In 1917 a pair of Allied officers combined a homemade Ouija board, audacity, and imagination to hoax their way out of a remote prison camp in the mountains of Turkey. In this week’s episode of the Futility Closet podcast we’ll describe the remarkable escape of Harry Jones and Cedric Hill, which one observer called “the most colossal fake of modern times.”

We’ll also consider a cactus’ role in World War II and puzzle over a cigar-smoking butler.

Intro:

A 1962 writer to the London Times contends that all thrushes “sooner or later sing the tune of the first subject of Mozart’s G minor Symphony.”

The U.S. Senate maintains a tradition of hiding candy in a desk on the chamber floor.

Sources for our feature on the Yozgad escape:

E.H. Jones, The Road to En-dor, 1919.

Tony Craven Walker’s En-dor Unveiled (2014) (PDF) is a valuable source of background information, with descriptions of Harry Jones’ early life; the siege of Kut-el-Amara, where he was captured; his punishing trek across Syria; the prison camp; and his life after the war. It includes many letters and postcards, including some hinting at his efforts toward an escape.

S.P. MacKenzie, “The Ethics of Escape: British Officer POWs in the First World War,” War in History 15:1 (January 2008), 1-16.

“A Note for Spiritualists,” The Field, March 27, 1920, 457.

“Jones, Elias Henry,” Dictionary of Welsh Biography (accessed 07/30/2016).

“En-dor,” in Rudyard Kipling’s Verse, 1919.

Listener mail:

Associated Press, “Japanese Submarine Attack in California Unnerved U.S.,” Feb. 23, 1992.

William Scheck, “Japanese Submarine Commander Kozo Nishino Gained Personal Satisfaction From Shelling the California Coast,” World War II 13:2 (July 1998), 16.

Wikipedia, “Bombardment of Ellwood” (accessed Aug. 12, 2016).

California Military Museum, “The Shelling of Ellwood” (accessed Aug. 12, 2016).

This week’s lateral thinking puzzle was adapted from Paul Sloane and Des MacHale’s 1998 book Ingenious Lateral Thinking Puzzles.

You can listen using the player above, download this episode directly, or subscribe on iTunes or Google Play Music or via the RSS feed at http://feedpress.me/futilitycloset.

Please consider becoming a patron of Futility Closet — on our Patreon page you can pledge any amount per episode, and all contributions are greatly appreciated. You can change or cancel your pledge at any time, and we’ve set up some rewards to help thank you for your support. You can also make a one-time donation on the Support Us page of the Futility Closet website.

Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode.

If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at podcast@futilitycloset.com. Thanks for listening!