Gary’s Q&A

Listener question & Gary’s response · Transcript passage

The first question comes from Merei Milbee who asks What has been your favorite episode idea that you’ve researched (whether or not it’s made it to air)? Can you name any that you’ve researched and decided NOT to make an episode on the topic once you started the research?

So, I don’t have a favorite, but I do have a recent example. I figure I should share this here because it isn’t going to make it into a full-blown episode, and this would be the best place to tell the story.

It has to do with Yang Kyoungjong. He was a Korean soldier who fought in the Secon world war.

He was conscripted into service in the Japanese Imperial army. He was brought to fight in China, where he ended up being captured by the Soviets.

He was conscripted into the Soviet army and was forced to fight in Eastern Front in WWII, where he was captured by the Germans.

The Germans then forced him to fight for them on their western front in France, where he was captured by the Americans after D-Day.

That is an incredible story and when I first heard, my initial reaction was that it would make for a great episode.

However, the more research I did, the more I realized that the story was almost certainly fictitious. There is one source for the story…..and nothing else.

I couldn’t, in good faith, do an episode on it.

Another episode where I had to switch plans in the middle of research was my episode on HH Holmes, America’s first serial killer. My initial research mostly consisted of rehashing the stories of the day. However, again, the more research I did, the more I realized that the stories of the time were exaggerated and sensationalized.

He was a murderer, but not to the extent that the papers would have you believe at the time.

Another episode I abandoned was the Gang of Four. This was the group led by Mao Zedon’s widow, who ruled China after the death of Mao.

My problem here was putting together a coherent story. I feel I’m in a much better position to do so now than I was when I first came up with the idea.