What's Outside the Window?

Ric Wayland
  • 0.0 (0)
  • History

Hidden history hiding in plain sight along America’s highways. Real roads, forgotten places, strange landmarks, disasters, and stories you’d never know were just outside the window.

Episodes

  1. Nov 2

    Old Mike: 64 Years Above Ground

    A dead man. An unknown identity. And sixty-four years standing in a funeral home. On August 21, 1911, an unidentified man was discovered dead in a city park in Prescott, Arkansas. Nobody knew his name, where he came from, or what had killed him. Local undertaker John D. Cornish embalmed the stranger, hoping somebody would eventually recognize him. But nobody ever did. Instead, the mysterious man became known as Old Mike, and for nearly 64 years, his preserved remains stood inside Cornish Mortuary, where generations of Prescott residents and curious travelers came to see him. In this episode of What's Outside the Window, Ric Wayland takes you along Interstate 30 into one of Arkansas's strangest historical mysteries. Along the way, we'll explore: The unusual circumstances surrounding Old Mike's discovery in 1911. A mysterious connection to Little Rock, a possible brother in Chicago, and a name that might hold a clue to his identity. Why a funeral home kept an unidentified man's remains for more than six decades. How visiting Old Mike became a Prescott tradition — and sometimes even a dare. The Arkansas authorities' involvement in his eventual burial in 1975. Whether modern DNA technology might finally solve the mystery. We'll also hear firsthand recollections from two people who actually visited Old Mike: Ric's wife's aunt Fran, who first saw him as a little girl in 1948, and local historian Jerry McKelvy, who once took his skeptical wife to the funeral home to prove the story was true. As Fran put it: "He was a part of my Prescott years. I'll never forget him." Old Mike was finally buried at De Ann Cemetery in Prescott on May 12, 1975. His real identity remains unknown. Explore the episode's historical sources, photographs, family recollections, and additional information: https://whatsoutsidethewindow.com Special thanks to Fran, Jerry McKelvy of The Sandyland Chronicle, and Lauren Dawejko and James Wethington at the UA Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture for their assistance with this episode. 🎙️ What's Outside the Window — Stories hiding just beyond the window. #OldMike #PrescottArkansas #ArkansasHistory #UnsolvedMystery #ForgottenHistory #Interstate30 #WhatsOutsideTheWindow

    Old Mike: 64 Years Above Ground

  2. Oct 19

    The Tennis Court That Built the Bomb

    In suburban Dayton, Ohio, a private indoor tennis court became one of the strangest secret facilities of the Manhattan Project. Runnymede Playhouse had once hosted tennis matches, dances, charity events, and bridge parties. By 1944, the Army and Monsanto had transformed it into Unit IV of the Dayton Project — a guarded chemical plant producing and purifying polonium for the neutron initiators used in the first atomic bombs. In this episode, we look at how the Dayton Project spread across ordinary neighborhoods, a former seminary, a downtown warehouse, and a wealthy Oakwood estate; how irradiated bismuth was turned into polonium; the workers who handled it; the mysterious “Dr. N.”; and George Koval, the Soviet spy who gained access to the program. We also trace Dayton’s connection to Trinity, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the later Mound Laboratory — and what happened when the government had to clean up and erase a radioactive factory hidden inside a tennis court. Maps, photos, supplemental location footage, source documents, and additional material are available on the episode page at WhatsOutsideTheWindow.com.

    The Tennis Court That Built the Bomb

  3. Oct 3

    The Kentucky Cave Wars / Floyd Collins

    In the early 20th century, Kentucky’s cave country became the scene of a fierce tourism battle. Cave owners fought over signs, road access, visitors, and even underground property lines in what became known as the Kentucky Cave Wars. At the center of that world was Floyd Collins, an experienced cave explorer who had discovered Great Crystal Cave but struggled to turn it into a profitable attraction. In January 1925, Collins began working Sand Cave, hoping its better location would lead to a commercially successful cave. On January 30, he became trapped underground. What followed became a national spectacle. Thousands gathered above Sand Cave. Reporters descended on Kentucky. William Burke “Skeets” Miller repeatedly crawled through the passage to reach Collins and became part of the rescue effort himself. When the cave collapsed and rescuers could no longer reach Floyd, crews began digging a new shaft from the surface. Rumors spread that the entire ordeal was a hoax. False sightings appeared. The governor ordered a military court of inquiry. When rescuers finally reached Floyd on February 16, he was dead. But even that was not the end of the story. Collins’s body was later recovered, buried, exhumed, placed on public display inside Crystal Cave, fought over in court, and stolen in 1929 before eventually being buried for the final time decades later. In this episode, Ric Wayland traces the Kentucky Cave Wars, Floyd Collins’s search for a successful show cave, the Sand Cave rescue, the media frenzy surrounding it, and the bizarre story of what happened to Floyd after his death. Full sources, historical photographs, newspaper material, and the related RealRoads TV video are available at: https://whatsoutsidethewindow.com/ Music: Into the Karst by the Open Road Collective

    The Kentucky Cave Wars / Floyd Collins

  4. Sep 21

    The Hot Springs UFO of 1897

    In May of 1897, two Garland County lawmen claimed they encountered a sixty-foot, cigar-shaped flying machine in the hills northwest of Hot Springs, Arkansas — complete with a human crew, a brilliant light, a woman holding an umbrella, and one man filling a sack with water. But the Hot Springs encounter was only one piece of a much larger mystery-airship craze sweeping the country. In this episode, we trace the Arkansas sightings that came before it, a similar Texas story that was later exposed as a hoax, the strange Nashville connection, and the technology that makes the whole thing even harder to explain. Was it an experimental aircraft, a newspaper-era tall tale, a story shaped by the biggest aviation mystery of its time... or something else entirely? Join Ric Wayland as we head into the Ouachita hills to see what’s outside the window.  https://whatsoutsidethewindow.com/episode/the-hot-springs-ufo-of-1897/

    The Hot Springs UFO of 1897

  5. Sep 8

    Florence Y’all

    How a shopping mall, an interstate, and a $472 fix created one of Kentucky’s most recognizable roadside landmarks

    Florence Y’all

  6. Aug 31

    The Duel at Point Remove

    In 1827, a bitter political feud in Arkansas Territory sent Thomas Newton and Ambrose Sevier to Point Remove with pistols, seconds, and surgeons. Both men walked away. Just 55 days later, the 2 political leaders behind their quarrel would fight a duel of their own—with a very different outcome. In this episode of What’s Outside the Window?, we follow U.S. 64 through the Arkansas River Valley and uncover the story of Point Remove, territorial politics, dueling culture, and the feud that turned deadly.

    The Duel at Point Remove

  7. Aug 24

    The Carrollton Bus Crash: What Happened Along I-71

    A small roadside sign on Interstate 71 near Carrollton, Kentucky, marks the site of a fatal bus crash on May 14, 1988. Behind those few words is the story of a church youth group returning home from Kings Island, a severely intoxicated wrong-way driver, a post-crash fire that killed 27 people, and an NTSB investigation that raised major questions about bus design, emergency evacuation, and highway safety. In this episode, Ric follows the story from the road itself—what happened, why the crash became so deadly, what changed afterward, and why the marker is still there nearly four decades later. Sources and the full NTSB accident report are available on the episode page at whatsoutsidethewindow.com.

    The Carrollton Bus Crash: What Happened Along I-71

  8. Trailer

    What’s Outside the Window? — Intro Teaser Episode

    A highway can look completely ordinary until you know what happened there. In this short introduction to What’s Outside the Window?, Ric Wayland explains how the show uncovers the hidden history, forgotten places, and unexpected stories sitting just beyond the windshield.

  • 1 Trailer
    7 Episodes

Trailer

About

Hidden history hiding in plain sight along America’s highways. Real roads, forgotten places, strange landmarks, disasters, and stories you’d never know were just outside the window.

Information