Pod Insights SNAFU with Ed Helms S3E6: Signature Cocktail About this episode The battle of scientific wits comes to a head, as government chemists continue to up the ante on their formulas, with Alexander Gettler hot on their trail.
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0:34 Speaker 01 She's been thinking about this sleepover all week, but I think about her food allergies all the time. Fortunately, her doctor prescribed Zolair, omalizumab. It's proven to significantly reduce allergic reactions if a food allergy accident happens.
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1:34 Speaker 03 Hey there, it's your host, Ed Helms here. Real quick, before we dive into this episode, I wanted to remind you that my brand new book is coming out on April 29th. It's called Snafu: The Definitive Guide to History's Greatest Screw-Ups. And you can preorder it right now at snafu-book.com. Trust me, if you like this show, you're gonna love this book. It's got all the wild disasters, spectacular face plants we just couldn't squeeze into this podcast. And here's the kicker: I am also going on tour to celebrate. That's right, I'm coming to New York, DC, Boston, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco, and my hometown, Los Angeles. So, if you've ever wanted to see me stumble
2:19 Speaker 03 through a live Q&A, or dramatically read about a kitty cat getting turned into a CIA operative, now's your chance. Again, head to snafu-book.com to preorder the book and check out all the tour details and dates, or just click the link in the show notes, that'll work too. Okay, that's it. On with the chaos. This is Snafu, Season 3: Formula 6.
2:46 Speaker 03 Last time on Snafu, double-toten two-gun Hart became a prohibition enforcement agent...
2:52 Speaker 04 If he couldn't use his gun, he would use his fist to apprehend these criminals and bootleggers.
2:58 Speaker 03 And ended up killing an innocent man. Back in DC, Mabel Walker Willibrand roped in just about the last people who should ever be involved in law enforcement. This is where the Klan comes in, actually. So, what was supposed to be a righteous, moral crusade, was turning into a bloody, morally compromised debacle.
3:20 Speaker 05 I have no objection to people dressing up in sheets if they enjoy that sort of thing.
3:24 Speaker 03 And even after all that, the dries weren't done yet.
3:39 Speaker 03 On a cold, misty night in late November 1926, two Brooklyn cops stumble upon something extremely suspicious down by the docks on the East River. Under the full moon, a stooped man struggles to carry a big bundle of something towards the water. When the cops holler out and ask him what he's doing, he panics, kicks the bundle into the water, and runs away. The cops tackle him and handcuff him. But even once they get him to the precinct, he's still not talking. And this isn't just a regular old "I ain't saying nothing" kind of silence. More of a stupor. He looks ill, his face oddly flushed. The police suspect he's had quite a lot to drink.
4:23 Speaker 03 Eventually, they identify him as Francesco Travia, a longshoreman who lives in nearby Cobble Hill. They can't get a word out of him. But they do notice his pant legs are soaked in blood.
4:36 Speaker 06 The police go back to his apartment. They find this dismembered body. I love this story so much. And the... Sorry, I shouldn't laugh about this.
4:46 Speaker 03 That's historian Deborah Blum. Remember, she's an expert on the various ways chemicals can kill you. When you spend your career talking about poisoned corpses, sometimes you've just gotta laugh. The police go to Travia's apartment, find a woman's dead body. Well, half of one.
5:02 Speaker 06 And her head is still there and her torso on the floor.
5:06 Speaker 03 The scene in Travia's apartment is gruesome. So it's not really a stretch to conclude that Travia murdered this woman, chopped her up, and has just disposed of her legs in the East River. The body is identified as Anna Fredrickson, Francesco's neighbor. Anna's family tells the police that she went to Francesco to scrounge up some booze and left his apartment in multiple pieces. To the NYPD, this looks like an open and shut case. They'd caught Francesco Travia red-handed, or at least red-panted. But then, the city's chief medical examiner arrives at the crime scene.
5:46 Speaker 06 Norris is the on-call medical examiner that night. He goes all the way out to Brooklyn, driven by his chauffeur, to this shabby little backworker apartment in Brooklyn and goes in.
5:59 Speaker 03 Norris emerges from his car and strolls into the apartment, no doubt dressed in an outfit that cost an arm and a... well, a lot of money. He takes a quick look at the crime scene. Here's what the cops have to report, and immediately blows up the entire theory of the case.
6:16 Speaker 06 He takes one look at it and goes, "You know, no, that woman was dead before he cut her up."
6:24 Speaker 03 Norris only needs to see two things. The unnatural flush of the dead woman's skin and the lighting fixtures in the Tenement Building where she was found.
6:35 Speaker 06 A lot of people lived in buildings that were pretty much equipped by what was called illuminating gas, right? And illuminating gas was a cold-derived gas. It had hydrogen in it, so it was explosive. And it had carbon monoxide in it, so it was poisonous.
6:53 Speaker 03 As Norris knows, this gas is not only poisonous, it's also colorless and odorless. A deadly combination he and Alexander Gettler know all too well from their work examining New York City's dead. The presence of carbon monoxide also explains why Travia's been in a stupor and the strange hue of the alleged victim's skin.
7:17 Speaker 06 When you are killed by carbon monoxide, your skin flushes a deep pink. So here she is, she's bled out completely, right? She should be pale as a sheet. Instead, she's flush pink because that's what carbon monoxide does.
7:32 Speaker 03 Anna Frederiksen's death was a tragic accident. At some point, as she got drunk with Francesco, one of them must have caused the gas leak.
7:40 Speaker 06 They knock a kettle or something over that's boiling away on a gas burner, put out the flame. Illuminating gas, which they don't smell, starts seeping into the apartment. And he and Gettler have already shown that when carbon monoxide gets to the kind of level he's looking at, it kills you. So she has to have been dead.
8:02 Speaker 03 Charles Norris feels compelled to testify in Francesco's case. He knows this man is innocent. Well, innocent of murder, anyway. And he has the scientific facts to prove it.
8:13 Speaker 06 And he goes actually into court, opposite to the district attorney and the police department, and wins.
8:21 Speaker 03 It wasn't the first time Norris and Gettler took on the political powers that be and won, and it wouldn't be the last. Of course, Francesco did still get convicted of improperly disposing of a corpse, and I'm gonna give it to the prosecutor on that one, but he did avoid the death penalty because Gettler and Norris investigated and intervened. From gas leaks to lead pipes to radioactive watches—which is an actual thing you could buy at the time—there was a lot that could kill you in 1920s America. Time and time again, Gettler and Norris cracked cases that cops couldn't crack, and they were just about the only ones in New York City capable of getting to the bottom of
9:03 Speaker 03 the especially twisted mystery of Formula 6.
9:21 Speaker 03 I'm Ed Helms, and this is Snafu, a show about history's greatest screw-ups. This is the story of how prohibition backfired so badly that the government chose to poison thousands of Americans. Today, a string of mysterious deaths presents Norris and Gettler with another mystery, even as the culprit hides in plain sight.
10:07 Speaker 03 One thing we know about Alexander Gettler is that he loved the Yankees. And we also know that, as a workaholic, his thoughts were never far from his work. So indulge me as I paint a picture for us. Gettler, attending a real Yankee game, and piecing together a few work thoughts. Sunday, August 2nd, 1926. Alexander Gettler, notorious workaholic, has given himself a rare day off to enjoy Sunday afternoon at Yankee Stadium. His beloved Bronx Bombers are facing the Chicago White Sox, and they're off to a rough start.
10:45 Speaker 03 In the top of the first, Chicago left fielder Bib Falk hits a weak ground ball off Yankee pitcher Wait Hoyt and drives in a run. Bib Wait. Come on, you gotta love these old timey baseball names, right? But Gettler, well, he's not loving it. By the time he's gotten to his seat and lit up one of his White Owl cigars, his Yankees are already down by a run. Now, even amidst all the peanuts and Cracker Jacks, Gettler's mind wanders to what he's been seeing in his lab and in the news. All over the city and all over the country, people are dying, going blind. Remember that bootleg cocktail, Ginger Jake? There are people walking around town with a condition nicknamed Jake Leg,
11:27 Speaker 03 which causes the legs to twitch uncontrollably. By now, it's common knowledge that lots of ill-gotten hooch has serious, even fatal, side effects, but people are still drinking it. The Yankees have their own formidable tag team, Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth. They're both in the midst of incredible seasons, smashing homers and breaking records. But in the bottom of the first, the Chicago pitcher gets Gehrig to ground out into a fielder's choice, intentionally walks the great bambino... Oh, come on, pitch to him. Scaredy cat! ...and retires the side without letting up a run. Gettler puffs his cigar and cogitates. There's been a commotion upstate in Buffalo where the health commissioner is alleging
12:10 Speaker 03 that dozens of recent deaths chalked up to heart disease or apoplexy were actually the work of methyl alcohol. In his own lab at Bellevue, Alexander's been seeing some downright bizarre things in his test results. And I don't mean the sludge he makes out of dead people, that's all in a day's work, but the chemicals he's finding in that sludge? Well, they're getting weirder and weirder.
12:37 Speaker 03 Piridine is colorless and highly flammable. It's commonly found in herbicides and insecticides. In other words, it's poison. Gettler knows the mafiosos distributing tainted liquor aren't afraid to get their hands a little dirty, but still, intentionally serving people insecticide?
12:57 Speaker 07 That's not good for business.
12:59 Speaker 03 And it gets weirder. There's also kerosene and industrial benzene, commonly found in rubber and gas. Now, you don't need to be chief toxicologist of Bellevue Medical Center to know kerosene and alcohol are a bad mix. But, never one to jump to conclusions, Gettler wonders if there's a way these victims might have accidentally consumed these poisons. Which, sounds crazy, but he's actually seen a lot of it.
13:27 Speaker 04 The radium girls.
13:29 Speaker 03 Back in 1925, a dozen women died, and at least 50 more became ill with mysterious symptoms, including necrosis of the jaw. Since they all worked at the same watch factory, the cases were assumed to be connected. However, the company doctors tried to sweep it all under the rug. That's when Gettler was called in. He ran some tests and figured out exactly what was going on. In order to make the watch faces glow in the dark, the workers painted them with radium, which, just like it sounds, is radioactive. The radium girls, as they came to be known, had been licking their paintbrushes to wet
14:10 Speaker 03 them as they painted, unknowingly consuming toxic radium every time. So now, back to these latest poisonings by benzene and kerosene. Maybe all of these victims worked at a rubber tire factory, and they were all roommates in a building heated by burning kerosene. But, probably not. Gettler can't find any connection between them, apart from the unique blend of the poisons that killed them. Each of these chemicals is gnarly enough on its own, but when you put them together, it becomes clear whoever invented this cocktail had a deeply sinister intent.
14:49 Speaker 03 Benzene brings on a seizure. Kerosene constricts the throat. Piradine sends agonizing pain shooting through the gut. Still, other additives would have made the limbs go stiff. Methanol sears the optic nerve after a few gulps, and nearly all the victims went blind before they died.
15:09 Speaker 03 Babe Ruth strikes out to lead off the bottom of the fourth inning. The Yankees are still down, and they haven't even recorded a hit yet. Alexander's starting to worry about the dollar he's wagered on this game, but he's far more worried thinking about those noxious chemicals showing up in his lab sludge.
15:26 Speaker 08 Hey, Mr. Warner, hot dog? Not now.
15:31 Speaker 03 Yankee pitcher Tommy Thompson keeps the White Sox in check through the fifth inning, but his team is still behind. The crowd is restless, especially Alexander Gettler, as his mind turns to the most fucked-up thing about all these poisonings. Since the dawn of prohibition, the bootleggers and the mob have been competing directly with the government: the Prohibition Bureau, Mabel Walker Willibrandt, the IRS, James Duran, and all their cronies. They've been going back and forth, taking their swings at each other, as the government keeps putting nastier things into industrial alcohol, and the outlaws keep hiring chemists to thwart them. Gettler knows what he's seeing is no accident.
16:13 Speaker 03 Finally, in the bottom of the sixth, with Garry gone base, Babe Ruth gets a hold of one.
16:19 Speaker 03 The Colossus of Cloud hammers his 30th homerun of the season, and the Yankees take the lead. Gettler rises to his feet with the rest of the crowd as he watches two all-time greats cross home plate. Sorry to spoil it for you, but the scoreline will hold. The Yankees win 2 to 1. All in all, a bad afternoon for Gettler has turned good, thanks to a single swing of the bat. But as he joins the crowd streaming out of the park and towards the 161st Street subway station, Gettler can't help but wonder: How many of these people would the government be willing to sacrifice for this insane, failing strategy of deterrence?
16:58 Speaker 03 Gettler knows better than anyone, this strategy isn't working. If denaturing industrial alcohol stopped people from making drinks out of it, people would have stopped getting drunk. But that's clearly just not happening. If introducing more and more pernicious cocktails of poisons actually scared people away from drinking, they wouldn't keep ending up on a metal tray in Gettler and Norris's lab. It's madness. Gettler thinks to himself as he boards a packed train back to Brooklyn. Not only are Duran and his boys intentionally making industrial alcohol unsafe, but this latest concoction seems to be a sign they're gonna keep upping the ante.
17:39 Speaker 03 As if there's some magic formula, a perfect mixture so deadly, it could finally convince drinkers to give up the booze. Alexandra Gettler knows this is folly. But he doesn't know how much worse it's about to get.
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18:32 Speaker 09 Hi, I'm Jenna Oshkowitz. You might know me from Glee. This is At the Table, the food allergy podcast, a show about food, connection, and what it really looks like to live with food allergies. Each episode, we hear stories from real people like Daniel.
18:46 Speaker 10 People would always think I was lactose intolerant, so I just kind of shortened my explanation to I'm deathly allergic, in a big way that defined a lot of my childhood.
18:57 Speaker 09 And while there are challenges, there are moments that remind you you're not alone.
19:03 Speaker 11 One of the best guys that I dated, he made a point to memorize all my food allergies.
19:08 Speaker 09 So join us and hear their stories and more. Because living with food allergies isn't just about what you can't eat. It's about still having your seat at the table. Brought to you by Genentech and Novartis. Listen to At The Table, the food allergy podcast, on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Follow At The Table and start listening on the free iHeart Radio app today.
19:32 Speaker 12 This is a warning to all you drinkers tempting fate.
19:37 Speaker 03 That's J.W. Quillan, head chemist at the IRS. Now, I know what you're thinking, and don't worry, our old pal James Duran is still around. In fact, he's moved up in the world. Duran's now the Federal Prohibition Commissioner. Quillan works for him. And on a hot August day, just a week after Babe Ruth's game-winning dinger, Duran has sent Quillan to deliver a warning from the government to drinkers everywhere.
20:03 Speaker 12 Alcohol found in speakeasies is not safe to drink.
20:07 Speaker 03 OK, not exactly breaking news. The stuff has been blinding and even killing people all over the country. And I gotta say, it's pretty twisted to even phrase this as a warning, because Quillan isn't some passive bystander here. It's his office doing this in the first place. He lists the chemicals the IRS has been using. See if any of them sound familiar.
20:30 Speaker 12 This product is compounded with benzene, kerosene, brewsine, and various other products which make it a very deadly poison.
20:37 Speaker 03 That's the fucked-up cocktail of poisons Gettler's been seeing in dead bodies at Bellevue. And it's a formula with an official name.
20:46 Speaker 12 We call this concoction Formula Six.
20:52 Speaker 03 And there it is, Formula Six. It's kinda snazzy sounding, but still enigmatic. The important thing is, one of these toxic recipes has been given a public name. Here's Deborah again.
21:08 Speaker 06 There were dozens of these formulas, each with a different number, each with a different mix of things.
21:14 Speaker 03 Quillen reminds everyone what the plan for these formulas is all about.
21:19 Speaker 12 Specialty denatured alcohol is used for the manufacture of hair tonic and toilet perfumes. This alcohol is unfit for beverage purposes.
21:29 Speaker 03 Sure, that sounds like a warning, but a little PSA to the speakeasy regulars, this ain't. You see, there is a second, much more sinister layer to this press conference, because Quillen goes on to say, "The Treasury Department knows that Formula 6 has not been effective enough, so they're going to release even more formulas that will be even more deadly." The really, really fucked up thing here is they know it's going to kill people. Just listen to the words Quillen uses.
22:02 Speaker 12 "The cup of cheer is lined with death, either swift and dramatic, or slow and painfully sure."
22:10 Speaker 03 Kind of a weird way to talk about a public health crisis, and a downright evil way to talk about a public health crisis he himself was causing. I mean, imagine how different those Smokey the Bear PSAs would go over if we also knew that Smokey was an avowed arsonist. Quillen ended his press conference promising...
22:30 Speaker 12 A wave of alcohol poisoning.
22:34 Speaker 03 As Deborah Blum says...
22:35 Speaker 06 "The government is starting to go, 'Okay, this isn't working. Let's supercharge poisons into the alcohol that the bootleggers are stealing.'"
22:46 Speaker 03 I wish I could tell you this shocked the nation, but it didn't. The next morning, a couple hundred words about the press conference appear on page 22 of The New York Times. Quillan's threat did not exactly start a national conversation, nor did it convert booze hounds into teetotalers from coast to coast. And honestly, did Quillan expect it to? I mean, did he, or James Duran, or Mabel Walker Willibrand, or anyone, really think that announcing they were adding a little more poison would finally do the trick here? We don't know what was in their minds or in their hearts, but we know they proceeded just as Quillan said they would.
23:27 Speaker 03 Oh, and even though Quillan is announcing the feds are retiring Formula 6, that doesn't mean it's going to vanish overnight. Two months after Quillan's announcement, another bureau official casually tells the press he's aware of 1 million gallons of denatured industrial alcohol poisoned with Formula 6, sitting in warehouses right around New York City. These supplies belonged to companies who had permits to buy it legally for industrial purposes, but everyone knows that most of these companies are really just fronts for bootleggers. And all that alcohol is heading for the Holiday Punch Bowl.
24:08 Speaker 13 I could take you down to a warehouse on the east side and show you 500,000 gallons of this stuff, which I am certain is being sold for beverage purposes.
24:18 Speaker 03 The feds know how much tainted liquor is out there, and they know that it's destined for human consumption. In other words, 1 million gallons of poisoned liquor, practically a loaded gun pointed at the city of New York.
24:31 Speaker 13 I know of a place in Newark where there are 300,000 gallons. It will probably be cut and made into all sorts of intoxicating liquors.
24:40 Speaker 03 But for the moment, since it's categorized as industrial, it's legal. So in the minds of the prohibition bureau officials, well, there's nothing they can do. It's like, gee, we'd really love to do something about all that liquor we poisoned, but gosh darn it, it's perfectly legal and privately owned. Our hands are tied. As Christmas approaches, everyone from Gettler to James Duran knows what's about to happen. The only real question is, how many lives will Formula 6 claim?
25:12 Speaker 06 Say Frankie, what time is it?
25:14 Speaker 14 I don't know, it's pitch dark and the clock's all the way over there.
25:19 Speaker 06 Ah gee, now we'll never know.
25:21 Speaker 14 Looks like you boys need Undark.
25:24 Speaker 06 What the hell was that?
25:25 Speaker 14 Show yourself! Yes, with Undark watches, you can tell the time no matter the time, even when it's dark.
25:32 Speaker 06 Even when it's dark? What's the secret?
25:35 Speaker 14 How did you get in here? That's right, the secret is radium. You see, here at Undark, we've harnessed the benevolent power of radiation to make watches that glow in the dark. We use nothing but pure radium to deliver a watch that glows and shines so you know the time, even in the dark.
26:07 Speaker 03 Christmas Eve, New York is a glow with holiday lights as a soft rain falls over the city. The evening starts off as a normal holiday shift at Bellevue Hospital. Cheery music wafts through the halls. It's quiet, for now. Then the ER doors swing open. A man barges in, ranting and raving, gasping for air. He's terrified. He says Santa Claus is chasing him with a baseball bat. The doctors are well aware that, spoiler alert, kids, Santa isn't real, but the man who just burst into the ER seems pretty damn convinced. This isn't your normal holiday drunk. This guy is straight up hallucinating.
26:51 Speaker 03 And he's not the only one. As Christmas morning approaches, over 60 more people crash through the ER doors drunk, sweating and vomiting. Like the guy being chased by a Saint Nick, many of them are seeing things that aren't there. But others are already blind by the time they get to the hospital. That night, eight of them die. Returning to his basement lab after the holiday, Alexander Gettler finds his Boxing Day surprise: eight new dead bodies, not to mention the dozens more people elsewhere in the hospital, blinded or hallucinating. He gets to work examining the man who spent his final hours raving about being stalked by old Kris Kringle.
27:34 Speaker 04 Extremities, turned blue. Lungs bloated, full of fluid. Stomach lining hemorrhaged.
27:40 Speaker 03 Nothing out of the ordinary, just taking a peek at the organs of the recently deceased. And on first glance, Gettler sees the hallmarks of death by alcohol poisoning. The ordinary kind. But that doesn't explain the hallucinations, or the blindness. Gettler knows full well that alcohol impairs vision, but it can't blind you on its own, nor can it make you see things that aren't there. Whatever killed these eight people, and poisoned dozens more, it contained some especially nasty chemicals. Gettler turns to his tried and true method. He takes biopsies of the body's liver, brain, and blood. He blends them into a sludge.
28:23 Speaker 03 He repeats the same process with each of the fresh bodies. Eight livers, eight brains, eight blood samples. Twenty-four beakers of human chemical slurry. As he waits for the results, news of more grisly Yuletide fatalities come in from around the country. A hundred and fifty dead in Philadelphia, seventy-one dead in Baltimore, three hundred twenty-eight in Chicago. Gettler knows he'll get to the bottom of it. Sooner or later, he'll figure out what's in Duran and Quillan's latest formula. But the more pressing question is, will anyone stop them?
29:36 Speaker 09 Hi, I'm Jenna Oshkowitz. You might know me from Glee. This is At the Table, the food allergy podcast, a show about food, connection, and what it really looks like to live with food allergies. Each episode, we hear stories from real people like Daniel.
29:50 Speaker 10 People would always think I was lactose intolerant, so I just kind of shortened my explanation to I'm deathly allergic in a big way that defined a lot of my childhood.
30:01 Speaker 09 And while there are challenges, there are moments that remind you you're not alone.
30:06 Speaker 11 One of the best guys that I dated, he made a point to memorize all my food allergies.
30:12 Speaker 09 So join us and hear their stories and more, because living with food allergies isn't just about what you can't eat. It's about still having your seat at the table. Brought to you by Genentech and Novartis. Listen to At the Table, the food allergy podcast, on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Follow At the Table and start listening on the free iHeart Radio app today.
30:41 Speaker 03 We began this season with the story of Bix Biderbeck, the virtuoso cornetist who, quote, "cracked up and collapsed" while on tour in Cleveland. It's time to come back to his story. See, Bix survived that 1928 incident, but he never really recovered. To be clear, Bix was already a full-blown alcoholic, which certainly didn't do wonders for his health. But ever since that night, he had trouble breathing. He had pains in his legs, and he's convinced he was poisoned. Paul Whiteman, leader of the orchestra in which Bix was a member, keeps hoping his star cornetist will recover. For more than a year, he keeps Bix's chair empty. Nobody knows what exactly happened to Bix, but most chalk it up to drunkenness.
31:25 Speaker 03 Maybe he just needs to dry out. First, Bix goes to his parents' place in Iowa to recuperate. Then he checks into rehab. I'm not sure what rehab was like in the 1920s, but let's just say it was less than fully effective. When he returns to his apartment in New York City, Bix is still in pain and still drinking heavily. When Paul Whiteman comes through town, he invites Bix to join them onstage. Whip through those old solos again, buddy, even if it's just for one performance. But Bix is racked with mysterious pain and struggling just to breathe. Sadly, his playing days are over. It's not long before Bix is a patient at Bellevue Hospital.
32:08 Speaker 03 He was so close to Alexander Gettler. Do you think they ever met? Their paths did actually cross, kind of. See, while undergoing treatment at Bellevue, Bix crashes with his friend, the legendary jazz trombonist Jack Teegarden.
32:23 Speaker 07 There's a story about him taking Jack Teegarden to the morgue at the famous hospital in New York that's still there.
32:32 Speaker 03 That's Randy Sandke, renowned musician and an expert on Bix.
32:36 Speaker 07 And he writes this letter where he talks about how the poison has settled in his legs and he can't get up without falling over. His signature is just so scratchy. And I mean, you can tell that he's shaking. He's not in good health, good control of, you know, of his motor abilities.
32:56 Speaker 03 He's got pneumonia. His eyes are still bloodshot. It's a struggle to keep food down. His breath is so shallow, it's starting to seem unlikely he'll ever be able to hit those great cornet licks he's so well-known for again. So one day, Jack helps him out of bed and down to the street. Anything to preoccupy him, maybe help him regain a bit of his strength. But today, Bix is overcome by a strange impulse, a morbid curiosity. Something in his gut, still ravaged by the poison, tells him to take the elevator down to the basement level.
33:36 Speaker 05 What floor, sir?
33:38 Speaker 03 They take the elevator down to the lowest level. The temperature drops about 10 degrees as they step out. It might just be a bad case of the chills, but Bix swears he can see his breath. They slowly teeter towards a heavy iron door clearly marked with the word "mortuary." A watchman idles by the entrance to the morgue. Turns out, he's a jazz fan. That, along with a $5 bill, is enough to get them inside.
34:08 Speaker 12 Bix, you sure you wanna do this?
34:12 Speaker 03 Jack and Bix are the only living souls in the morgue. No doctors, no students. But there is a lone body lying on an examination table in the middle of the room. She's bloodless, as cold and smooth as marble. Soon she'll be embalmed, redressed, and placed in a pine box. A modest funeral. More than likely, she comes from a family who can only afford the bare minimum. With one foot in the grave himself, Bix must have wondered what he'd look like when it came time to splay him out on a cold steel table. When Randy told us this story, it really hit me. Because Bix stands out to me as the kind of person Gettler was trying to help, trying to save.
34:53 Speaker 03 And the fact that Bix visited the morgue, he literally walked the halls where Gettler was doing his important work. It has a kind of sad irony to it. Like, Gettler was working to put the pieces together and stop the poisonings. He was desperate to save as many people as he could, but it was too late for Bix. And it's almost like Bix knew it.
35:13 Speaker 07 You know, whether there was this death wish concurrently, it's hard to say. But it seems like things developed pretty fast in the last few days.
35:23 Speaker 03 Bix's last few days are hot. It was August in New York, so hot and already addled Bix can't get to sleep. His neighbor is here and playing his piano in the wee hours of the morning. He's seeing people and hearing things that aren't there. Understandably, he's fixated on death. It comes August 6th, 1931, while Bix is still in his apartment. He's sweating, shouting that there are men under the bed. They have knives, they wanna kill him. The building supervisor tries to calm Bix down by playing along. He gets on all fours and looks under the empty bed. Suddenly, Bix dives down from the bed and slams into him. The man struggles to catch him.
36:07 Speaker 08 Oh, we need a doctor!
36:08 Speaker 03 A nurse who lives across the hall runs in to help, but the commotion is over. Bix goes slack and crumples to the floor.
36:17 Speaker 07 I don't know if officially pronounce "Bix dead," but you said this boy is dead.
36:22 Speaker 03 Bix Biderbeck's obituary listed his death officially as pneumonia. Lungs filled with fluid, spasms, shooting pains, hallucinations. Formula Six had done its job. Slow and painfully short. But the bigger question was, would anyone face consequences?
36:53 Speaker 03 Snafu is a production of iHeartRadio, Film Nation Entertainment, and Pacific Electric Picture Company in association with Gilded Audio. It's executive produced by me, Ed Helms, Milan Papelka, Mike Falbo, Whitney Donaldson, and Dylan Fagan. Our lead producers are Carl Nellis and Alyssa Martino. This episode was written by Nevin Kalapali and Steven Wood, with additional writing and story editing from Alyssa Martino and Ed Helms. Additional production from Steven Wood, Olivia Canny, and Kelsey Albright. Tori Smith is our associate producer. Our story editor is Nikki Stein. Our production assistants are Nevin Kalapali and Akimini Ekpo. Fact checking by Charles Richter. Our creative executive is Brett Harris. Editing music and sound design by Ben Chug.
37:38 Speaker 03 Engineering and technical direction by Nick Dooley. Andrew Chug is Gilded Audio's creative director. Theme music by Dan Rosato. The role of Mabel Walker-Wildebrandt was played by Carrie Bichette. Special thanks to Alison Cohen, Daniel Welsh, and Ben Reizak.
38:13 Speaker 01 She's been thinking about this sleepover all week, but I think about her food allergies all the time. Fortunately, her doctor prescribed Zolair, omalizumab. It's proven to significantly reduce allergic reactions if a food allergy accident happens.
38:26 Speaker 02 Zolair 150mg is a prescription medication used to treat food allergy in people one year of age and older to reduce allergic reactions due to accidental exposure to one or more foods. While taking Zolair, you should continue to avoid all foods to which you are allergic. Don't use if you are allergic to Zolair. Zolair may cause a severe, life-threatening allergic reaction called anaphylaxis. Tell your doctor if you ever had anaphylaxis. Get help right away if you have trouble breathing or if you have swelling of your throat or tongue. Zolair should not be used for the emergency treatment of allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis. Zolair is for maintenance use to reduce allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis, while avoiding food allergens. Serious side effects such as cancer, fever, muscle aches and rash, parasitic infection, or heart and circulation problems have been reported. Please see zolair.com for full prescribing information. Ask an allergist about Zolair. This is an advertisement for Zolair,
39:11 Speaker 02 paid for by Genentech and Novartis.
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39:41 Speaker 06 This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human.
Previous S3E5: Double Barrel Next S3E7: Judgement Day Page updated November 3, 2026 · transcript and summary are machine-generated