John R Brinkley – “Doctor” of Goat Glands, Lies, and Radio

09-26-23

Episode Transcription

Made by robots, for robots. Only read if you're weird

Unknown Speaker Hey man, what's going on? Have you ever heard of John Romulus Brinkley? The second? Oh. Unknown Speaker I've heard of John Romita is Brinkley, but you're talking about his son. The second. Yes. John are both. Unknown Speaker Allegedly, because like, you don't just do the second. That's Jr. Yeah. Well, yeah, the presence of a second implies implies the presence of a third. Yeah. And also the presence of the first one. Unknown Speaker Maybe I'm gonna name my kid something. Unknown Speaker The second Yeah. Is it Patrick? mahomes. Like the third or whatever. Unknown Speaker I'm pretty sure it's the second, the second or the third. I think he's third. I think he's after mahomes A third. I think he's the second now I'm pretty sure he's the third. Cuz I'm pretty sure he's he's like a logo. His personal logo is pm three. Unknown Speaker Oh, you're right. And so there's a lot of pressure. You know, he has a son. No, he's the second. He's the second. Oh, they only have daughters. All right. Yeah, I think they only have one daughter. I don't know. I don't follow that closely. I'm pretty sure. Unknown Speaker There's a new Nother one. There's a new one. There's a new one. Anyway. Okay. So this is a Patrick mahomes Gossip podcast now. Unknown Speaker I'm airing my adult bully. And I don't know what happened. But as soon as we got married, she is something in her brain just went he's not gonna leave now. And she's got me. Be careful. Be careful. The Dude, it's Saturday night I'll set you up to but he's not a doctor. He is just full of ghosts. I'm just gonna take those feelings. And I'm going to show that's what I'm telling you, man. It's better that way. Unknown Speaker Things I Learned last night Unknown Speaker this is Unknown Speaker John are Brinkley. Oh, the second. This is him before he became Colonel Sanders. Yeah, here he is after he became Unknown Speaker is this is a digitally colorized photos a colorized photo of him I printed the hat they put in when they colorized it. I know. They were like we're tired of doing this. That I can't do his hair back Digital Color artists. Unknown Speaker Here's a picture of her pointing and yelling at somebody probably staged. Unknown Speaker It looks like a stage deal. Here's a picture of him holding someone's baby. It's not his I know that for a fact, because of the story. Don't read that. I know that. Unknown Speaker And here's a picture of all I can't read that. When you say don't read that I scribbled. Unknown Speaker And here's a picture of him, resting his hands on a bald man's head. Unknown Speaker Oh, I love this era of America, where people just took really weird pictures, like really serious, weird pictures. This is his business partner. This was his business. This was the photo of him and his business partner who's on their website to get those on their website. This was about us. What year is this? Like? 1920 or something like that? Okay, when this one was taken? Yeah. Unknown Speaker It's not that funny. But it's like, can we take this picture? You know, you're a person who looks at people planking on the internet and you're like, ah, like it was funny. Yep. Unknown Speaker Yeah, yeah, we can take this picture in a few years when you're bald. Yeah. Good call. Unknown Speaker Wait, do you think something about first? You 100% 100%? Not even a question. I don't like how confident you are in that. I don't know. Let's look through the footage Unknown Speaker from three years ago. Unknown Speaker And just compare it to now. Just every time I turn my head back a little bit. Unknown Speaker People have been pointing it out to him. No one's been pointing out just my wife. My wife knows someone coming out the other day. Unknown Speaker I think it's because we brought it up. Right. We brought this up before Shut up. Okay. He was born in July 8 1885. in Baden, North Carolina. Now he's Unknown Speaker John Brinkley senior. His father, the first John First John R. Brinkley. He was married five times. First. First marriage ended due to the fact that apparently North Carolina or North Carolina had rules for marriages. One of them being you had to be old enough to get married. And his first marriage he was too young to he was too young. Yeah, he was too young. So they were like in the one 1800s Yes, the state was like, not that marriage. What age was he? I can't find that information. I just know that he's Unknown Speaker like 12 Unknown Speaker and he's like an eight year old Unknown Speaker Oh, that's what I'm saying. You know, like it was already, maybe, maybe, okay, this first marriage got overturned by the government. Unknown Speaker But the rest of his marriages didn't all five of the same woman, Unknown Speaker oddly enough, is for marriages. He always married women who are significantly younger than him. And, Unknown Speaker yeah, first one, I just want to make sure I understand his first one gets overturned because he's too young to get married. And then I'm assuming the second one's not that long after. Unknown Speaker I don't I don't know how long after it was, but I do know he was an older man marrying younger women. So I assume based on the stories of the other wives that he waited a few years after his first his first marriage was a little hard one for him to swallow. It took him a year. Yeah, over that. Literally his childhood love. Yeah. Unknown Speaker You know, Unknown Speaker it was It wasn't even his high school sweetheart is a kindergarten sweetheart and the state took her from Unknown Speaker the state took her mind to Unknown Speaker I lost her to the state. That's like if you Unknown Speaker I lost her to the state. Unknown Speaker That sounds like some domestic issues going on. No, I like the idea that like Unknown Speaker No, please, please finish your sentence. It's not gonna get much. Okay, cool. I like the idea of intent warning. Unknown Speaker I like the idea that you go on your honeymoon. And like you go like somewhere exotic to like a national park and you're camping and then your spouse goes missing. And then you come back and what you say is I lost her to the state. As in like, whatever state you were in where you lost her. The state took cool from me. Yeah, me and my wife went looking for treasure. Unknown Speaker Suspicious mountains. Unknown Speaker So married a whole bunch. Okay. Unknown Speaker worse over time, or is he just married five women? They died? They are. They're always younger than him. They always die. You know that my grandpa's been married 13 times? No, when I told you that. No, my grandfather has been legally married 13 times. That's exhausting. Yeah, my grandma was number two. Unknown Speaker And then divorce. Most of them. And like the last three have passed away because he's old now. I mean, that's that, let's say last two passwords and how he said like if you've been divorced more than twice, then it's probably like, Unknown Speaker no, he never got it. He never was like, I'm the problem. He they sent me he sent me an invite to his last wedding. Unknown Speaker It was like in Florida. He's ever wanted to come down for it. Yes. It's great. Great Grandson was his best man. I wrote back and said I'll catch the next one. So Unknown Speaker have you seen that Larry, David bit were these like, he's like, Would you ask him if he would travel for wedding? He's like, I'm like Jimmy Kimmel. I think we've seen that. No, Jimmy Kimmel is like, Unknown Speaker what's the farthest you travel for a wedding? And he's like, he's like, I don't know. It's throwing out and it's like, the guy gave it to them destination wedding. And he's like, No, I'm not gonna go to that. And like, what if it's your like, daughter? And he's like, I'm not going to that he's? And he was like, he was like, he's like, No, if you if you're expecting me to fly, he's like, I'm not going. He's like, he's like, an hour and a half drive is the farthest I'll go for a wedding. Okay, that's a good point. That's a good point. Good point, you flew to mine. Unknown Speaker I was Unknown Speaker I don't think we want to have that fight on a podcast. Unknown Speaker I don't think that you're Unknown Speaker a safe person. Unknown Speaker For me to be vulnerable with. Unknown Speaker Okay, so Unknown Speaker I'm just going to take those feelings and I'm going to shuffle. That's what I'm telling you, man. It's better that way. Unknown Speaker All right, Morty Go ahead. So Unknown Speaker all four of his wives died died before him. And they were younger than him significantly older than him. His fifth era Well, I don't know people died in the 1800s Yeah, just like you get the gist of common cold and you're dead. Yeah. You look at the sun for too long and you die. Awesome. It wasn't anything better Unknown Speaker by looking at the sun all day, all right. Kills Unknown Speaker coincide against Unknown Speaker that sounds gonna kill you. So Unknown Speaker he died his what he loved. Unknown Speaker Looking at the sun Unknown Speaker is fit Unknown Speaker wife Sara had. John The second was kind of wild that waited until his fifth wife to name one of his kids after himself. Did he have other children? Yes. Oh. Unknown Speaker Ran out of name. It was like I just named this one. How many kids do you have? How many kids you have before you do? One named after you? You know? I'm not sure. I know. I know. He has at least one sibling because it's talked about him. Unknown Speaker But I don't know how many like it doesn't have a list of siblings and his thing to prove the oldest sibling to be like the favorite and be like, you know, this is Junior. Quite another Unknown Speaker for like, the fifth kid to be like an old junior and, or, or, or Yeah, the other one used to be Unknown Speaker the second the second? Unknown Speaker Because Unknown Speaker I like him better. Sit him at the table at the table. Hey, so your name is not John Brinkley the second anymore? He traded it. Yeah. He traded it for a bowl of soup. Unknown Speaker Now gonna go buy? Unknown Speaker Sawyer? Unknown Speaker I don't know. That's an old name. Right, Sawyer? Anyways, so Sarah had him out of wedlock, and then they got married because that's what you did in that time. Unknown Speaker And while John was a child, one of Sarah's nieces also named Sarah moved in with them. Unknown Speaker When she was like, in their early second. Unknown Speaker Well, they figured that'd be too confusing. So they started calling her Sally. So is that real? Yeah, they call her Aunt Sally, instead of me. So, Sally, you move in somewhere that like a year ago. Unknown Speaker We already have too many Tim's. Unknown Speaker Tim and aunt, Tommy. Unknown Speaker Sorry, on wherever you're from. I don't know. Unknown Speaker They put Sally and Sally lives in the house. Right. Okay. Sarah, his mother died of tuberculosis when he was five years old. Okay. And then his father John died when he was 10. So now as you're saying, Sally, now it's just him and Aunt Sally. Unknown Speaker So, Sally, and Sally moved into seventh place to go now she has a kid. Unknown Speaker And probably all the others to actually but those ones didn't do anything historically valuable. So we don't know about them. They're not any dollar bills. Unknown Speaker Well, me there's this guy. But he made a lot of them. It's he he went to school in like a log cabin school. Okay, they had classes like two or three months out of the year. Unknown Speaker Depending on how good the year was, you know, they gave him an extra month if it was good. Unknown Speaker Graduated at 16 Sure. and got a job as a town to town sales are not salesman, mailman. So he he didn't put the mail in a box. But he carried it between towns. Yeah. So you had a big bag of here's all the mail for the next town and he had carried over. Thank you for explaining how the mail works. Well, I want to I want to make sure that everyone understands that he was not putting anything in stock for this. You could send a letter you gotta imagine like in the back then. Yeah, the mailman has to be real annoyed. If you put one that's like, far away. Yeah. And then you just know like, he's not gonna take it. I'll take that in like three weeks. How long were they actually delivering letters to the North Pole before someone was like we should stop doing this. They still deliver. Okay? They take them to NORAD. They take them all the nor Unknown Speaker you waste our valuable tax dollars. Of course, forcing those people to read. Read the letter. Make sure it's nothing out loud. Make sure Tara's Unknown Speaker gonna watch these kids these days. Unknown Speaker And so while he was in that log cabin school, though, there was another girl going to school there named Sally. Not as hot. Unknown Speaker But she was a year younger than him and she bullied him his whole life. You want to get married though? You're younger than him. Unknown Speaker But let him his whole life. They were enemies, not friends. Sally did a lot of emotional damage on him as a child. Unknown Speaker Okay, anyways, grew up in the mail of how she bullied him. No, just You said she bullied them. Okay. Yeah. Unknown Speaker Well, eventually they are. But that's different. Unknown Speaker Became a mailman. Yeah. And while mailing. Unknown Speaker He got into telegraphing, they taught him how to do that. Okay. And so he got a job in New York as a telegraph operator, and then moved to Jersey while he was in Jersey telegraph and he gets a call Sally's Unknown Speaker Sick is Sally and Sally is sick. So he comes back and he gets back to beta. By the time it gets there she dies. On behold. Other Sally bullies Sally comforts him. Unknown Speaker They fall in love. They get married. She continues to blame Unknown Speaker because those first one that's the first five the one that they're too young to get married. No, no, no, this is the real John R Brinkley. Now this is a second. This is the second sorry. Yeah, so this is confused. His dad was the one who got married and all that stuff. Yeah. Unknown Speaker Hey, thanks for checking out this episode. If you like this one. Or if you don't like this one. There's so many other ones right? If you're halfway through this one, and you're like, I hate this I want to go check out the Richmond TV vigilante. It's an episode we did a while ago. It's a little bit of a shorter one. But one morning in Richmond, Virginia. He's people wake up with just TVs on their front porch. No idea where they came from until one person checked their ring doorbell footage and got a decent surprise so Richmond TV vigilante is a great episode. If you're gonna go check that out later. But for now, back to this one Unknown Speaker now this is JR to Jr. to Yeah, Mary's is childhood bully. Okay. Unknown Speaker Sally, and they moved to Chicago. I married my adult bully. I don't know what happened. But as soon as we got married she is something in her brain just went he's not gonna leave now. And she's got mean. You know, I heard jokes sometimes I go. Okay. Oh, too. Real? Yeah, she's like making fun of me. Yeah, well, you're easy to make fun of the other day. I was walking out my backpack. She grabbed both straps pull them as tight as she could. And she will walk out the door little turtle Unknown Speaker grown man Unknown Speaker my wife Unknown Speaker cried she's Unknown Speaker sad me. It was fun making it rain. Hail all over me. And you open up the door on that porch bandit was stealing your stuff for your turtle and I was like the Dirac here. I want a little turtle let us tell you that your belt and my neighbor's caught the whole thing on their ring doorbell they well. I hear them. I hear him. I hear. Unknown Speaker They turned the mic on whenever they watch. Yeah. Unknown Speaker I'll ring doorbells work. Unknown Speaker And my neighbors don't have a ring doorbell. There's a guy who sits out Unknown Speaker at like crack the doors like, hey, there's so Unknown Speaker much going on out here. There's a person at your front door, taking extensive notes Unknown Speaker during ski, watch that latest steal my stuff. But it's not his job to get paid enough to intervene. He just gets paid enough to draw so she really did that to me though. She's just so calm. She's just so uncomfortable. And she's a little too comfortable. Now. I go hey, maybe you should buy stuff feelings. Yeah, I'm a boy her back. Yeah, yeah, that's what I always did. To my bullies. Okay, return the ball. I'm gonna lower into Unknown Speaker a tunnel Unknown Speaker with my friends. You know? Unknown Speaker That wasn't bullying. Unknown Speaker That was Unknown Speaker scary. 30 years. So he marries Sallie Mae Sallie. They moved to Chicago and he starts going to medical school. Okay. But it was like one of those medical schools but it's like, is Does that count? You know, you know, every medical school in the 1800s Yeah. And so he's going to this middle school school. After three years though, when they were just like, I know like, here's a cold math. Here you go. Unknown Speaker Actually, yes. And so he he's gone to medical school he's doing the thing would also cure your your Unknown Speaker deviated septum. Yeah, you're right. Unknown Speaker So he is going to medical school. And after three years in medical school, he gets kicked out for not paying any of his tuition at that time. And they're like, we've let you do this for three years. Unknown Speaker Come on. And so he moves to Kansas City, finds another questionable medical school in Kansas City. started going to school there. Same thing happens that doesn't pay as Arthur Bryan's medical school. Unknown Speaker Before they got a barbecue, Dr. Brian subdivides medical school. Yeah. Then he got his license taken away. But he was like he was like you don't want it's pretty similar to the math that I've been telling people barbecue sauce. Unknown Speaker So you just put some brown food coloring in it. Put it on some? Some ribs, okay. Unknown Speaker No, yeah. So he gets kicked out of that medical school again. And he decides, wait a second. I don't need to actually go to the school. And so he calls up a diploma mill in Kansas City and gets a medical license and just pays for it and start practicing medicine. Unknown Speaker In Unknown Speaker sidebar, his dad did this. Not like the fate of his dad was a real doctor. But sure he benefited from the Civil War where like he didn't have to actually get a license. He just got a war license, you know. And then he coasted off that the rest of his life Sure. But he wasn't doing well because he was in a small town where like, there just wasn't like, he wasn't like a rich doctor. He was like a man. If you're in a small town, you gotta go make people sick. Yeah, you know, his wife, his wife. Unknown Speaker Yeah. Oh, yeah, dude, that's annoying. He was creating all of your lifestyle and you're a doctor. And it's like, you got to live with that. And like, yeah, that's why you weren't getting good business Exactly. Like a doctor. Unknown Speaker He could even save his wife. Unknown Speaker That's just bad. PR. It's bad doctoring. Unknown Speaker That doctor. You go to a barber, and they all got bad haircuts. Yeah, you're like, you never want to go to the barber who has a good haircut. Why? Because he's not the one who did it. Unknown Speaker Someone else in that shop did so you want to go to the one that has the worst hair? Cut their own hair? Unknown Speaker Have you ever tried that? Want to go to the one with the worst haircut? No to cut your own hair? Yeah, it's hard. It's really hard anyways. So he gets a plumber gets a fake license, start practicing medicine can study and it goes decent for him. Like, decent, right? During the day in Kansas City. Do we know? I don't know, somewhere in Kansas. Unknown Speaker Does decent, but starts to have some weird rumors pop up about what yours is now. Like 1910s, something like that. Sharks have some rumors pop up about them, trying to face them some trouble ends up in St. Louis, where he met meets that bald guy. Unknown Speaker Yeah, this guy. And they got into medicine, a unique kind of medicine, which was the line. And so what they did is they they started selling German electric juice. Unknown Speaker And it was a German electric juice. Yeah. And so it was a cure all pretty much like it could do whatever you whatever is wrong with you drink our German electric juice. And they were selling it and everyone was really excited about it. And it did pretty well until they got caught because it was just water with food coloring in it. Unknown Speaker And really, yeah, it was literally just water with food coloring. And how do they get caught? Someone came to their little shop and coughing and they're just like with the hose. And just Unknown Speaker it's like, this is how electric juice is. In Germany. This is the real deal. Yeah, yeah. So they started facing like legal issues and Unknown Speaker you take as much as you want before it's packaged. Unknown Speaker started facing some some legal issues in St. Louis. And so he skipped down to a small town in Kansas, where his life really begins. Unknown Speaker And why is in Kansas, he opens up with a bald guy. Now the ball got he ditched the ball guy. And the old guys lose the ball guy got in trouble. The ball guy did face the music. The Yeah, he took the fall. Okay, yeah. And anyways, Unknown Speaker loose Kansas starts practicing medicine in Kansas. And this is where the meat of his adventure begins. Unknown Speaker Why is that? And his wife Sally is bullying him all along the way. Right? She's coming with him. Yeah, so she's blowing him all along the way. She actually leaves them a few times. And while he was in Spain facing legal trouble in St. Louis, she leaves him for good. Oh, yeah. And so that's a good point. She leaves him for good. And he meets another woman named Unknown Speaker Myrna or something like that. Unknown Speaker Okay, I don't remember exactly what her name is. Unknown Speaker And they ended up getting married. But he was our mini Minerva, to Linda Jones calls her Mini Unknown Speaker and Sally finds out and they never actually got divorced. A Sally comes in. She gets really mad and pulleys him some more. Unknown Speaker And then he gets back with Sally. No, no, their relationship ended. They got formally divorced. Unknown Speaker Well, she's like we never formally divorce. You can't see anybody. You can see what Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. Unknown Speaker Anyways, the only reason I brought up Sally is because the pulling thing I thought was funny that he married his boy. Unknown Speaker Okay. Unknown Speaker He's in Kansas. And he's he opens up his practice. Sure, one day while he's in his practice. Unknown Speaker A guy comes in and he's been practicing medicine for a little bit. He's been taking pictures like this of him doing surgeries. Unknown Speaker Okay. Unknown Speaker It's and a guy comes in, and his small town in Kansas. Unknown Speaker Milford, Milford, Kansas has been buried by Lake now a reservoir. The town doesn't exist anymore. Oh, interesting. Because of what he did. They said we should just flood the whole town. Sure. No, so a guy comes in and says Unknown Speaker Hey, Unknown Speaker I've got a medical issue. Can you help me out doc? Unknown Speaker And he's like, Well, what what's your problem? Unknown Speaker He said, he's struggling with impotence. And he's trying to have a baby for a long time and it can't. Unknown Speaker And real professional. Unknown Speaker Actually, I actually put the exact quote there in Kansas, right? So like, there is sure like, I mean, Unknown Speaker Kansas is a land where there's a lot of animals just about, Unknown Speaker like farm animals, there's a lot of farm animals about because there's a lot of farms. Okay? Real professional, you need to get to the quote quicker, you are now real professional. He says, Well, Unknown Speaker points out the window to a goat, and says a pair of those goat glands in you would probably take care of your problem. Unknown Speaker And, okay, and the guy says, Unknown Speaker I think you got something there. Unknown Speaker And so, he agrees to try out an experimental surgery from this not a doctor, but like, Yeah, as far as he knows, is the doctor to surgically implant the goats testicles in him to try to cure his impotence. Unknown Speaker Okay, no, like no reason. So he's just in his met his doctor's office, and he is looking out the window where he goes. Unknown Speaker Like, he's like, he loves looking around the room for like, oh, how can I help this guy? How can I help? Unknown Speaker That's an idea. Unknown Speaker Yeah, yeah. And so he tries it. But here's the thing. Remember, he's not a doctor. And so he doesn't know how he doesn't know any of that works. He works. So Unknown Speaker he doesn't hook them up. Like he just puts them in them. Unknown Speaker Does the surgery I don't understand what you mean. Unknown Speaker Like these are just loosely stuck inside this dude's body. These Goodway calm glands. That's what they call them and all the documentation anyway. Sure. So just loosely, Shazam inside this dude. And Unknown Speaker miraculously, the guy has a baby Unknown Speaker at the end so Unknown Speaker needless to say, suddenly needless to say they named the child Billy Unknown Speaker and that's a true story. That's not a joke. They really made the bill Unknown Speaker and he becomes a giant deal. Brinkley he gets in the news. And that's that's the baby this is Billy This is the goat baby part go and this is this is the article of Brinkley uses goat glands to cure sterility. Okay, which this is an article from the Kansas City Star Unknown Speaker first goat gland baby yeah, it becomes huge news. Here's another article Unknown Speaker Wait, is this like an anti this like? This is a he's the devil kind of thing. No, this is praising him. Oh, really? Because it looks Unknown Speaker aggressive. It does. The article took a goat says preaches fundamentalism practices go clan science. Unknown Speaker And the that headline is the goat horns in a drawing of yeah, that's all I'm saying is like that seems like some demonic, like injury there does. But it's very Yeah. This becomes a giant deal. And we'll forum wide are like, Oh, you mean like there's a cure. And so people start traveling to see him to get some goat glands. Okay. And he's charging $500 a procedure which translated for inflation is 10 grand. Yeah, to get go glands inserted into people. And he realizes Wait a second, like this is this is a cash cow a cash coat, if you will. Unknown Speaker He says he starts coming out and you gotta give a goat milk though. Unknown Speaker So that's my recommendation. You know, you got to feed the child with goat milk. He starts to say oh, wait a second. It's not just sterility. Like it's that's not the only problem this is a Unknown Speaker panacea any any issue you got. Go clans will cure it. And so see, always shoot for the moon too much too much. You can try to solve one problem. You made a lot of money. Yeah. Well, you didn't make a lot of money because everyone was like, I got to forgive those as well. That helped me and he's like, Yeah, you got to put it up on your ribs and Unknown Speaker So he was just implanting these in random parts of different people's bodies, because they had different diseases. And it was literally I mean, it was essentially he was implanting a tumor into people's bodies because he was like, Yeah, it'll heal you. And Unknown Speaker it was working really well for it was making a lot of money men and women lining up to get these glands inserted in them because they believed that this was this was bad. It kind of was like it would heal you of pretty much anything. Yeah. And so he's got lines out the door. I've got anxiety, you know, would help with that. Unknown Speaker It's like looking out the window. Well, you know what animal house with that? Unknown Speaker You come into the doctor's office. It's like It's like Dr. Doolittle. And like all the animals. Unknown Speaker Is it like dogs? Is he talked with his goats? Unknown Speaker I don't know what it's about. You could have chosen Unknown Speaker that Evan Almighty was surrounded by animals and you went it's like Dr. Dulo, who's having conversations with the goats a goat crazy idea. Unknown Speaker As he is he grown his own goats that I guess he's he's coming from, okay, I don't know where the goats are coming from. Unknown Speaker Thanks for checking out our show. If you like it, and you want to support be a part of what we're doing here, you can do that by becoming a patron. What happens there is you get to be in the community, we have a discord with our hosted producers, we have a lot of fun. We're super active in there every day, you get access to add free content a week before everybody else. And we have a zoom every month with our patrons that we hang out, we eat pizza, we get to know you a little bit better. It's a blast. And there's a ton of other different benefits like merch discounts, birthday messages, things like that, that are super cool. If you want to be in that you can just text Dylan 266866. And that'll get you right in there. If not, we're just super glad that you're here. And thanks for watching our show. Unknown Speaker But he's making a lot of money gets very wealthy. And so he makes the logical next step. He builds a radio tower. And he gets into broadcast to advertise. Yeah. And so he is actually a pioneer in advertising gland FM. Unknown Speaker He becomes a pioneer in advertising glands.com. Unknown Speaker He becomes a pioneer in advertising because he was one of the first people in radio to broadcast but to run ads. And so he would run ads for his go glands and his broadcasts. And he did an early version of like an Ask Me Anything, where people could write in their medical questions, and he would broadcast the answers to them. But he remember it's not. He's like, you gotta you gotta go out on your property. Unknown Speaker Well, I need you to do is I need you to every answer somehow just incision right below your elbow. You can do it. I can do it. You can do it. Unknown Speaker You don't have to do anything with it. Just shove it in there and then duct tape yourself back up. Yeah, you'll be healed. Duct tape. Unknown Speaker So $2,000 changes your life, you've got other problems. Unknown Speaker So he's doing broadcast radio advertising for the goathland stuff, right? And that really starts to take it to a whole new level people are traveling from way further, because they're hearing about this on the radio broadcast. Unknown Speaker And lo and behold, Unknown Speaker a significant person hears this broadcast, and comes to town to find out what's going on. And this is a guy by the name of Unknown Speaker Morris fish being and Morris fish been. It's been fish. Unknown Speaker Fish been Unknown Speaker jarred your fish beads or Unknown Speaker a turtle boy. Unknown Speaker Beads are out called Fish toes. Unknown Speaker Fish being worked for the American Medical Association. Oh, and he heard about this. And he was like, that sounds made up. And so he came to observe one of these surgeries sure to see what was going on. And so he interviewed. He interviewed Brinkley, and he asked Brinkley like okay, can you tell me more about this procedure? And like I said, What? Gauguin's Unknown Speaker What is this decencies How can we replicate this? So medical institutions across the country can start to implement this, this thing? And he said, he said, I'm the only one I can do it. No one else can do it. I'm the only one who's who's able to do this, this procedure. And the vision means like, Okay, can I watch? And he's like, Sure. And so he lets him come in and watch the procedure and he sees it. And fish being is like, fish being realizes immediately. Unknown Speaker Hey, this guy is dropping. Yeah. Unknown Speaker I mean, nothing's actually happening. Well, he's just shoving the them in there. Like there's no actual, like medical reason why they should do anything. In fact, it actually probably causes a lot more harm than good because you have a foreign body just shoved into your body. And so he goes back to the American Medical Association and writes a paper produces it for their publication, being like, okay, yeah, this guy is someone that no one should ever seek medical attention from. And its license needs to be called into question. And so the American Medical Association starts to come after him. Unknown Speaker But doesn't actually like pull the trigger on anything. They're just publicizing things within their medical journals about the fact that the goat gland procedure is fake, and that Brinkley's doesn't have any central ATM. Essentially, the problem is the American Medical Association's journals were Unknown Speaker read by doctors. Yeah, it's all public. Yeah, all the doctors were like, oh, yeah, that guy's a fraud. But the public was hearing this guy on the radio, yeah, talking with authority, and they will continue to travel to get these procedures done on them. And so he Unknown Speaker fish being kind of launches this, this smear campaign, but the only place he can get published is in the medical journals. Okay. And so he's not Unknown Speaker being hurt. Yeah. It's not having an effect on the the success tree, if you will, yeah. And so his radio broadcasts just continues to get bigger and bigger and bigger. Unknown Speaker And finally, the state of Kansas, learns from the American Medical Association about his radio show where he's giving medical advice. And so the state of Kansas starts to the medical board in the state of Kansas starts to go through some legislation to regulate radio broadcasts, to not allow you to give medical advice over the air. Because they're like, that's probably not Yeah, not good, smart. And so they pass this legislation, and he gets his broadcast shut down. And he's not allowed to broadcast at all anymore in this crisis. And so he does what any logical person does moves, he runs for governor Unknown Speaker and says, I will run for governor and replace the entire medical board and change the law so I can have my radio station back. Unknown Speaker Okay. So he, he, he runs for governor and his his, his campaign was interesting, positively will reduce taxes and state expense. Yeah, so his, his campaign was interesting. He promised to reduce taxes, and open up more lakes than any other government. Any other governor in the history of Kansas, he was going to open a bunch of lakes, which is a crazy promise to make coupled with each other to lower taxes and open a bunch of legs. I don't know if like legs or legs are free, overall, but I'm so many legs. But his campaign was going really well. Because he was actually like, a pretty popular person in the state of Kansas for his surgery. And for his radio shows. And for the fact that during the campaign, most of the rallies were like, I mean, Kansas in the 18, or the 1930s. And so it's like, the rallies are happening, their campaign rallies are happening in fields somewhere. And so in he's a rich guy at this point. And so he was flying into all of his rent rallies and landing at the rally. And everyone was like, oh, I want that guy. I want that guy's cool. Unknown Speaker Got it? Okay. It's good to know that this. Unknown Speaker Cool. Unknown Speaker And his campaigns go really? Okay. We'll see you. Unknown Speaker Soon what you want to say I don't want to say Unknown Speaker it's escaping. It's going really, really well. Sure. He's got really good odds. He's, he's winning in the polls. And the state of Kansas sees this. And they go, like, we can't let this guy win. There's no way we're letting this guy become the governor. So they hurriedly pass a law where if you're a write in vote, because that was an important part of that his campaign, he launched his campaign just a little bit too late to be on the ballot. He had to be a write in. But he was still doing so well in the polls that they thought he's gonna get wrote in and actually when the governor so they pass the law that for writing votes, you have to print the name exactly as they tell you, you have to print the name. And so they wrote like you have the right John are Brinkley Sure. A lot of people just put John Brinkley so those folks got thrown out. Yeah. And so he ended up losing the governor. Race, but if it weren't for that, most people think he would have actually won because that law that got changed. Last second, a little sketchy. A little sketchy. Yeah. And so he lost that race. He tried again the next race and didn't get it. And so now it's been a few years and his business is struggling because his his lack of a radio station. Yeah. So he made the decision Unknown Speaker to move to Del Rio Texas. Yeah. Because Del Rio, Texas, significantly Unknown Speaker thing about Unknown Speaker where that city is located is it's right along with the Texas Mexico border. And there was an interesting thing that was happening between the United States and Canada and Mexico at the time. And that was Unknown Speaker the United States and Canada just got together and passed this legislation about long distance broadcasting. Okay, split up who has the rights, and the United States and Canada were like, we get all of the rights. And Mexico was like, We want some, and they're like, no, no, you don't. And Mexico was really mad about it. And so Mexico was just like, I whatever, fine. We're gonna give a bunch of people long distance radio rights, like I know, we're not supposed to, but we're doing it anyways. Because you guys were rude to us. And that thing that we did about it, like we got together, we said, we're going to do this and then you guys bullied me. And so we're doing our thing. And so and also, we're gonna get married. Unknown Speaker We're gonna get married in a few years, but we'll come back to it. That's an unhealthy complex I developed in childhood where I have a feeling for people who make fun of me and I really want to really need to earn your I want to chase you. So he moves to Del Rio, Texas for the Express reason that he knows why he doesn't have long. Yes, he doesn't have broadcast rights in the in the United States anymore. He got banned for the stuff that he was doing. He's like, I can get it in Texas, and are in a school in Mexico right across the border live in Texas. And so he opens up this radio station in, right on literally right on the other side of the border. Yeah, like you can see it from the fence. I don't know if there's a fence yet. Unknown Speaker Which you could see it from the Great Wall. Unknown Speaker And they the amount of Unknown Speaker like the offer that the country of Mexico gave to this guy's absurd. They gave him a 500,000 watt radio station, it was a two, there's two radio towers that are connected by this radio array. It is the most powerful, privately held radio station to ever exist. What broadcast range of this went to Canada, like well into Canada from the border, and so he could broadcast to basically the whole country. Unknown Speaker From right on the other side of the border, because this was such a massive radio array. And they still did it basically to be like, Screw you. Yeah. And because it was in Mexico, Mexico don't have any legislation yet. He could now broadcast whatever he wants. Sure. And so now, the entire US and Canada hearing about plans and Mexico is hearing about as grants. He's doing the same broadcasts he was doing in Mexico. They got goats. Yeah, they got all kinds of goats in Mexico. And so he's he continues doing his Koechlin surgery now in Del Rio moves into a hotel. Unknown Speaker going it's going pretty well moves into a hotel and Unknown Speaker rents out a couple of rooms in the hotel as his practice. Unknown Speaker Okay, which if you're seeking if you're going Unknown Speaker to show to Unknown Speaker Hampton in Unknown Speaker like, yeah, I'll see you in room 478 Oh, sorry. Don't go 678 Is someone from I don't know. Albuquerque. That's a family vacation. Unknown Speaker They're not going to help you. They will. They won't. But be careful. Be careful. The dude on Saturday night. I'll tell you up too, but he's not a doctor. He is just full of goats. That's where he keeps all the goats. It's like overflowing he's gonna push the door shut. Yeah. Unknown Speaker And then housekeepers are that's sheep. Goats bad two. Oh, they don't just they do know that they scream they don't buy they do bad. Oh, no. They go Unknown Speaker it's not Unknown Speaker different sounds. No, it's not play it back on her. He was going back and they go ah, goats make a bot sound similar to the sound of sheep make. However, goat vocalizations are closer to what's called a bleat. Which is a sound also sometimes made by cows and deer lower interesting Unknown Speaker so he he's he's running out of this hotel and it goes well he ends up buying the hotel and turning the whole hotel into his practice and he puts a neat little sign on it and calls it the brink the hospital in Del Rio, Texas No it's not. Unknown Speaker And now he's got an empire he's got her his his radio station is doing super well like he's he's actually broadcasting country music stars on this radio now that are getting their start on it. Sure. And he's got his his hospital that's crashing as well. Unknown Speaker The radio station thing becomes such a big deal a bunch of other competitors start opening up radio stations along the border and it becomes this thing known as border blasting. Which sounds different but it's it's just running a radio station on the border. Unknown Speaker Oh, Unknown Speaker It becomes a huge success from sportscasting success from border blasting and is raking in the dough manages in Del Rio, Texas to open up or to build. Unknown Speaker Wow giant home, which is now our good picture is he's got Dr. Brinkley on his gate. Yeah. Unknown Speaker Sounds still exist. Yeah, it's on the National Register of Historic Places. Oh, wow. So a, you know, it sucks what is like now that's like not a mansion Unknown Speaker you know? Yeah. And now that's that's I mean that's still cost you that's a how $7 billion? No Unknown Speaker it'll still probably cost three does the does the gate still say Dr. Brinkley? I don't think so. I don't think the gates there anymore. Which seems I bet yeah, it's on the National Register of Historic Places. He continued running his Unknown Speaker his radio station and his his How long is he doing this? I mean, this is into the 50s. Now, he's been doing this for 20 years now. Yeah, he's been doing it for decades are dying because of the Go clans? So yeah, so there's about 32 people that you can say their death was tied to the goat glands. It's Unknown Speaker there's a few you can say for sure. They got an infection from the grantee and that killed them. Okay. handful more where it's like, They that could have been the glands that killed him. It could have been stung. That just coincidentally happened at the same time. Okay, most of it was they got infection, so they died. Unknown Speaker And so yeah, it's becoming a serious thing. Fish being is still on his tail. There's been this whole time has been releasing articles in the American Medical Association journals, trying to slander his name, but he doesn't have like a lot of power. He's trying to do everything he can to take this guy down. But this guy's just too rich. He's got too much too much on him. Okay, so fish bean Unknown Speaker enters into a lawsuit against him. Unknown Speaker Basically being like you're operating under Unknown Speaker a fake diploma, and you're doing stuff that's actually killing people, like you should not be Unknown Speaker a doctor, you can't call yourself a doctor. And so he tries he tries to countersue him for defamation, okay, and Unknown Speaker dramatically loses this, this lawsuit Unknown Speaker ends up hitting getting hit in the 50s with a $3 million Unknown Speaker settlement that he has to pay which bankrupt him lose asset sales. Right. So he has to sell because he countersued Yeah, because he tried to do that countersuit. Unknown Speaker And so he ends up having to sell the hotel is his radio station, his home, Unknown Speaker loses everything in that suit, and is no longer able to practice medicine. Unknown Speaker And so without access to his ability to do medicine, and without access to his radio station, he's pretty much lost his ability to make it Yeah. And so that was kind of the end of the story for him. He ended up suffering three or three heart attacks and got some I can't be Davis. Unknown Speaker Okay. Unknown Speaker three heart attacks and got his leg amputated. Yeah, it just feels so unrelated. Like, okay, the leg amputation. Unknown Speaker Pretty Pretty. Go leg on there. Give me Unknown Speaker like one knee goes forward and one knee goes back. But there's so much shorter so it only goes down just Unknown Speaker like it's got this weird diagonals Unknown Speaker Yeah, when he walks it's really weird. Circles. Unknown Speaker It's like I tried to tell him I tried to tell him to just put a goat gland in there, but they put the whole leg Unknown Speaker I went under and I woke up like this. Me a tall one. Pick up the shortest one and what are they called? The kids the pack? Pack? I don't know. Unknown Speaker So yeah, so he was taught. I don't know what to tell Sally about this, please. Unknown Speaker She'll make fun of me so much for this facer? Oh, they'll go boy Unknown Speaker I hate it but I also like it. Oh, I have more than external problems. Unknown Speaker So he, he ended up getting buried in Tennessee for some reason. Memphis, Tennessee. I don't know how that happened. Yeah, he was, uh, probably near Elvis. So he got buried there and he had this like monument with a Angel at the top of it. And in 2017 Someone stole the angel. So now it's a monument Unknown Speaker really tall monument with just the angels foot at the top of it. So Unknown Speaker that's the story. funnier if they left the whole leg Unknown Speaker as it started John Brinkley, a man who managed to scam a bunch of people with a fake that how long after the last day die? Um, I think how long did he live poor at the end? See? Unknown Speaker Like four or five years? Not very long. Unknown Speaker And so yeah, I don't know three years. Unknown Speaker So yeah, so II, he survived off of a fake medical license for decades with a fake medical license was a pioneer in broadcast radio and advertising started border blasting which was a huge deal through the 30s and 40s Unknown Speaker and had a political career of sorts. So Unknown Speaker and it's all thanks to the Koch glands. Unknown Speaker Wow. That's John Brinkley, and his dad was married five times. That was a detail that was the story wasn't it? Unknown Speaker I just wanted to get the fact that there's so many Sally's in his lives. Unknown Speaker More Saudis than makes sense. That's the reason that Sally shut up Unknown Speaker I'm joking Unknown Speaker What are you doing Unknown Speaker now their nannies Yeah. Yeah, their nannies as close as it's close. Anyways, cuddle them off Unknown Speaker things on last night is a production of space Tim media produced by Christian Taylor audio is edited by Alex Garnett video by Connor Betts social media is run by Caleb Walker and graphic design by Caleb Goldberg. Our hosts are Jaron Meyers and Tim stone please follow us on social media at tellen podcast that's ti LL IN podcast leave a review, comment, subscribe, wherever you are. Thank you for listening to things on the last night Transcribed by https://otter.ai


John R. Brinkley was an extraordinary man known for his peculiar medical procedures, controversial political career, and groundbreaking contributions to radio and advertising. Born in 1885 in North Carolina, Brinkley’s life was filled with twists and turns that left an indelible mark on history.

Early Life and Shady Beginnings

Brinkley’s upbringing was far from ordinary. Raised in a modest household, he struggled academically and lacked formal medical training. Despite these limitations, he was determined to become a doctor. John R. Brinkley’s path to medicine was not straightforward; he resorted to cheating his way into the medical profession.

Cheating His Way to Becoming “Doctor” Brinkley

In the early 20th century, Brinkley obtained a dubious medical degree from a correspondence course. Armed with this questionable credential, he embarked on a medical career that would soon become infamous for its controversial procedures.

The Spectacle of Goat Glands

One of Brinkley’s most notorious contributions to medicine was his “Goat Glands” procedure. Claiming that implanting goat testicles into human patients could cure various ailments, including impotence and infertility, Brinkley garnered widespread attention.

Goat Glands: A Miracle Cure or Quackery?

The Goat Glands procedure sparked intense debate in the medical community. While some patients reported miraculous recoveries, many criticized the treatment as quackery. The controversy surrounding John R. Brinkley’s medical practices led to legal battles and the eventual loss of medical license.

A Rise to Political Prominence

Despite the setbacks in his medical career, Brinkley’s ambitions were far from extinguished. He ventured into politics, running for public office in Kansas. His campaign promised innovative solutions and tapped into his charismatic persona and newfound popularity.

John R Brinkley: The Political Maverick

Brinkley’s political career was as unconventional as his medical practices. He ran for various positions, including governor, using his unique brand of populism and media savvy. Colorful speeches and promises of change marked his campaigns.

Radio Revolution and Advertising Pioneer

In addition to his medical and political endeavors, Brinkley made significant contributions to the world of radio and advertising. He pioneered radio broadcasts for promotional purposes, laying the foundation for modern advertising techniques.

John R. Brinkley’s Radio Revolution

Brinkley recognized the power of radio in reaching a vast audience. He utilized this medium to promote his medical procedures and political campaigns, effectively shaping the future of advertising.

The Fall of a Controversial Figure

As Brinkley’s fame grew, so did the scrutiny surrounding his actions. Accusations of unethical practices, including financial misconduct and fraudulent medical procedures, began to surface.

The Downfall of Brinkley

The mounting controversies eventually caught up with Brinkley. Legal battles and investigations led to his downfall, culminating in the revocation of his medical license and his withdrawal from the political arena.

A Complex Legacy

John R. Brinkley’s life was a tapestry of ambition, controversy, and innovation. Brinkley left an indelible mark on history from his shady beginnings to his infamous Goat Glands procedure, from his political escapades to his contributions to radio and advertising. His complex legacy continues to be a subject of fascination and debate, a testament to the enduring allure of a truly unique individual.

In the end, John R. Brinkley’s story serves as a cautionary tale, reminding us of the importance of ethical conduct and genuine expertise in medicine and politics. It also highlights the power of media and advertising to shape public perception, for better or worse. The saga of John R. Brinkley is a reminder that even the most colorful characters in history can leave a lasting impact, for better or worse.


Things I Learned Last Night is an educational comedy podcast where best friends Jaron Myers and Tim Stone talk about random topics and have fun all along the way. If you like learning and laughing a lot while you do, you’ll love TILLN. Watch or listen to this episode right now!

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Sources

John R. Brinkley – Wikipedia


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