Perhaps The Craziest Thought Any Human Has Ever Had
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It sounds too crazy to be true, but at the beginning of World War 2, a crazy idea was hatched. What if we strapped bombs to bats? The idea is they would roost in attics and crawlspaces all over Tokyo and then set the whole city on fire. Believe it or not, this was tested for years, at the cost of millions before being shelved. But here’s the craziest bit… It could have worked.
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LINKS LINKS LINKS
https://www.airandspaceforces.com/article/1090bats/
https://www.nps.gov/cave/blogs/the-bat-flight.htm
https://historycollection.com/this-wwii-plan-consisted-of-incinerating-japan-with-bats-bearing-tiny-bombs/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHDO78QfLbE
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/bats-balloon-bombs-world-war-ii-180956203/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_mastiff_bat
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_mastiff_bat#/media/File:Eumops_perotis.jpeg
https://www.fws.gov/media/virginia-big-eared-bat-0
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_free-tailed_bat#/media/File:Mexican_free-tailed_bat_(8006856842).jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Fieser#/media/File:Louis_Fieser.jpg
https://www.nps.gov/articles/batbombsandballoons.htm
https://taskandpurpose.com/history/bat-bombs-burned-base/
https://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/brilliant-mistakes-the-bat-bomb/
https://youtu.be/nAm_OPVeS4w?si=vqX-Tpdvy0e2Yb0o&t=151
https://www.britannica.com/event/Manhattan-Project
https://www.osti.gov/opennet/manhattan-project-history/Events/1945/trinity.htm
https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/atomic-bomb-hiroshima
https://lieber.westpoint.edu/military-animals-armed-conflict/
https://lowell.edu/astronomy-shakespeare-and-the-ides-of-march/
https://www.historyhit.com/animals-used-for-military-purposes/
https://www.niwcpacific.navy.mil/About/Departments/Intelligence-Surveillance-and-Reconnaissance/Marine-Mammal-Program/
https://www.thetimes.com/comment/register/article/how-an-air-force-of-pigeons-did-their-bit-to-help-poor-tommy-survive-the-trenches-nnhx8x6kbs9
https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/15-animals-that-went-to-war
https://lieber.westpoint.edu/plea-animalizing-international-law-armed-conflict/
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 – Intro
1:15 – Meet Dr. Adams
3:00 – The Bat Plan
5:00 – Project X-Ray
10:20 – The Carlsbad AFB Incident
13:00 – Other Military Animals
15:30 – Sponsor – Henson Shaving
@fafo_o
May 19, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Soooo.. a drone swarm.
@Annihilation_pi
May 19, 2026 at 8:03 pm
No sh*t!
I just made custom rock paper scissors dice today. D6, the 2x bats beat the 2x incendiary grenades which beat the 2x windmills which obv beat the 2x bats, so on and so forth 😢😇🎲
@Number5_SCP
May 19, 2026 at 8:03 pm
The public was told Pearl Harbor was a sneak attack, but it was a bit more complicated than that
@Ayeohx
May 19, 2026 at 8:03 pm
1:45 In Batman Returns (92) the Penguin weaponized his penguin army with missiles and bombs. He probably got the idea from this guy. 🙂
@baalzhamon8491
May 19, 2026 at 8:03 pm
You forgot to mention "fire pigs", which was used to frighten elephants…
@chrishamilton53
May 19, 2026 at 8:03 pm
The hybernation was also integral to the function as the bats would otherwise have axphyxiated at high altitude in trinsit iin the unpressurized bomb bays of B-29s.
The US had a fair bit more success in plausible ideas of weaponizing animals during WWII than the Germans or Soviets.
Some historians and engineers have argued the Bat Bomb would've been the weapons to end the war in the pacific (and prevent the need for the horrific prospect of an invasion of Japan) had it not been for the Atomic bombings doing that first.
There's the pidgeon guided anti-shipping bomb they developed during WWII, as well … directly related to the ASM-N-2 Bat radar guided bomb. (which did not use Bats … or Gary Burghoff)
@franciscodanconia4324
May 19, 2026 at 8:03 pm
The US Army turned down my idea to mount MLRS on rhinoceroses.
@briceweed5325
May 19, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Internment camps were not based solely on racism, knock it off with that shit Joe.
@SubSonicEctomorph
May 19, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Amazing that this is true 😅
@flyingdutchman28
May 19, 2026 at 8:03 pm
1/100th of a MegaBat.
@xMrDuBx
May 19, 2026 at 8:03 pm
This make me wonder if they came up with the Tokyo fire bombings off this idea. Those killed more people than the nukes in a single night. The radiation is what caused the added deaths over time.
@Mw2three
May 19, 2026 at 8:03 pm
"The dogs couldn't consent to go on the mission" I don't think the conscripts consented either
@FF-bs6hy
May 19, 2026 at 8:03 pm
didn't tried the Russians something similar with dogs, ending blowing up their own tanks?
@rabidmidgeecosse1336
May 19, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Sooo no mention of the actual firebomb raids that killed more people than the A-bombs? No bats required and they incinerated Tokyo.
@Dornul
May 19, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Didn't the Americans also come up with pigeon guided bombs or something?
@jamesancona3590
May 19, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Top notch comedy and writing as always!!!
@EmerlyNickel
May 19, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Isn't this kinda what Olga of Kiev did? Supposedly, the village/city that killed her husband (split in twain by two trees) surrendered when she brought an army to them and she demanded that all the prominent households give her a bird they used for messages. She later released those birds carrying some kind of flaming material and they returned to their homes to roost setting them on fire.
I'm probably skimming over details or getting things a little wrong. Admittedly, my only source for this info is Puppet History's episode on her lol (which I know isn't a source).
@thomasprice8759
May 19, 2026 at 8:03 pm
While I appreciate your thoroughness in describing the design of the bomb mechanism, I have to point out that at no point prior had I had any concern, whatsoever, that the US military would be able to make the bomb for Project XRay. Getting an appropriately fused incindiary is clearly the low-hanging fruit of this project.
@wonderweasle2212
May 19, 2026 at 8:03 pm
0:29 thats not racism… japan attacked…. japan could of had sleeper cells. Its ok to react to something crazy with something crazy
@cuckoobrain7999
May 19, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Bombatstic
@DataCab1e
May 19, 2026 at 8:03 pm
13:18 "You're not one of those guys from the military, are you, trying to teach whales to retrieve torpedoes, or some dipshit stuff like that?" "No, ma'am, no dipshit."
@dustinmere1560
May 19, 2026 at 8:03 pm
America just be building sh*t
@jamese9283
May 19, 2026 at 8:03 pm
I don't see the point of using bats. They could have just dropped a bunch of little incendiary bombs all over the place, which would have landed on the paper structures and started fires.
@amym.4823
May 19, 2026 at 8:03 pm
3:02 The illustrations!!! 😆😆😆
@shoobfloof22
May 19, 2026 at 8:03 pm
I heard a story of a bear that fought with some troops during WWII, and it did various things that the soldiers trained it to do, including basically being an "ammo supply bear" where it would run along the front lines of a skirmish and provide ammo crates to the soldiers
@Cyclynn
May 19, 2026 at 8:03 pm
wait so does the US military have armed dolphins?
@DataCab1e
May 19, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Mystery Biscuits! (oh yeah)
@MatthewHoskinsAethel
May 19, 2026 at 8:03 pm
You have a look at the anti-tank bomb dogs who having been thoroughly trained went directly to their own sides vehicles. I think this awful idea was soviet.
@Steampunkkids
May 19, 2026 at 8:03 pm
@JoeScott Are you just going through old episodes of Dark Matters: Twisted But True television show? You have covered a bunch of their old topics, including this one. Are you doing this on purpose, or is this just a coincidence?
@Max6785
May 19, 2026 at 8:03 pm
"What happened to the bats?" My keyboard is now covered in coffee, thanks.
@Sniperboy5551
May 19, 2026 at 8:03 pm
4:14 His shenanigans are cruel and tragic, which makes them not shenanigans at all, really…
@johnkooy5327
May 19, 2026 at 8:03 pm
That idea of Lytle Adams was bat shit crazy!
@christophercaldwell6888
May 19, 2026 at 8:03 pm
As segues go …
@evapunk522
May 19, 2026 at 8:03 pm
So…what this tells me is that the people in our government have always been stupid…lovely.
@bonniepinney2884
May 19, 2026 at 8:03 pm
You forgot about horses. They're the most utilized war animal ever.
@TheRealCanadianGeek
May 19, 2026 at 8:03 pm
That's why i don't believe in goverment conspiracies.
@kelvinbishop3194
May 19, 2026 at 8:03 pm
It’s so embarrassing that we didn’t just surrender. If only you’d been in charge, we’d all be soon much better off.
@DtWolfwood
May 19, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Chips also famously bit Eisenhower. lol