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Nuked in the Midwest feat. Devin O’Shea (Premium E280) (Patreon)

Published:
2025-03-06 05:43:00
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

There are these two big landfills up in north St. Louis. One is called the West Lake Landfill, and it is packed full of radioactive waste from the Manhattan Project. There’s hosing and tarps covering these huge sections of fields. It looks like a weird golf course from overhead, or a kind of sore in the land. It deserves to look this way because this site is the end product of a dozen botched techniques for nuclear disposal.

How did this radioactive waste wind up in the landfill? Why does the answer involve two “men of the Veiled Prophet’s court?” Why did the government ignore the health impacts of the site until long after concerned moms started organizing on Facebook? Can our minds even grasp the scale of our destruction of Earth, or are all of these events the byproduct of “hyperobjects” that defy comprehension by limited mortals?

Journalist Devin O’ Shea brings us a sad and spooky saga of radioactivity in Missouri.  

Thanks for subscribing to QAA on patreon.

Devin O’ Shea:

Tik Tok

https://www.tiktok.com/@devintoshea

Twitter

https://x.com/devintoshea

Substack

https://substack.com/@devintoshea

Editing by Corey Klotz. Theme by Nick Sena. Additional music by Pontus Berghe. Theme Vocals by THEY/LIVE (https://instagram.com/theyylivve / https://sptfy.com/QrDm). Cover Art by Pedro Correa: (https://pedrocorrea.com)

https://qaapodcast.com

QAA was known as the QAnon Anonymous podcast.

SOURCES

 Missouri Independent, January 22, 2025, “‘High likelihood’ of radioactive waste in smoldering landfill, Missouri officials say”

https://missouriindependent.com/2025/01/22/high-likelihood-of-radioactive-waste-in-smoldering-landfill-missouri-officials-say/

 Nuked, Echoes of the Hiroshima Bomb in St. Louis by Linda C. Moric

 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Thursday, October 10th, 1946, page 29, “1400 Guests Acclaim Queen and Court In Greatest Coronation Supper Dance; Private Cocktail Party Precedes Event”

https://www.newspapers.com/image/138564940/?match=1&terms=%22Arthur%20Compton%22%20veiled%20prophet

Nuked, Echoes of the Hiroshima Bomb in St. Louis by Linda C. Morice

 Scientific American, March 27th, 2009, “A (Radioactive) Cut in the Earth That Will Not Stay Closed” by Tom Zoellner

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-radioactive-cut-that-will-not-stay-closed/

 BBC, August 3rd, 2020, “The forgotten mine that built the atomic bomb” by Frank Sain

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200803-the-forgotten-mine-that-built-the-atomic-bomb

 ”1996 St. Louis Sites Remediation Task Force Report 2, The History of the St. Lous Uranium Processing Plant Radioactive Waste Sites”

https://www.mvs.usace.army.mil/Portals/54/docs/fusrap/docs/1996%20St%20Louis%20Sites%20Remediation%20Task%20Force%20Report%202.pdf

 St. Louis Public Radio, February 17th, 2025, “She spent years fighting the EPA over atomic waste. A new cleanup effort is 'decades too late'”

https://www.stlpr.org/show/st-louis-on-the-air/2025-02-17/she-spent-years-fighting-the-epa-over-atomic-waste-a-new-cleanup-effort-is-decades-too-late

 St. Louis Public Radio, January 18th, 2025, “Cost to clean up radioactive West Lake Landfill outside St. Louis nears $400 million”

https://www.stlpr.org/health-science-environment/2025-01-18/cost-clean-radioactive-west-lake-landfill-outside-st-louis-400-million

 Missouri Independent, January 27th, 2025, “Missouri lawmakers consider funds for radioactive waste testing in St. Louis”

https://missouriindependent.com/2025/01/27/missouri-lawmakers-consider-funds-for-radioactive-waste-testing-in-st-louis/

 St. Louis Public Radio, January 18th, 2025, “Cost to clean up radioactive West Lake Landfill outside St. Louis nears $400 million”

https://www.stlpr.org/health-science-environment/2025-01-18/cost-clean-radioactive-west-lake-landfill-outside-st-louis-400-million

Atomic Homefront

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6829446/

Comments

Ben H

Devin O'Shea

Matt S

I’ll edit it in a name later

Shivvy

Liv Agar

'Mech Bae

'Mech Bae

Louis Wilkins

Ooh ooh ooh. My dad worked at Y12 in Tennessee. Still amazes me he avoided turbo cancer when you find out how contaminated that place was.

Larry44

Can't listen to this until Part 2 of 2 Frenchmen at CPAC.... release it now damn it

Mantis Man

"These guys do be inventing horrible shit and then dying before... Y-y'know to see the fruits of their uh, fruits of their labor" Jake 2025 Idk why I found that statement so funny

Hank

YES! DEVIN O'SHEA!!!!

Em

This place is a message, and part of a system of messages. Pay attention to it! Sending this message was important to us. We considered ourselves to be a powerful culture. This is not a place of honor. No highly esteemed deed is commemorated here. Nothing valued is here. What is here was dangerous and repulsive to us. This message is a warning about danger. The danger is in a particular location. It increases towards a center. The center of danger is here; of a particular size and shape, and below us. The danger is still present, in your time, as it was in ours. The danger is to the body, and it can kill. The form of the danger is an emanation of energy. The danger is unleashed only if you substantially disturb this place physically. This place is best shunned and left uninhabited.

Jacob King

Dark Waters (2019) is a very good movie about a different town that kills people. It’s definitely possible to make this kind of real life horror story.

pablo los

As someone from stl area this is truly a day brighten er

Em
>>166881613

"you will not live to see man-made horrors of your own invention"

Em
>>166881613

*sighs heavily* "you will Liv to see man-made Agars beyond your comprehension"

Carolyn

I have been saying that the first episode of Chernobyl is the scariest horror movie I've ever seen for exactly the reasons you all point out. The creeping dread of environmental toxins...

Toadwine

I cant listen to this. As a norwegian its like hearing about someone trying to run a country like its a sitcom and a means of torture all at once. Amerika is all about outsourcing and privatization. Why cant you like hire us to care for the enviroment?

SM21
>>166895119

There are land protectors here, no need to import damn racist Norweigans. Speak on the Reisende and the Romani peoples. Greenwashed Scandinavia my ass and balls.

SM21
>>166895119

the us does love to import murderous whites tho. Hope they fly them Boeing

Ryan Gilpatrick

Not to undermine the seriousness of the topic, but Coldwater? Severance reference?

Xpensive Cardboard

On the concern of if they knew this was dangerous, they must have simply due to the trials of the radium girls only a few decades prior. We've known radioactive material was bad for us for a while, but I'd imagine the government, much like the radium clockwork company just didn't tell anyone.

ev

liv agar

Jawn Feddermang

Julian was so good on Chapo 🫶

Hans

The American Chernobyl did happen, Santa Susana Feild Lab, sodium reactor meltdown where they just opened up the lab and let the radiation plume “air out” over the San Fernando Valley, sodium burn pits, toxic organic compounds leaching into the groundwater.

Mat

Ether is a volatile liquid, you pour it in a sock and huff it

Rachel Salemi

Re the “hot car”: I worked with radiation in grad school and hot is actually a commonly used term for radioactive. In my lab we used the term “hot” way more than we used the term “radioactive”. When we used the term in lab it had nothing to do with the temperature of the material. It was like “this experiment uses a lot of p32 so it’s pretty hot”. That being said I never worked with barrels of improperly handled waste materials so I cannot speak to the temperature there lol

James P

As a volatile liquid, all you need to do to get high on ether is open a container and breathe in the sweet smell. Downsides are that the vapor is extremely flammable (like static electricity burns the building down flammable) and that dosage control is very tricky. It can be difficult to distinguish a dose that gives pleasant euphoria from a dose that knocks out or kills you. If you accidentally breathe enough to pass out you probably didn't close the bottle before losing consciousness. The open bottle will continue emitting the flammable/potentially deadly vapor into the air while you sleep.

Melissa Humbert

Great, so this will make the New Madrid earthquake even more fun when it finally pops off. 🤪

John Brandkamp

Bugs Bunny had the best ether episode.

John Brandkamp

Staten Island! This explains so much of my childhood!

HonestEd

Does Jake even see the real world, or is it all through an overlay of movies and products?

'Mech Bae
>>166921562

That reminds me of the move They Live where the subliminal messages all have overlays of product advertising (Jake I got u fam)

Creamer

i always thought poppers were ether?

Sebastian Pickett

They're killing us out here always have been. Fuck man

Katana King

When I was in AP chemistry in high school, my teacher trusted me to do an ether rinse on some glassware. It is a clear liquid, kept in glass, volatile enough to the extent that it will always be putting off fumes at room temperature. It was so long ago now that I don't remember what it smelled like. But in the process of cleaning the glassware with the ether, I got some on my hand and it was cold to the touch, probably because of the volatility, I imagine it's very good at absorbing heat in order to turn into a gas. I definitely got some fumes in the process, and I felt extremely chill for a good hour. Maybe, maybe longer, hard to remember.

Chris S

Devin is my favourite guest by far

Hans

Tim Morton mentioned 🗣️

Matthew Norton

I have a buddy that has/had a research chemical license and got his hands on a bottle of ether.. we were all a bunch of drug addicts at the time so naturally we tried it. You basically just sniffed it it like poppers, it had a really sweet taste and felt exactly like whip-its. Apparently there's a thing that happens if you have it in a container with a screw on lid where it crusts up on the threads of the lid and the friction of opening it can cause an explosion

Rorie

On the topic of ether, it also gets you hungover without getting you drunk first. As for its nuclear applications it can be used in solvent extraction in the purification of uranium. Nowadays alkyl phosphates like D2EHPA are used. I did a PhD on uranium hydrometallurgy, so it's quite a familiar topic to me.

Rorie
>>166981779

I remember using it as a solvent in undergrad chemistry. Chloroform too. Once used the special chloroform with deuterium in it for H-NMR analysis.

Toadwine
>>166895119

All norwegians are rascist because of this? That doesnt make any sense. What greenwashing? We pump oil but name one nation on the planet that would follow the rules and spend money to make it as clean as possible more than norway? Like honestly i know the oil isnt pretty but its true as far as i can tell. Why single out norway though? Did we do something extra terrible to travellers? Not like we banned them from the country though... i think that has happened here and there....

Toadwine
>>166895119

Murderous whites? Yeah that is how to describe scandinavians for shure... I dont know what got you all fired up about race though. I just thought a country that has a very good reputation for enviromentalism had something to teach to the amerikans. Then you got all rascist about it

Artemis1312

Feels like one of the early episodes about in-person Qanon events in the early Trump days, but a more ominous sequel. We’re so back baby

Storky

Is this ep kinda quiet or am I finally losing my hearing?

Sean Haas
>>167003011

It's not just you. Every episode has been noticably quiter for awhile now

Mac-something
>>166983901

Thanks! When they first started taking about it I was super confused because the only time I’ve heard ether discussed has been from old pre-modern natural philosophy etc.

Hot Rod

Actually way worse than the Times Beach disaster. Sold on St. Louis

Brad

if you don't listen really closely in the first 2 minutes, its a wild ride.

edie

Liv agar

Lisa Radetic

I grew up in Florissant. I’ve known all about cold water creek- my aunts/uncles have lost 1/2 of their classmates at sacred heart/rosary high. All from extremely rare cancers - I still learned new info from this episode. Good job, I really enjoyed the pod guys.

Lindsay

Nothing against our girl Liv here but, from a production standpoint, this ep should have been spearheaded by Travis with references back to Trickle Down, reminding listeners ‘we’ve heard this type of thing before, here’ and sending us into the vaults to listen again or maybe for first time. So, go listen to when Travis used to talk, folks. Trickle Down is pretty amazing and worth a re-listening if you were into this content.

Spliffy

New Jake story Captain Elon Sails the Bermuda Triangle

Queeriam

Liv Agar

Andrew Mahalik

Timothy Morton reference!!

Last Years Man

Someone out there mistaken listened to this episode on the morning of their wife's birthday and you OWE THEM for that.

Matt

@jake Ether: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NCBt1N-qps

Elissa
>>166908489

Also Church Rock NM! was never properly cleaned up and Navajo people are still living with the consequences.

Lindsay
>>167144421

Yeah I can see how a professional comment to independently or self produced journalists on how to support their narrative by building context and enhancing their own credibility while simultaneously driving listener engagement is weird when most everyone else is shouting proper nouns into the void or talking about huffing but ok, too.

Leanders
>>166983901

I was mostly surprised they didn’t remember it from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, was def new info that it has these industrial uses

Carmine b.

I've been trying to get the link for the Discord - can someone pls post it or send me the link?

Ruth Kiszka

Toms river NJ person here. I know all about toxic contamination. I've known 3 people in a 5 mile radius who died from Ewing sarcoma in their late teens. They aren't counted as child deaths so the government can say look! We cleaned it up

Ruth Kiszka

Whenever young ppl get creepy and strange cancers you know there is a problem. The 3 late teens kids died in terror and pain. A Swiss chemical company came to the pines in NJ and worked with the town to poison it

Claire

I don’t think anyone understood what an atomic bomb would do to people on impact And it fucked up everyone after the 2 were dropped on Japan who were involved in development. I mean there’s your average IED or cannon style human body exploding all over with guts and brains and shit and then there’s people vanishing through 100% incineration into dust bc of the movement of all their atoms to like 1 zillion x speed and then days of skin falling off and bones leeching into dust and I think it was majorly surprising. We have always treated cancer as this unfortunate thing that most people get in some form but everything in this podcast definitely shows why it happens. There’s a reason that you can carbon date pretty much everything and that’s because we are just increasingly infused with nuclear material. So …. Yeah, eat your blueberries and do your best.

Claire

Man. This was so depressing.

Lizzy Bones

I live in St Louis! Please make this a public episode!! Id love to be able to share this widely in my network.

Last Years Man
>>167538818

Seriously? My dad lived in Tom's River for a few years. We used to visit him with my infant (at the time). What didn't I know?

Ruth Kiszka
>>167538818

https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/SiteProfiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=second.cleanup&id=0200078

Ruth Kiszka
>>167538818

They found out that a multinational Swiss chemical company bribed toms river officials so they could illegally dump chemicals. The political leaders of toms river poisoned the town. They say it's safe but 3 people I know dying from Ewing sarcoma in 1 neighborhood in their teens? That's not normal

Charlotte James

Backing up that it would amazing if you could make this public, I joined the patreon just to listen to it and nuclear dumping/nuclear power is becoming a key election issue where I am. I would love to send this to some family members and friends. Lots of love to the gang from Australia <3

Nick GiRAFfe

I aspire to doing what Devin does about St. Louis & Missouri but for Des Moines, IA to Madison, WI; & those states in general. Working on something right now (not for QAA, obviously—I’m not that cool) on the “Communist takeover” of Mosinee, Wisconsin.

pq

totally overlooked milestone: this was FINALLY that