The Amazing Fate of the Solar Armor Inventor
Tue, Jun 10, 2008
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In 1874, one man; an inventor of considerable genius, was reported to have completely reversed the effect of the sun. In the scorching heat of the mid-summer Nevada desert, he was found frozen stiff by Indians - his beard covered in frost and an icicle over a foot in length hanging from his nose. That man was Jonathon Newhouse, the genius inventor of solar armor.
Yet, is the fate of our curious inventor, that of being frozen to death at the height of summer? Or was this a desert mirage; a tale of smoke screens that involved literary geniuses and commanded international media? Environmental Graffiti investigates.
The Story
First printed in the Territorial Enterprise on July 2, 1874, the story soon appeared in other publications including Scientific American, The New York Times and The Daily Telegraph, which at the time had the largest circulation in the world.
Jonathon Newhouse was reported to have created “solar armor” – equipment, which would protect a subject from the heat of the sun when crossing deserts. The armor was described as an inch-thick, water-drenched “long, close-fitting jacket made of common sponge and a cap or hood of the same material.” The armor also had a sack filled with water, with a tube leading to the hood to rehydrate the suit. All the wearer had to do was occasionally press the sack.
Newhouse then went to Death Valley to try his gear out. He set off one morning from the camp, claiming as he strapped on his suit that he’d be back in two days. The result, was reported in the paper:
The next day, an Indian who could speak but a few words of English came to the camp in a great state of excitement. He made the men understand that he wanted them to follow him. At the distance of about twenty miles out into the desert, the Indian pointed to a human figure seated against a rock. Approaching, they found it to be Newhouse still in his armor. He was dead and frozen stiff. His beard was covered with frost and - though the noonday sun poured down its fiercest rays - an icicle over a foot in length hung from his nose. There he had perished miserably, because his armor had worked but too well, and because it was laced up behind where he could not reach the fastenings.
When the story reached the Daily Telegraph, they reacted with some skepticism:
The marvelous stories which come from “the plains” are apt to be received with incredulity by our transatlantic kinsmen who dwell upon the Eastern seaboard of the United States. We confess that, although the fate of Mr. Newhouse is related by the Western journal au grande serieux, we should require some additional confirmation before we unhesitatingly accept it.
They were, of course absolutely right.
So what was actually going on?
The article was written by William Wright, better known as Dan De Quille; a colleague of Mark Twain’s at the Territorial Enterprise. The piece, as well as the solar armor was a complete hoax; an utter fantasy that spread very slowly across international media. It went viral before mass communication and propagated as a semi-ficticious urban legend, before the times of the internet.
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1 Trackbacks For This Post
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The Amazing Fate of the Solar Armor Inventor at Paulo Coelho’s Blog Says:
June 12th, 2008 at 12:48 pm[...] read the rest of the article, please go here. « Today’s Question by Aart [...]
June 10th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
It can get pretty cold - freezing, actually - in the desert at night. Since he was stuck in a drenching outfit overnight, it’s not impossible that this is why he froze to death. This reads that he was found beside a rock. Maybe he was on the North/West side? Then the sun might not have had the chance to thaw him by noon. Just some thoughts. Good article. In fact… chilling! :)
June 10th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
yeah, sure newhouse is kinda smart… but he didn’t think of the iphone, now did he?
June 11th, 2008 at 4:38 am
You could easily freeze to death if you were wearing a suit soaked in water overnight in a desert, it gets pretty cold.
June 11th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Solar armor? We now call it Air Conditioning.
June 11th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Did any of the four of you read the last paragraph of the article? This was a hoax. The man didn’t even exist. So theorizing on how it could have happened or how smart the guy was is pointless now, isn’t it?
June 11th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
the reason they made the movie “idiocracy”
June 11th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
I agree,
the do not state at what time of year this took place, and having a layer of sponge+water around your body at night in Death Valley is a good way to freeze, even in spring.
So, i’m not certain that this is a legend at the base
June 11th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
Seemed like a pretty smart dude to me. Cool stuff.
JT
http://www.FireMe.To/udi
June 11th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
wow, you people don’t read. as Anon wrote, the last paragraph says “IT WAS A HOAX.” HE DIDN’T REALLY EXIST! stop theorizing
June 11th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Yeah I have heard of people freezing to death without wearing a sponge suit in the desert at night. This myth is plausible. I think we need to call mythbusters on this one
June 11th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
I just started reading this article and I’m only as far as the first paragraph, but I already have a question: did the Indians freeze this guy, or did they find him already frozen? It says “he was found frozen stiff by Indians”. Shouldn’t it read “he was found by Indians frozen stiff”? I’m just saying….
June 11th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Apparently, no one reads entire articles anymore or has the schools in this country stopped teaching hoax = Not True?!?!?!?
June 11th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
I worked in Kuwait in the 1970s. One summer the temperature touched 50 degrees. A lot of poor workers would soak a sheet wrap it around themselves and go to sleep on the roof of the flats where they lived. Result: several died of hypothermia. They didnt freeze but their body temperature plummeted to the point their organs stopped functioning. The temperature at which you would normally die of hypothermia is 30 degrees!!
June 11th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
What’s really interesting about this particular hoax is that the solar armor described may have worked wonderfully. One of the curious properties of evaporation is that it tends to lower temperatures as it takes place. There is a trick, well known to those stuck in hot places, called the sock method by which the cooling effect of evaporating water is used to chill a water bottle to several degrees below the ambient temperature.
June 11th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
Only if the Indians were frozen stiff. Try these:
"he was found, frozen stiff, by Indians."
or
"he was found by Indians, frozen stiff."
June 11th, 2008 at 6:39 pm
No one read the article… I love the idea though. I wish I was Mark Twain’s colleague.
June 11th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
You said “Stiff”… Hehehe Yeah Yeah. That was cool.
June 11th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
I actually found these comments more entertaining then the article.
Read, people!
June 11th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
JH & Dib - The article says it was a hoax, but it does not say that the guy never existed. It just says the suit didn’t exist. Also, it doesn’t say how they know it was a hoax, so I’m not sure either side is true: that it happened or that it was a hoax.
June 11th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
THAN! That’s “more entertaining THAN the article”. geesh
June 12th, 2008 at 12:44 am
I heard that he did invent the Iphone, but the government attacked him with tesla coils and banished him to the frozen sands of nevada. its so sad
June 12th, 2008 at 2:57 am
Ah! The little-known and tragic fate shared by many a victim of the obscure but equally savage Amana tribe.
___________________________
Fiction or not, the article states that this is a man who made a suit which he could not remove.
If you think that this constitutes a “smart dude,” then you are at risk of someday employing a tailor who will make for you a pair of pants with no fly. With any luck, they will also be made of sponge…with a leak-proof outer layer.
If this hadn’t been fiction, this clown would’ve been the winner of the 1874 DARWIN AWARD.
June 12th, 2008 at 4:17 am
June 12th, 2008 at 4:29 am
“Also, it doesn’t say how they know it was a hoax, so I’m not sure either side is true: that it happened or that it was a hoax.”
Jesus H tap dancing christ!
READ THE PARAGRAPH BELOW THE PICTURE!
No wonder Bush got elected twice.
June 13th, 2008 at 11:13 am
If he didn’t die by freezing then how exactly did he die???
June 13th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
This and every other hoax (from over 130 years ago or not) is perpetuated by people who never stop to think about what’s really going on - never question - they simply pass on the information in an effort to look interesting or ‘in the know’.
A little skepticism is a good thing. Believe, by all means - but don’t believe blindly.
June 13th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
“READ THE PARAGRAPH BELOW THE PICTURE!
No wonder Bush got elected twice.”
The media will report anything if it will sell, Just ask Dan Rather.
June 13th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
LOL Apparently no one reads entire articles anymore-The replies have been more amusing then the article and I enjoyed it immensely.
June 15th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
No wonder Dan Brown sold so many books, most readers only see what they want, and then elect g. w. bush (twice)
June 20th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
wait, so if he had to squish the bag to ‘refill’ the solar armor; how was he still frozen when he was found later? if he died he couldn’t keep freezing.
FAKE
lolwut
September 17th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
its so sad that people STILL aren’t reading the whole thing.