The Man Who Wrongly Thought He Could Fly

Softcore History

Improv, Comedy, History

4.9 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 19 January 2026

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Franz Reichelt was an Austrian born tailor who became obsessed with the idea of creating a wearable parachute for pilots and aviators. This passion was only fueled by the many peers who doubted his invention and it ultimately led to a day of destiny at the Eiffel Tower in 1912.Subscribe to the Softcore History Patreon for hundreds of hours of extra history content including episodes like this, listener voicemails, movie watch-alongs, and weekly bonus episodes. Rob Foxhttps://www.instagram.com/robfoxthree/ https://twitter.com/RobFoxThree https://www.tiktok.com/@robfoxthree Dan Regesterhttps://www.instagram.com/danregester/ https://twitter.com/dan_regester Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You are now listening to Softcore History.
0:15.0	Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to Softcore History.
0:17.4	I'm your host for the week, Damage.
0:18.5	Yesterday, joined as always by Robert Fox.
0:20.4	Feeling gas today. Yeah, we had a long shoot yesterday. We have some bookstore sketches coming out in the next couple weeks, hoping to drop those Monday Wednesday. Monday Wednesdays. Tuesday for the Monday sketches on YouTube. Yeah, but yeah, I'm proud. I'm excited. I was happy with what we did.
0:41.2	Proud. Wow. That's not the way the day started, so I'm glad that's the way the day ended.
0:49.1	I was very flustered. It was very cramped space. It was really small, but good looking space.
0:51.6	So stay tuned for those. Yeah.
0:56.3	Today, though, we're actually talking about something fun and light.
0:56.9	Okay.
0:57.9	I love that.
0:59.1	A little light history.
1:03.4	And by that, I mean, we're going to see a lunatic tragically followed through with this plan.
1:07.2	Oh, God.
1:08.4	You said this was all recorded.
1:10.1	So what horrible things are you going to show me today?
1:14.2	Well, let's get into it. Okay. So the idea of yeeding yourself off something tall and landing safely dates back to China in the 4th century BC, who experimented with umbrella-like devices to replicate a plum blossom pedal gracefully floating through the sky before touching
1:29.8	softly onto the ground. There's a legend of Emperor Shun escaping a burning building in 2,200 BC,
1:38.3	using two wide bamboo hats to glide down to safety. Like a bird? Like one on each arm?
1:44.9	No, I think it's more like an umbrella.
1:46.7	Okay.
1:47.0	Like Mary Poppins.
	...

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