One of the West's Most Mysterious Outlaws: the Ballarat Bandit | Detective Ridiculous
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- čas přidán 23. 09. 2023
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For 11 months, the Bandit led state and federal officers on a 1500-mile chase through some of the most rugged and inhospitable terrain in America. They had pursued him with helicopters, planes, dogs, trackers, and entire task forces, on horseback, by car and on foot; he had escaped them at every turn by demonstrating incredible feats of physical endurance and wilderness ingenuity. As tales of his exploits mounted, he became a folk hero, an outlaw trickster in the tradition of the Old West. - Zábava
Hoping DK sees this, but you should totally look up "The North Pond Hermit" who lived for 27 years without human contact in northern Maine before being caught in 2013. This episode really reminded me of him.
No!
Once he was startled and yelled Hi! At a hiker
But yeah DK should absolutely take a crack at that story
Wait what did he get caught for?
Is this the same guy that was stealing food from a summer camp while living in the woods
Holy shit, I remember seeing this on the front page of the Bangor Daily News my father was reading one day, one of the few times I actually picked up a newspaper before I turned 18!
@@nathanoliveira9655 Yeah. He was subsisting on mostly candy, snacks, sodas and juice boxes that he could pilfer from the pantry of that summer camp, along with what bit he could forage. He would mostly hit the local summer camp shortly after all the kids had left, so the summer camp was abandoned.
When the authorities caught him, they realized they were in custody of a mentally unwell man and not some hardened criminal. They realized that sending him to prison would probably be the death of him. From what I heard the local community petitioned the judge to release him, and they set him up a place just outside of town where he wouldn't be bothered, and someone a few times a week would stop by to make sure he was doing okay and bring him food.
"His DNA test turned up negative? What does that even mean?"
"Dude didn't have any DNA, I have no idea how that's even possible but he sure managed it."
Hes got alien blood bruh, no wonder he is lurking around area 51
Man outran Johann Friedrich Miescher.
Honestly wouldn't have been that surprising at that point in the video.
"He burnt his fingerprints off, has false teeth and somehow doesn't have any DNA."
The new art makes it look like DK is trying to explain to his boss (Bricky) why this current case is should be a top priority
And shy is pouring herself a drink cause she knows that every DK case is werider than the last
Is certainly a True Detective situation.
Meanwhile Bricky is not focused at all, he's thinking about Doge's wiki feet
Dammit, DK! You're a loose cannon!
Looks like someone's investigating Pepe Silvia
"In today's news, after 3 years the identity of the Ballarat Bandit has been confirmed. According to our sources, the Sherrifs and Rangers of Inyo County, the SWAT, and the DoJ were outrun, outsmarted, and ultimately blue-balled by a single insane Canadian. Experts say he likely could have 'been captured immediately had the police just said, "Please."'"
No word on whether or not he was sowrry
@@ChumblesMumblesWhen later questioned on their handling of the case, police claimed “Oopsie Daisy”
You don’t want to fuck with a Canuck……just look up there history of war
WW1 - we used more gas then any other country
WW2- one of the only armies willing to trench raid (crawling through no man’s land at night to silently club sleeping nazis to death
Then there’s all the Christmas Day attacks…..you really don’t want to make the polite cold people mad, they are warm blooded
Shout out to Shy for putting up a picture of Ned Kelly when DK was talking about the bandit becoming a folk hero.
Ned Kelly was so inspiring honestly
As gentlemanly of a bandit as they come.
Are we thinking about the same ned kelly, the bush ranger.
He still robbed and murdered innocent people
Has not a hero
Ned and his gang still stole from their on communities, they stole from their neighbours, they wasted resources in area's already with so little to spare honouring them makes no sense.
It makes no more sense to honour robber barons or squatters if your wealth is stolen from the hard work of other's then your not worthy of note.
@DanielVisOneCade yeah but the armour is so cool though
I would absolutely buy detective ridiculous cassette tapes
Huge boom in sales for cassette players all of a sudden
Same
As an Australian i got my hopes up when i saw Ballarat. I didnt even realise they were talking about the american place because they were talking about the ghosttowns and the heat and i was like "heh, yeah, Australia is a hellhole"
Same I thought it was going to be a story that would start in Victoria and a mad man either runs to the top of NT or just stakes it out in the middle of Western Australia
Also an Australian who thought it was our Ballarat but thought it was during gold rush times because I listened to it on a podcast app first, so I never saw the thumbnail
Same
I thought it was the one in Colorado! Heh.
Little Known Fact: Death Valley is actually just a portal to the Australian Outback. Mexican Drug Cartels use this portal to smuggle drugs to Australia. Don't ask me how I know this, just Trust Me Bro.
At the end, it turns out that the true villain of the story was the prison system.
And Nixon
Always was
For once it's the Canadian prison system and not the Americans lol
@@endplanets More like Jean Chrétien, remember he was in the Canadian prison system...or Paul Martin
And 9/11.
Hi the gun guy bricky was asking for. A 22 rifle is not a good choice for a long range rifle but you have to remember he's out in the wilds so it's perfect for small game hunting or any predators out there that might hurt him and because the bullet is so small and light you can carry more of them than other calibers
I am a 40k nerd... but... the episode that I look forward to most is a once a month true crime episode by DK.... well fucking done DK... do not apologise for its length... this was gold
Oooo I like the new detective ridiculous look!!
Edit: also love the length of this one, long episodes are always the best
Edit 2: Hilariously ironic the guy ends up being Canadian after a Bricky’s fun time out there
Wow, I F-ing loved this episode. The idea of the guy just being "some guy" really appeals to me for some reason.
He's just a little bandit.
Being just some is universally relatable
I figured it was someone who wanted to be alone, maybe even a conspiracy nut. But man, didn’t expect it to be like that. Really sad situation.
As a Canadian I fully understand why the wife was confused on why no one even considered helping him
Just means it could happen to anyone if they go through enough mental trauma. Real fuckin sad.
A few corrections. Ballarat is in Inyo County. There is no Inyo County "police." They're Inyo County Sheriff. There is only one city in Inyo County, called Bishop, which is the north of the county. Ballarat itself is in the south of the county. The closest actual city is Ridgecrest, which is Kern County (which is home to Bakersfield). It's only 40 miles from Ridgecrest to Ballarat, but they're in different counties.
A note about all the gun theft; Stolen firearms can effectively be used like currency in criminal circles and are easy to exchange for drugs. It may have been a big reason he was stockpiling so many.
in a related fun fact: up until very recently, Canadians were actually banned from going on Survivor. my family’s theory was always that, given how hostile the weather can be, the producers were worried we would absolutely stomp people due to our insane resilience. that theory was all but confirmed when, two seasons in a row, Canadian women won on Survivor.
I will once again ask for the X time, The Battle of Ape Canyon! An old story about a few gold hunters and their encounters with Bigfoot’s!
I second the vote for Ape Canyon
Yes please
Yes! The Battle of Ape Canyon would probably fit pretty well for a DR episode. Could even do a classic Triple Creature Feature and have a couple other episodes on the Nahanni Valley and the Superstition Mountains
As someone who has a cassette and CD player both in good condition stored away, I would 100% buy Detective Ridiculous episodes on tape or CD
This started with Intrigue, suspense and crazy escapes, then finished on: "oh..... I am now drowning in a sea of depression".
The movie Bricky was thinking of is "Hell or High Water." Good movie, highly recommend
"Lord of the plains... that's me"
Once again I’d like to suggest the case of the Death Valley Germans. A missing persons cold case that was cracked by a dedicated lone explorer, whose blog about solving the case (posted as he was doing so over the course of years) is on his own website and a great resource. Mystery abounds, a great read with interesting characters and perspective.
Finally an art where dk doesnt look like the newbie or a kid
I honestly wonder if Mr. Johnson was an undiagnosed neurodivergent. He was old enough to easily have slipped through the cracks and just be considered eccentric, with his focus on his special interests - until he burned out from the combined overload of his wife's illness, a lifetime of picking up enough skills to only be considered as odd at worst, and finally jail. If he was an undiagnosedneurodivergent and prison doctors didn't diagnose him correctly, the meds they gave him could have easily pushed into full on meltdown/shutdown/burnout. From bitter experience, it is so damn hard to recover from that, and I can totally sympathize with his attempt to get away and just heal. Unfortunately, if my theory is right, no one including himself really knew what was wrong - hell, psychologists didn't start to study autistic burnout until the late 2010s - and he just fell into darkness.
Could’ve been undiagnosed schizophrenia
@@Cannon6969Which is a type of neurodivergence, and can be and has been mistaken for other types.
personally i picked up on Bipolar Disorder from his story. depends on what those prison meds he got were, but before my bipolar diagnosis i was given meds that put me into a manic episode for months. and later on i got put on antipsychotics that made go into a state called “rapid cycling” where you got back and forth between mania and depression like every few hours, in my case.
it was awful and if i had the immense stress of Mr. Johnston’s life I could absolutely see myself just breaking down and doing something drastic like he did. maybe not abandoning my family to become an 1870s esque bandit in death valley, but still.
especially considering i was rapid cycling at home, in a safe and familiar environment, not _prison_, while my wife is dying of leukemia.
in that volatile and vulnerable state, one doesn’t tend to make the most rational decisions. i have sympathy for Mr. Johnston and think his story should be told.
Plus, the east coast isn't really rolling in the dough. everything suffers when you're a have not province. Not gonna lie, I thought the same thing. Intense special interest, lack of control over his own life.probaly didn't know how to play by the unspoken rules in the pen either.
The medication thing really reminds me of those people who believe that everyone around them is an agent and that they're all being followed and controlled by the government. I saw a post on the subreddit for that one time where they were sharing tips for how to avoid sedatives given to them in prison after being arrested for assaulting random "agents" saying that the meds were meant to mind control them etc etc.
I very much LOVE the new background for detective ridiculous, it looks absolutely great.
It's way better than the one for their regular Adeptus Ridiculous thing - much less Uncanny Valley proportions.
I liked the old one. It was strange, dark and mysterious like the content they covered on this show
@@foxmcgill8187 If they added more shadows and lighting, this one would be better than it is right now
Honestly, him booking it makes sense if his paranoia and past trauma meant he knew he'd go back to jail, and considering what he went through the first time, that's Adrenaline+ Fuk That in terms of speed
Shockingly, Canada does have deserts! There's a desert in southwest Saskatchewan called the Great Sand Hills. It's around that very arid region of southeast Alberta/northern Montana. Got sand dunes and everything
I just realised something really depressing that adds to the "It was the times"-type attitude to this story: Weed is legal in Canada now; he would have never gone to prison today, would have never had his mental breakdown, wouldn't have left his family to wander the desert on a horse with no name, and he wouldn't have then taken his own life when finally cornered by authorities.
Fucking Tzeentch man
I would love to see internet historian do an episode on this guy, the animations of the police force converging on a camp, multiple times, would be funny
Complete with razormind every time there's an operation
I would like him to do a alternate ending (like he done before) because it be nice to see a what if moment.
@@Fourtytwo4242 The alternate ending would be the bandit looking in the distance, as the extremely well made, reality-defying, life-like-looking manequin made out of wax, spit and hair that he had spent the last year making and then shot in the head is picked up by the cops and taken away as if they had taken him down.
Primary reason for Burying food...
Your cold stays cold longer. This means you can keep perishables for longer than 12hrs, up to 3 or 4 days, depending on sun time in the camp, and seasonal temperatures.
The Mad Trapper of Canada would be a good spiritual sequel to this tale!
This was actually a surprisingly tragic story.. if it weren't so horrible for his family, I'd say it would make an amazing show in the same vein as Breaking Bad
I say they can make a show ONLY if they give 25% of the gross profit to the family.
you know, when DK first did Adeptus Ridiculous I was so excited and really hoped it would become it's own thing. Been real glad that it has, this is always an amazing and fun listen!
I feel like it needs to be brought up: would the Bandit have even accepted help from the government/police, given his mental state? I mean, there's only so much officers can do if someone not only doesn't want help, but is actively avoiding them.
Really enjoy the post-it’s on the wall behind DK. “Who is the littlest guy” indeed
My husband and I listened to this as we have with all of your episodes...this one got us talking on what a crazy dark comedy this would make as a film and who we would cast in it. This was a lot of fun. I can just imagine Patrick Steward typing 'If it walks like an American, talks like an American ....but isn't an American...." bit. This would make such a great film with some older men not typically cast in movies much anymore that we don't see as often. reminiscent of "Burn After Reading".
God the wall notes in the background are absolutely a genius touch
I love the news afticles on the wall, especially the "Admec priest one. "In a bathtub with a toaster"😂
Maybe he was one of those unlucky kids that had their schizophrenia exacerbated by weed? Its SUPER rare, but it CAN happen. Then whatever mystery drug they pumped him full of in prison just completely wrecked him. Maybe something horrible happened to him there, he was in for a year.
"Rare" both me and my friend had it (his was way worse) I don't have schizophrenic anything unless I do drugs
Arguably my favorite episode yet and a great find. I normally listen to these as I grind through a game or walking, but I actually pouted a bit when we learned more about Johnson. Sure in the end, he really was just "some guy" but, what a really sad history.
hearing about this man running up and over a mountain while loaded down makes me want to do some cardio.
Im only half way through the video but damn this man (bandit) is a man of focus, dedication and shear f word will. Second please release mixtapes of the detective videos i would love that and most likely buy that stuff
Yeah..., might want to comment after watching.
@@zielonyfenix8193 yep I should have
Can't wait to acquire Detective Ridiculous cassette tapes to play in my subaru hatchback that I also acquired.
Acquired. Such a peculiar word.
Not "bought", "found", "inherited". Acquired.
Curious.
;)
Nice, is it an wrx?
@@PobortzaPlthe car used to belong to someone else. It now belongs to me.
@@MydasAU nice try, Mr. Department of Homeland Security, but I'm one step ahead.
@@benjaminswanson4961 "- Who's Zed?
- Zed's dead, baby. Zed's dead" ;)
Well, that explains why he ran like a madman. Because not only was he very crazy but he was likely high enough he couldn't feel his heart about to explode.
And nothimg with the law enforcement services changed it seems. Still out there curb stomping unfortunates.
I don’t know how much either DK or Bricky know about him but an Episode on Ned Kelly would be awesome
The movie Bricky was thinking of in the beginning was "Hell or Highwater"
Death Valley sounds like a battle involving Kriegsmen more than a real world place.
When you kept saying Ballarat was a ghost town as an Aussie I was shocked as it’s a Victorian town with a population over 100,000. Needless to say when you mentioned Death Valley I was extremely disappointed as I was hoping for some local tales
I love the new drawing!!!!! I like how cool shy looks.
Also i loved this episode, i havent finished it yet! only 30 min left, It has beeeeen a crazy one, also even i, not being from the US, know that there are coyotes in the Cali desert jajjaja.
Cant wait till the next one, this ones are always fun and interesting
I haven't seen every episode of this show yet, but I was right to catch this on day one. It's the most exciting and emotional episode I've seen, maybe out of everything that's been on the channel so far. It's a shame how but this story ended, the Bandit could have led a much happier and more fulfilling life if the proper help had reached him in time.
Picturing this entire story with David Goggins as the bandit makes it so much fucking better
I’m 1/3 into the video and the lack of in yo county jokes are soul crushing
An AR-15 is an M-16 without the burst fire capability, and uses a 5.56mm rifle bullet. In California they also need a few modifications to slow down the reloading process. A friend of mine bought one and the magazine was welded to the lower receiver so the upper receiver had to be removed or shot-gunned and the rounds had to be loaded from above.
Ngl, when you said who walks talks and acts like an American but isn't an American, my immediate thought was the KGB. They had those whole American towns the built for training agents, so between that and the military bases and stuff, I thought it was going to be some former KGB agent
A governor is a limit on the engine so that you don't go over a certain speed
Yooo let’s go Australia
Edit: am a dumbass, Ballarat is a current functioning town in Australia too haha
We need longer episodes
I do genuienly wonder what DK means by "helping him". Like, do think he'll stop running if the cops yell "WAIT! WE ARE ONLY TRYING TO HELP YOU!" while chasing him?
" LIT-ER-AL. " - I half expected Shy to put up a picture of Leafy.
.22 is a varmint round, true, but thats actually genius for a robber or "bandit". Its a long gun, with cheap bullets, and a bandit only needs to LOOK well armed truly.
Thats one clever desert rat!
I saw apse towers with my own days Sunday, Sept. 9, 2001 on a trip to Long Island. I remember the sky that November and how purple the sky was. It was eerie and sad not to see those towers.
If we're going back to the creepy episodes, I think the case of elisa lam would be very interesting to cover
Aww, wicked! Detective Ridiculous got a new intro and shit too!! Love the new art!
DK Popping off!!! Man this tale reminds me Chris McCandless and Sky King. May they all rest in peace.
Honestly from how things started and kept going until the end, i genuinely thought it was an ex-military that was suffering from major PTSD and genuinely thought he was in enemy territory. I've read and even heard from some coworkers of bad cases. And the guns part but lack of hurting anyone really pinned it as that. Like it sounds like what SERE teaches still. Do not hurt or steal from excessively (That is pretty subjective and not followed) civilians in a conflict zone and avoid all forms of capture by combatants while giving signs of presence to allies for rescue.
Also this is the Rambo story that would have been more grounded and less violent.
22 LR is considered a “Varmint” caliber. As in, you would use this to shoot anything around the size of a rat and reliably kill it. The Bandit probably took that kind of rifle to shoot small game than try to hold up tourists.
DK the govenor is usually a cpu or other electronic safegaurd that dissallows the vehicle to fully utilize its topspeed and acceleration. Disabling the govenor is essentially like overclocking your pc.
Dang what another phenomenal episode! Excellent storytelling always DK
120 and you call it death valley? Spring just started at the southern hemisphere, and here at Paraguay we're already reaching those temperatures. Just yesterday we were fighting softcombat skirmishes in full medieval gear despite the heat.
Yes a .22 rifle is not ideal for longer range, I don't know the exact MOA but I myself am able to shoot accurately at about 300 feet with irons. Past that distance its just relying on the bullet to not vere off course. Most ammo for the .22 is supersonic by just a few feet/sec so the energy of the bullet really drops off at about 100-200 feet. Hope that helped!
"People born after 9/11 can drink now" oh shit, now I need a drink myself... thanks for that
I was confused as shit at the start of this episode, until Brickie mentioned Ballarat, California - was kind of excited there for a minute to hear a bit about Australian crimes.
Loving these mystery episodes and love your stuff, if you have a chance DK I suggest doing some research into the Lions of Tsavo, such a scary story about a duo of lions!
Again, thank you for another great and interesting episode of the podcast!
The only difference between paranoia and proper caution is your track record.
This man had all his delusions confirmed when the full force of the government came after him.
LoL, Balorant bandit outrunning the cops definitely wins as a story over the "drunk teens driving away from the cops with a overcrowded moped-car" here in finland ("overcrowded", as being over the limit of a driver with 4 passangers. The moped car was filled with 9 passangers).
Awesome, those are always a treat. Odd timing after Bricky's Canada thing, never underestimate a Canadian, eh? Kinda hope to see the Max Headroom Incident on here someday.
After watching this. I hope count dankula makes a mad lad video on this guy.
The only other time I heard of a Ballarat is in a Sherlock Holmes short story. Coincidence? Probably.
I've been waiting on baited breath, finally its here!
I like how you guys mix it up like that
i miss when adeptus ridiculous was also an hour and a half long
Same
Dude's a renegade speed freek turned kommando
If he was out on parole. I wonder if he still had a parole officer when he went to the United States
The wife saying "why didnt the cops try to help" like...that is seriously on some grief coping type energy.
A man who she should know very well that he is not trusting of any government (and is mentally unwell), who is robbing folks, stealing cars, food, etc in the deset and could potentially lead to people exposed and at risk and also painting himself the image of a threat to the state by gathering weapons and supplies. What else were the law enforcement supposed to see?
You guys might want to look up Claud Dallas he is considered the last Cowboy outlaw. It happened back in 1981 this story including shootouts, a bush plane escape and a jailbreak.
You got an uncontrolled gaffe out of me with the cat bricky licking his nose.
Good work
| love Detective Ridiculous. more please
Brickys forheaed got me bricked up
My heart hurts this episode
Hell or high water is the movie I believe
It is. Pretty good movie.
1:26:27
AR-15's shoot 5.56 NATO rounds, which are 22 caliber rounds. The only significant difference between 5.56 and .223 is that 5.56 has a slightly higher pressure than it's .223 counterpart (~58,000 PSI vs ~55,000 PSI), which gives it some extra muzzle velocity and penetration, albeit still low relative to other rifle options. They are functionally very similar.
I'm gonna be honest the image of him by the ATV goes hard
Shame Brickie didn't mention how Epic delisted all of the Unreal games in an act of VANDALISM! T-T
I love the background.
Tsk tsk, death valley is actually called that because someone froze to death out there one winter, and a survivor said he'd never go back to that death valley or something like that.
All that about hikers make me only think one thing: Who the heck goes hiking in freaking Death Valley? Devil's Hole Pupfish?
Oh my god I am in love with the new overlays.
A governor is an engine part that limits the speed of a vehicle to ensure that they don't break parts inside due to excessive speed
Bro has his stamina bar maxed out