MythBusters Episode 13: "Buried in Concrete, Daddy Long-legs, Jet Taxi"
Air Date: February 15, 2004
Jimmy Hoffa was buried in Giants Stadium.
busted
Adam and Jamie tested several areas on the field held by rumor to be Hoffa’s final resting place. No readings were found consistent with a cavity left by a body which had rotted away.
A Daddy long-legs spider has the most potent venom of all spiders, but is unable to pierce human skin.
busted
A Daddy long-legs was able to bite through the skin of Adam’s arm. He reported nothing more than a very mild, short-lived burning sensation. Analysis of the venom proves it does not approach the potency of the Black widow spider.
Jet wash from an airliner can overturn a taxi if the vehicle passes behind the jet as it goes to full throttle.
confirmed*
Adam and Jamie tried overturning a used taxi they had purchased, but were unable to get the car to turn over; they couldn’t bust the myth because they were unable to acquire proper jet engines for insurance reasons, and had to settle for smaller ones. However, they were able to confirm that a taxi in Brazil was blown off the road by an airliner which was taking off. But that a car will pass behind a jet is very improbable.
*Initially, this myth could only be declared plausible because the MythBusters had trouble obtaining clearance to use a proper airliner. In Episode 87, it was retested with a Boeing 747 and it was confirmed.
Newer: Episode 14: "Myths Revisited"
Older: Episode 12: "Break Step Bridge, Toothbrush Surprise, Rowing Water Skier"
Jet wash taxi. I know this myth is fact, on a tv show back hear in good old blighty as Adam tells us, is a programme called top gear where they actually did this stunt, granted it was using a citroen 2cv (a french circus clowns car but a real car none the less) they succeeded in overturning it using an large aircraft. So i think you should retry it with a lighter car such as a honda civic or something of that size. Then it should be confirmed.
July 25, 2007 at 9:38 PMWell busted or not, I’m still gonna tell my kids that a daddy-long-legs is the most lethal spider. Makes ‘em think you know. Does that make me mean?
July 26, 2007 at 3:59 PMAt first I to thought Jimmy Hoffa was buried at the stadium until I saw that episode about it
August 14, 2007 at 11:11 AMTHE DADDY LONG LEGS IS NOT A SPIDER!!! It is a relative of the spider….IT’S ACTUALLY CALLED A HARVESTMEN. Real harvesmen do not have fangs or venom glands. AUSTRALIA ALSO HAS A COMMON NAME SPIDER CALLED THE DADDY LONG LEGS, This is a spider.
August 17, 2007 at 11:11 AMNear the St-Marteen airport (very famous), we can read a paper and it say….
August 21, 2007 at 5:35 AM“Warning ! Departing and arriving planes !
Jets Blast can cause physical injuries !”
Because the beach and the road are very near the runaway, when a 747 prepare to take-off, it tail can reac the top of the little wall between the road and the airport ! ^^
The jet washed car maybe plausible. When the plane lands the vortex the plane generates and the wind coming off the engines, may cause the car to flip.
September 25, 2007 at 6:40 PMSo how did the venom get tested?
was it injected into his arm?
cause we have all been told there fangs arn’t strong enough to bite us.
P.S. im talking about australian version…. the spider variety.
September 25, 2007 at 10:40 PMI know of at least two incidents where cars were overturned when passing behind jet engines operating at full throttle. Also, some deer had the misfortune of running behind a jet engine operating at full throttle and were thrown several yards away where they expired.
October 8, 2007 at 11:20 AMI just came across this video showing a 747 blasting a large service truck off the taxiway.
October 18, 2007 at 10:08 AMthe taxi can fly!!! see “top gear” they did it just for fun, and they did it with onlt 2 engines running of a boeing jumbo 747. 4 engines can make a car fly!!!!!!!!
October 20, 2007 at 2:04 PMJimmy Hoffa? In giants Stadium? Are you out of your mind?
October 22, 2007 at 8:55 PMwhere did they buy that taxi from???
November 25, 2007 at 5:20 PMuhhhhhh… daddy long legs only have 6 legs… not 8 likespiders
December 4, 2007 at 9:09 PMthe taxi can fly!!! see “top gear” they did it just for fun, and they did it with onlt 2 engines running of a boeing jumbo 747. 4 engines can make a car fly!!
December 14, 2007 at 9:35 AMWhat if Jimmy Hoffa’s body were ground up and mixed into the concrete surface below the feild. It would leave smaller voids when the pieces rotted away, and possibly not disturb the workability and cured strenght of the concrete to any great extent.
December 27, 2007 at 12:22 AMOn second thought, Why not just cremate the body in a high temperature furnace and scatter the bone ashes in with the concrete? There, no voids, problem solved.
December 27, 2007 at 12:28 AMOK, toys back in prams kids. The daddy long legs is both a ’spider’ and an insect.
January 5, 2008 at 8:16 AMHow? Culture. In the USA (and one of the 2 species in the UK), the harvestman is called a daddy long legs. These are arachnids (same family as spiders). These are not dangerous to humans. In the UK, the other species known as the daddy long legs is the Crane fly. These are not dangerous to humans as these are not venomous. These are the insects referred to in Ricky Gervais’ Animals show.
In Australia there is a daddy long legs spider. This was the spider in the Mythbusters program.
Tell them the myth if you want, it just makes people like me look more intelligent when we tell them the facts (I am a field studies instructor!)
Oh, and jet taxi has been confirmed in the Supersize Myths special.
January 5, 2008 at 8:17 AMi was the person who asked mythbusters to prove whether daddy long-legs has the most potent venom of all spiders, now i know the answer, thanks mythbusters : )
January 16, 2008 at 5:56 PMare you sure a brown recluse isn’t deadlier? i know some one who got bitten by one.
February 6, 2008 at 2:21 PMCan you jump out of an falling jet Froom 2000 feet with springs on your feet and live with a broken arm.
March 8, 2008 at 7:59 PMI thought that Daddy long legs was the most venomus spider in the world. Though harmless to humans but very lethal to other spiders. I have seen a daddy longlegs kill a red back spider. The main body of the redback was the size of a credit card. I tried this experment in fish tank and within two days the redback was dead.
September 16, 2008 at 7:47 AMthe daddy long legs is the most venomus spider
September 18, 2008 at 1:04 PMBrown recluse may hurt but you will survive.
September 23, 2008 at 12:43 PMErika, you said it yourself, real harvestmen don’t have fangs or venom glands. But then how did one of the daddy long legs bite Adam and how did they find any venom at all.
October 11, 2008 at 4:26 AM