Our Weird Past

John Wise was the preeminent Balloonist of his age and in 1873 was recruited by notable acrobat/daredevil/showman Washington Donaldson to plan the first ever transatlantic balloon attempt.  Donaldson has some minor experience with ballooning but all failures, whilst Wise, being a legitimate scientist, had hundreds of successful flights. Wisely, Wise dropped out of the plan after seeing Donaldsons inexperience. Donaldson eventually made his attempt in 1875 but apparently crashed over Lake Michigan, the balloon and his body were never found. A reporter watching him launch from a Brooklyn baseball field coined the phrase “Goodbye Cruel World”.  A young L Frank Baum, intrigued by the story, modeled the title character of his new book “The Wizard of Oz” after the tragic and many would say foolhardy balloonist. Maybe he did fly to Oz?  John Wise was one of the early scientists to speculate the existence of a strong easterly wind current in the upper atmosphere, far higher than balloons of that era could fly. The Jet Stream theory was finally accepted after it was proven by many World War 2 bomber pilots.  Wise would also disappear over Lake Michigan in 1879, his balloon and body never to be found.