John Murray Spear's Excellent Adventure Part II (Premium E344) Sample

Summary

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QAA Podcast: John Murray Spear's Excellent Adventure Part II (Premium E344) Sample

Date: July 11, 2026
Hosts: Jake Rockatansky, Travis View, Julian Feeld, Jack LaRoche
Sample covers the beginning of the episode.

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Overview

In this episode, the QAA Podcast team continues their bizarre and comedic deep-dive into the story of John Murray Spear—a 19th-century spiritualist, radical, and would-be builder of a "spiritual machine" inspired by channeled messages from Benjamin Franklin. The hosts revisit Spear’s utopian ambitions, relationships, and eccentric pursuit to build what’s dubbed "Robo Jesus," while reflecting on the fine line between revolutionary idealism and delusion.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Cold Open & Tone Setting

• The episode opens with the hosts riffing on the recurring "bing bong" phrase, highlighting the show's usual self-aware, irreverent style.
  • Jake: "That's been such a struggle since Liv's episode... That's me watching myself go bing bong in a totally inappropriate situation." (00:01)
• Jake jokes about the show getting less professional and “Benjamin Buttoning” its way backward into weirder territory.

2. Recap of John Murray Spear

• Jake reintroduces Spear and asks the group what they remember about him.
  • Travis: "[Spear] was incredibly based, driven by religion, wanted to... end slavery... But then started starting to get into some weird American flavored, ascended mastered stuff, starting with channeling like Benjamin Franklin spiritualism." (01:45)
• Julian points out that Benjamin Franklin guided Spear (through seances) to build a mysterious machine.

3. Was Spear Destined for Madness?

• Travis raises the provocative question: Did a brutal beating (that left Spear in a coma for a week) change him, or was he always fated for esoteric obsession?
  • Jack: "I think he was too much of an idealist for this dirty fallen world... his intentions were just too naively pure." (02:19)

4. Spear’s Quest: Will It Become Villainous?

• Jake asks if Spear's attempt to construct "Robo Jesus" will make him a villain or if idealism will prevail.
  • Julian: "I really hope that his high minded ideals win out... this is a kind of precursor to Wilhelm Reich... I like to have a positive outlook as opposed to the two cynics I do this podcast with." (02:47)
• Jack is less optimistic, worrying that Spear is so disconnected from reality ("head so far up in the clouds") that his actions might have real-world destructive consequences. (03:12)

5. Spear’s Relationship with Betsy Briggs

• Travis laments the damage done to Spear's wife, Betsy Briggs:
  • "She wasn’t particularly interested in the Reformation ideas... She opened her house to fugitive slaves... but wanted to be married to a stable, more well-to-do pastor." (03:30)
• The hosts riff on Betsy’s imagined private frustrations and the era's social expectations, with humor verging on absurdism.
  • Jake: "The things that Betsy Briggs said behind closed doors to her girlfriends, I shudder to think about." (04:25)
  • Travis: "With a name like Betsy Briggs, I just can't do anything but picture her on a big old Mississippi plantation. And I have this just deep need to just say, fuck her." (04:30)
  • Julian: "You just have achieved it [misogyny]. Either way, it's okay." (04:45)

6. Building the Spiritual Machine

• The heart of the episode focuses on the bizarre project Spear and his followers undertook: constructing a spiritual machine, guided by spirits.
  • Travis: "John Murray Spear, along with his followers, is hard at work constructing a spiritual machine. Bear in mind, John has no mechanical knowledge, but he doesn't need it. The spirit of Benjamin Franklin, along with his spiritual association of Electricizers, over the course of 200 messages are relaying the plans by which the new motor is going to be built." (04:56)
• The machine was said to be about the size of a Volkswagen Bug, assembled atop a seance table in High Rock Tower, Lynn, MA. Its construction involved both spirit channeling and psychic intuition.
  • Details are recounted from historical descriptions, including metal shafts, suspended pivots, and ambiguous references to a "human shape."
• Julian reads:
  • "A living working mechanism can be constructed which shall not be farther below man than the animals which roam the earth in correspondence..."
  • "...It will reproduce the human form, but it will also reproduce the macrocosm, the whole universe, the perpetuum mobile." (07:10)

7. Machine Personhood & Meaning

• Jack: Interprets these descriptions as the creation of a being with "less moral worth than a human, but more moral worth than a machine... on par with an animal." (07:30)
• The hosts note the contradictions and vagueness in the spirits' messages, emphasizing the surreal nature of the account.

8. Dark Humor and Language Jokes

• Jake & Julian joke about the ambiguous mental state of Spear and the proper period-appropriate way to refer to his condition:
  • Julian: "It's mental illness, Julian."
  • Travis: "The correct term is crazyism." (08:02)
  • Julian: "Oh, yeah, right. Sorry, I gotta be era-specific."
  • Travis: "You do, you do. We have to be era specific in how we reference these things." (08:08)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Jake: "I'm like Benjamin Buttoning the podcast. Like, we should be getting more professional and better, but I'm gonna take us back to the earth." (00:25)
• Julian: "I like to have a positive outlook as opposed to the two cynics I do this podcast with." (02:47)
• Travis: "With a name like Betsy Briggs, I just can't do anything but picture her on a big old Mississippi plantation. And I have this just deep need to just say, fuck her." (04:30)
• Julian: "You just have achieved it. Either way, it's okay." (04:45)
• Travis: "The spirit of Benjamin Franklin, along with his spiritual association of Electricizers, over the course of 200 messages, are relaying the plans..." (04:56)
• Julian, quoting Franklin (allegedly): "A living working mechanism can be constructed which shall not be farther below man than the animals which roam the earth in correspondence... It shall be like man, but in sober fact inferior..." (07:10)

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Key Timestamps

• 00:01 – Bing bong riff, cold open
• 01:32 – Introduction of hosts and recap of last episode
• 01:45 – Initial thoughts about John Murray Spear
• 02:11 – Was his change due to trauma or destiny?
• 02:32 – Will Robo Jesus turn villainous?
• 03:30 – The Betsy Briggs digression and discussion
• 04:56 – Building the spiritual machine: origin story
• 07:10 – Quoting the mystical "machine" instructions
• 08:02 – Joking about period-appropriate terminology for mental illness

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Summary Flow

The episode is a playful yet analytical continuation of the John Murray Spear saga. The QAA hosts blend skeptical historical analysis with their signature absurdist humor, poking fun both at the outlandishness of Spear’s "spiritual machine" and the personalities surrounding him. The dynamic alternates between informative breakdowns (Spear’s life, his wife’s disillusionment, the technical and philosophical weirdness of the machine) and irreverent, bantering asides that keep the episode lively and accessible, even for listeners new to the story.

Listeners will leave with a mix of historical curiosity, amusement, and disbelief at the true tale of America's strangest utopian tinkerers—and a sense of how easily hopes for progress can blend into the bizarre.

Transcript

[A]

Bing bong, bing bong, bing bong, bing bong. That's been such a struggle since Liv's episode. Such a struggle for me. And I see it happening. I'm like, outside of my. Like when people talk about how like dying on the operating table and they're like floating like 10ft above themselves, like, and everything's okay, that's me watching myself go bing bong in a totally inappropriate situation.

[B]

It's just gonna get worse, Jake.

[A]

It's just gonna get worse and worse. And if you're hearing this, well done, you found a way. Good luck with that. Cory. Just kidding. I don't know. Sorry, I didn't mean to be so adversarial. I thought it was a decent cold open. I don't know, maybe we can. Maybe we can make it worse. I'm like Benjamin Buttoning the podcast. Like, we should be getting more professional and better, but I'm gonna take us back to the earth. If you're hearing this. Well done. You found a way to connect to the Internet. Welcome to the QAA Podcast Premium Episode 344 John Murray Spears Excellent Adventure Part 2 John Murray Spears Bogus Journey as always, we are your hosts, Jake Rockatansky,

[C]

Jack LaRoche, Julian Fields and Travis View.

[B]

So welcome back everybody. Last episode I introduced y' all to John Murray Speer. What do you guys remember about this amazing man?

[D]

Well, yeah, well, he was incredibly based, driven by religion, wanted to, you know, end slavery and you know, liberate people. But then started starting to get into some weird American flavored, ascended mastered stuff, starting with channeling like Benjamin Franklin spiritualism.

[C]

And towards the end, Benjamin Franklin was giving instructions on building a machine. I'm sure that'll go well.

[B]

Do you think that him being beaten into a week long coma had something to do with the turn? Or do you think he was always destined for this?

[D]

I think, I think he was too much of an idealist for this dirty fallen world. You know, I think he was always gonna start, you know, drifting away because his intentions were just too naively pure.

[B]

Ah, now I'm gonna be very unfair and ask you all. Do you think that his quest to build Robo Jesus is going to take him into a villainous direction or do you think that his high minded ideals will win out in the end?

[C]

I really hope that his high minded ideals went out in the end. I feel like this is a kind of precursor to Wilhelm Reich. And as far as I know, the cloud busting the orgones like he, you know, it didn't turn him into some sort of monster. So I'm hoping the same for John Murray Spear. But, you know, I like to, you know, have a positive outlook as opposed to the two cynics I do this podcast with.

[B]

So what do you guys think?

[D]

You know, I don't think. I don't think, you know, necessarily villainous. I think that he will be destructive just because he has his head so far up in the clouds that he's kind of disconnected from the effects that his beliefs and his visions having upon, like, in the material world.

[B]

Yeah, I think that that's pretty fair. And I, you know, I struggle with the damage he's already done to his wife because, you know, Betsy Briggs, from the start, was not particularly interested in the Reformation ideas that he had. You know, she never really engaged with any of his visits to the prisons and, you know, his work for abolition, et cetera. She opened up her house to fug as slaves, but she wasn't really into it. You know, the biggest thing that she really participated in was a soup kitchen that he started at one point to serve food to homeless children. But this. This wasn't her thing. She wanted to be married to a stable, you know, more. Well, to do pastor in a large town. That was really her big.

[C]

I'm with him.

[B]

Yeah, I'm with him, too. I mean, Betsy, I. I feel for you, but he's too based for you.

[C]

Yeah. Too much power.

[A]

The things that Betsy Briggs said behind closed doors to her girlfriends, I shudder to think about.

[B]

I do, too, man. I mean, with a name like Betsy Briggs, I just can't do anything but picture her on a big old Mississippi plantation. And I have this just deep need to just say, fuck her.

[A]

That's where she wanted to be.

[B]

Sorry, I'm not trying to be misogynistic. Just.

[C]

You just have achieved it. Either way, it's okay.

[B]

Yeah, I have. I mean, we're off to a great start with this episode.

[C]

Great start.

[A]

Well, I've derailed it all.

[C]

Now let's get serious and get to the cum.

[B]

Yep, let's get to the cum. This is gonna be an episode that's full of cum. I promise you. The new motive power. So John Murray Spear, along with his followers, is hard at work constructing a spiritual machine. Bear in mind, John has no mechanical knowledge, but he doesn't need it. The spirit of Benjamin Franklin, along with his spiritual association of Electricizers, over the course of 200 messages are relaying the plans by which the new motor is going to be built. John's devotees likewise are Using their own psychic abilities to help modify the machine bit by bit as they construct it. The channel spirits are telling them intuitively how to put each of the pieces into the building of this machine. It's thought to be, just for ease of imagining here, roughly the size of a Volkswagen Bug. So this is no small machine, guys. This is a pretty sizable endeavor, you know, this machine is being built atop a sitting table, which is a round table that's used for seances at the uppermost room of High Rock tower in Lynn, Massachusetts. All of these followers are true believers, but when not in trance, John has considerable doubts about this endeavor. None of the plans used to construct this machine survive to the modern day, but utterly bonkers descriptions of it do. The top part of the machine took the shape of a cross if you squinted a bit and had some imagination. Two uprights made of metal are about half a foot apart, Erected upon the table according to descriptions.

[C]

Between these, and reaching from the one to the other near their tops, was suspended on pivots, a small steel shaft, which was crossed at its center by another shaft about 6 inches in length, Length on the extremities, so that the balls could revolve with little friction.

[B]

It is unclear whether the machine was built to literally resemble a human, or if it only corresponded to one in the Swedenborgian sense. In spite of the shaft and dangling balls, I would venture to guess that it's more of a corresponding to the shape of a human situation. Benjamin Franklin, though, said through spear, a

[C]

living working mechanism can be constructed which shall not be farther below man than the animals which roam the earth in correspondence. It shall be like man, but in sober fact inferior, as the external must always fall below the internal or idea. It will reproduce the human form, but it will also reproduce the macrocosm, the whole universe, the perpetuum mobile.

[D]

So saying is something that has less moral worth than a human, but more moral worth than a machine. So something sort of on par with an animal.

[B]

Kind of. I mean, that's sort of what's being said here, but other statements will contradict that.

[C]

Interesting.

[B]

So this is all very unclear and by the end of the description, we can discuss what we think. This is because it gets stranger, guys.

[C]

It's mental illness, Julian.

[B]

The correct term is crazyism.

[C]

Oh, yeah, right. Sorry, I just. I gotta be era specific.

[B]

You do, you do. We have to be era specific in how we reference these things.

[C]

That's right.

[A]

You've been listening to a sample of a premium episode of the QAA podcast for access to the full episode as well as all past premium episodes and all of our podcast miniseries go to patreon.com qaa Travis, why is that such a good deal?

[D]

Well, Jake, you get hundreds of additional episodes of the QAA podcast for just $5 per month. For that very low price, you get access to over 200 premium episodes, plus all of our miniseries. That includes 10 episodes of Man Plan with Julian the Nanny, 10 episodes of Perverts with Julian Liv, 10 episodes of the Spectral Voyager with Jake and Brad, plus 20 episodes of Trickle down with Me Travis View. It's a bounty of content and the best deal in podcasting.

[C]

Travis, for once I agree with you. And I also agree that people could subscribe by going to patreon.comqaa well, that's

[A]

not an opinion, it's a fact.

[C]

You're so right, Jake.

[A]

We love and appreciate all of our listeners.

[C]

Yes, we do. And Travis is actually crying right now, I think out of gratitude.

[D]

Maybe that's not true. The part about me crying. Not. Not me being grateful. I'm very GR.