The Terror: Ice, Lead, and Cannibalism
What's worse: being hunted by an eldritch horror, or slowly dying of lead poisoning in a freezing wasteland where the sun disappears for months? On this episode of Acceptable Losses, DK and Kirioth dissect the doomed voyage of the Terror and the Erebus. We're looking at the show, the book, and the grim historical reality of Sir John Franklin's 1845 lost expedition. With heavy-lifting historical research from Possum, we pull back the curtain on scurvy, starvation, cannibalism, and the relentless Arctic night.
Comments (14)
Yeeeah the peach stuff eaten in Holes would’ve killed those kids. Also in the book ghe creature is supposed to be Nature and if you live with and respect it it will respect and protect you in return and thats why it never really dies. Oh and you forgot to mention the most important part where the creature blows into the mouth of whoever is in charge of it or whatever and plays there organs like a weird pipe instrument if I remember right one of the first real glimpses of it is when Lady Silence seems to be offering herself for the creature to, imo, communicate with her through this manner.
You guys should check out angel engine it’s seems like the type of thing that would be right up your alley
We love our chunky slop don't we boys? *This message brought to you by Campbell's Soup*
DK asks is there any treatment they could have taken for the lead poisoning and my mind instantly races to think of a commercial of like Prilosec or gaviscon “see if your lead lined canned food starts to fizz and smell rotten just down a little bit of this milky substance and it goes right down!” Like it’s fucking lactaid
I feel like it's just a big polar bear. They get big. Real big. 12, 13 feet big. Blend into the snow and kinda look like a large mass with black eyes somewhere up in the air. Big enough to envelop and rip someone apart easily. Polar bears are really, really big. And most European sailors in the 1840s would've had very limited concept of just how big. NOTE TO SELF: Finish the episode before commenting
Thankfully modern maritime technologies make survival in the article better. Norwegians have a survive suit that is a very buoyant waterproof suit with a thick quilt inner lining. Having jumped in arctic waters, navy tradition stuff, can confirm it's pretty cold.
It's been a while, how you doing? Tanks for the episode! See you mentioned it... Hyperion by Dan Simmons... Please make an episode, I'm like an addict looking for crack and you just waved the bag in front of my face 👽
Came for the dread, stayed for the toxic yaoi love story
YESSS!! perfect for my long commute home in traffic after work. Thanks!
Bro what the fuck, the fact this is real life with a bit of supernatural to fill in the ambiguous parts is SO FUCKED. Like holy shit, I’m maybe an hour and 20 minutes in and I AM ABSOLUTELY BAFFLED AT HOW THIS CAN GET WORSE
Would absolutely love an episode on the metro series
you mention being surprised by how horrifying and emotional historical fiction can be, so when's the episode on "all quiet on the western front"? /j
Liked the book love the show mixing real history with the supernatural is always a grand time.
Everything about this (the book, the show, the actual history) is one of my favorite things ever. Thanks for doing this episode!