"Hats All Folks!", Way to Die #501, is the first death featured in the Season 3 finale "If You're Dead – Leave a Message and We'll Get Back to You", which aired on January 5, 2011.
Plot[]
Barnaby, a Connecticut hat maker of the 1800s, took the phrase "Mad as a Hatter" literally, when he wore his own hat and began acting stark-raving mad toward his customers. When Barnaby's first customer arrived, he screamed, and stabbed his own hand with a hat pin. He also made another customer wear a woman's hat before calling him a "swine". Barnaby then slapped his face and sent him out. He even had delusions of seeing his customers act mad themselves, even though they actually weren't. There's actually a reason why Barnaby along with other hatters at the time acted mad. The hatters had glue that contained mercury that was used in felting the hats and when they breathed in the vapors from the boiling glue, it resulted in them suffering from mercury poisoning. In Barnaby's case, his years of exposure to the toxic mercury fumes compromised his nervous system, resulting in severe brain damage, erratic behavior and hallucinations. As a result of the mercury poisoning, his brain fried, his immune system shut down, and his major organs became damaged beyond repair. Not only did he lose his mind and his customers... he also lost his life, sending him to heaven.
Transcript[]
The script it not yet finished
(In Millinery, Connecticut)
Narrator: Okay "1000 ways" fans, let's play a game. We'll pretend that you've actually spent some time reading books. Sooner or later, you would have come across the phrase "Mad as a Hatter". And you would have said to yourself "Self, I wonder where that phrase came from".
(a customer walks into the store as the hat maker, Barnaby, enters through the curtains)
Narrator: Here to answer that question is Barnaby, a Connecticut hat maker in the late 1800s.
Customer #1: Excuse me sir, I need to have my hat refitted. Could you do that?
(Barnaby screams at the customer)
Narrator: Barnaby was, to put it bluntly, out of his freaking mind.
(Barnaby stabs himself in the hand with a pin and laughs)
Narrator: This was a time, when everyone wore hats, and hatmakers were in big demand. But like Barnaby here, many of them went mad. It was a medical mystery that wasn't solved until decades later.
(Barnaby sees the face of Customer #2 deformed, waving)
Barnaby: SWINE!!
(Barnaby slaps the customer)
Barnaby: OUT! OUT!
Salvador Rovero: There's a term called "Danbury Shakes", which refers to Danbury, Connecticut, which was the mega center of hatmaking in the United States and the world. It was a disease that hatters would get because of their exposure to the mercury that was used in felting the hats. And they would inhale the vapors and it would cause mercury poisoning, and this was applied to the animal pelts.
Narrator: In Barnaby's case, his years of exposure to the toxic mercury fumes compromised his nervous system, causing brain damage, erratic behavior and hallucinations. Finally, with his brain fried, his immune system shutting down, and his major organs damaged beyond repair, the mad hatter who once was Barnaby... closed shop. Forever.
Customer #3: (Screams)
Drew Badger: When someone is exposed to mercury vapors over a long period of time, you will see progression of effects on the central nervous system to those that can be quite significant, including full body spasms. Combined with this, you will see kidney changes, and this would ultimately result in death.
Narrator: For Barnaby, making hats was a living, but the making made him mad. He lost his mind, his customers, and his health. And then... it made him dead.
Cast and Interviewees[]
- Cameron J Oro - Barnaby (Lead: Intended victim)
- Robert Sisko - Customer #1 (Lead/uncredited)
- CJ Brady - Customer #2 (Lead/uncredited)
- Amanda Chism - Customer #3 (Lead/uncredited)
- Salvador Rovero - Custom Hat Maker
- Drew Badger - Toxicologist
Trivia[]
- The name this death was punned on, "That's all Folks!" may indicate that the episode that featured this death is the last episode of the season. It was also the first episode out of three that used that pun, with the later two being Bats All Folks, and Vat's All Folks.
- It also could be punned after the phrase from Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies at the end of every cartoon.
- This death takes place exactly 157 years before Extinguished.
Segment Nicknames[]
- Hat-tivated Hallucinations
- Hats Off Folks
- Mercury Meltdown
Foreign Names[]
- ¡Eso es todo sombrero! (That's All Hat!) - Latin American Spanish dub
- Sombrero Amercuriano (Amercurian Hat) [A pun on "American" and "Mercury"] - European Spanish dub
- A Morte Veste Chapéu (Death Wears a Hat) - Brazilian Portuguese dub
Gallery[]
