Flies ‘n’ Maggots

Caustic Soda is a labor of larva! Get to know the bot, tsetse, tumbu, bat and coffin fly, not to mention screw worm, sheep ked and ant decapitator. Also – what is myiasis? All this plus flies and maggots in pop culture and current events. Guest: Gavin Pitts

Music: I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly – Burl Ives

Images

Video

Movies
The Fly (1958)
Kevin: 5/10
Gavin: 6/10

The Fly (1986)
Toren: 6/10
Kevin: 8/10
Gavin: 10/10
Joe: 7/10

The Fly II
Gavin: 7/10

Return of the Fly
Gavin: 5/10

34 Responses

  1. Hi, Gavin here! Great episode! Had a lot of fun talking with you guys.

    In more Diptera news, have recently learned about ANOTHER blood-imbibing Fly from Africa- The Congo Floor Maggot (Auchmeromyia senegalensis) which lives in packed earth floors of village huts and emerges at night to suck blood from the lips or nostrils of those people sleeping on the ground. The maggots can’t climb off the ground, so thwarting their nocturnal nose-mining expeditions is as simple as buying a bed.

    Also thought of an awesome title for the Head-explody Zombie-Fly movie- “DIP-TERROR”!

    1. It’s in mine without a problem.

      You can force a refresh of a podcast in iTunes by collapsing its tree (the arrow beside its title) and then holding SHIFT and clicking the arrow to expand again.

      Edit: Apparently the Feedburner version of the main feed was failing because the feed size went over their 512KB limit. Apparently Google things 512KB should be enough for everyone.
      I’ve fixed it by having that feed only supply the last 60 episodes to keep its size down (it was set to 100) and it’s fixed now.

      The actual Podfeed URL doesn’t use Feedburner and it’s located at https://causticsodapodcast.com//feed/podcast/

  2. A friend of mine worked at a concession stand in a large, corporate owned amusement park. One day, they noticed that the slushy machine was not producing any slushies, even though the tank was full. They opened it up to see what the problem was, and discovered that the whole machine was clogged with maggots. Needless to say, I only consume things either cooked or in their own bottle now at amusement parks.

  3. What about that episode of the X-Files, “Lord of the Flies”? Its about some kid and his mum who can control insects, even into eating peoples brains completely, and SPOILER ALERT: are actually giant fly-creatures themselves.

  4. I came to check out the maggot pictures and ended up watching 5 videos on people popping their zits and cysts. I think I’ve just discovered the most successful appetite suppressant on the internet.

  5. I’m astonished neither Gav nor Toren mentioned Lovecraft’s short story ‘Winged Death’, about revenge by tsetse fly

  6. Video showing sterile maggot debridement therapy on a heel ulcer.

    Pretty graphic. Pretty awesome.

  7. This is the first time I’ve ever considered stopping the podcast halfway through because my brain was giving me the ol’ “That’s fucking disgusting, why are you still listening to this?” response. Fortunately, I made it through.

    Cannibalism? Cool. Brutal hooker murder? Awesome. Flies having babies? NOPE. TURN THAT SHIT OFF.

  8. One thing I didn’t hear mention of was that Forensic Scientists can determine how long a body has been dead for based on the age of the maggot. To determine age, you need to know species and length of maggot as well as environment that the body was found (for things like temperature). This is naturally also a tie-in to the CSI episode of Caustic Soda.

    In pop culture, I recently took my niece to see the Smurfs. In it, Gargamel casts a spell to get a moth to gather up birds with which to carry him out of prison (just go with it) but instead is shocked to learn that the moth returned with a huge swarm of flies. Watching Gargamel suddenly become covered with flies is actually kind of disturbing.

    Also, I was just in the USA and a television channel had a ‘Green Mile’ marathon and kept playing it over and over. Watching it while running on the treadmill in the gym, I was constantly shown the scene of Michael Clarke Duncan’s character spitting out flies after he took away the sickness from Tom Hanks’ balls.

    I also have a personal story of flies. I came home after being away for a weekend and went into my computer room to use the computer. I noticed the room was dark but I chocked it up to the weather (rain). As I sat waiting for my computer to boot up, I noticed a low drone coming from above. I looked up at the 2 foot by 2 foot window and realised that the light of the sun had been blacked out by thousands of flies. It was rather disturbing. I emptied a can of Raid on those bastards. I then spent the next week vacuuming flies off the carpet. I later discovered the cause of the flies. A rat had died in the air duct leading into the computer room and had become the incubation chamber for thousands of flies.

    1. Baaaanks!

      Gavin here. I mentioned the use of maggots to establish an estimated T.O.D towards the start of the podcast, when I’m talking about the maggot boluses I’ve collected from the posteriors of pig parts 🙂 May have been edited down due to my excessive giggling 🙂

      the entire concept of THE SMURFS movie is disturbing- even as a kid I was always suspect of Smurfette- shouldn’t she be 20-30 times the size of the others and with a huge oviposition sac attached to her abdomen?!

      btw- enjoying Horsetrack Hooligans. Keep up the good work!

  9. I watched both videos and looked at the pics. Do I get a prized now (nothing edible, please).

    I think I’m going to have to vote for this being the most absolutely gross episode ever, though the Ted Bundy one might still beat it if I think about it – which I don’t think I’ll bother doing. Once was enough.

    Great ep guys.

    D.

  10. This has got to be the sickest podcast I’ve listened to on Caustic Soda. It was awesome!!

  11. Wow. Just took the dogs for a walk and listened to this podcast. It also gets my “Sickest Podcast Ever” vote. Well done! You’ll have to work hard to top this!

    One small disagreement. There are, indeed, fire ants here in Canada. Here in Halifax it’s a veritable haven for the little… er… buggers.

  12. Before this episode, I had faced every caustic soda with a stomach of steal. I did not blink an eye at self surgery or cannibalism and laughed as Joe shuddered during parasites. But this episode kicked my ass. Three weeks later and I still can’t get more than 5 or 10 minutes in. Well done gentlemen, well done.

  13. Reading about Bot Fly was what led me to learn about Costa Rica and what an awesome spot it is for birdwatching and volcano watching and thus I want to go there.

    But the Bot Flies!! I can see myself screaming whenever a flying insect lands on me.

  14. ah yes Baxter Stockman. much like april o’neil he differs significantly from the comic in the first animated version of the TMNT. rather than being a guy trying to ransom the city by threatening to use his mousers to chew away it’s foundations he was a misunderstood genius who Shredder duped into using his unpopular inventions to destroy Splinter and the Turtles, then later he got his DNA mixed with a fly’s. His research assistant in the ‘front ‘operation for the Mouser scheme was Ms O’Neil, she was not a reporter at all.