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A late summer morning and nineteen seventy seven,

0:20

a five year old boy ran around the

0:22

school playground with his friends. It

0:25

was his first day of kindergarten and Niagara Falls,

0:27

New York and the little boy was having a

0:29

blast. He. Just gotten over a nasty

0:31

cold and so now he was thrilled to be

0:33

feeling good enough again that he could actually keep

0:35

up with the other kids. But

0:37

as he chased after them over to the

0:39

swings, the little boy began to feel strange.

0:42

His head began to feel really heavy and

0:44

also we couldn't really concentrate and then the

0:46

next thing you knew he was waking up

0:49

in the school nurses office. The.

0:51

Nurse was looking at him with a smile on her face.

0:53

But. The little boy could tell she was

0:55

clearly worried about something. She

0:57

told him he'd had something called a seizure. Now.

1:00

The boy wasn't sure what that was but just the

1:02

way than are set it he knew it had to

1:04

be serious. Tears. Began to

1:06

well up and the boys eyes and the nurse immediately

1:09

told him that was mom was on the way and

1:11

should be there soon. The. Boy

1:13

wipe the tears away and tried to put

1:15

on a brave face. But inside he was

1:17

terrified. He. Wanted to believe his mom

1:19

would show up and make everything okay again. But.

1:22

At the same time, he had never felt

1:24

so strange before in his whole life. And

1:26

he knew deep down that there were some

1:28

things parents just couldn't fix. He just hoped

1:31

whatever was happening to him was not one

1:33

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more. From

3:09

Bolland Studios and wondering I Mister

3:11

Bolland and this is Mister Bolland

3:13

Medical Mysteries where each week while

3:15

exploring new baffling mystery originating from

3:17

the one place we all can't

3:19

escape our own bodies. If

3:22

you like that a story please as the follow

3:25

button to go on a hike with you and

3:27

tell them you'll supply the water but fill up

3:29

their water bottle with sewage. This.

3:37

Episode is called It came from the

3:39

basement. In.

3:43

Early September of Nineteen Seventy Seven, twenty six

3:46

year old Lowest Gibbs held her son's hand

3:48

as they left their house and Niagara Falls,

3:50

New York. Michael. Was

3:52

just five years old and it was his first

3:54

day of kindergarten and as soon as they reach

3:56

the front steps the house, Michael broke free from

3:58

his mother and ran across the front. yard. Lois

4:01

smiled at her son's enthusiasm as she

4:03

adjusted her oversized glasses and tucked her

4:05

brown hair behind her ears. Michael's

4:08

father was already at work, so it was just

4:11

the two of them walking the few short blocks

4:13

to 99th Street Elementary School. And

4:15

as they walked through the neighborhood, Michael looked up

4:17

at all the smoke stacks that dotted the landscape.

4:20

He pointed out one of them and proudly exclaimed

4:22

to his mother that that's where Daddy was. Lois

4:25

smiled at her son and nodded. Niagara

4:27

Falls was a big blue-collar city full

4:29

of factories like those, and

4:32

they were where most local people were employed,

4:34

which included Lois's husband, who worked at the

4:36

local Goodyear Tire Plant. It

4:38

was hard work, and Lois appreciated everything

4:41

he did for their family, even if

4:43

he always came home smelling absolutely terrible.

4:46

As Lois and Michael continued their walk to school, a

4:49

neighbor who was out on their front porch called out

4:51

hello and asked if the little boy

4:53

was excited to be starting school. Lois

4:55

knew this woman, she had a son the same age

4:58

as Michael, but the best answer

5:00

she could muster to this neighbor was just

5:02

a nod and a smile, and then immediately

5:04

Lois looked down and began fiddling with her

5:06

necklace, which was something she did whenever she

5:08

felt anxious. Truthfully,

5:11

Michael was very excited about school,

5:13

but his mother was just a little bit nervous to let him

5:15

go. Michael was an

5:18

active kid, but he was kind of fragile.

5:20

She had asthma and a history of

5:23

pneumonia and painful urinary tract infections, and

5:25

these infections really made Lois feel helpless

5:27

because she actually could not give Michael

5:30

any medicine. Aspirin upset

5:32

his stomach, and he broke out in a rash

5:34

whenever he took it. Now

5:36

Michael was starting school, and Lois worried about

5:38

all the new viruses and germs he'd be

5:40

exposed to. Lois's neighbor

5:42

continued to talk from her porch, and Lois

5:45

tried to focus on what she was saying,

5:47

something about the kids playing baseball that weekend,

5:50

but her anxiety made it really hard to

5:52

concentrate. And so Lois's mind

5:54

wandered, and so did her eyes. And

5:57

as she looked around, she saw kids running up the front

5:59

steps of the school. school and

6:01

she noticed a man standing nearby the school

6:03

with a few of the teachers writing something

6:05

down on a notepad and asking questions. Lois

6:09

pointed at this man and actually asked the neighbor

6:11

on the porch if they knew who this guy

6:13

was. The neighbor glanced

6:15

over and told Lois that that guy was

6:18

a reporter for the local newspaper which was

6:20

called the Niagara Gazette. The

6:22

neighbor guessed that the journalist was there to cover the

6:24

first day of school. Lois

6:27

nodded but then also made a mental

6:29

note to make sure she totally avoided him. He

6:32

seemed perfectly friendly but the thought of talking

6:34

to a reporter made her extremely nervous. Lois

6:37

waved goodbye to the neighbor and then watched as

6:39

her son ran ahead to join the other children.

6:43

Lois felt a mix of excitement and

6:45

apprehension. Grabbing her necklace

6:47

tight, she told herself everything would be fine

6:49

and then she turned and headed home. A

6:54

few weeks later Lois was at home with her sewing

6:57

machine on the kitchen table and Michael was at school.

7:00

Lois was stitching some new drapes for the kitchen window

7:02

when the phone rang. Lois

7:04

rolled her eyes, annoyed at having to stop when she was

7:06

right in the middle of a seam but she got up

7:09

and went over and answered the phone. It

7:11

was the school nurse calling saying that Michael was lying

7:13

on her bed in her office. During

7:16

recess Michael had become glassy-eyed and unresponsive

7:18

for just a few seconds and

7:21

he seemed to be fine now but the nurse

7:23

suspected he likely had a small seizure. Lois's

7:27

breathing immediately quickened as she asked the

7:29

nurse to please repeat that. The

7:32

nurse reassured Lois that while it was scary that

7:34

he had a seizure, the seizure was short and

7:36

Michael was totally back to his normal self now.

7:39

Still the nurse suggested that Lois come and get her

7:41

son and take him to his pediatrician as soon as

7:43

possible. Lois could

7:45

feel her heart racing as she slammed the phone on

7:47

the receiver and then fumbled with her shoes as she

7:50

raced out her front door. After

7:52

getting to the school and picking Michael up, Lois took

7:55

him straight to see the doctor. The

7:57

doctor gave him a thorough examination and promised

7:59

Lois that Michael's vitals did look fine and

8:01

he was not in any sort of imminent

8:04

danger. He said that

8:06

while it was rare, kids could sometimes

8:08

have minor seizures with no obvious cause.

8:11

But if this happened again, he did advise

8:13

Lois to take Michael to a specialist. Lois

8:16

was glad to hear that her son was okay,

8:19

but she was still very nervous. She

8:21

already had to monitor Michael's fragile health and now

8:23

she had to also watch out for these seizures

8:26

too. She just hoped that

8:28

it really was a one-time thing and that this

8:30

would not become a recurring issue. But

8:35

unfortunately, the seizures didn't stop. Over

8:38

the next few months, Lois would learn to recognize

8:40

when they were happening. There didn't

8:42

seem to be any particular trigger for them. Michael

8:44

might be playing in the backyard or doing his homework

8:46

or watching TV when all of

8:49

a sudden his eyes would just kind of glaze

8:51

over and he would become unresponsive for a few

8:53

seconds. Then, as if nothing

8:55

had happened, he'd just be right back to normal. Every

8:58

time it happened, Lois rushed to Michael's side,

9:00

holding his hand and reassuring him that

9:02

everything was okay. But

9:04

inside, she was terrified. She

9:06

knew it was only a matter of time

9:08

until Michael's seizures actually caused a major problem.

9:11

He could be playing on the jungle gym and have

9:13

a seizure and fall and get hurt or

9:16

he could be crossing the street and have a seizure and

9:18

then get hit by a car. And

9:20

so finally, when it became fairly obvious

9:22

to everybody involved that these seizures were

9:24

likely not going away anytime soon, Michael's

9:27

pediatrician referred Lois to a neurologist.

9:31

Lois finally got Michael an appointment in December of

9:33

1977, about three months after Michael

9:36

had his first seizure. Lois

9:39

gave the neurologist a detailed history of

9:41

Michael's various seizures and the

9:43

doctor quickly diagnosed him with epilepsy, a

9:46

brain disorder that causes chronic seizures. Even

9:49

though Lois had been expecting something like this, she

9:51

was still stunned to hear it. There

9:54

was no family history of epilepsy. Michael

9:57

had never experienced any kind of physical trauma

9:59

that might trigger seizures, she'd

10:01

always fed her family a healthy and nutritious diet,

10:03

she didn't even allow soda in the house. And

10:06

so finally, Lois asked the neurologist, you know,

10:08

what could I have done differently that could have

10:11

protected my son from this? But

10:13

the doctor assured Lois that Michael's diagnosis

10:15

was not her fault. He

10:18

said epilepsy can have many causes,

10:20

ranging from a past brain infection

10:22

to a genetic abnormality. But

10:25

while this was somewhat reassuring, it didn't

10:27

really actually clarify for Lois

10:29

why her son developed epilepsy.

10:32

To her, it just didn't add up. After

10:35

the appointment, Lois drove to the pharmacy and

10:38

picked up the anti-seizure medication the specialist had

10:40

prescribed. As she did, she

10:42

still couldn't believe this was actually happening. Two

10:47

months later, in February of 1978, Michael

10:50

and Lois were back inside of a doctor's office.

10:53

This time, it was Michael's pediatrician. Lois

10:56

tried to entertain Michael by playing the game I

10:58

Spy with him, but Michael just

11:00

sat on the exam table looking pale and

11:02

very tired. In fact, Lois

11:05

had never seen Michael so tired and run

11:07

down before. When

11:09

the pediatrician finally came into the room, he

11:11

examined Michael and told Lois that she was

11:13

right to be concerned. Anti-seizure

11:16

medication could lower a child's energy levels,

11:19

but Michael shouldn't be this out of it. The

11:21

doctor ordered a full battery of blood tests, then

11:23

sent Lois and Michael home, promising to call them

11:26

with the results as soon as they came in.

11:29

And a few hours later, the pediatrician would

11:31

call Lois, and as soon as she picked

11:34

up, he would say that unfortunately, he had

11:36

bad news. He told

11:38

Lois that Michael's white blood cell count

11:40

had dropped significantly, so much

11:42

so that the pediatrician hadn't even known what to

11:44

do and had to go to a colleague to

11:46

ask for their advice. So

11:49

from what he learned, he told Lois

11:51

that Michael's medication could be what's causing

11:53

this drop, but he also

11:55

said that they needed to prepare

11:58

for another darker possibility. The

12:01

doctor explained that Michael might

12:03

be developing cancer or perhaps

12:05

a serious blood disorder. When

12:08

Lois heard this, she just stood there, frozen in

12:10

the kitchen. It was like time suddenly was standing

12:12

still. And for a few

12:14

moments, Lois just didn't say anything. She

12:17

just stood there. But then finally, she

12:19

collected herself enough to ask the doctor how

12:21

they would know for sure what this was.

12:25

The pediatrician sighed and said unfortunately he did not

12:27

have the answer then that

12:29

Michael would have to be referred to more specialists

12:31

to get to an answer. As

12:34

the pediatrician talked, Lois found herself walking

12:36

over to the kitchen doorway and

12:38

she looked in on Michael who was fast asleep on

12:40

the couch. He looked

12:42

so helpless and she had no idea what to do.

12:46

At a loss, Lois thanked the pediatrician for all

12:48

his help so far, then she hung up

12:50

the phone in a haze. At

12:56

the same time that Lois was receiving

12:58

this devastating news, a 26-year-old

13:00

reporter named Mike Brown stood in the

13:03

driveway of a wooden brick ranch-style home

13:05

a couple of blocks away. And as

13:07

he stood there, he rubbed his hands together to keep

13:10

them warm against the winter cold. Mike

13:12

grew up in the area, so he knew a

13:14

lot about Niagara Falls and the people who lived

13:17

in this town. And as a

13:19

rookie reporter with the Niagara Gazette, he

13:21

was more than willing to go door to door

13:23

asking his neighbors for leads on the stories he

13:25

was investigating. He liked proving

13:27

himself. Today, Mike

13:29

was investigating reports of water backing

13:31

up into people's backyards even when

13:34

it wasn't raining. One

13:36

of Mike's sources said the city had done a

13:38

lousy job at maintaining sewer pipes and so they

13:40

were starting to get clogged. This

13:43

sort of negligence really got under Mike's skin.

13:46

Mike strode up the driveway of the ranch home

13:48

and knocked on the door and then waited until

13:50

a petite woman answered the door. Mike

13:53

introduced himself and explained that he was hoping

13:55

she could help him. As

13:57

soon as Mike brought up what he was investigating, reports

14:00

of water backups, the woman just shook

14:02

her head in disgust and then invited

14:04

Mike to follow her into her backyard.

14:08

Mike followed, thrilled to finally get a lead on

14:10

the story. He'd been knocking on doors

14:12

all morning without any luck. It

14:14

was mid-winter, so Mike did not expect to

14:17

see standing water anywhere because there was too

14:19

much snow on the ground. But

14:22

this woman's yard looked like a frozen

14:24

over mud pit. The

14:26

woman told Mike that this was totally typical,

14:28

that for years her yard had been coated

14:30

in muck and in the winter it turned

14:32

to ice. Mike couldn't

14:34

imagine how upset he'd be if his own

14:36

backyard was this bad. Then

14:39

the woman pointed over to a large circular hole right

14:41

in the middle of the yard. She

14:43

explained that they used to have an above-ground swimming pool

14:45

that was located right there. But

14:47

a few summers ago, there had been

14:50

so much standing water coming into the

14:52

yard that the pool actually began to

14:54

float. So she and

14:56

her husband decided to replace the above-ground pool

14:58

with a cement one. But

15:00

when they dug the hole for it, the

15:02

hole had filled up with rancid-smelling yellow, blue,

15:05

and purple liquids. And

15:07

so at that point, they decided to just stop with

15:09

the pool and they did not end up building one.

15:12

Mike asked the woman if he could take a few

15:14

pictures, and she said that was fine. And so he

15:17

pulled out a small camera and snapped a few photos

15:19

of the yard, just so he'd remember it

15:21

later on when he was back in the office. Then

15:24

he thanked the woman for showing him the yard and said

15:26

he would be in touch. After

15:31

that, Mike grabbed a quick sandwich from the nearby gas

15:33

station and then wolfed it down in his car while

15:35

he looked over his notes. He

15:38

had originally thought he'd be researching a story

15:40

about bad drainage, but as he

15:42

looked at his notes, he was beginning to think

15:44

that maybe the problem here was bigger than that.

15:47

He was certain that the strange, stinking

15:49

liquid the woman talked about could

15:51

not be normal flooding. But

15:53

he would need to talk to more people to figure out

15:55

what was actually going on. Half

15:58

an hour later, Mike was back to knock knocking on

16:00

doors around 99th Street. After

16:03

trying a few houses, he finally connected with

16:05

a middle-aged couple who, after hearing what Mike

16:07

was researching, said they'd be happy to talk

16:09

to him. The

16:11

moment Mike entered their house, he could smell

16:13

mold. But it wasn't the normal smell

16:15

of mildew. There was something stale and sort of

16:18

plasticky about it. A little

16:20

alarm bell began ringing in the back of Mike's head. Something

16:23

was really wrong here. The

16:25

husband, who was tall and had a beer belly, said

16:27

he wanted to bring Mike down into the basement. But

16:30

as soon as the husband opened up the door that

16:32

led to the basement steps, the smell

16:34

coming out of the basement was this

16:37

horrible, rancid, wet smell that burned Mike's

16:39

nose. Mike wondered

16:41

if maybe this was the same smell that the

16:43

petite woman he had spoken to at the other

16:45

house smelled at the bottom of that hole in

16:47

her yard. The husband

16:50

and Mike began descending the stairs, but

16:52

about halfway down, the husband stopped and

16:54

just told Mike to look around. And

16:57

so Mike would look around the basement, and

16:59

right away he saw all this thick black

17:01

sludge seeping in through the walls of the

17:03

basement and kind of collecting in the corners

17:05

on the floor. Mike

17:07

asked the husband how long their basement had been

17:10

like this, and the man said

17:12

they'd been trying to dry the basement out for

17:14

about 20 years now. The

17:16

husband said they had tried everything they could to

17:18

clear out the sludge, but nothing had

17:20

worked. The husband also said he

17:22

called the city countless times to try to get

17:24

them to help him, but he said

17:26

nobody from the city ever called him back. This

17:29

really upset Mike. This couple's

17:31

living in a house full of this terrible

17:34

smell and sludge for years and years, and

17:36

the city had just ignored them. It

17:39

was becoming clear to Mike that this

17:41

neighborhood around 99th Street had a problem,

17:43

and this story was definitely going to be a

17:45

lot bigger than just a drainage issue. After

17:48

thanking the couple for their time, Mike headed

17:51

back outside, looking forward to take a deep

17:53

breath of fresh air, but

17:55

when he stepped out onto the stoop, the

17:57

smell of mold he had smelled inside the

17:59

house was now replaced with a

18:01

different sour smell. He

18:03

scrunched his nose up and pulled his shirt collar up

18:05

to his eyes and covered his mouth with his hand.

18:08

As he approached the 99th Street Elementary

18:10

School playground, he could taste

18:12

the sour, chemical-like smell in his mouth.

18:15

It made his throat sting, which made it

18:17

hard to breathe, and by the time he

18:20

reached the playground, Mike was actually wheezing from

18:22

this sour smell. And

18:24

that's when he looked out over the school

18:26

playground and saw several pools of what looked

18:28

like oil on the ground. Yet

18:31

school was in session. He could see

18:33

lights on in all the classrooms as though nothing was wrong.

18:36

At this point, Mike was furious. It

18:39

seemed obvious to him that something dangerous

18:41

was going on here and the city

18:43

was clearly ignoring it. Mike

18:46

turned on his heels and rushed back towards his

18:48

car, anxious to get back to his office and

18:50

start writing about what he was finding. A

18:55

few weeks later, in April of 1978, Lois

18:58

Gibbs, whose son Michael was epileptic and

19:01

still very sick, anxiously stood

19:03

in the school superintendent's office. She

19:06

was clutching a few of Mike Brown's newspaper

19:08

articles that had just come out that week

19:10

in the Niagara Gazette. The

19:12

articles explained that there were all these

19:14

horrible smelling liquids that were collecting all

19:16

around the neighborhood right around the elementary

19:19

school, and so Lois was worried

19:21

these liquids were what was making her son

19:23

sick. Despite

19:25

her natural shyness, Lois had

19:27

actually called a meeting to talk over

19:29

the situation with the superintendent. Lois

19:32

slid the articles to the superintendent across

19:35

his shiny oak desk and she

19:37

told him about her son's health issues. Even

19:40

though Michael's health had stabilized and the doctors

19:42

concluded he did not have cancer, he

19:44

still wasn't getting better. And

19:47

so after reading Mike Brown's articles, Lois had

19:49

become convinced that these black sludge pools at

19:51

the school must have something to do with

19:54

her son's illness. Lois

19:56

told the superintendent that she did not feel

19:58

safe having Michael on school ground. grounds, until

20:01

these black pools could be investigated by

20:03

specialists. With tears welling

20:05

in her eyes, she said that she was worried

20:07

Michael was going to die. She

20:10

wanted him transferred out of the school immediately.

20:13

Across from her, the superintendent kind of

20:15

dramatically leaned back in his oversized leather

20:17

chair, and then a look of forced

20:19

empathy came across his face. And

20:22

this look kind of unnerved Lois, and she began

20:24

fiddling with her necklace again. But

20:26

she pressed on. She pushed

20:28

two doctors' notes across the desk, trying to

20:31

look self-assured. The superintendent

20:33

looked at her, and then looked at the notes.

20:36

And then his look of empathy disappeared,

20:38

and his eyes narrowed as he told

20:40

Lois that she was definitely overreacting. All

20:43

the other students were just fine. The

20:46

articles were mistaken. There was nothing wrong with

20:48

the school. Lois

20:50

tried to stay calm, and so in a sort

20:52

of shaky but somewhat even voice, she

20:54

told the superintendent that he was being way

20:57

too casual with the health of the

20:59

students at 99th Street Elementary School. But

21:01

the superintendent just shook his head. No, that was not

21:04

true. Then he slid the

21:06

doctors' notes back across the desk and pointed

21:08

his finger accusingly at Lois. He

21:11

told her that he wasn't about to upend

21:13

the whole school for one sick kid and

21:15

a hysterical housewife. The

21:17

words felt like a slap in the face to Lois. She

21:20

didn't understand how anyone working in education

21:22

could be so heartless, and

21:25

so she grabbed her purse and stormed out of the room.

21:28

As she drove home after the meeting, Lois

21:30

felt shell-shocked, her thoughts flipping back

21:32

and forth between rage and helplessness of the

21:34

room. As she drove

21:37

home after the meeting, Lois felt shell-shocked, her

21:39

thoughts flipping back and forth between rage

21:42

and helplessness. But by

21:44

the time she pulled into her driveway, she knew what she

21:46

was going to do. Lois was going

21:48

to reach out to other parents and let them know what

21:50

was going on. Maybe she'd even tell the

21:52

whole neighborhood. Heck, she'd go door to door if she had

21:54

to. If she couldn't get her son

21:56

transferred out of that school, well, then she was going to

21:59

have that school shut down. before any

22:01

more children go to sick. We

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23:50

next morning, Lois felt butterflies in her stomach as

23:52

she walked down her driveway. In

23:55

her hands was a pencil and a petition demanding

23:57

that the school be shut down. Lois

24:00

walked all the way to the end of the street,

24:02

figuring she could work her way back up the street

24:04

towards home, in time for lunch. Lois

24:07

couldn't keep herself from shaking as she forced herself

24:09

up onto a neighbor's stoop and knocked on their

24:11

door. She almost hoped that

24:13

nobody would answer, but she needed her

24:16

neighbors to be home and she needed them to listen.

24:19

Lois could hear footsteps inside the house and

24:21

soon a kind looking woman about her own

24:23

age answered the door. Lois

24:26

smiled and then very anxiously launched into this

24:28

shaky explanation of what she was doing here,

24:30

telling the woman about her son and the

24:33

pools of black liquid on the schoolyard. As

24:36

Lois spoke, the woman stayed quiet. To

24:39

Lois, it seemed like this woman might be annoyed with

24:41

her, and so this made Lois even more

24:43

nervous and she began to speak even faster, and then

24:46

when she was done, the woman just stayed quiet.

24:49

Lois was convinced this woman would call her crazy and

24:51

slam the door in her face, but

24:54

then the woman told Lois that she

24:56

also had a kid at 99th Street

24:58

Elementary, a little girl who was

25:00

diagnosed with arthritis at a very young age.

25:03

The woman and her husband couldn't understand how

25:06

their daughter could have arthritis as a

25:08

little kid and they'd spent countless hours

25:10

talking over different possibilities, but

25:12

now the woman told Lois she

25:14

wondered if maybe their children's medical cases could

25:16

be related. Lois felt

25:19

a combination of pride and sadness as

25:21

the woman took the clipboard and signed

25:23

the petition. After

25:25

that, Lois thanked the woman profusely and

25:27

let this small glimmer of success boost

25:29

her confidence as she headed to the

25:31

next house. A

25:33

few houses down, another woman came to the door.

25:36

This time it was someone who was a bit older than Lois,

25:39

and this woman would tell Lois that her

25:41

own daughter, who was in her 20s, had

25:43

recently had a miscarriage and the

25:45

daughter's seemingly healthy young husband had had

25:47

a fatal heart attack soon after the

25:50

miscarriage, and so the older

25:52

woman did not need much convincing to also

25:54

sign Lois's petition. By

25:56

the time Lois was just halfway down the

25:59

street, her petition was completely full

26:01

of signatures. And so Lois

26:03

was more convinced than ever that there was

26:05

something wrong with this neighborhood and it needed

26:07

to be stopped. A

26:12

few months after Lois got her petition signed

26:14

by basically everybody in the neighborhood, reporter

26:16

Mike Brown waited behind one of the trees

26:19

just outside of City Hall. He'd

26:21

done this every morning since early April and

26:23

now it was almost summer. As

26:26

Mike sipped his morning coffee and enjoyed the warmth

26:28

of the morning sun on his face, he

26:30

noticed the mayor walking from the parking lot to the

26:32

front steps of City Hall and so Mike headed over

26:34

to cut him off. Like

26:36

he'd done on many mornings before this, Mike

26:39

started pelting the mayor with questions

26:41

about the sludge puddles around 99th

26:43

Elementary School and the oozing

26:45

basements and flooded backyards that he documented

26:48

that spring. And as

26:50

always, the mayor told Mike that all those

26:52

issues were just a nuisance and not serious

26:54

health problems and then the mayor

26:56

ducked inside his office at City Hall where Mike

26:58

could no longer follow him. Mike

27:01

had expected the morning to go this way, he just

27:03

wanted to annoy the mayor and keep the issue in

27:05

front of him. Maybe if he

27:07

badgered the mayor enough, the man would slip

27:09

up or maybe finally agree to actually talk

27:11

about these issues. After

27:14

ambushing the mayor, Mike walked across the street from

27:16

City Hall to a diner. He

27:18

walked in through the front door and took a seat

27:20

at the bar breathing in the smell of fresh pancakes.

27:23

A waitress was working the register. She

27:26

asked Mike if he'd like the usual and Mike

27:28

said yes. The waitress brought him

27:30

a fresh cup of coffee, then as usual she

27:32

moved the phone from behind the counter to within

27:34

reach of Mike. Mike thanked her,

27:37

then used the phone to dial the Niagara

27:39

County Health Department. At this point

27:41

he knew the number by heart. A

27:43

familiar voice picked up on the other line. Mike

27:46

didn't know the receptionist by name but

27:48

after months of calling and calling he

27:50

certainly recognized her voice and she knew

27:52

it was Mike immediately. She

27:55

wished him good luck and then transferred him to her

27:57

boss before he even had to ask. And

28:00

as usual, her boss, the health department

28:02

official who answered the phone, told

28:05

Mike that the smell and the collecting

28:07

pools of black liquid were not a

28:09

health concern. To

28:11

Mike, it just seemed like the mayor and the health

28:13

department were in cahoots. Mike

28:16

hung up and dialed another number. This

28:18

time it was for the Hooker Chemical Company, which

28:20

was an industrial company that used to own the

28:22

land that was adjacent to 99th Street. Mike

28:26

had already approached Hooker Chemical through more

28:28

formal channels, and company officials

28:30

always told him that the black ooze

28:32

flooding yards all over the neighborhood was

28:34

not their responsibility. And

28:36

other than that, they just refused to comment. So

28:39

now Mike just called them every morning to remind

28:41

them that he was not going away and

28:43

neither was this problem. By

28:45

the time the receptionist at Hooker Chemical hung up

28:48

on Mike, a plate of eggs and toast had

28:50

arrived. Mike thanked the waitress, then

28:52

drenched his eggs in Tabasco sauce and began to

28:54

eat. As he

28:56

ate, Mike barely noticed the neon orange piece

28:58

of paper sliding onto the bar right next

29:00

to him. He looked

29:03

up to see a woman with brown hair

29:05

and big glasses holding a stack of these

29:07

orange pieces of paper. They were flyers. He

29:10

smiled and grabbed the piece of paper she had just slid

29:12

over to him. Before he

29:14

could read the flyer, the woman introduced herself as

29:16

Lois Gibbs and said she knew who he was.

29:19

She had read his articles in the paper. She

29:22

told Mike about her son and her neighbors, all

29:25

of whom she believed had been made sick by

29:27

the foul, oily liquid that he had written about

29:29

in those articles. She

29:31

invited Mike to a community meeting that evening

29:33

where she and her neighbors would be speaking

29:35

up about this issue. Mike

29:38

immediately loved Lois. She seemed

29:40

like someone who usually tried to blend in, but

29:43

she had clearly found her voice because she had

29:45

to. Mike looked down at the flyer

29:47

and saw there were dates for several other meetings in

29:49

addition to the one that was happening that night. Mike

29:52

was very impressed. It was clear this

29:54

woman was highly organized. And

29:57

so after months of working this case alone, Mike

29:59

suddenly felt a surge of energy. He

30:02

thanked Lois and promised her that he would be there

30:04

that night. That

30:10

night Mike pulled up outside of a church that

30:12

was in the next town over from Niagara Falls.

30:15

Mike walked into the back of the church

30:17

then followed a few people downstairs into a

30:19

big cinder block room with bright overhead lighting.

30:22

Along the wall was a folding table that had

30:24

some coffee and a few boxes of homemade cookies.

30:27

The neon orange flyer said tonight's speakers

30:29

would discuss a nearby industrial dump site

30:32

for chemical waste. Mike was

30:34

eager to better understand how these big industrial

30:36

plants were disposing of their waste in general.

30:39

Mike took a seat in a folding chair against the

30:41

wall and then just kind of kept a low profile.

30:44

He just wanted to listen tonight. First

30:47

a middle-aged barrel-chested man stood up and

30:49

thanked everyone for coming in. Then

30:52

he made a few announcements before seating the

30:54

floor to a young woman. Mike guessed

30:56

this woman was about 20 years old. She

30:59

had a determined look on her face as

31:01

she began telling the crowd about this chemical

31:03

smell that had been lingering in the air

31:05

around town. She said that

31:07

this nasty odor was being caused by an

31:09

old chemical dump site in town that had

31:12

recently begun leaking. As the

31:14

girl spoke she began to cry because she

31:16

was clearly very afraid of the fact that

31:19

she had lived right next to this dump

31:21

her whole life. She would tell

31:23

the crowd that the area the dump was in

31:25

was known by the unusual name of the Love

31:28

Canal. Mike

31:30

perked up at the mention of this dump

31:32

site's name. In all the research he'd done

31:34

in Niagara Falls he'd never heard of the

31:36

Love Canal and so the moment

31:38

the barrel-chested man stood back up to end the

31:41

meeting Mike shot up from a seat and nearly

31:43

sprinted out the door. He could not wait to

31:45

get to his office. 20 minutes

31:48

later Mike was back in his office settling in

31:50

for what he knew would be a long night of

31:52

research. It

31:57

only took a few days for Mike running on almost

31:59

no sleep to uncover a

32:01

horrifying history, a history

32:04

that almost no one living in Niagara

32:06

Falls suspected. Everyone

32:08

knew that it was a factory town with its share

32:10

of pollution problems, but what Mike had

32:13

discovered was far worse than that. He

32:15

learned that back in the 19th century, a New

32:18

York businessman named William Love built a canal

32:20

in the area that was meant to be

32:22

full of water and produced cheap electric power

32:24

for a city he wanted to build. They

32:28

never finished the project and the canal just

32:30

sat unused for 50 years like a

32:32

big ditch. But

32:34

in 1942, the Hooker Chemical Company bought

32:37

the old canal to use as a

32:39

dump site for their chemical waste. Then

32:42

Mike was stunned to learn that the US

32:44

military also began dumping chemicals in the canal.

32:47

In just 10 years, almost 22,000 tons

32:50

of chemical waste was dumped

32:52

into the Love Canal. And

32:55

after that, the Hooker Chemical Company abandoned the dump in

32:57

1953 and sold the land to

33:01

the Niagara Falls Board of Education for

33:03

just $1. But

33:06

in order for them to buy it at just $1, there

33:09

was a single condition, that

33:11

Hooker Chemical Company could never be blamed

33:13

for a lawsuit, injury, or death resulting

33:16

from the toxic materials they buried in

33:18

the canal. Mike

33:21

could not believe the extent of this

33:23

cover-up. Clearly, Love Canal is

33:26

what had made Michael Gibbs, Lois'

33:28

son, and so many other kids

33:30

and people in this area so

33:32

unwell. The elementary school

33:35

and over 100 houses were built

33:37

directly on top of thousands of

33:39

pounds of toxic chemical waste. But

33:43

Mike couldn't help but smile when he thought about

33:45

the bombshell that was about to land on the

33:48

front steps of City Hall as soon as his

33:50

story about this cover-up was published. He

33:53

thought of his new friend Lois and the other

33:55

parents who had been fighting to get 99th Street

33:57

Elementary shut down, and for the first

33:59

time in nearly a year, he felt

34:01

like they really had a shot at making that happen.

34:06

After Mike's expose on the Love Canal

34:08

came out, Lois Gibbs led

34:10

the entire Love Canal community in banding

34:12

together and taking their fight to the

34:14

Health Department. On

34:16

August 2, 1978, the Department

34:19

of Health officially recommended that the 99th

34:21

Street Elementary School be shut

34:23

down. More than

34:25

two years later, on October 1, 1980,

34:28

President Jimmy Carter signed a bill to

34:31

permanently relocate all of the Love Canal

34:33

residents to safe neighborhoods. Even

34:36

still, many of them suffered from lifelong

34:38

health issues. Eventually, more than

34:40

$20 million in damages was awarded to the

34:43

1,300 residents affected by

34:45

the Love Canal, which included Lois

34:47

Gibbs' family. As

34:49

for Lois' son, Michael, his illness

34:52

would actually just disappear within just

34:54

three days of leaving the 99th

34:56

Street neighborhood. And

34:58

Lois would go on to become one

35:00

of the most prominent environmental activists in

35:02

the United States, and in

35:04

2003, after 25 years of environmental advocacy, she was nominated

35:10

for a Nobel Peace Prize. But

35:13

even with Lois' amazing efforts to clean

35:15

up the toxic waste, it had

35:17

a devastating effect on the community. In

35:20

total, between 1979 and 1996, it's believed that 725 people died due

35:22

to exposure to toxic waste

35:29

from Love Canal, though

35:31

their death certificates listed other causes such as

35:33

heart attacks and cancer. But

35:36

thanks to advocates like Lois Gibbs

35:38

and Mike Brown, the Hooker Chemical

35:40

Corporation was forced to spend almost

35:42

$400 million cleaning up their enormous

35:45

mess. Hey

35:55

Prime members, you can listen to new

35:57

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Music. Download the app today. And

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free. Join Wondery Plus today. Before

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you go, tell us about yourself

36:12

by completing a short survey at

36:14

listenersurvey.com. From

36:20

Ballin Studios and Wondery, this is

36:22

Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries hosted by

36:24

me, Mr. Ballin. A

36:27

quick note about our stories. We use

36:29

aliases sometimes because we don't know the

36:31

names of the real people in the

36:33

story. And also, in most cases, we

36:35

can't know exactly what was said, but

36:37

everything is based on a lot of

36:40

research. And a reminder, the content in

36:42

this episode is not intended to be

36:44

a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis,

36:46

or treatment. This

36:48

episode was written by Aaron Lan. Our

36:50

editor is Heather Dundas. Sound design

36:53

is by Andre Plus. Coordinating producer

36:55

is Sophia Martins. Our senior producer

36:57

is Alex Benadon. Our associate producers

36:59

and researchers are Sarah Vytac and

37:02

Tasia Palaconda. Fact checking was

37:04

done by Sheila Patterson. For

37:06

Ballin Studios, our head of production is

37:08

Zach Lebitt. Script editing is by Scott

37:11

Allen and Evan Allen. Our

37:13

coordinating producer is Mattub Zehr.

37:15

Executive producers are myself, Mr.

37:17

Ballin, and Nick Witters. For

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Wondery, our head of sound

37:21

is Marcelino Vellipondo. Senior producers are

37:24

Laura Donna Palavoda and Dave Schilling.

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Senior managing producer is Ryan Lohr.

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Our executive producers are Aaron O'Flaherty

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