A Titanic Disaster: That Time An Entire Production Crew Tripped Off Bad Chowder

Summary

Ridiculous History - Episode Summary

Title: A Titanic Disaster: That Time An Entire Production Crew Tripped Off Bad Chowder
Host/Authors: Ben Bolan & Noel Brown
Release Date: July 8, 2025
Production: iHeartPodcasts

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Introduction

In this captivating episode of Ridiculous History, hosts Ben Bolan and Noel Brown delve into a bizarre and lesser-known incident that occurred during the filming of James Cameron's epic movie, Titanic. This event, marked by an unexpected poisoning of the entire production crew through contaminated chowder, showcases the intersection of high-stakes filmmaking and unexpected chaos. Through detailed storytelling and insightful analysis, the hosts unravel the mystery behind this unprecedented on-set disaster.

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Context: The Making of James Cameron's Titanic

The episode begins by setting the stage for the monumental effort behind the making of Titanic, an already legendary film renowned for its depiction of the infamous ship's tragic sinking. Ben Bolan provides historical context, noting, "The Titanic, by the way, did sink in fact on April 15th of 1912. So we're going to use that as our date, our benchmark date for this."

James Cameron is portrayed as an intense and demanding director, often referred to as a "tyrant on set." Noel Brown emphasizes Cameron's authoritarian management style, stating, "He is an iron fist, as you said, Noel. He is an iron fist. Director, producer, auteur, we could say." This environment sets the backdrop for the unfolding drama.

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James Cameron’s Management Style

Cameron's reputation precedes him as a filmmaker who expects excellence, sometimes to the point of creating a stressful working environment. Noel Brown shares insights from various sources, including a New York Times profile and Premiere magazine, highlighting Cameron's perfectionism and micromanagement. A notable quote from the episode captures this sentiment:

Ben Bolan [04:53]: "He's a bit of a science-minded fellow, so he may or may not know a little bit about what he's talking about. And he's trying to get out of there so that he can make himself induce vomiting."

This relentless pursuit of perfection has reportedly led to strained relationships on set, contributing to the tension that would later play a role in the incident.

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The Incident: Contaminated Chowder

As the production progresses, the crew is stationed in Nova Scotia, Halifax, filming the wraparound scenes that feature Bill Paxton as an underwater explorer. Amidst rigorous schedules and minimal breaks, the crew enjoys delicious seafood, particularly a seafood chowder that becomes the catalyst for the disaster.

Ben Bolan narrates the sequence of events:

"People were enjoying a little break... the delicious mussels, clams, possibly lobster, described often as a seafood bisque or clam chowder."

However, after indulging in the chowder, crew members begin exhibiting strange behaviors. At approximately [07:06], Noel Brown notes:

"People start acting a little funny, feeling a little funny, struggling to do their work... a stand-in actress actually passes out."

Further descriptions reveal symptoms consistent with PCP (Phencyclidine) poisoning, including hallucinations, disorientation, and aggressive behaviors.

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Immediate Aftermath on Set

The situation rapidly deteriorates as more crew members succumb to the effects of the contaminated chowder. Ben Bolan describes the chaos:

"A crew member in one of these oral histories of the event saying they didn't have experience with drugs, but the others were saying that it was like the beginning of an acid trip."

Bill Paxton emerges as a stabilizing force amidst the turmoil. Despite feeling the effects, he reportedly copes by smoking joints to manage the situation:

"[24:35] Ben Bolan: 'I saw an interview with Paxton... he cracked a six-pack and started smoking joints because he was like, I know what this is. I don't know exactly what substance it is, but I know the only way to get through it.'"

The situation escalates to the point where the assistant director divides the crew into "good crew" and "bad crew" to manage the chaos, reminiscent of a frantic game of Red Rover.

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The Fallout: Investigations and Theories

In the wake of the incident, the Halifax Police Department launches an investigation. Despite extensive efforts, including issuing warrants and compiling a detailed report, no suspects are ever definitively identified. The hosts discuss various theories surrounding the poisoning:

1. Disgruntled Crew Member:
   James Cameron initially endorsed this theory, suggesting that a recently fired crew member sought revenge by contaminating the chowder.

2. Catering Crew Sabotage:
   Another theory posits that a disgruntled member of the catering staff, possibly upset with the production's demands, tampered with the chowder.

3. External Prankster:
   Speculation also includes the possibility of an outsider pulling a malicious prank against the Hollywood production.

Noel Brown remarks on the unresolved nature of the case:

"[44:16] Noel Brown: 'The case remains closed today. No suspects were ever identified by HPD. The case gets closed in February of 1999.'"

Efforts to unearth more information continue, with calls for the release of redacted police reports still unanswered as of the episode's release in 2025.

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Conclusion

The Ridiculous History episode sheds light on a bizarre and tragic episode behind the scenes of one of Hollywood's most iconic films. Through meticulous research and engaging narration, Ben Bolan and Noel Brown present a compelling case study of how unforeseen circumstances and human malice can intertwine with large-scale productions, leaving enduring mysteries in their wake.

The unresolved nature of the chowder poisoning incident serves as a chilling reminder of the potential for chaos in high-pressure environments and the lingering questions that remain unanswered decades later.

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Notable Quotes

• Ben Bolan [04:53]: "He's a bit of a science-minded fellow, so he may or may not know a little bit about what he's talking about. And he's trying to get out of there so that he can make himself induce vomiting."

• Noel Brown [16:03]: "Life's messy. We're talking spills, stains, pets and kids. But with Annabe, you never have to stress about messes again."

• Ben Bolan [24:35]: "I saw an interview with Paxton... he cracked a six-pack and started smoking joints because he was like, I know what this is. I don't know exactly what substance it is, but I know the only way to get through it."

• Noel Brown [44:16]: "The case remains closed today. No suspects were ever identified by HPD. The case gets closed in February of 1999."

• Ben Bolan [45:54]: "Someone's got to take the fall."

---

Final Thoughts

This episode exemplifies Ridiculous History's commitment to uncovering the strange and unexpected facets of human civilization. By highlighting such a peculiar and dramatic event in film history, Ben Bolan and Noel Brown not only entertain but also provoke thought about the darker undercurrents that can exist behind the glitz and glamour of Hollywood productions.

For those intrigued by the intersection of history, mystery, and the unexpected, this episode offers a rich and engaging narrative that underscores the show's dedication to exploring the most ridiculous and fascinating stories from our past.

Transcript

[Ben Bolan]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Dexter Thomas]

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[Jordan Runtog]

Clearview scrapes together images from Facebook, from LinkedIn, from Venmo accounts.

[Dexter Thomas]

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[Jordan Runtog]

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[Dexter Thomas]

In this episode, we dive into how cops are using AI and facial recognition and some sometimes getting it wrong and putting innocent people behind bars.

[Jordan Runtog]

So if your accuser is this algorithm, but you're not even being told that it was used, let alone given any of the details about how it works.

[Dexter Thomas]

Listen to Kill Switch on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Kate Winkler Dawson]

Hear insightful, entertaining discussions on today's important health and wellness topics on the Health discovered podcast from WebMD. Through in depth conversations with experts, Health Discovered covers everything from tips for healthier living, the latest on therapy and mental health.

[Marilyn McCavy]

My goal is to really destigmatize mental health treatment and looking at it from a whole health perspective, physical health and mental health can be intertwined.

[Kate Winkler Dawson]

Listen to WebMD Health discovered on the iHeartRadio app, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Noel Brown]

Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio.

[Ben Bolan]

Foreign.

[Noel Brown]

Welcome back to the show, fellow ridiculous historians. Thank you as always, so much for tuning in. Let's hear it for our guest super producer, the one and only Ben the Sleeping Dog Hacket. Have you heard this nickname, Noel?

[Ben Bolan]

Well, I know Ben's musical output and his incredible record Songs for Sleeping Dogs, so I guess it makes sense if that's what you're referring to.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah, well, as we always want to say when we're talking about the legendary Mr. Hackett, this is an appellation that you have chosen yourself, correct, Ben? Just a little Easter egg.

[Ben Bolan]

Check out Ben's record. It's really, really good. Boy, oh, boy, Ben, we got a topic today. I think we broke our rule for this topic. It's so good.

[Noel Brown]

Oh, yeah, we went a little bit closer to the modern day.

[Ben Bolan]

Just by two years.

[Noel Brown]

Just by two. Just by two. Right. So we want to, of course. We want to, of course, identify ourselves. This is the legendary Noel Brown you're hearing with those dulcet tones.

[Ben Bolan]

You're the legendary Ben Bolan with also bringing the tones dulcet to the equation. Oh, gosh.

[Noel Brown]

Oh, geez. Oh, shucks.

[Ben Bolan]

Credit where credit's due. Game recognized game we also need to recognize. Speaking of recognizing Game Jordan, the nickname DBD Runtog, who brought us this amazing topic that I was tangentially familiar with. But boy, oh boy, as he often is wont to do, did he bring the heat. As far as details around the case of the infamous seafood dosing on the set of James Cameron's Titanic.

[Noel Brown]

Yes, yes, let's get to it. All right, so the gist is this one night during the filming of this epic Titanic, which is based on a true story about a ship that was considered unsinkable and spoiler alert, did sink. It's. Yeah, also Abe Lincoln didn't have a great time at the play, whatever, I.

[Ben Bolan]

Don'T know, have quite the reach. And the Titanic, by the way, did sink in fact on April 15th of 1912. So we're going to use that as our date, our benchmark date for this.

[Noel Brown]

Nice, nice. Okay, yeah, that's perfect. All right, so our buddy James Cameron is often confused with filmmakers. He's mainly a dude who uses film to support his weird underwater explorations.

[Ben Bolan]

Well, yeah, okay, fair, fair, that is a reasonable criticism. He is a bit technology forward and scuba diving and underwater exploration minded, but he's made some bangers. I think Terminator 2 is quite good.

[Noel Brown]

Many bangers.

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah, but he's also no one's friend, I'll tell you that right now.

[Noel Brown]

Is that true? Have you spoken with Jimmy?

[Ben Bolan]

He's a real pill. Not a nice guy apparently. A little difficult to work with. No, that's sort of, that's sort of the thrust of today's story is that he is in fact runs his film sets like a bit of an iron fisted tyrant and that has a way of rubbing some people the wrong way.

[Noel Brown]

Sure, sure, yeah. A lot of egos in Hollywood, but Noel, you're my canary in the cavern for a lot of diplomatic stuff. If you say someone is difficult, you're, you're just so nice. So I would, I would take your word over theirs.

[Ben Bolan]

It is not me alone, my friend, saying that this person is difficult. It is a known thing. He's actually described in a source that our buddy Jordan found as the scariest man in Hollywood, which.

[Noel Brown]

Oh boy.

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah.

[Noel Brown]

Scariest living.

[Ben Bolan]

That's right. But to your point, Ben, they are filming some of the wraparound pieces. You'll remember if anyone's seen this film. There's the main story of Rose and Jack and the door and the.

[Noel Brown]

There was room on the door.

[Ben Bolan]

There really was room on the door. But then there's also the wraparound frame story of Bill Paxton, the underwater explorer. And maybe James Cameron esque figure, if he's casting sort of a similar person to what he's all about. And the, the, the elderly rose and this idea of finding this very important diamond artifact. The heart of the sea. The heart of the ocean. One of those.

[Noel Brown]

Kind of nice.

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah, yeah. They're filming those bits in Nova Scotia, Halifax in fact.

[Noel Brown]

Right.

[Ben Bolan]

And people are just really enjoying a little break because as we're going to get to, Cameron didn't really go for breaks too much even maybe, you know, union mandated ones and not much else. And there is just a delicious perhaps of mussels, clams. Yeah. Perhaps lobster, described often as a seafood bisque or a seafood chowder or a clam chowder. And people are just loving it. They're going back for multiple bowls. They're just having a good old time enjoying this yummy, this piping hot dish. And before long, people start acting a little funny. Feeling a little funny.

[Noel Brown]

Yes, just so. And there is a mystery afoot at the time. All right, so as I established earlier, you know what, I'm fine saying it on air. I believe in Noel Brown and if Noel Brown says, you are a pill, then I will trust Noel over you. People say that James Cameron has a reputation, as you alluded to earlier. He's a guy with a lot of enemies. He is not the best with his bedside manner, which means in the rarefied era of production, that there may be people seeking what we would call petty revenge. The headline is this. Someone unidentified for the purposes of our show at this point, sought petty revenge on James Cameron by assaulting innocent people with hallucinogens via crafty. And crafty is just our term for. It's our term for where you eat when you're doing some kind of production, TV or film. He is a iron fist, as you said, Noel. He is an iron fist. Director, producer, auteur, we could say. And he's very intense. He wants everyone to work around the clock. He's a micromanager. He at this point is using the production budget of the Titanic film to launch expeditions under the water to see the actual wreckage of the Titanic. He's going deep in the water. He built a full scale model, or I should say his production folks built a full scale model of the ship off the coast of Mexico.

[Ben Bolan]

And.

[Noel Brown]

And they built it to be repeatedly sinkable. Jordan wants everyone to know that is a story all its own. The production overall, it cost more than US$200 million in 19, the most expensive.

[Ben Bolan]

Production to date at the time. If I'm not mistaken at the time, you're correct.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And all right, we are establishing context, right? You, you are working for this guy, James Cameron. As you said, he's kind of like a Kubrick level auteur. He yells at people, he's smacking people. He has a schedule of an 80 hour 6 day work week later people will describe it as quote, the closest thing to slavery that I've ever laid my eyes upon. No breaks. People are having medical problems. No do to it as I love that you mentioned this military aspect because he's got an editor named Mark Goldblatt and Mark says you don't just join one of James's films, you sign on for a tour of duty. And Cameron didn't bucket this. He said filmmaking is war. A great battle between business and aesthetics. Can you give us the name of the that give us the slogan of the T shirt he made?

[Ben Bolan]

I could do that. Time means nothing in the face of creativity. That's not true, Jim. Time means everything. Time is, is the only currency that we as human beings have and you are taking it from all of us.

[Noel Brown]

I always say that, yeah. Time's only real currency.

[Ben Bolan]

You sure do, Ben. You sure do. And it is not something that Cameron seems to respect or at the very least he believes that it all belongs to him. But this is not a. All of this stuff is an open secret in Hollywood from earlier productions of James Cameron. The Abyss, obviously the first Terminator movie which was sort of his like you know, kind of almost DIY esque film. It was very low budget. He came from a background painting models in the Roger Corman school of filmmaking. So he really does have a background as a hands on craftsman which I've always appreciated and respected about the guy. And he definitely has a forward thinking mind. A lot of the stuff that he depicts in the terminator film, especially T2 Judgment Day, about artificial intelligence and sentient machines and such certainly seem to be coming to pass in some way, shape or form. So I would, I would call him a futurist. I would call him a technologist. And to your point been a lot of those things often take precedent over the fact that he is a filmmaker. People did not believe that Avatar was going to be a big hit. People thought it's too expensive. It's Blue Smurf people. It's a ripoff of the plot of Dances with Wolves. And yet the first one was the highest grossing movie of all time. And then decade or more goes by and then all. Now I'm releasing sequels To Avatar. What? Why would you do that? James Cameron. People have forgotten about Avatar. Not true. The second one made an insane amount of money as well. And they're fun movies. He's got a whole wing of the Universal Studios theme parks. No, sorry, Disney World theme park devoted to Avatar. So he seems to know what he's doing, but in order to do that, often people with that kind of vision can be a bit tyrannical. So time means nothing in the face of creativity. The crew actually had their own counter T shirts printed saying, jim's a hands on director and I have the bruises to prove it.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah, you can see a New York Times profile on our buddy Jim that was published during the production of the Titanic. And it says that he is uncompromising. It's diplomatic. When they call him a perfectionist, they note that he has a megaphone and a walkie talkie and he's often yelling at people. And there's another relatively concurrent piece in Premiere magazine where someone says, I can't even tell the difference between yelling and not yelling anymore. And it's more. It's just, what does he want and what do we have to do to get it done? The headline of that article in Premiere, by the way, is quote, inside the punishing dictatorship. That was James Cameron's Titanic set. And we have to put ourselves back in this era. Titanic is, by all metrics, a phenomenal success. Oh, don't roll your eyes. It's a phenomenal success. It's a blockbuster. I think we got Celine Dion singing some songs, right? Didn't she do. What was that song?

[Ben Bolan]

She sure did. The love theme from Titanic.

[Noel Brown]

My heart will go on My heart will go on And I guess that's what. That's what the crew was thinking. Look, there's a weird energy on the set. There are a lot of people who are not happy, rightly so, with the way they are being treated. And this guy James is, as you said, kind of scary. So before they head to Mexico to shoot the back in time scenes in 1912, before they head there, Cameron takes a smaller cast and crew to Nova Scotia. And they're filming what we described as wraparound scenes, right? The frame of our story that takes place in the present day of the universe of the film, this is where we see Bill Paxton, right? Bill Paxton, legendary actor, undersea treasure hunter, contacted by not Rose prime, but the older Rose, and he has found a sketch of her and he's asking kind of for the story of this sketch. The wraparound stuff. Classic Cameron, in terms of Dictatorship and Tyranny it's just after midnight, the last day of filming. August 9, 1996. Finally, this dictator gives the crew and the cast a break to eat some chowder.

[Marilyn McCavy]

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[Dexter Thomas]

Are there any pictures of you online? I'm not just talking about Google, I'm talking anywhere.

[Jordan Runtog]

Clear View scrapes together images from Facebook, from LinkedIn, from Venmo accounts.

[Dexter Thomas]

That database is now being used by police department departments all across the country to match criminal suspect photos. And sometimes it makes mistakes.

[Jordan Runtog]

So in this one case, two of their search results that I think were in the top 10 of the search results were Michael Jordan, a picture of Michael Jordan.

[Dexter Thomas]

But cops are still using it to make arrests.

[Jordan Runtog]

Police, they are trusting this software to lead them to the right suspect. But you're not even being told that it was used, let alone given any of the details about how it works.

[Dexter Thomas]

This is not Minority Report. This is happening right now. People are getting arrested and doing actual time in jail after being picked out by a computer. I'm Dexter Thomas, host of Kill Switch, where every Wednesday we explain the right now of living in the future. You can turn off the computer, but do not let the computer turn you off. Listen to Kill Switch in the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Paul Holes]

A murder happens, the case goes cold. Then over a hundred years later, we take a second look. I'm Paul Holes, a retired cold case investigator.

[Kate Winkler Dawson]

And I'm Kate Winkler Dawson, a journalist and historian.

[Paul Holes]

On our podcast Buried Bones, we re examine historical true crime cases using modern.

[Kate Winkler Dawson]

Forensic techniques, We dig into what the original investigators may have missed. Growing up on a farm, when I heard a gunshot, I did not immediately think murder.

[Paul Holes]

Unless this person went out to shoot squirrels, they're not choosing a.22 to go hunting out there.

[Kate Winkler Dawson]

These cases may be old, but the questions are still relevant and often chilling.

[Paul Holes]

I know this chauffeur is not of concern. You know, it's like, well, he's the last one who saw her alive. So how did they eliminate him?

[Kate Winkler Dawson]

Join us as we take you back to the cold cases that haunt us to this day.

[Paul Holes]

New episodes every Wednesday on the exactly right network. Listen to Buried bones on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Unknown]

So what happened to Chappaquiddick? Well, it really depends on who you talk to.

There are many versions of what happened in 1969 when a young Ted Kennedy drove a car into a pond and.

[Marilyn McCavy]

Left a woman behind to drown.

[Unknown]

There's a famous headline, I think, in the New York Daily News. It's teddy escapes, Blonde drowns. And in a strange way, right, that sort of tells you the story really became about Ted. Political future, ted's political hopes. Will Ted become president?

Kappaquiddick is a story of a tragic death and how the Kennedy machine took control.

[Marilyn McCavy]

And he's not the only Kennedy to survive a scandal.

[Unknown]

The Kennedys have lived through disgrace, affairs, violence, you name it. So is there a curse? Every week we go behind the headlines and beyond the drama of America's royal family.

[Marilyn McCavy]

Listen to United States of Kennedy on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever.

[Unknown]

You get your podcast.

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah, by all accounts, everyone says the chatter was fantastic. Marilyn McCavy or McAvoy, I wonder if she's related to the other McAvoy. There are some, like Nepo situations going on in the story. We've got a Deschanel, the elder Deschanel, Zoe's dad, in the mix as well, but she's a set painter and says the chowder was unbelievable. This is according to a Vice piece on this debacle that came out in 2017. People were going back for second bowls. People ate a lot more than usual because it was so delicious. That's when things start going south. As I mentioned at the top, about 15 minutes in, we get the kick in. People start acting a little funny. People start feeling a little funny, struggling to do their work. We really start to see things enter crisis mode when a stand in actress actually passes out. Then everyone begins to scream, starts throwing. We have a comment from A crew member in one of these oral histories of the event saying they didn't have experience with drugs, but the others were saying that it was like the beginning of an acid trip. I don't know anything about pcp. All I know is that it, it has a history of putting people in like rage hulk mode where they can get like hit by cars and stuff and they just go limp. Like it does not seem pleasant. Every time you hear about Angel Dust or PC, it's usually involves somebody doing some crazy violence or injuring themselves or you know, just being kind of like some sort of like zombie type situation. So this is not what I would argue a particularly fun time party drug.

[Noel Brown]

No. Yeah, that's on base, roughly. The, the issue here is that for any hallucinogen, your experience is going to be defined by scene and setting, Right? It's going to be defined by your cognitive state at the beginning before ingestion. And it's also going to be informed by the environment in which you encounter a hallucinogen. And most importantly, it should be consensual. So these are innocent people who are not allowed to consent to whatever happens. One crew member ask his co workers, hey, you guys feel okay? I don't. I feel like I'm on something. And this guy classic says, believe me, I would know.

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah, he would. A lot of people on the set were certainly experienced, as the Grateful Dead might say. There is an analog here with another topic that you and I have discussed pretty much pretty at length on our other show, stuff they don't want you to know with our buddy Matt Frederick. And this was something that the US government actually did quite a lot of non consensually dosing civil with hallucinogenic substances in Operation Midnight Climax or MK Ultra. Kind of interchangeably referred to that program, which was absolute horror show. Because anytime that you are doing this to someone without their knowledge, the immediate thought can often be, am I losing my mind? Am I having an absolute psychotic break which could lead to some very horrific consequences.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah, we, we see multiple reports from people in the crew who drank this, or let's say it this way, they had this experience, right? And at first they can't explain it. One guy says, or one person says, I feel toxic and beside myself. Yeah. And that's a very honest one. And Bill Paxton says, one minute I felt okay, the next minute I felt so beat me here, Ben. I felt so anxious I wanted to breathe in a paper bag.

[Ben Bolan]

And I actually saw an interview with Paxton talking about this where he, he is Experienced. And he talks about it thus in that, in that way he just kind of was like, you know what, I'm just gonna ride this out. And he just cracked a six pack and started smoking joints because he was like, I know what this is. I don't know exactly what substance it is, but I know the only way to get, get through it. The only way forward is through. So that's exactly what Bill Paxton did as a, as an experienced, you know, hallucinogen user and stoner.

[Noel Brown]

And we see people having visual hallucinations. Imagine you're the Steadicam operator and you see colors and fog, right? And your job is to look at things. So. Oh dear, how's that going to work?

[Ben Bolan]

Streaks in my frame.

[Noel Brown]

Geez. Oh my gosh.

[Ben Bolan]

So James will be furious, right, if.

[Noel Brown]

He was not one of the people affected by the chowder. He's feeling suddenly and distinctly woozy. And of course, naturally, since these folks are not all, you know, hallucinates a word I just made up. Oh, that's good, that's very kind of you. This is a lot of people are naturally saying what happened to me earlier? And they're concluding maybe they got some bad chowder, maybe they got some bad shellfish.

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah. James refers to, I believe he starts shouting, as he was wont to do, about some sort of neurotoxin potentially in play, a paralytic shellfish neurotoxin. Because again, he's a bit of a science minded fellow, so he may or may not know a little bit about what he's talking about. And he's trying to get out of there so that he can make himself induce vomiting. But unfortunately, all of a sudden he realizes he's so discombobulated he can no longer find his way out of this labyrinthine set. To be fair, which he had been shooting in for weeks.

[Noel Brown]

He can't find a place to puke.

[Ben Bolan]

You can't find a place to puke. I would just do it where you stand, buddy. I mean people were certainly doing that on the Titanic itself. This is something that is really causing him distress. And Ben, you gotta do it. The thing he screams is classic Cameron. It sounds like a line from Aliens. Truly. In fact, it could well be.

[Noel Brown]

There's something in me.

[Ben Bolan]

Get it out. Then the chest burster bursts forth. His pal Louis Abernathy Lewis to his friends who played the character who named after him Louis Bodine in the film. I don't remember that character, but he's apparently hirsute. He has a line that says, she's a very old liar, by the way. I have to give Jordan and his podcast too much information TMI a shout because they do like, I believe, a three part history, oral history on the filming of Titanic. So not just the clam chowder incident, but like all of this other stuff that was very much worthy of its own series of episodes. Just the whole like chaotic mess that was the filming of Titanic. His buddy Louis Bodine said, I was just shocked at the way he looked. Talking about camera one eye was completely red, like the Terminator eye. A pupil, no iris beat red. This is already a scary dude. And now he's coming at you looking like that. The other eye looked like he'd been sniffing glue since he was 4. That is a very descriptive line.

[Noel Brown]

Let's spend some time on that because it is an indication, as any medical professionals in the audience tonight will know, it is an indication of something going awry. And if your pupils are not matching in diameter, and that can imply some very dangerous, very scary and possibly life changing events in your brain, it can indicate brain damage.

[Ben Bolan]

Well, let's just again mention that PCP isn't some happy fun time party drug. It's often referred to as a hallucinogen, but. But it's hard stuff. It is a serious street drug and often, you know, enjoyed by kind of scary people, in my experience at least. You know, as I've read about it and seen, I've never encountered the stuff in my life and I've certainly run in some sketchy circles.

[Noel Brown]

Well, Ben, right, you and I were talking offline earlier, you smoked a lot of wet, right?

[Ben Bolan]

No. How dare you? How dare you. If I'm not mistaken, there, there's wet, which is. Yeah, that's right. There is the old joint dipped in pcp. And then there's also the sherm stick of lore, which would be a joint dipped in embalming fluid. But you're right, Ben, the wet is definitely a thing. Anyway, kind of scary people.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah, this is not the thing you should do to your friends. You should never dose people with drugs. It's not let alone people in a professional environment. James Cameron, by the way, is not having his first psychedelic rodeo. He was talking, as Jordan points out in Oral history of Terminator 2 on the 30th anniversary of that film's publication. And he says, look, when I came up with the plot idea of Terminator 2, I was on ecstasy. I remember. This is a quote. I remember sitting there once, high on E, writing notes for Terminator and I was struck by Sting's song that I hope the Russians love their children too. And I thought, you know what? The idea of a nuclear war is just so antithetical to life itself. That's where the kid came from. James. Amazing, but also ecstasy. I don't know. I'm so square, man. I'm scared of that stuff.

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah, I don't think it's ecstasy as a hallucinogen either, honestly. It's more like a clubby kind of party drug. But I guess it was. And I didn't think it was super popular in the era in which Cameron would have been writing this stuff. I would have thought it'd be much more likely that he'd have taken a tab of acid or something. But there you go, Straight from his mouth to the ringer's ear, which I do love. Podcasts from the Ringer Network. When Cameron went back to the set, he found that everyone had left. And it was a really eerie, spooky kind of ghost town of a scene. He described it like an episode of the Twilight Zone when talking to Rebecca Keegan for her book the Futurist, referring to James Cameron, of course. In an effort to mitigate some of this chaos, an assistant director had herded everyone into the dining area. I bet that was a scene, y'. All. And divided them into two groups. We've got good crew and bad crew. Are you a good crew or are you a bad crew? It was described like a game of red Rover. As soon as someone on the good crew started feeling funny, they'd switch over to the bad crew side. You got to respect the assistant director, production assistant minded organization here in this situation. Right?

[Noel Brown]

Yeah. So the folks who identify whether they self identify or are identified as bad crew, we're looking at 60 to 85 people. Again, this is a huge production. These folks who are not feeling well are loaded into vans. They are. They are taken away to Dartmouth General Hospital. They are losing their minds, moaning, crying, wailing. And it's not too long after they arrive that one of the attending doctors immediately clocks there must be something afoot. There's clear evidence of non consensual intoxication of some sort. So the staff begins distributing liquid charcoal, which, by the way, don't get in a situation where you need liquid charcoal. But if you are in a situation, remember, that can kind of help. So the nurses are.

[Ben Bolan]

Doesn't it soak up the toxins?

[Noel Brown]

That's the idea. Right. So the nurses are hoping this will counteract the drug. Whatever substance has been dosed onto the crew. The issue is the time window, right? The ingestion of the body, the delivery of the drug. Unfortunately, these people are already not in the best place. So a great many of them refuse to follow the doctor's orders to consume this liquid charcoal. They stay in their beds, tripping hard. This is a hospital crew that is understaffed, kind of a skeleton night crew. And they're not equipped to deal with this like this small army of people showing up at 1am yeah, whacked out.

[Ben Bolan]

Of their gourds on substances. At the time unknown Marilyn McAvoy, again, the, I believe set painter recalled in that interview with Vice. We all got put in these cubicles with the curtains around us, but no one wanted to stay in their cubicles. This is truly a herding cat situation. Everyone was out in the aisles and jumping into other people's cubicles.

[Jordan Runtog]

Aha.

[Ben Bolan]

People had a lot of energy. Some were in wheelchairs, flying down the hallways. What a scene. I mean, everyone was high. Paxton reportedly was a stabilizing influence. As I had mentioned, a set decorator named Claude Russell would recall the beloved star of Twister and Apollo 13 sitting next to me in the hallway of the hospital and kind of digging it. Like I said, the only way out is through. And he was just kind of taking it as it came. Good old Bill. RIP Love that guy.

[Noel Brown]

And here Jordan points out a a Cracked article. We love Cracked. You can check out the creator of Crack.com on several episodes of Ridiculous History, Shout out to Jack and Miles. You can also check out their show Daily Zeitgeist. Anyway, Crack. Great writing. A writer named J.M. mcNabb says the following and Jordan wants us to read this in full because it is a hilarious description. Noel, this is a longer quote, so let's round robin it and I'll kick us off.

[Ben Bolan]

Sure.

[Noel Brown]

Great. Everyone was so friggin high that they started racing wheelchairs down the hallway and formed a spirited conga line led by legendary cinematographer Caleb Deschanel. Zoe's dad.

[Ben Bolan]

Yep, yep, Mentioned that earlier, for sure. Caleb, famous cinematographer as documented in the Cameron biography the Futurist. And we had also referenced the director, used his walkie talkie to radio his ad. Assistant director while she was standing directly in front of him. The AD then leapt at Cameron and stabbed him in the face with a pen before being dragged away by hospital staff. All while Cameron sat bleeding and laughing.

[Noel Brown]

Paxton, freaked out by the bedlam, quietly ducked out of the ER with a Teamster. Love our Teamsters don't get us guys and went back to the Set where he drank an entire case of beer, which he later told the LA Times quote, seemed to help.

[Ben Bolan]

The mania in the hospital eventually died down and devolved into a game of hacky sack. As you know, these things tend to do. That's the only, that's the only possible outcome as the collective high mellowed.

[Noel Brown]

So these people ride the wave and they go back to their, they go back to their billets, they go back to their sleeping places and they all realize this is how crazy production is. They all realize when they come back to ground that they have to go to work the next day. Right? You can file a grievance, but you have to accomplish the mission. One guy says, all right, I'm going to grab my guitar real quick. I'm going to write a song about this. Which I, you know, Ben, I think you would love this aspect of making a song. It's not even a protest song. It's an acknowledgment of the event story.

[Ben Bolan]

Song Very Troubadour esque According to Jake Clark, one of the few folks who actually didn't get laced because of a shellfish allergy, James Cameron and Bill Paxton were spotted back on set at four in the morning with beet red eyes. He says, unbelievably, Jim had a bottle of scotch and Bill Paxton had a bag of joints because he, he was.

[Noel Brown]

A real stoner in the morning.

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah, well, you know, whenever smoke two joints and especially, you know, this is a special occasion. Let's just say. Another actor on set who didn't partake was Susie Amos, who plays old Rose's granddaughter. Thankfully, old Rose, by the way, the actor who played her either didn't eat that much or skipped it. Or was there's varying accounts that she may have been dining off campus and so she was okay because that could have really done a number on an older person. Amos, however, went on to marry James Cameron, and Cameron would later joke around with Vanity Fair that she's always been high on my list of suspects. Which leads us to the whodunit of it all.

[Marilyn McCavy]

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[Dexter Thomas]

Are there any pictures of you online? I'm not just talking about Google. I'm talking anywhere.

[Jordan Runtog]

Clear view, Scrape together images from Facebook, from LinkedIn, from Venmo accounts.

[Dexter Thomas]

That database is now being used by police departments all across the country to match criminal suspect photos. And sometimes it makes mistakes.

[Jordan Runtog]

So in this one case, two of their search results that I think were in the top 10 of the search results were Michael Jordan, just a picture of Michael Jordan.

[Dexter Thomas]

But cops are still using it to make arrests.

[Jordan Runtog]

Police, they are trusting this software to lead them to the the right suspect. But you're not even being told that it was used, let alone given any of the details about how it works.

[Dexter Thomas]

This is not Minority Report. This is happening right now. People are getting arrested and doing actual time in jail after being picked out by a computer. I'm Dexter Thomas, host of Kill Switch, where every Wednesday we explain the right now of living in the future. You can turn off the computer, but do not let the computer turn you off. Listen to Kill Switch and the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Paul Holes]

A murder happens, the case goes cold. Then over a hundred years later, we take a second look. I'm Paul Holes, a retired cold case investigator.

[Kate Winkler Dawson]

And I'm Kate Winkler Dawson, a journalist and historian.

[Paul Holes]

On our podcast Buried Bones, we re examined historical true crime cases using modern forensic techniques.

[Kate Winkler Dawson]

We dig into what the original investigators may have missed growing up on a farm. When I heard against shot, I did not immediately think murder.

[Paul Holes]

Unless this person went out to shoot squirrels. They're not choosing a 22 to go hunting out there.

[Kate Winkler Dawson]

These cases may be old, but the questions are still relevant and often chilling.

[Paul Holes]

I know this chauffeur is not of concern. You know, it's like, well, he's the last one who saw her alive. So how did they eliminate him?

[Kate Winkler Dawson]

Join us as we take you back to the cold cases that haunt us to this day.

[Paul Holes]

New episodes every Wednesday on the exactly right network. Listen to Buried bones on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Unknown]

So what happened to Chappaquiddick well, it really depends on who you talk to.

There are many versions of what happened in 1969 when a young Ted Kennedy drove a car into a pond and.

[Marilyn McCavy]

Left a woman behind to drown.

[Unknown]

There's a famous headline, I think, in the New York Daily News, it's Teddy Escaped Blonde drowns. And in a strange way, right, that sort of tells you the story really became about Ted's political future, Ted's political hopes. Will Ted become president?

Kappaquiddick is a story of a tragic death and how the Kennedy machine took control.

[Marilyn McCavy]

And he's not the only Kennedy to survive a scandal.

[Unknown]

The Kennedys have lived through disgrace, affairs, violence, you name it. So is there a curse? Every week we go behind the headlines and beyond the drama of America's royal family.

[Marilyn McCavy]

Listen to United States of Kennedy on.

[Unknown]

The iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

[Noel Brown]

Get it high on my list of suspects. So the good news is that no one suffers any long term debilitating injury. This is not going to haunt people for the rest of their lives. The big questions are, what happens to the principal actors here? The Leonardo DiCaprios, the Kate Winslets. What happens to the mystery? Do we ever locate or identify the person who poisoned the chowder? Look, luckily we do have the police show up. They test leftover chowder and they verify that it is laced with pcp. Also, shout out to Billy Zane, another actor who plays like the bad guy boyfriend. He later will say, I wish I was there. Those kids had all the fun.

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah, if you say so, Billy. Didn't sound like much fun to me, but I hear you. Billy, of course, was in the past parts of the film, as were the leads, Leo and Kate. So they were gracefully, you know, not subjected to this horror show. The Halifax Police Department investigated the case for two and a half years. They actually issued a warrant for the Department of Health records and got a list of every single person who had worked on the set. And they con compiled a 10 page report which was actually heavily redacted, but no suspects were ever identified.

[Noel Brown]

Ultimately, as a result of this redacted report, or however we want to say it, nothing shakes out. This mystery remains unsolved today. No suspects were ever identified by HPD. The case gets closed in February of 1999. There are a couple of theories, and I know we're running long, but folks, fellow ridiculous historians, I think it's important to, you know, just give a couple of pieces of speculation, right?

[Ben Bolan]

One that maybe seems a little obvious and that maybe I had Alluded to at the top of the show is this idea of a disgruntled production crew member. Cameron himself endorsed this theory for years, saying that he has a good idea of who did it, even though he couldn't prove it. We had fired a crew member the day before because they were creating trouble with the cat caterers. Interesting. He told this to Vanity Fair. So we believe the poisoning was this idiot's plan to get back at the caterers, whom of course we promptly fired the next day. So it worked okay. Yeah, man, what a bummer though. Like the caterers this.

[Noel Brown]

They.

[Ben Bolan]

By all accounts, the clam chowder was delicious.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah, it's really kind of unfair to.

[Ben Bolan]

Blame the caterers if someone dosed the. I mean, look, I guess at the end of the day, someone's got to take the fall.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah, but it stinks though, because why did this occur? Cameron himself acknowledges the motive or the suspected motive behind this incident when he says in that interview we mentioned earlier from Vanity Fair the following quote. Of course, the operating theory was that I was such a psychomaniac that the perpetrator was trying to get back at me. He actually. Sorry.

[Ben Bolan]

Nailed it, Jim.

[Noel Brown]

Let me amend this. He didn't say that to Vanity Fair. He said this on the Q podcast podcast, which was hosted by Tom Power. And he said.

[Ben Bolan]

And then caveat.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah, he said, I reject that theory out of hand for obvious reasons. And we don't know if he was yelling at Tom off mic.

[Ben Bolan]

I'm reading this in a yelling voice because I no longer know the difference between yelling and not yelling after dealing with this character. We've also got a disgruntled member of the catering crew as a potential suspect. There's also the possibility that one of them had it in for Jimmy C. Have you guys ever seen the episode of Home Movies where they go to camp, Camp camping, Stone Falls and they Might Be Giants are in it. There is a drama teacher in that episode who talks about having worked in the film, worked in the biz. I worked in craft services for Jim. James Cameron. He likes fruit. I'd ever see him. Every day on set I go, hey, Mr. Fruit, how about some more fruit? I'll always remember that. And that is clearly a reference to this incident without actually talking about drugs on a reference. Relatively kid friendly show. So yeah, caterer. Disgruntled caterer.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah. The theory being that. The theory being that this auteur yelled at someone in Crafty. He was given a cup of soup that he thought was too hot. And again, this is anecdotal he threw the soup on the floor and said, don't you ever serve me boiling soup again. This is.

[Ben Bolan]

Oh, my God.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah, this is not. This is not canon. You know what I mean? This may be, Cameron, but it is not canon.

[Ben Bolan]

Doesn't that remind you of that? That. I think you should leave sketch where he drinks the gazpacho soup and says, it's burning. It's. It's. It's burning my mouth.

[Noel Brown]

Let me explain something to you. When you expect cold soup and it's room temperature, it's room temp. Yes, it's room temp. He should have gone with the walnuts.

[Ben Bolan]

Very much James Cameron moment there. Don't you ever serve me boiling soup again. There's also an excellent clip of Metallica in the studio with producer Bob Rock and the drummer. Who's the pain in the butt drummer? Lars. The producer's talking to him about the drums and he accidentally rolls over Lars's foot with his chair and he goes, don't you ever do that to me again. And then the guy goes, where's the shoes? It's a really funny moment and it reminds me of this exchange as well. However, Earl Scott, the CEO of the local catering company in question here, who provides, provided the chowder, he stuck up for his people, as you do when you're a leader. He spoke to Entertainment Weekly and blamed the production. A lot of Spider man finger pointing going on here, Ben. Claiming that it was the Hollywood crowd bringing in their psychedelic. I don't think it was purposefully done to hurt somebody. Well, like it just slipped. Whoops, my PCP fell in the soup. Better not say anything. It was done like a party thing that got carried away. That is absurd. Absurd. Again, pcp, not a party thing, not for consumption of the general partying audience.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah, it doesn't hold chowder for me and I think for a lot of us. The third theory we need to know is the speculation that there was a disgruntled local who pulled a prank, who wanted to get over on Hollywood just for the lullaby. There's no evidence to support this as we're recording now on July 3rd, beautiful Thursday here in 2025. The case remains closed. The perpetrator has not been found. There are a couple of folks who have tried to get more information from Halifax.

[Ben Bolan]

Right. Tricia Ralph, Commissioner, reviewed the redactions and concluded the Halifax police were not justified in withholding information to law enforcement tactics and intergovernmental affairs, especially since the material exceeds the 15 year protection window. However, some of that personal data will go on to remain redacted. Ralph ordered the remaining details to be made public. The police were expected to release details in May of 2024, but so far have not done so.

[Noel Brown]

Curious. We do have one kind of cool update from our research associate, Jordan. I just can't say enough good Stu stuff about this guy. He's a regular Ben Hackett. Ben Sleeping Dog Hackett. This guy. Jordan notes that the production team had an update of their own. They made T shirts. I love it when people make T shirts. And the T shirt shows a. An image of the Titanic sinking into a big bowl of chowder. And the logo says as bad crew. Going back to what I was saying earlier about good and bad crew be divided.

[Ben Bolan]

Bad crew.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah.

[Ben Bolan]

Yep. Do you want to give the downstairs situation?

[Noel Brown]

Yeah. You want to give the final word to Jimmy C Himself?

[Ben Bolan]

I guess we must, since he is the boss. He told the Canadian podcast Q with Tom Power that we'd referenced before in 2023. Bit of a mixed message here. Not going to lie. He said you haven't lived until you've been high on PC cp, which by the way, I do not recommend to anyone.

[Noel Brown]

Beautiful.

[Ben Bolan]

Really? What do you really mean, Jim? What are you really thinking? Yeah, he's an odd character that Jim Cameron. Not happy with the way Christopher Nolan portrayed the atomic bomb. He's been, you know, very outspoken recently, saying he thought it was a cop out. The way that Nolan failed to to his mind adequately show the horror and and literal fallout of, you know, Oppenheimer's creation. I know I haven't seen the movie actually, but apparently there is a scene that sort of art silly kind of shows some charred bodies in the audience as Oppenheimer is giving a big keynote address of some kind. And I guess that was a choice but Cameron didn't like that. But we also know that Cameron, someone who has really spent a lot of time thinking about nuclear holocaust. So I could see that.

[Noel Brown]

Are you accused James Cameron of being outspoken?

[Ben Bolan]

He is a bit outspoken. I do highly recommend listening to the interviews that he did with the Ringer. He's been on a couple of the different shows, I want to say the big picture. And then of course there is this oral history that Jordan was referencing. But he's got some really interesting takes on the state of AI and I think he's coming from, you know, a pretty educated place on that. So do check it out.

[Noel Brown]

And thank you for checking out this episode of Ridiculous History. Big, big thanks to our super producer on adventures, Mr. Max Williams. Big Big thanks to the legendary Ben the Sleeping Dog Hackett, our guest super producer. Big thanks to AJ Bahamas Jacobs, Jonathan Strickland, AKA the Quister, who by the way folks, I made sure I could say this on air. Just had a birthday like a person.

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah, it happens. Happy New Year as you would say. Ben. Huge thanks to Christopher Osiotes and Eve's Jeffcoats here in spirit. Oh, and again, just another huge thanks to Jordan Runtog who just absolutely killed it on this episode outline and do check out his podcast TMI Too much information, which is a lovely and educational listen.

[Noel Brown]

Agreed.

[Ben Bolan]

We'll see you next time folks. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, Podcast or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

[Dexter Thomas]

Are there any pictures of you online? Then you could already be in a massive police department database without even knowing it.

[Jordan Runtog]

Clearview scrapes together images from Facebook, from LinkedIn, from Venmo accounts.

[Dexter Thomas]

I'm Dexter Thomas, host of Kill Switch, a podcast about how living in the future is affecting us right now.

[Jordan Runtog]

Police, they are trusting the software with this magical ability to lead them to the right suspect.

[Dexter Thomas]

In this episode, we dive into how cops are using AI and facial recognition and sometimes getting it wrong and putting innocent people behind bars.

[Jordan Runtog]

So if your accuser is this algorithm, but you're not even being told that it was used, let alone given any of the details about how it works.

[Dexter Thomas]

Listen to Kill Switch on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Kate Winkler Dawson]

Hear insightful, entertaining discussions on today's important health and wellness topics on the Health discovered podcast from WebMD. Through in depth conversations with experts, Health Discovered covers everything from tips for healthier living to the latest on therapy and mental health.

[Marilyn McCavy]

My goal is to really destigmatize mental health treatment and looking at it from a whole health perspective. Physical health and mental health can be intertwined.

[Kate Winkler Dawson]

Listen to WebMD Health discovered on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Ben Bolan]

This is an iHeart podcast.