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Weird clubs like Project Steve and the Putney High Tide Club exist for perfectly logical reasons. Other strange groups and secret associations, on the other hand-from The Bohemian Club to the Extreme Ironing Bureau- are a bit harder to explain. Erin (@erincmccarthy) breaks down those unusual clubs and more in this episode of The List Show.
You'll learn the answer to pressing questions, like "How do I join the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists?" And "What goes on at the Bohemian Grove?" ...Sort of. You'll also find out why the membership requirements for the Association of Dead People aren't quite what you might think. Spontaneous Brits and despondent architects will want to watch.
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For more fun facts about secretive societies, read our article detailing 10 facts about the illuminati: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/608358/illuminati-facts
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20 Weird Clubs That Actually Exist | Mental Floss
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0:00
Did you know there's a special club just for people who have had their lives saved by
0:03
an ejection seat? Pilots who activated their Martin Baker ejection seats and lived to tell the tale are officially
0:08
inducted into the Martin Baker Ejection Tie Club. After surviving their harrowing ordeal, pilots receive a tie, tie-pin patch certificate and
0:16
membership card to commemorate the event. Each item is emblazoned with the red triangle icon that signifies ejection seats
0:22
So far, there are more than 6,000 registered members of the Ejection Tie Club, which is
0:27
not a club I'd want to join. I'm Erin McCarthy, editor-in-chief of mentalfloss.com, and the Martin Baker Ejection Club is just
0:33
the first of many absolutely fascinating clubs and societies you may or may not want to join
0:37
that I'm going to share with you today. The Martin Baker Ejection Club isn't the only association for people who have bailed
0:50
out of a bad plane situation. There's also the Caterpillar Club, which was started in 1922
0:55
The worldwide organization is for military and commercial aviators who had a life-saving
0:59
experience with a parachute. Why a caterpillar? At the time, parachutes were made from silk
1:04
So the metaphor of a caterpillar spinning a safe cocoon, then emerging from it to take
1:08
flight, was apt. It's estimated that more than 100,000 people have been part of the caterpillar club over
1:13
the years, including George H.W. Bush and Charles Lindbergh. The shuttlecock club has nothing to do with badminton
1:19
It's actually an exclusive society for anyone who has crashed at the shuttlecock corner
1:23
on the Crestorun sledding track in Switzerland. One of the last natural ice tracks in the world
1:28
the Crestorun in St. Moritz spans about three quarters of a mile with an elevation drop of 514
1:33
feet. The shuttlecock is an infamous corner of the run designed to stop out-of-control riders
1:37
If they can't make the corner, riders launch off the side and land in a pile of snow and straw to
1:42
the fall. But it's not exactly a soft landing. People who have failed the corner say it's like
1:46
falling out of an aircraft. Although unless they're Caterpillar Club material, we're not
1:50
sure how they would know. As consolation, all failures are inducted into the club and are
1:53
entitled to wear a shuttlecock tie, available at the Crestorun gift shop. You can't really choose to join the sons of Lee Marvin. Genetics choose you, because the club
2:01
includes anyone who, according to film director Jim Jarmusch, has quote, "...a facial structure such that you could be related to, or be a son of, Lee Marvin
2:09
the American actor who appeared in films like The Wild One and Cat Baloo." Known or rumored
2:13
members of this club, which was created by Jarmusch, include Nick Cave, Tom Waits, Josh Brolin
2:19
and Iggy Pop. Fun fact, Waits once designed business cards for all of the sons. Chances
2:24
are you probably won't be invited to join the Bohemian Club. No offense. The secretive
2:28
male-only club gathers once a year to camp on 2,700 acres they own in the Bohemian Grove
2:33
Forest in Sonoma County CA No one is quite sure what they do there but rumors abound It said that some of the Manhattan Project was planned at the site Notable members and guests have included Herbert Hoover William Randolph Hearst Jack London Donald Rumsfeld Henry Kissinger and Ronald Reagan Thanks to YouTube commenter Invisible
2:49
Lemons for the suggestion. If you want to be featured in the next episode of The List Show, leave us a question in the comments below about… The List Show! That's right
2:57
our next episode will be a Q&A where we answer audience questions about The List Show and
3:01
or mental floss at large. If you have a question you'd like us to answer, let us know
3:05
to weird organizations. Just like the Bohemian Club, you're probably not going to get invited
3:09
to the Belizean Grove. It's the female-only answer to the Bohemian Club, but with a more
3:14
public mission, to help female leaders build trusted relationships with each other, and
3:18
to help rising stars get to the top. Members have included Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor
3:22
and U.S. Army General Ann Dunwoody. Are you a scientist? Do you have a gorgeous mane of
3:28
hair? Then you might be a great candidate for the luxuriant flowing hair club for scientists
3:32
There are just four steps standing between you and membership. Number one, photo evidence of said luxuriant flowing hair
3:40
FYI, there's a strict below-the-clavicle rule. Number two, you need to know which hair clubs you want to join
3:46
The LFHCS has subchapters for flowing facial hair, formerly flowing hair, for science journalists, and more
3:52
Number three, a link to a site such as your employer that legitimizes your scientific credentials
3:57
And number four, a pithy statement about why you belong. The LFHCS isn't the only weird club scientists can join. If you're a scientist, and your
4:05
name is Steve, Project Steve might be right up your alley. It's a somewhat tongue-in-cheek
4:09
undertaking by people who wanted to prove that it's easy for creationists to get hundreds
4:13
of scientists' signatures on anti-evolution statements. The sheer number can make it seem like evolution is being seriously questioned by professionals when it's really not. Project
4:21
Steve shows that hundreds of scientists' signatures can be gathered without proving anything, except how easy it is to get those signatures
4:27
If you're a Steve, Steven, Steven with a PH, Stephanie, Esteban, or any other variation
4:32
you're welcome to join Project Steve, which even has its own theme song
4:36
The Steve song, of course. What? The Order of the Occult Hand is open to any journalist or writer who can manage to work
4:55
the phrase, it was as if an occult hand had, into their writing and get it published
5:00
The strange tradition began in the 1960s and spread as reporters and journalists moved to
5:04
new publications. The phrase has appeared in newspapers like the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and many, many more
5:13
It's been used in small-town crime reports and by Pulitzer Prize winner Paul Greenberg
5:17
But since the order was exposed in 2004 it as if the occult hand is turned on itself The odd wording doesn turn up as much as it once did According to Greenberg the order has chosen a new piece of overwrought language journalists must sneak into publications for admission into the club Two rejected options were
5:31
hanging over the scene like a shroud and like a soft, warm, weird breeze blowing aimlessly
5:37
through the palms. The phrase actually chosen remains a mystery. Lawnmower racing is apparently an international phenomenon. The British Lawnmower Racing
5:45
Association was founded in 1973. As their website says, the pastime has spread like crabgrass
5:51
and now you can join official lawnmower racing associations in the U.S., Germany, Luxembourg
5:55
Canada, New Zealand, and the Czech Republic. If you don't necessarily want to join the LMRA
6:00
but you do want to stay current on standings, obviously, be sure to check out their blog
6:04
The Cutting Edge. Do you find yourself failing at things again and again, almost comically
6:11
Then you would have been a perfect candidate for the not terribly good club. British journalist
6:15
Steven Pyle started the club in the late 70s for people who were, well, just not terribly
6:19
good at things. To prove they were worthy, members had to tell their tales at meetings
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Pyle later turned some of the more famous examples into a series of books. 2011's The Ultimate Book of Heroic Failures includes a doozy from 1999
6:32
when a family planning agency distributed condoms stapled to a pamphlet about STDs
6:36
The now-perforated condoms were a not-terribly-good form of contraception. As for the club, it disbanded when membership surged, making itself successful
6:44
and therefore ineligible to exist. Maybe it's time to start it back up using the argument that
6:49
the not terribly good club is not terribly good at following its own rules. The association of
6:53
dead people isn't what you'd think. Being alive is actually a requirement to belong. In the mid-70s
6:58
Lal Bahari discovered he was dead—on paper. In order to inherit Bahari's share of the family's
7:03
ancestral homeland, a relative of Bahari's had had him declared deceased. The underhanded tactic
7:07
took a staggering 17 years to undo. Frustrated with the insanely slow process to get himself
7:12
declared alive again, Bihari formed an advocacy group to help others going through the same
7:16
thing—because being wrongly declared dead is apparently not an uncommon occurrence in India
7:21
Steve, Steve, Steve, Steveity, Steve. Where some people see an unremarkable traffic feature, the UK Roundabout Appreciation Society
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sees beauty. Proclaiming the humble circular intersection as an oasis on a sea of tarmac, the UK RAS
7:36
admires the beauty of roundabouts big and small. Oh, and the president of the association is called the Lord of the Rings
7:42
If you're happy and you know it, join the Society of Happy People. Founded in the late 90s, a time when it was cool to be blasé, as the Secret Society of
7:49
Happy People, the group really found its footing when they challenged Ann Landers on a piece
7:53
of advice she gave to readers. The columnist told people it was best to keep good news to themselves when writing holiday
7:58
letters which made the Secret Society very unhappy indeed The press picked up the clash and the resulting publicity made membership skyrocket Do you love ironing Do you love rock climbing Why not combine your two passions with the Extreme Ironing Bureau a group of very tidy adventurers Extreme Ironing began in Leicester
8:15
England, when rock climber Phil Shaw decided the tour would be much more enjoyable outside
8:19
and dragged his ironing board out to his garden. The idea exploded from there
8:23
and soon he had recruited people to fight wrinkles while skiing the French Alps
8:27
at the base camp of Everest, and even while base jumping. The 20-Minute Society at England's Newcastle University is all about surprise and delight
8:35
emphasis on the surprise. Every two to three weeks, its 500 members receive a text providing
8:39
a location they must arrive at within 20 minutes. From pub meetups to ice skating
8:43
members never know what they're in for. The club also holds an annual formal event and has a drawing
8:48
for a mystery vacation once a year. The randomness of the society has proved popular, with more
8:53
sprouting up across the UK all the time. Simply having an adventurous spirit isn't enough to get
8:58
into the 300 Club. The opportunity to gain membership in this exclusive group happens
9:02
when temperatures in Antarctica reach negative 100 degrees Fahrenheit. After roasting in a 200
9:07
degree sauna at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, those attempting to join the club must
9:11
go streaking outside around the ceremonial South Pole. With shoes on, if that's any consolation
9:17
One participant said it felt like, quote, somebody was hitting me with a tennis racket
9:21
full of needles. Sounds fun. Steve, stevity steve, stevity steve, stevity steve
9:27
No one wants a Putney High Tide Club membership. Members are involuntarily inducted when they park
9:32
too close to the Thames in the Putney District of London and fail to move their cars before the
9:36
tide comes in. Members are inducted via photos on the official Putney High Tide Club pages on
9:41
Twitter and Facebook. Gatherings of the Rubble Club are probably slightly sad affairs. Members
9:46
of the clubs are architects who created buildings they believed would be around for the long haul
9:50
only to see them intentionally destroyed within their lifetimes. The Rubble Club secretary told
9:54
us there's no official membership, saying, we are unique in that self-knowledge is the
9:58
only route to membership. Everybody loves a beautiful cloud, but the Cloud Appreciation Society takes it a step further
10:05
Their manifesto states that they believe that clouds are unjustly maligned, that they are expressions of the atmosphere's moods, and that those who contemplate the shapes in clouds
10:12
will save money on therapy bills. If your head is always in the clouds, this is just the society for you
10:17
Your membership will include a pin, a certificate, and a cloud selector identification wheel
10:21
Don't forget to drop your ListShow-related questions in the comments for our upcoming coming very meta episode of The List Show, dropping on January 29th. And if you haven't
10:29
seen the pilot episodes of our new series, Food History and Kids vs. Science, check them
10:33
out. We had a lot of fun making them, and if you want to know why the French passed a law banning potatoes in the 1700s, or what an experimental physicist can teach us about
10:41
paper airplanes, you'll want to give them a watch. Subscribe to Mental Floss, and check
10:45
back every Wednesday at 3pm for new episodes. Bye
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