The 2007 Boston Mooninite Panic

Dozens of movies have included fantastic plotlines about Earth being invaded by aliens from another planet. It is a common movie theme, but not one you expect to see in real life. But, one winter day in Boston, the city found itself under siege by invaders from the moon, and the city had to deploy all its considerable resources to hold back the attack, while television stations breathlessly reported on the battle.
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This is original content based on research by The History Guy. Images in the Public Domain are carefully selected and provide illustration. As very few images of the actual event are available in the Public Domain, images of similar objects and events are used for illustration.
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All events are portrayed in historical context and for educational purposes. No images or content are primarily intended to shock and disgust. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Non censuram.
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Script by THG
#history #thehistoryguy #Boston

[@tokyochannel2020]

I never imaged the day that THG would be talking about Aqua Teen Hunger Force lol.

[@chrisconway9959]

Just thinking the same fuckin thing Life is about taking material goods when no one is looking

[@blakena4907]

You're not the only one, this is one of the funnier/bizarre THG installments 😂

[@thejudgmentalcat]

Lance saying "Meatwad" is the end of 2021 we all needed 🍝

[@eansba88-]

Is it "team"?! I've been saying "aqua teen" since I first saw it years ago... I feel silly now.

[@thejudgmentalcat]

@@eansba88- no its "Teen"

[@S1apShoes]

ATHF was one of my favorite shows when I was in high school, and when this happened, I busted out laughing in the middle of dinner when it came on the news. My parents just couldn't wrap their minds around it.

[@kevinwebster7868]

And there lies the danger. It trains people to not take this stuff seriously.

[@F_ckAllTrumpVoters]

@@kevinwebster7868 LOL

[@americangunners2352]

Shouldn't you be working on another Mark Martin video...lol. j/k man, love your content.

[@em1osmurf]

i'm 70, and "got" it.

[@HiTechOilCo]

ATHF?

[@jasonwomack4064]

I'd give good money to see History Guy try to awkwardly describe Carl's character on the show.

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

A very bad man.

[@OMCbuilt]

Carl is a man who don't need no instructions on how to rock!

[@InfectedChris]

I'd toss in for that as well!

[@Onewheelordeal]

@@TheHistoryGuyChannel lololol I'm dying

[@seththomas9105]

TEARS!!!!!

[@flyswryan]

The ignorance of public officials is always embarrassing to their employers. The egos of public officials are always quick to NOT take ownership of their mistakes and find convenient scapegoats, often accusing the true heroes who exposed their incompetence. Richard Jewell, who noticed the abandoned backpack at the '96 Olympics in Atlanta, is a classic example...

[@JeffWiersma]

The Boston and Massachusetts state police in the aftermath of the Marathon Bombing would beg to differ.

[@meligoth]

The last example of ego and incompetence from law enforcement was when a police chief had a presser about their raids of CBD shops. It took a reporter to educate him the difference between CBD and THC.

[@MegaDudeman21]

@@meligoth tell me more

[@heirofaniu]

@@JeffWiersma The ones who identified the bombers after 4chan did?

[@Demonicus_Prime]

As a history nerd, things like this should be remembered forever and I'm incredibly grateful for channels that do deep dives like this for it. As someone who was a 14-year old viewer of ATHF at the time this happened, this is still to this day one of the funniest things that has ever happened, and may ever happen in the future. I have giggly tears in my eyes at the mental picture of BPD detectives holding a toy of an intentionally ridiculous cartoon character giving them the middle finger, while they angrily scream 'WHAT COULD THIS POSSIBLY MEAN?! WHERE'S THE DETONATOR?!'. I can imagine that they weren't happy about it at the time, but this story makes me indescribably happy every time I'm reminded of it.

[@GreenFlash1790]

I remember reactions like this at the time. Threat assessment is not easy and officials can't (and don't) ring the alarm bell in response to every suspicious package call. But this had characteristics (sensitive location & electronic components) that it would have been extremely foolish and dereliction of duty for officials to NOT take it seriously.

[@ElValuador]

“I hope he can see this because I’m doing it as hard as I can” (flips off earth from his spaceship)

[@HomeBurger]

every time THG says "aqua teen hunger force colon movie film for theaters" I giggle like I did back in 07

[@davet.5493]

@@GreenFlash1790 gota admit blowing up their own traffic counter might be a bit too much

[@deanfirnatine7814]

@@GreenFlash1790 But who under 40 at the time did NOT know what those were?

[@greggi47]

Being "banned in Boston" used to be a sure way to ensure that some book, play, movie or just about any product would gain wide public attention and, presumably, success as a money-maker. This event seems to fit in that tradition. Thanks for this.

[@ginnyjollykidd]

This is exactly what I thought. If you got a book banned in Boston, you've got a best seller!

[@CoasterMan13Official]

So, the government in Boston is about as stupid as the people in it?

[@Paintedfigs]

I friend got a call from someone on the bomb squad that day. The officer identified the Mooninites - because my friend had introduced him to ATH. However, then the officer's supervisor told the man to get off the phone. From the context, it seemed to my friend that people in the bomb squad knew what these were, but higher ups didn't want to hear it because they had already come too far.

[@FakeSchrodingersCat]

To be fair by the time the bomb squad is called in even if they know exactly what the the object is they have to treat it as a potential threat.

[@snarkasticdouche3863]

The bomb squad should have told the higher ups to piss off if they knew better. That's part of their job, not to waste time, and resources blowing up Lite-Brites.

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

​@@FakeSchrodingersCat That would have justified closing the immediate vicinity and not much more, certainly not shutting down the trains. Even if they had been IEDs, they were just too small to inflict any meaningful damage on most of the objects they were attached to. Worst case scenario would have been some shrapnel and that's about it. Simply keeping people out of the area while they sorted it out would have sufficed. These aren't car bombs that were involved here, they were tiny guerrilla art installs.

[@scojo6377]

Sounds like a lot of things happen that way.

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

As somebody who was working in security around that time with IED identification training, that whole thing was gross incompetence and there's no legitimate claim that it wasn't. Devices that size cannot take down a bridge or destroy a subway. The absolute worst case would be something along the lines of a claymore, which is completely useless against a bridge. And simply keeping people out of the general area while they figured it out would have been both appropriate and sufficient until they figured the first one out. The equipment they used to destroy that first one were more of a threat to the infrastructure than the device they were worried about itself. Sometimes, you just have to leave the past in the past and just resolve to use a bit of common sense in the future. IEDs are nasty bits of work, but a device of that size is simply not much of a threat when it comes to a bridge stantion.

[@Rynewulf]

@@McBehrer They literally said they would close off the area to the public, so no random people get hurt.

[@McBehrer]

@@Rynewulf ah yeah I overlooked that line. my bad.

[@MrTigerprincess]

If someone wished to do harm a devise that size can certainly do plenty of harm. It may not damage a bridge but it can disable cars and people. The bombs used at the Boston merithon were small and did plenty of harm. Explosives on a bridge during rush hour can do even more. Take these exact devices and pack them with C4 explosives and then laugh and when they go off, see who gets the last laugh.

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

​@@MrTigerprincess The point is that most of the disruption was the result of their incompetent response. In all cases just keeping people out of the area would have been sufficient and no reason to close down mass transit for such tiny devices that were clearly no threat to what they were attached to. Simply closing down the immediate area would have more than sufficed and been far less inconvenient.

[@jameswolf133]

It feels weird to have an event I recall vividly (being a Bostonian) as history worth remembering. The reason they pranksters only talked about hair was because (1) their counsel told them not to directly comment on the case. (2) They we’re promoting another show called ‘Perfect Hair Forever.’

[@PythiaHiereia]

For the record, I know the guys and at the time they told me they weren't actually trying to promote that show. They just knew people were going to go nuts over Peter's hair. Also, they had no intention to prank anyone. Guerilla marketing was pretty hot at the time. After all this, not so much.

[@SarahMaywalt]

Hamburgers should be high.

[@joshentheosparks7492]

Because their lawyer is awesome... and also my lawyer. Rick Pareles is the savior of many a Boston weirdo.

[@mr_godoy2008]

imagine a mbta railfanner discovered that on the platform or the tracks

[@mikerich1732]

@@joshentheosparks7492 Thanks for saying so. But Rick came onto the case later. He was going to be their lawyer for their Today Show appearance in NYC after the event.* I was their lawyer at the arraignment and with them in the Hair Styles of the '70s press gathering. * Which was cancelled just before they got their plane tickets, supposedly by some other "more important" news event. BTW - You should catch Zebbler and Stevens on Fox and Friends in their Fear and Love T-shirts and Zebbler sporting a fake Geraldo Rivera mustache.

[@ShukenFlash]

I was in college for civil engineering when this all happened. Lots of interesting discussions about relabeling traffic counters and if we should start notifying the police every time we placed equipment just so they wouldn't blow it up. Boston isn't the only city to have done that, annoyingly.

[@marsinvader9078]

I just don't understand how, in an era where electronics are everywhere, they didn't have anyone who works in electronics take a look at it and go "this is a led sign."

[@prairiehawker]

Best Mooninite Quote ever: "Yes, on the moon nerds get their pants pulled down and they are spanked with moon rocks."

[@potatoes4843]

Save our craps

[@_mokaleek_]

I hope you can see this cuz I'm doing it as hard as I can.

[@shingshongshamalama]

"A package is a suspicious package, no matter how cute it is." Yeah, that's the thing about terrorism. When you live your life terrified, everything looks menacing.

[@heliveruscalion9124]

to be fair, it's not like a bomber's gonna stop their attack all because they could only get a hello kitty backpack

[@TwoTreesStudio]

This whole story is proof that terrorists won the war on terror. We can't even enjoy our cartoons in peace anymore lmao.

[@MerrimanDevonshire]

When "Viral Ad Campaigns" go wrong...

[@ChaoticOrcPaladin]

Never in my life did I ever think I'd see the word "Mooninite" on a History Guy episode. Epic. Love it. Thank you for all the wonderful videos!

[@IggyWon]

Omg, I remember this on the news. Like wall-to-wall coverage of "bombs" found over Boston... and it's the damn Mooninites. Like Boston PD didn't have a single officer who watched Adult Swim.

[@SuperRootUser]

I made the mistake of trying to describe this story to my Mom.

[@eldonerc2524]

Don't think the panic was about the cartoon character. I believe the problem was an electronic device strapped onto someplace it didn't belong. You got to look at that side of it too. It can be all cute an fluffy till it blows your face off. 😶

[@Markle2k]

@@eldonerc2524 "Electronic device". You're doing exactly what the cops did. Making something innocuous sound menacing. It was a bunch of gumdrop LEDs wedged into a board, strung together with a bit of wire to a Radio Shack D cell battery holder. It was less substantial than the Lite Brite it was compared to.

[@eldonerc2524]

@@Markle2k an what do you think the control device for an explosive would be made out of. Bubble gum an dental floss?

[@Markle2k]

@@eldonerc2524 There are lots of ways to do that, but one that won't work is a bunch of LEDs wired up in parallel to a battery.

[@ursanbear]

I was there when it happened. I remember bursting out in uncontrollable laughter when they finally showed the "suspicious device" on air. I knew what it was even though I'd only watched two or three episodes of ATHF.

[@HM2SGT]

Welcome back, we missed you! Glad to know you are recovering. Love & luck, strength and courage!

[@Prich319]

I remember being in college around this time, and I remember thinking how stupid it all was. All that panic and outrage over a glorified Lite-Brite. Ironically, I was taking marketing as an elective that semester, and so I was aware of Guerilla advertisement and how it worked. Six years later, we had the Boston Marathon bombing. I sometimes wonder if the FBI failed to take the Tsarnaev's threat seriously in part because of how much of a laughingstock Boston officials looked over this incident.

[@cruisepaige]

I was thinking that they shut down the city for a kid with a pipe bomb.

[@heirofaniu]

When have the feds ever turned down a tragedy that would allow them to increase their own power?

[@lizardjr.7826]

This is surreal. Never imagined you of all people talking about aqua teen hunger force.

[@gavindy_Sv2]

We live in incredible times :)

[@davidgreen40]

The response by the Boston, Massachusetts, and federal government agencies is what was surreal.

[@jam9297]

Come now, we must leave. This place stinks.

[@SuperRootUser]

The generational division was amazing. Everyone in their twenties wasn't freaked out. Then you see a picture of the Boston PD command station and see everyone watching the news reporting the story and realize it was a vicious cycle of misinformation and panic.

[@mgtowdadYouTubeSucksCoxks]

Number one in the hood, G!

[@AW28]

The most professional explaination of the events and background on ATHF I've ever heard!

[@blackstone777]

Ignignokt: "Yes, this was a glorious day for all Mooninites. For we paralyzed your puny Boston city with fear and confusion...and stupidity." Err: "We totally ruled your asses for a day!" (flips the finger) Ignignokt: (flips the finger) "Indeed Err...And I doing this as hard as I can" (finger flip intensifies)

[@hostilebogeyinbound]

And I'm doing their voices in my head.

[@ronniedio19422010]

Reminds me of a news story from about 30 years ago... "A suspicious-looking cardboard box was found outside a Territorial Army centre in Bristol, Police magazine reports. The TA called the police, who called an Army bomb disposal unit, which blew the box up - to find it full of leaflets on how to deal with suspicious-looking packages." :)

[@danielwggudan2]

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@TEHSTONEDPUMPKIN]

I love ATHF, and history. Never though this would show up on the channel, unironically never clicked on a video faster before. XD

[@hannahbrown2728]

I remember this happening, it was absolutely hilarious to me then and still is now! Whats really got me though is I never expected THG to cover anything Ive lived through, let alone this gem!

[@arrow1414]

So weird to have The History Guy talking about an event so close to the present!

[@1pcfred]

History is made every day. Just takes a while to fully set.

[@raydunakin]

Wow. I really surprised that I don't remember this. I'm a news junkie, so I know I must have seen it all over the news, in print and online.

[@dwp1970]

Thanks THG for reminding me about this. As and adult who was probably not the main demo for the ATHF it was one of the first things that made me laugh in the weeks following 9/11 and is a bit ironic the scare it placed on the good folks of Boston. Keep up the great videos!

[@yikemoo]

? This happened more than 6 years after the 9/11 attacks

[@dwp1970]

@@yikemoo ATHF Adult Swim episodes first aired in September 2001, that is what I was referring to. I could have been more clear for sure.

[@phoenixliv]

9/11/2001 (9/11) - 1/31/2007 (Mooninite event) That's a long couple weeks.

[@JamesJamersonIsAGod]

@@phoenixliv dwp1970 is simply saying ATHF cheered him up a bit in September 2001. Just his anecdotal story to relate to the Boston incident years later, that’s it.

[@MartyFox]

Fun seeing THG tackle some modern history. Only 22 years into the century, there are already quite a few historical events being forgotten. I’d love to see a recap of the Smiley Face Bomber of 2002.

[@Carepedoit]

While funny, this tidbit is also insightful and thoughtful. It’s another reason I love this channel.

[@camg6400]

This is the greatest episode of an absolutely amazing channel. Aqua teen hunger force is amazing also, can not recommend enough.

[@BillHicksADH]

Never thought I’d hear the history guy say the phrase aqua teen hunger force

[@TheLordZoka]

The History Guy and ATHF together? This is the most unexpected crossover of all time.

[@FuzzyMarineVet]

I do not fault the BPD for overreacting. They still kick themselves over the bombing of the marathon.

[@Markle2k]

This was 2007. The Marathon bombing was in 2013. Were they preemptively overreacting to a piece of cardboard with some LEDs stuck into it?

[@FuzzyMarineVet]

@@Markle2k Then I guess the sting of this mistake caused an under reaction in '13 when the suspicious packs were reported to police.

[@Markle2k]

@@FuzzyMarineVet A backpack can credibly carry a bomb. When these were described as Lite Brites, that was being generous as to their size. It's like describing a transistor radio as a demon-haunted thing with voices coming out of it.

[@FuzzyMarineVet]

@@Markle2k LOL, good point. A lot of panic over nothing. I would have been embarrassed too.

[@Theinkedanarchist]

Being a fan of ATHF, and remembering clearly when this happened, this just keeps getting more hilarious.

[@Tadesan]

Remember the news interview about their hair cuts?

[@gregorymaine9615]

This is epic, I love how you manage to bring such eloquence to what simply was a dumb publicity stunt for one of the most avant garde television shows out there. Well done sir! BTW, I love Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and no, it does not need a plot to be funny. Just go with it.

[@jerrellbevers6071]

Yeah, it could suck with or without a plot...and it did that swimmingly. I tried watching it many times in various states of inebriation and sleep deprivation and couldn't ever get into it. Cartoons were always supposed to be mindless humor but this shit is next level mindless...

[@D-Rock420]

@@jerrellbevers6071 dude, you realize you can just not like something? You don't have to go out of your way to make the people who do like it feel like crap. That kinda makes you a dbag.

[@SuperRootUser]

At least he wasn't captured by Bizzaros. BIZZARO.

[@KevinT3141]

It was heartbreaking when Frylock got cancer.

[@ElValuador]

@@KevinT3141 But he did marry Cheryl Tiegs and her grand daughter. He also bought a small island and the New York Giants so it all worked out.

[@quillmaurer6563]

One other epilogue I ponder - what happened to the remaining devices, those that weren't destroyed and those placed in other cities? Given this story, and the ATHF fandom, I could imagine they might actually now be rather valuable collector items. I could imagine certain sorts of businesses wanting them to hang up on the wall as well, perhaps some restaurants, arcades, college-town bars, and other places that serve a clientele that would be fans of the show. So I could imagine, if they weren't all destroyed in Cartoon Network's humiliation, some might still survive in private collections or even on display.

[@PythiaHiereia]

A few were swiped before the police could get them. At least one ended up on EBay.

[@reganbealer992]

Vagas, Pawn Stars?🤔

[@jR060t]

One of hanging at a hacker space in San Francisco.

[@goshlikkrudbahr5109]

I got 6

[@phoenixliv]

I've always wanted one.

[@360Nomad]

Finally a historical event with bearing on my personal life -Sincerely, a lifelong Aqua Teen Hunger Force fan

[@seththomas9105]

"WHO DID THIS TO MY CAR?!?!?!!?!?"

[@worndown8280]

When Adult Swim was good.

[@spallwalker5683]

@@seththomas9105 that ain't your car no more, that's the hotwad

[@AaronLitz]

The kind of ludicrous public panic that happens when the leadership of the country is so out of touch with the public. *Ignignokt flips Boston the bird* - "I hope you can see this, because I am doing it as hard as I can."

[@JonStallings]

I have a cousin who while serving in Vietnam during the war was shipped a tape recorder. Some how it turned on during shipment. The Army blew it up 😁

[@frankgulla2335]

A wonderful retelling of a panicky moment in Boston. As a former student from Cambridge, I can sympathize with those stuck on the SE Expressway of I93 that morning. Great job, again, THG!

[@williamlydon2554]

The only thing I can compare how strange this is to (Someone like yourself trying to describe ATHF's bizarre...everything) is when as a freshman in high school, our history teacher mentioned during a unit on the Italian Renaissance "I believe those mutant teenage turtles are named after some of the eras famous artists..." And you could hear a pin drop because no one ever expected a sentence so out of place in that setting and so odd to leave his lips.

[@carlcushmanhybels8159]

Your history teacher was of course correct; and trying to be "Relevant to today's youth."

[@williamlydon2554]

@@carlcushmanhybels8159 I'm not belittling him, Mr Regan (pronounce d Re-ghen) was a phenomenal educator, and was my major introduction to several historical periods like the wars Feudal Japan, the ancient and middle age history of sub-Saharan Africa, and the cradle of civilization itself, Mesopotamia and it's impact on modern math and science. However it was just jarring to hear him speak of such a contemporary piece of pop culture.

[@skullketon]

"Believe it or not, the historical Michaelangelo could not do 'sick flips'."

[@TankHammer]

Talks about the orange line, shows footage of the green line. Good work everyone! Oh hey Bova's sighting at 3:55! Love that spot! I remember this day pretty vividly. I had to explain to my very nervous bosses what Aqua Teen Hunger Force was while I became more and more exhausted by the CNN footage looping on our office flatscreen. What an embarrassing day.

[@HM2SGT]

I remember as a kid listening to The War of the Worlds. Of course I was precocious reader so I'd already read h.g. Wells story, but it was still here the local radio station play it on Halloween. When I became a DJ, I revived the tradition, playing pops LP for the Wpnh listening audience. There's just something about that connection to history... 😸

[@Weave.seen.this.b4]

Precocious, what're you,...... some kind of sesquipedalian?

[@HM2SGT]

"Men hang out their signs indicative of their respective trades; shoemakers hang out a gigantic shoe; jewelers a monster watch, and the dentist hangs out a gold tooth; but up in the Mountains of New Hampshire, God Almighty has hung out a sign to show that there He makes men."

[@jpenneymrcoin6851]

when this happened I hadn't seen ATHF yet, but I remember it happening and now that I know it was mooninites this is my favorite thing ever.

[@mhartmann1987]

I'm glad ATHF is history that deserves to be remembered.

[@mikeks8181]

Better to Lean on Caution in these days! One Simple Soliciting Permit Would Have Saved So much Headache! Thanks for the Forgotten History Moments! Happy New Year Everyone!

[@abletonreason]

I feel so lucky to have spent my late teens through early twenties during this time. A few good friends, a passed bowl of nugs, and Adult Swim meant a great evening! Tim and Eric, Moral Orel, The Oblongs, and of course ATHF. Nobody had a smart phone, and everyone laughed together!

[@michaelplurad8670]

Boston sure didn’t disappoint! Made my day. Was the prelude to the greatest press conference in history.

[@Charactermatters650]

Nice job on this one - One correction Charlestown is said just like it is spelled - Charles - town… not Charles - ton. Former home to Bostons best (or worst?) bank robbers. A place I would not walk through as a kid (unless I was with someone from the neighborhood) and now I can’t afford to walk through.

[@timothyjewett625]

You are definitely right. It is so bizarre how much Charlestown has changed just in the 25 years I have been alive. It truly is such a different place.

[@johntaylor-lo8qx]

I've missed you. KZbin algorithm threw me off. Im glad to be back, love the show ❤

[@wermach123]

I was living in Allston at the time, I remember the chaos this caused. At first it was very nerve wracking, then it was just hilarious.

[@samhouston9162]

This is the best historical accounting of a TV show of all time, maybe ever

[@michaelbdoherty]

If they bothered to pay attention in school. Something called a Trojan horse explains the police response. Doing stupid things gets people hurt.

[@marvwatkins7029]

Lance is cashing in. Great!

[@Kholdstare52]

This was an insane story, I remember thinking how crazy this all was when it happened!

[@monkeygraborange]

This could only happen in Boston, where the majority of people have their heads surgically implanted up their own over-educated asses.

[@TheBlueB0mber]

I remember thinking "How has no one in Boston ever watched Aqua Teen"

[@ryanmacs2486]

This episode was a ride I was not prepared for. I am ready for another one!

[@almostfm]

In a situation like this, I'd a lot rather have the police look silly for responding to a potential problem for them to look incompetent because they didn't investigate what turned out to be a real problem.

[@frankzeppelin]

Great video, as always. I lived in Somerville at the time and I remember thinking that the city overreacted, probably to send a message to curb stunts like this in the future. A coworker got on at Sullivan Square and she said she noticed it several days prior, so what was the fuss? But looking back, I think it would be a tough call for a city official. It's easy to laugh at someone for making the wrong call, but what if it actually was an IED disguised as a Mooninite? The city would catch hell and those same critics would have attacked officials for not doing enough. I think Boston is wound pretty tight and tends to overreact in general, but it's a situation where you can't please everybody so better to prevent a disaster. I'm glad you added the context of the other threats and also the marathon bombing.

[@droc6927]

I remember when this happened. I watched ATHF then and laughed my butt off when they found out it was a box with a Mooninite on the cover

[@TheQuickSilver101]

I had nearly forgotten about this. Thanks for reminding me!

[@stevemasterson7776]

THE MOON RULES!!!

[@CraigLYoung]

Thanks for sharing and Happy New Year to you and your family.

[@brianedwards7142]

"I went to Boston once. It was closed." W.C. Fields

[@rickhobson3211]

THG talks about ATHF and Mooninites. My day is made. Well done!

[@neeleyfolk]

While watching I was thinking, Wait I was working in Boston during that time and I don't remember......then it all came back. What a debacle.

[@Rayman1971]

LOL. I never would have thought you would cover this story! I had almost forgot about it, until I saw "Mooninite" in the title!

[@1977Yakko]

I remember this. When I saw the Mooninite, I just laughed. I only watched the show ATHF randomly as it was just a tad too ridiculous even for me but I did laugh at it when I did catch it.

[@VomitPinata]

That was a WILD ride. Thanks!

[@spot138]

Dude, I remember this - we were living in Wouburn (In the Boston metro north) at the time and me and my brother were the ONLY two people to show up at the theater for the premiere. It was weird having the whole place to ourselves. Such a fun memory though.

[@wyyrdojim]

I remember this. My mom called me and told me to turn on the news. As as I saw it, I called her back laughing telling her it was the MOONENITES!!! 😹😂🤣

[@kevinmhadley]

Loved seeing all the video of Boston. And, just saying, Boston has a lot of history that deserves to be remembered

[@missmarymary6506]

Boston..she's my home!! J.P by the pond!

[@dtrYeti]

Molasses flood

[@GrimmDelightsDice]

I think I would always prefer that the officials be a little over-vigilant rather than the opposite.

[@NandR]

"I hope you can see this, because I am doing it as hard as I can." As someone who grew up watching Adult Swim and their rehashed Hanna Barbara shows, I will defend the style of comedy they used. Teenagers are edgy folks and it was nice to have shows that expressed that. The absurdity of the shows was the main draw. The characters were all very eccentric and flawed. There was a surreal nature about them. But when we think about it, the old cartoons were just as bizarre. A larger than normal roadrunner foiling the plans of a hungry coyote that uses flawed traps and always seems to walk away from death. A rabbit that exists in many different periods of time and is harassed by a trigger happy cowboy, a shotgun wielding hunter with a lisp, a duck that also has a lisp, and also fights a boxer, a group of monsters, etc. Then there is the cat who is in a never ending battle with a mouse and another cat in a game of cat and mouse, and the occasional dog. But since those shows were a bit outdated and pretty normal to us kids, we saw shows like ATHF, Harvey Birdman, Sealab 2021, The Adventure Bros, and of course Family Guy, and we really got a whole new world of quotable characters and memorable scenes that did not need to have any basis in reality, just like their predecessors.

[@ah3641]

Small correction, it's Venture Bros 😉

[@JustMe-cr1dr]

Hey, History Guy - Is that the History Cat behind you over your left shoulder? LOVE IT !!!!!

[@seanc6128]

When this happened I really couldn't believe the absurdity of it. It was pretty funny despite the outrage.

[@MrGodisded]

I love you man!! This made my year! Thanks!!

[@nicodemus369]

I remember driving through the city at that time and I saw some of them. I thought to myself “who’s putting up these “little” LED displays”? And I wasn’t anywhere near college-aged. The war-on-terror still has people believing the sky is falling.✌️😩

[@donaldfedosiuk1638]

I'd forgotten all about this.

[@MatrixRefugee]

Oh man, I remember this. I live north and west of Boston, and since this happened not terribly long after 9/11, the panic was understandable. Three years after the Mooninite Incident, something similar happened in the parking lot of the store where I work, when someone called in a suspicious package with wires sticking out of it. Next thing you know, the police had everyone move their cars away from that section of parking lot and the Middlesex County Bomb Squad was deployed. I work the front end of the store, so I had a ringside seat watching the bomb disposal unit with their robot helper at work. In the end, the package turned out to be a small lunch cooler with a broken radio inside it. Of course people (ie. customers) were sneering about how it turned out to be a bunch of nothing, but they changed their tune when I said, "Yeah? And say it turned out to be an actual bomb that went off, ripped off the front of the store and killed or maimed us where we're standing? what then? Would you rather have your loved ones heartbroken?" Better safe and foolish-looking than sorry and dead or injured-looking, if you ask me.

[@NandR]

We had an incident with my ship where a suspicious box was left near the entry to the pier. The navy takes things very serious since the USS Cole. And this unmarked box was in place where if it were a bomb would cause serious security concerns. The problem for us was that it was 1600, time to leave and go home. But we couldn't since the secured the whole pier until they deemed it was safe. The base security and our navy EOD team responded and after about 2 hours decided to blow it up. Well, it was a toy train. One of the contractors working on the ship had it in his truck but apparently moved it out of the cab to set his lunchbox and tool belt inside, but forgot to take the train, a gift for his son, off the tool box. It fell off as he drove away. So I imagine that was a fun conversation for him, "Hey man they blew up your son's toy train yesterday".

[@milesbrown7345]

Middlesex County shout woo woo

[@dukecraig2402]

I'd rather walk around laughing about things like that all the time and risk losing mine or a loved one's life as opposed to losing my freedoms, which is exactly what's happened since 9/11, we can rebuild the buildings, the memories of the one's lost fade away and will eventually die off when we do, but once those freedoms are gone and everyone's walking around scared all the time you've lost something that's gone forever and you're forever stuck with something that you don't want. Maybe you're not old enough to know what it was like to live as a grown up back before all this happened, but I can tell you that we've lost a lot of our freedoms and are stuck with this "heightened alert" crap all the time and it sucks, this is America for Christ's sake and we've got secret courts now, you can't have freedom and secret courts, it doesn't work that way. The chances of being killed by terrorists are slimmer than hitting on a multi million dollar lottery, but we're ALL stuck with the loss of freedoms we've suffered and even worse everyone's scared all the time, that includes every generation to come. The terrorists have won in my book.

[@arthurtripp6922]

THANK YOU FOR GIVING US A FUNNY SIDE OF HUMAN NATURE OF PANIC AS WAR OF THE WORLD IN PRESENT DAY AT LEAST A COW WAS NO KILLED.

[@DonDueed]

I live in the Boston area (and did so in 2007) but had completely forgotten this episode. So for me it was literally "Forgotten History"!

[@robertreisner6119]

I wish you and your family and friends a Happy New Year for 2022. Your podcasts on history is the very best.

[@michaelhawk6847]

One of the greatest shows that ever graced our televisions.

[@cabowerks3973]

Thank you 🙏 so much for talking about this! It was funny 😄 then and it’s still hilarious 😂 now!

[@TheVocoderGuy]

Just wanted to mention, the audio quality for the dialogue is fantastic. Loud and clear even on mobile devices with crappy speakers. I can't stress enough how important it is to have loud and clear dialogue, just another reason to love this channel.

[@SolaceEasy]

Packages, lacking consciousness, can't be suspicious.

[@Boraxo]

There was a time we used to make 'magnet blinkys' and stick them under steel overpasses. 1 2032 battery, 1 blinky LED, 1 magnet and electrical tape.

[@Markle2k]

Throwies!

[@Boraxo]

@@Markle2k That's right, Throwies. Couldn't remember.

[@k.c1126]

What an exemplar of our modern time! Personally, I think the authorities over-reacted, but I don't blame them. We've had more than enough evidence over the years since 2007 to suggest that overreaction is better than under-reaction.

[@martensjd]

Nothing about these devices looked the least bit like bombs. Boston city govt should have been embarrassed.

[@boobah5643]

Just because the penalties for overreaction are usually less dramatic and more dispersed doesn't mean they don't exist or are, taken in whole, lesser. Not that you can necessarily tell beforehand. Or even definitively afterward.

[@Markle2k]

This actually shows how much harm can be done by overreacting. It cost the BPD a million dollars saving face after they were told what fools they were. That's not counting the lost business that the traffic mess caused.

[@51WCDodge]

@@martensjd Neither did the Boston Finaced IRA bombs in London. Right up till they went Bang and killed and injured innocent people,

[@jbarthol]

I always wanted one of those signs, just so I could hang it up in my Dorm window. Bloody funny as heck, how the police acted.

[@WillmobilePlus]

I watch a lot of interesting niche history stories and feel such a fascination with the time, but then I see the ones that took place when I was in my 20s, using characters from a cartoon I watched that caused a major panic, and say "I hope people in the future dont remember this too much. They are going to think we were nuts!". I am seriously cringing so hard that THG has to actually try to explain the absurdity of this TV show.

[@googiegress]

We ARE nuts. I hope anyone who survives in the future will look back on us as a horrible cautionary tale.

[@anullhandle]

Thanks for reminding me about this. I remember yelling at the tv it was so obvious what it was even from a tv picture lol.

[@TrickiVicBB71]

Never watched Aqua Teen Hunger Force, but watching THG describe this show is funny

[@JustMe-cr1dr]

And he did it with a straight face!!!

[@johnaucamp7106]

There must have been a lot if takes.

[@GreenJeep1998]

It was a messed up show, entertaining, but kinda messed up. I don't know how he kept a straight face through the description of the show.

[@kayzeaza]

Funny that you posted this! Adult Swim is apparently working on another ATHF movie and I think a new tv show

[@Red_5_Standing_By]

Great stuff as always!! Thanks for your hard work, and have a Happy 2022!

[@kurtpena5462]

Can you imagine the sense of panic had an actual Lite Brite been found?

[@chrisfuller1268]

Please do a history of state hospitals for the insane and how we got to a system where anyone could be incarcerated in a mental institution on the basis of anyone's claims up until the 1960s. I suspect there were good reasons behind the decision to build massive institutions. Many mental health professionals think we have gone too far the other way today, giving freedom to people with serious mental illness who are a danger to themselves and others.

[@David-bf6bz]

When you deep dive you find those claims have no real basis. Most of it is was false propaganda spead by the early "mainstream the mentally ill effirts. Getting someone commited was not simple. The state had no desire to take on the burden. We forget things like syphilis induced issues, and that head trauma, retardation and autism were managed at the same facilities.

[@chrisfuller1268]

@@David-bf6bz Minnesota had colossal state hospitals over 100 years ago before the welfare state existed. My great aunt spent two years in one when she caught Tuberculosis. It's amazing to me the resources poured into such facilities so long before welfare, social security and the rise of Communism in the world.

[@David-bf6bz]

@@chrisfuller1268 state hospitals were public projects... there were many faith based and private institutions as well. Was really advocating for the welfare state, I would argue that the Carter policies that closed down state hospitals and started issuing Social security is one of the worst things the US could have done. Itnis the key source of the current homelessness crisis....

[@baronburch6702]

@@David-bf6bz Yeah, of course, if your homelss you must be mad - not poor.

[@David-bf6bz]

@@baronburch6702 by that statement I know you have never worked with the homeless . I have as an EMT, and as a shelter/meal kitchen volunteer and the primary causes are painfully obvious. Ask any police officer, paramedic, emergency room nurse, or shelter worker and they will tell you 90 plus % of the homeless have mental and/or severe addiction problems. There are tons of programs to offset the "poverty" generated issues. Unfortunately mist can't maintain the basic social requirements for shelter or assisted housing. It isn't a poverty issue it's a drug and mental health issue.

[@dubdaze68]

I still have a pair of Etnies ATHF shoes still in the box, they are literally Mooninites. Lol. I loved that show.

[@tylerdurden2644]

What is sad is they were told very early on what is was and they ignored it and kept going. This is what happens when you leave the crazies in charge. Never let a good frenzy go to waste.

[@skyden24195]

I know, from personal experience, that law enforcement is prone to criminalize the innocent rather than own up to a mistake that they have made.

[@RetiredSailor60]

Happy New Year from Ft Worth TX to everyone watching. Be safe, don't drink and drive, nor fire a gun into the air, nor recklessly shoot off fireworks as you bring in the new year. Visited Boston in 2001 over 4th of July weekend while stationed on USS Wasp LHD 1. Everyone I came in contact with were friendly towards every member of the crew.