a
way to control them first. The first evidence of big
time pigeon domestication comes from Egypt. You guessed it, maybe you
didn't. But it's Egypt. There was a Pharaoh in
Egypt during the 1200 BC and his name was Ramses II. Ramses decided their God Amun needed a sacrifice in his honor. An
d Ramses felt that since pigeons are so beloved by the
people as a food source, it would mean a lot to sacrifice them. Therefore Amun would be pleased. But the problem was that most pigeons, they lived like hundreds of miles away. Capturing and transporting them was too much of a pain in the ass, so Ramses decided to breed them on site. I mean, yeah, you just need
like a couple lady pigeons, a couple male pigeons, baa bing, baa, boom you got more pigeons. When all was said and done. Ramses had s
acrificed over
57,000 pigeons to Amun. I don't know, I guess like
56,900 just wasn't enough. They needed 57,000. Either way they were being domesticated for ceremonial purposes here. But then over time people
started to domesticate them for communication. Ooh. Well, once people started
domesticating pigeons in this way, they could like take advantage of their incredible travel abilities. Like it said in the Bible,
Noah sent out a white dove, which again is scientifically
identical to the pigeon
to find land after the great flood. And seven days later, the white dove returned with
an olive twig in its mouth, which meant it had found dry land. Tons of other famous figures and cultures from history used pigeons to communicate important messages. Over in ancient Greece, they used pigeons to let the world know who won the Olympic games. They're like, go pigeon.
Tell everyone who won. And in ancient Rome, Julius Caesar used pigeons to send out messages during his famous conquests. A Roman hi
storian at the
time wrote that Julius was, "The first to make use
of pigeons as messengers, which he sent out in all directions." Anyway, it starts to
become more and more clear just how beneficial these
pigeons could really be. So people then like started breeding and cross-breeding all sorts of pigeons to like really heighten their skills. Kind of like what people
do with horses and dogs, like make a super pigeon. Because of this, pigeons
start becoming status symbols for like the elite. Durin
g the 1600s, the richest
people in England and France built towers just for these pigeons. These structures were called dove coats. And by the 1650s, one
pigeon historian said there were 26,000 dove
coats in England alone. They loved their pigeons.
Now here's a quick fun fact. Nobles were still eating
pigeons at this time. So I guess they were like
raising these gorgeous buff pigeons who would like
lifted weights and shit, but then they would like
eat their family cool. Around this time, homing
pigeons and carrier pigeons step into the spotlight. And these guys are
considered fancy pigeons. Fancy pigeons. Now, these fancy pigeons
were bred by rich people for their size, shape, color,
and the big one behavior. Then they would use these
pigeons for sports like racing. Now this all led to the Victorian era and the England becoming the
golden age of pigeon fancying. And this caught the attention of one man who was also obsessed with pigeons, but for scientific reasons. This man is a househ
old name that pretty much a lot of us know. But find out who when we return. (dramatic music) No, Paul. No. You get that sugary drink away from me. You guys, I'm doing a really good job limiting my sugar intake, and you're really being a
bad influence right now. I mean, yes, I'm used to
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of high protein cereal at magicspoon.com/darkhistory, and use code: DARKHISTORY to save $5 off. A big thank you to Magic Spoon for sponsoring today's episode. Now let's get back to you, today's story. Hey, welcome back. How's it going? Great, so the household name I was referring to was none
other than Mr. Survival of the fittest himself, Charles Darwin. Yeah, no, no matter how you feel about it. He did all these studies about
like different animal breeds and t
heir behavior. And then he wrote about this
in one of his famous books, "The Origin of Species," the
differences he discovered between wild and domesticated pigeons helped him formulate
his theory of evolution. No big deal, you know? So essentially after Darwin
started writing about pigeons, people they started to pay attention, especially this one genius
who took pigeon obsession to a whole new level. And like it was questionable, maybe. In the 1800s, there was
this revolutionary engineer named
Nikola Tesla. During the day, Nikola
worked for Thomas Edison, and together they created
electricity as we know it today, allegedly, you know, I know. Nikola was getting these huge grants to create new inventions,
build laboratories, and keep just changing the world. And he was really dedicated to his work. Now, by night, Nikola was
working on his other passion, the birds, especially pigeons, okay? Now, according to many reports, Nikola would spend his evenings with the pigeons of New York. He
would walk the streets of
midtown Manhattan feeding them, and even like trying to talk to them by doing these low whistle pigeon noises. I can't do a pigeon for the life of me, but that's how I would do it. The pigeons loved him, okay?
They really loved this guy. He would stand with his arms
outstretched like a scarecrow, and the pigeons would
all land all over him. Oh, wait a second. Was Nikola Tesla the original "Home Alone" crazy pigeon lady? (dramatic music) Maybe. I mean, she also wandered
through New York with her gang of birds. Hmm, my mind is blown right now. Nikola would build bird nests
all over his living room and leave the windows open for the pigeon. So like they knew they could all come in and they were welcome. And apparently Nikola was
very into this female pigeon. This is when it gets
a little questionable. He was into this female pigeon that would visit all the time. And I mean, he literally fell
in love with this pigeon. Now, this was giving "My Octopus Teacher," did
you see that movie? That was a little questionable. I honestly think it was about a guy who wanted to like (beep) the octopus. I'm not saying that's
what Nikola wanted to do, but like it was giving that,
that's what it's giving. He said, "But there was one
pigeon, a beautiful bird, pure white with light
gray tips on its wings. That one was different. It was a female. I would know that pigeon
anywhere no matter where I was, that pigeon would find me. When I wanted her, I had
only to wish and cal
l her, and she would come flying to me. She understood me and I understood her. I loved that pigeon." Well, you know, I guess there really is someone out there for everyone. You know, Nikola never married, but I hear he and his pigeon
lover were very happy together. I know it was a very fairy tale ending. Now, during this period in the 1800s, pigeons aren't just
sitting on the sidewalk waiting to poop on you and eat crumbs. You know, they were put to work since they were viewed
as like such reso
urceful, intelligent birds, they were used to carry
top secret messages for important people and rich families. Like for example, the Rothschilds. This family is known for being rich, rich. You know what I'm saying? I tried to find like their net worth. But it's like money you and I
will never know, to be honest. Some say it's in the billions. Other people claim it's trillions either way, it's a lot,
they're rich, okay? So they built their fortune
by investing in real estate, mining, the energy
industry,
and most importantly, banking. They just always seemed to
have the right information at the right time. Other companies couldn't
get the scoop faster than the Rothchilds, no
matter like what they did. But here's why. Back then every piece of
communication was easily hackable, which is surprising, right? I would think it wouldn't be. But like it was, people
were like ripping open mail and telegrams like it was nothing. I guess back then it was
hard to have a secret, but not for the Roth
childs, because they had their
secret weapon, the pigeons. Apparently, they set up
this whole elaborate system of pigeon communications
all over the city. They would create these
lofts in their buildings where pigeons would nest. Then they would attach like messages with super important financial information to the pigeon, you know, beep, boo. And then send the message to
another one of their buildings. This way no one could intercept
the secret information. And the Rothschild stayed on top. The
pigeons were essentially
business couriers, but they couldn't be bribed or like leak information like the humans. The Rothschilds were able to create an insane fortune because of this, and people didn't catch
onto them for years. But look, eventually the secret was out. Businesses and newspapers everywhere started to use pigeons as couriers. They were reliable, they were free, and they weren't like
able to spill any secrets. Now, this was especially useful during war when secret messages
could
mean the difference between living and dying
for thousands of soldiers. So apparently, in order
to use pigeons in war, people would capture around
400 baby carrier pigeons and then put them into like
these gigantic hot air balloons. It's a funny visual kind of. But these pigeons would be trained by like a special pigeon trainer on how to send messages during the war. These baby birds began training at five weeks old by
people called pigeoneers. Oh no, that's so cute. They sound like they would w
ork at like Disneyland pigeoneers. These pigeoneers would train the pigeons for about five weeks and then be stamped with the
US symbol on their right wing, and then sent out to the trenches. They would be trained to return to their specific nest
at the end of the night. During the Franco-Prussian War, in 1870, more than 800 of these pigeons were used to send 40,000 messages. I mean, who knows how
many lives were saved for wars that were even bigger in size. A special division of the military ca
lled the US Signal Corps
trained over 50,000 pigeons to help in World War I. Now, at first they were used
to simply carry messages back and forth, but the military was shocked by the perseverance
of these little guys. I mean, they were known to be very dedicated to their mission. According to Colonel Edgar A. Russell who was like the head signal
officer for the US Army, said "Pigeons can work regularly and in spite of bombardments,
dust, smoke or fog can bring accurate details
concerning the sit
uation of the troops." So they were great at delivering messages, and the army even gave
them a little upgrade. Now, this really blew my mind, okay, because they attached
tiny cameras on the pigeon to take pictures behind enemy lines. (camera flickering) I know I had so many questions there. I was like, did the pigeons use their
beaks to snap the photos? Or like their little pigeon feet? Maybe like the pigeon breasts. Maybe the camera took a picture like every certain amount of
seconds or someth
ing else. I don't know. Couldn't
get clarification on that. But I had so many questions. Okay, so as I was doing all this research, I kept coming across the name
Cher Ami, Cher Ami, Cher Ami. And it turns out Cher Ami
was a pigeon for starters, and one of the most famous
pigeons of all time. And he was known for being a war hero. Now, grab that tissue box, baby, because you are about
to cry your eyes out. So in 1918, Cher Ami was
born into this world. Once he reached 10 weeks, he was sent out to
do a round of wartime communication messages, just like all the other
pigeons before him. But it wasn't business
as usual because by 1918, the Germans had figured
out that the pigeons were a super successful
tactic for the US Army. So they started demanding soldiers shoot down any pigeons
they saw, one by one. And Cher Ami's fellow pigeon soldiers were shot dead all around him. He's flying. He's going like, no. Now, at this point, he had already completed
11 successful missions and Cher Ami was
stationed
with the 77th Division known as The Lost Battalion. And on October 4th, 1918,
this battalion was in danger. They were as good as dead. This is because these American soldiers were being bombed so
badly behind German lines. They were cut off from the
rest of the American troops. So like no one could
get behind enemy lines to help them escape. And on top of this, they were totally out of
range of radio signals. So one of the soldiers that
was trapped in this bombing was American Major C
harles Whittlesey. In the midst of gunshots and explosions, he and the other soldiers
turned to the only hope they have to survive, the carrier pigeons. So the soldiers each
grabbed a carrier pigeon. They wrote a message in a hurry. They're like, please
help us asap. Thank you. And then they tied it to the pigeon's leg, and then they threw the pigeons in the air so they could fly away and
like get the message home. But one by one, the soldiers
watched their pigeons getting shot and killed. Oh Go
d, you know, there goes my message. I asked for baked goods. Finally, they grabbed the last one, the prodigal pigeon Cher Ami. Now the general managed to
write a note asking for help and attach it to his leg. He throws, he didn't throw,
Cher Ami into the sky. And everyone's just watching, praying that he would
not get shot down, okay? And right away, Cher Ami is
dodging bullets left and right. And it's working like they're, he's getting away and
they're like, oh my God. Ah. Then they had been sa
ved. Cher Ami, Cher Ami and they're
all excited, right? Woo. But then right in front of their eyes, Cher Ami was shot straight
through the chest. And then he like, poor Cher Ami just like
fell straight to the ground. The soldiers were obviously devastated, and essentially they saw that as a sign. They were like going to die, right? Then they were about to like
turn away, kind of give up. When all of a sudden Cher Ami sits up. I know this is very traumatic,
but like this is real. Cher Ami, sits u
p and with
a bullet wound bleeding from his chest, he still
manages to get up and fly away with that message tied around his leg. I know it's incredible. And Cher Ami ends up flying like 25 miles in less than half an hour, which is fast. Even when Cher Ami wasn't shocked, he got the messages to base and they were able to save 194
lives in the Lost Battalion. All thanks to him, so the pigeon medics, or like veterinarians,
whatever they were called, they go to work trying to
save little Cher Ami's
life. They're like clear or
sewing him up or something. And thankfully Cher Ami survived. But sadly, he lost his right leg and was permanently blinded. Oh, but he left Lieutenant
Dan, you ain't got no legs. Cher Ami was given an award to honor his bravery on the battlefield. Oh yeah. During the ceremony,
General John Pershing said, "There isn't anything the United States can do too much for this bird." Cher Ami returned to
the US where he lived. It's not funny, it's just I forgot we
were talkin
g about pigeon. But Cher Ami had returned
to live in the United States where he lived until he died on January 13th, 1919 from his war wounds. Okay, but get this,
his body was preserved. Oh yes. And it was put in
the Smithsonian in 1921. Yeah, you can go see him
with his missing leg. Look, if you go, I need
you to send me a picture. All right, I need to see this. I've never been, maybe I
should go road trip, maybe. All in all over 150,000
pigeons served in World War I and World War II. And truly
, we have like no
idea how many lives they saved. I love the pigeons. They're so precious. And in their honor,
President Woodrow Wilson created National Pigeon Day on June 13th. Aw, I know I'm gonna celebrate this year. I don't really know. Am I supposed to dress up
for national pigeon day? What do, how do we celebrate? Maybe we steal a hot dog from an old lady, or like poop on a car. I'm not sure. I'll get back to you. So pigeons, if you haven't
caught on, are amazing animals. They've saved liv
es.
They're freaking smart. They're useful. So why does
society hate them so much? Like, how the hell did we end up here? Like kings and nobility used to have whole flocks of
pigeons as a flex, you know? But now everyone has those
freaking plastic owls up on their buildings to scare them away. I always thought those were for snakes. No. Okay, well anyways, what happened? So the thing about most pigeons, especially in North America, is that they were never
meant to be here, okay? They were brough
t over
by European colonizers in the 17th century. And most of the pigeons
that you see on the streets are actually descendants
of those domesticated and trained service birds like Cher Ami. And just like any domesticated animal, like a dog or a cat,
they come to rely on you, their owner for food,
water, and like shelter. So these animals were completely reliant on humans for centuries. I mean, it was built into their DNA. But then after technology advanced and we decided we didn't
need them to
send messages, we just like ditched their asses, buy a pigeon, like no
warning, just dump them fired. So this ended up leaving the pigeons in a pretty situation. I mean, they were trained to do anything it took for their country. And then bloop just abandoned. So pigeons, they actually flocked to cities based on instinct. Remember, like those rock
doves, they evolved from. Well, rock doves lived along cliff sides, and that's why they
were called rock doves. So cities with skyscrapers
are pretty
appealing to them because they're similar to the cliffs with little rocky ledges
land on and roost. I think of a chicken
when I think of roost, but I don't know animals. So look, they aren't sitting
on your office window because they just love to poop everywhere. No, it's just the closest thing
they have to a native home. So sad. And then in the '60s, something
really unfortunate happened for the pigeon community. In 1963, a New York City health official blamed two recent unexplained
deaths on p
igeons. Look, they believe that the pigeons were carrying a deadly disease. And because of this, everyone
was just like scared. This would cause some sort
of epidemic in society. And people were panicking. This news made New Yorkers
look at pigeons differently. Suddenly these birds that seemed harmless were a huge threat, and
they were everywhere. So when this health official
called for a campaign to "Rid the city of
its 5 million pigeons." Everyone supported it. They're like, I don't wanna die.
Now, according to the New
York City's health website, "Diseases associated with pigeon droppings include cryptococcosis,
histoplasmosis, and psittacosis. You can become infected
with these diseases by breathing in the dust that is created when cleaning droppings." But the risk of pigeon related diseases is like extremely rare,
honestly, like close to zero. I mean, it was complete pigeon slander. It turns out those two
people who died unexpectedly, their deaths were never
traced back to pigeons.
No. Later, after all the damage was done, it was discovered that
their deaths had resulted from cryptococcal meningitis, which is spread from
human to human contact. Yeah. And at the end of the day, neither the New York Department of Health nor the Center for Disease Control could confirm any cases
of people getting sick from casual interactions with pigeons. I mean, Tesla and his pigeon lovers seem to be doing just fine, right? Anyway, all the pigeon fear
mongering was just a rumor, but it did
n't matter. People hadn't been waiting for the facts. Like the pigeon paranoia
had already snowballed. And then just a few years later, there was another important development. In June of 1966, the New York City Parks Commissioner coined the term rats with wings. Now, we've all heard this phrase, and unfortunately it was more or less the final nail in the
coffin for pigeon PR. Then a study was released that found that a pigeon produces 25 pounds of bird poop a year, which I was like concerning t
o people. They're like, wow, it's a lot of poop. But like this was nothing compared to what dogs and other pets produced. I'm sure if anyone like did
this study on squirrels, the poop distribution would be the same. But this just was adding fuel to the pigeon cancellation fire. Think of that impact
from a city like New York where there are millions
of pigeons, you know? So more than ever before,
people wanted pigeons and their poop to go far away. Just go away, and by any means necessary. So on
top of using spikes, sticky gel and fake owls on ledges of buildings, and the last 60 years,
pigeons have been shot. I'm not laughing, but you know,
shot, gassed, electrocuted, poisoned, caged, and
even fed contraceptives. Yeah. To try like help
reduce their numbers. These poor pigeons, which
is especially messed up, considering that we
brought them over here. I mean, we brought them to
America in the first place. We made them dependent on us. We trained them to work, to love us, to deliver our
messages, to spy for us, to help us learn about our own species. I mean, even back in ancient times and in cultures where pigeons
were depended on as food, they were still respected. And then again, up until the 1700s, it was a huge flex for nobles and royalty to keep pigeons as pets. Pigeons were a status symbol. And now it's like the complete opposite. People equate pigeons
with poverty and squalor. And it happened virtually overnight, just because of some misinformation. They became publicly
demonized and targeted. Unfortunately, for us and the pigeons, the bad PR has really stuck. I mean, over the course of
the last 60 years in America, we've managed to completely override all those thousands of years
of respect, friendship, and hard work that we used to have for these extremely smart little animals. Just poof, gone. It's such a bummer because honestly, we have so much in common with pigeons. Pigeons are monogamous. Did you know that? They usually stick with like
one partner their
entire life. And as parents, they
share responsibilities of raising the kids pretty much 50/50. I know. It's a girl. Recent study from the University of Iowa, they found out that pigeons
can tell the difference between natural versus manmade objects, and they could categorize them. I mean, on the same
level as human children. How does an animal with such a small head have such an impressive brain? I ask. Just blows my mind. On top of that, pigeons.
Pigeons also love art. Okay, maybe they don't l
ove it, but they can tell the difference between a Picasso painting and a Monet. What I know pigeons, huh? (pigeon cooing) And get this pigeons can
even detect cancer. Yeah. In a recent study, pigeons prove that they were able to detect
early signs of breast cancer, get them in hospitals, get
them back in the workforce. I mean, there's a whole untapped
society of birds out there just dying to be doctors and messengers and who knows what else. I was actually on Petfinder the other day just lookin
g at some pets, you know? And I saw some pigeons up for grabs. Some people still keep them as pets, and now I'm considering it. I mean, I need some friends. I'm gonna open up my
windows, let the pigeons in, talk with them, send secret messages. I mean, why not, right? It's the least I can do after they've been through
everything they've been through. Oh, and then you know, who
has a pet pigeon? Mike Tyson. Oh yeah. When he was like a kid, he loved pigeons and just take them in. He called him lik
e his
first loving relationship he ever had. Mr. Tyson said, "If it
weren't for a pigeon, I may not have been the
heavyweight champion of the world. As a matter of fact, when a
bully that was antagonizing me killed one of my birds in front of me, I snapped and began fighting him. If it weren't for this guy
hurting my beloved animal, I may not have ever
had the desire to fight by him hurting an innocent being
that I loved and cherished. It was a catalyst to the fighter within." Wow, yeah. And Tys
on
still has birds today. So listen, you're telling me
pigeons have gave us food, friendship, and a free delivery service. I mean, what can't the pigeons do, huh? Now, next time I see one on
the street, I'm capturing it, taking it home, and
making it be my friend. Sorry, Joan, you're out. I mean, you're really nice and stuff, but these pigeons are really loyal. I'm not sure what you do for me. Sorry. Don't be mad whatever. Now listen, if we're gonna
make any change in this world, we need to get
some pigeons. I mean, you can go to a pigeon breeder. Well, there's already so many. Maybe you could just
like open up your window and invite one in, live
in your home, you know? And if you wanted to carry
secret notes for you, take your pet pigeon to a friend's house. The friend will like scribble a note, attach it to the pigeon's leg, and then it will return
to your home in no time. The possibilities are endless. Hmm. Until the government
catches on to our secrets and then takes over the pigeo
ns. But anyways, pigeons, huh? So have you changed your mind about pigeons after this episode? Lemme know down below. And hey, like while I was down the rabbit hole researching this episode, I came across an incredible
picture from 1937 of a 20-year-old John F. Kennedy
feeding pigeons in Italy. And that's when it hit me. I was like, how was it possible that I almost went three full seasons without doing an episode
on America's royal family? The Kennedy's. Maybe you know, the horrible highlights
like the assassinations, but dive a little deeper
in this family and girl, they got sacrets. I'm talking about
operating in the shadows, a murder they don't really
want you to know about. And a whole lot of other shady dealings that goes along with
being one of America's most powerful families of all time. Now, where did they come from?
How did they get that power? And what don't they want us to know? I mean, why are they considered America's first and only royal family? Well, friends, let's
unc
over all of it next week on the Dark History of the Kennedys. Ooh, I'm gonna get murdered. (laughs) Well, friends, thank you for
hanging out with me today. I hope you learned something new. You can join me over on my YouTube where you can watch these
episodes on Thursday after the podcast airs. And while you're there, you can also watch My
Murder, Mystery and Makeup. I'd love to hear your guys'
reactions to today's story. So make sure to use the hashtag
Dark History over on social media so I cou
ld see what
you're saying, all right? Now let's read a couple of comments. You guys left me. Alejandra Rosales 7836.
Left me a comment saying, "I wanna see you do a drunken history." Okay, I'm in. I'm available. I don't really drink that much. It'll take like one beverage
and then I'll be on the floor. But it should be fun. Why not? Let's live a little. Maya Young8280 left us a comment saying, "Fun fact: French fries
actually come from Belgium." You know what's funny though? One time I went to B
elgium, it
was, yeah, I went to Belgium. This was a couple years ago. And I will say they have the
most incredible french fries I have ever tasted. So I believe it. I believe it. Melissa Murray7048 left us
an episode suggestion saying, "I'd love to see an episode
on the history of Pogs." Honestly, Melissa, I have not thought about
pogs in freaking forever. I know. I wonder if they
have like a dark history. I think they just kind of like scammed us. They sold us little like cardboard circles some
where like heavier, but
whatever but I'll look into it. Thank you so much for
leaving comments, you guys. I look forward to reading them every week. So keep them coming.
Maybe you'll be featured. Okay, and hey, if you don't know, Dark History is an audio boom original. This podcast is executive
produced by Bailey Sarian, Dunia McNeely from 3Arts, Kevin Grosch and Matt Enlow from Maiden Network. Writers, Joey Scavuzzo, Katie
Burris, and Allison Philobos. Production lead, Brian Jaggers. Research p
rovided by Xander Elmore. A special thank you to our
expert, Colin Jeromack, professor of Environmental Studies and Sociology at New York University. And I'm your host, Bailey Sarian. I hope you have a good rest of your day. You make good choices, go grab a pigeon and I'll
talk to you next week. Good-bye. (dramatic music)
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