The Search for Eternal Life: From the Philosopher's Stone to Silicone Valley
What would you give to live forever?
A lock of hair? A drop of blood? Your soul?
In this spine-tingling episode, I plunge deep into one of history’s darkest and most enduring obsessions: the quest for immortality. Blending gripping fiction with chilling real-life accounts, I'll unraveling the strange, unsettling truths behind mankind’s age-old desire to cheat death.
🩸 From medieval castles to Silicon Valley labs, the pursuit of eternal life has taken some truly bizarre turns.
Hit play to hear:
- The horrifying legend of Countess Báthory, said to have bathed in blood to preserve her youth
- The disturbing practice of parabiosis, and why tech billionaires are paying for the blood of the young
- The rise and fall of Dr. Serge Voronoff, who implanted monkey testicles in wealthy men during the 1920s
- Qin Shi Huang, China’s first emperor, who died from his own immortality potion—and built a booby-trapped tomb that has never been opened
- Isaac Newton’s secret obsession with alchemy, the philosopher’s stone, and the fine line between genius and madness
But what if immortality isn’t just legend? What if someone actually found the secret?
In Shadow of the Sunstone, my collaboration with thriller writer John Hopton, we explore this in all its detail:
Eternal youth. Forbidden science. A pilot caught in the crossfire.
When retired Air Force pilot Nora "Sierra" Byrd is handed a relic said to unlock the secret to eternal life, she’s thrust into a global conspiracy involving ancient tombs, human experiments, and a ruthless enemy willing to kill—or die—to live forever.
Some people will do anything to escape death. Sierra’s job is to make sure they don’t succeed.
The Shadow of the Sunstone is a pulse-pounding archaeological thriller where the quest for immortality turns deadly.
Check out THE SHADOW OF THE SUNSTONE here
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Transcript
She darted through the village square, casting anxious glances.
Speaker A:Behind her, the market sellers packed away, working as fast as their clumsy cold fingers would allow.
Speaker A:She should never have taken the ribbon, red silk knotted delicately, and left on the market stall.
Speaker A:An offering, she thought, the prettiest girl who passed by.
Speaker A:At the time, she hadn't noticed the two men watching from the shadows nearby.
Speaker A:Now she hurried on, anxious to return home to her mother and father.
Speaker A:Shuddering, and not just from the cold, she turned away and rushed on.
Speaker A:She rounded a stall selling vegetables and darted into the alleyway, heading for home.
Speaker A:In the gloom, it took her too long to see the men.
Speaker A:Standing elbow to elbow, they blocked the path ahead.
Speaker A:She stepped back, her feet slipping on wet cobbles.
Speaker A:She tried to turn, but the men moved fast.
Speaker A:Iron hands gripped her shoulders and another clasped over her mouth.
Speaker A:With swift movements they bundled her back the way she'd come, shoving her into a horse drawn carriage with the crack of a whip.
Speaker A:The horses sprang into action.
Speaker A:The carriage rocked from side to side, entering the forest.
Speaker A:As she feared, they reached the castle and bundled her inside.
Speaker A:The air tasted thick and sweet with rotting flowers, candle wax and iron.
Speaker A:A tall maid with hollow eyes stripped her of her coat and led her down stone steps slick with lichen.
Speaker A:But where am I going?
Speaker A:She whispered.
Speaker A:The maid said nothing, shoving her into a cell beneath the castle walls.
Speaker A:Three other girls huddled in the straw.
Speaker A:One had no fingernails.
Speaker A:Another whispered to someone only she could see.
Speaker A:The third just rocked in the distance.
Speaker A:Someone screamed.
Speaker A:Then the sound of a harsh, guttural voice boomed from the doorway.
Speaker A:Countess Bathory was wishes to meet you.
Speaker A:The man held a lantern high, its yellow flickering glow dancing across the walls.
Speaker A:She followed him upstairs to a chamber hung with silks.
Speaker A:The air was hot, perfumed close.
Speaker A:An empty bathtub sat near the fire.
Speaker A:A woman entered, walking as though floating on air.
Speaker A:Her hair fell like night over her shoulders.
Speaker A:Her long fingernails were covered in gold and diamond rings.
Speaker A:You're the one who took the ribbon, the countess said, circling.
Speaker A:You bold little thing, aren't you?
Speaker A:The girl tried to speak, but her tongue was thick with fear, her mouth dry.
Speaker A:The air pulsed with something ancient, something cruel.
Speaker A:You'll scream prettily, the countess whispered as she slid a long, wicked blade from her red robes.
Speaker A:But not for long.
Speaker A:Hey, I'm Luke.
Speaker A:I'm an author of archaeological adventure novels.
Speaker A:I traveled the world looking for stories to put into my books and to share with you right here on the Adventure Story Podcast.
Speaker A:Now.
Speaker A:People have chased immortality for centuries from from bloodbaths to poison elixirs but the Hunt, well, that's never been pretty.
Speaker A:This has been subject matter for all kinds of writers, from science fiction to some of the classic adventure novels we know and love.
Speaker A:But what's the real story here?
Speaker A:That's what we're diving into.
Speaker A:Let's start with the intro to the podcast you've just heard.
Speaker A:That sounded like something out of Dracula, right?
Speaker A:But the Countess Elizabeth Bathory really existed, and she bathed in the blood of young girls in the pursuit of an eternal life.
Speaker A:In fact, the Countess is now regarded as one of the most prolific serial killers ever known, a crime she was charged with and found guilty of.
Speaker A: here she died in her sleep in: Speaker A:So the idea of immortality clearly didn't work for her.
Speaker A:But that was over 400 years ago.
Speaker A:Nobody believes in achieving eternal life using the blood of young people anymore, do they?
Speaker A:Well, I wouldn't be so sure.
Speaker A: In the: Speaker A:The scientists stitched a young rat to an old one, combining their blood circulation, and watched as the young rat grew ever more feeble and the older rat became rejuvenated.
Speaker A:This surgical technique is known as parabiosis and is still practiced today in the form of young blood transfusions.
Speaker A:Some tech billionaires have regular transfusions of blood from young people in the hope that the fresh blood will rejuvenate them and help them live longer.
Speaker A:Or what about Dr.
Speaker A:Sergei Voronov, who declared, a man is as old as his glans?
Speaker A:In the 20s and 30s, he became world famous for implanting thin slices of monkey testicle into the testicles of human men.
Speaker A:Ouch.
Speaker A:Why?
Speaker A:Because he believed it would restore youth, vigour, sexual vitality, and maybe even extend life.
Speaker A:He claimed to have performed hundreds of implants, including on aristocrats, athletes, and rich eccentrics.
Speaker A:If he lived today, he would almost certainly have those billionaires lining up for his procedure.
Speaker A:For a while back then, he was a global celebrity, and demand was so high, he kept a private monkey farm until Egypt outlaws the export of baboons during due to shortages.
Speaker A:Then science caught up, and what a surprise.
Speaker A:All was revealed as nonsense.
Speaker A:There's the case of China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang.
Speaker A:In many ways, he was a remarkable man.
Speaker A:He united China for the first time.
Speaker A:He standardized currency, weights and measures, commissioned massive public works, including roads and canals, and started building what would become the Great Wall of China, China.
Speaker A:He even survived three assassination attempts.
Speaker A:He was so terrified of dying, though, that he ordered his court alchemists to create potions that might just grant him eternal life.
Speaker A:And he sent ships and emissaries to find the islands of the Immortals, mythical lands off the coast of China where sages supposedly lived forever.
Speaker A:And one of his alchemists led a fleet of hundreds supposedly in search of that miracle elixir, but never returned.
Speaker A:Legend says he either died or landed in Japan and never came back, probably knowing that the price of his failure was death.
Speaker A:Some even claim he founded Japanese civilization.
Speaker A:Qin Shi Huang died at the age of 49, probably from Mercury poisoning, with mercury being one of the ingredients in his alchemist's elixirs of immortality.
Speaker A:Before he died, though, he had a massive tomb complex constructed, which some people think may be as large as New York City and has rivers of mercury traps to deter looters and the iconic terracotta army guarding it.
Speaker A:The tomb complex has never been fully excavated.
Speaker A:And I don't know about you, but.
Speaker A:But I think that has the markings of a great adventure novel.
Speaker A:Something else that could become a gripping adventure is Sir Isaac Newton's fascination with immortality and his pursuit of the philosopher's stone.
Speaker A:That's right, the same philosopher's stone that features in that Harry Potter book.
Speaker A:The philosopher's stone is a mythical substance in alchemy, believed to have the power to turn base metals into gold and grant immortality through the elixir of life.
Speaker A:Newton studied alchemy from a young age and believed that Nicolas Flamel, who died over 200 years before, had discovered the philosopher's stone and used it to become immortal.
Speaker A:According to legend, Flamel had come into possession of a mysterious book and travelled to Spain for help in its translation.
Speaker A:On the way back, he met a sage who identified it as the book of Abraham the Jew.
Speaker A:Flamel and his wife dedicated their lives to decoding the book, discovering the recipe for the philosopher's stone, apparently, and achieving immortality.
Speaker A:That's the legend, anyway.
Speaker A: March,: Speaker A:During Newton's lifetime, some practices of alchemy were banned in England, with the most severe punishments being a public hanging on a scaffold decorated with gold and tinsel.
Speaker A:This might be why Newton didn't publish his works on alchemy, and much of his writing was destroyed in a mysterious fire in his laboratory.
Speaker A:Newton also suffered a nervous breakdown whilst pursuing his study of alchemy.
Speaker A:Could these two incidents be linked?
Speaker A:Perhaps he drew closer to finding the philosopher's stone than we realise, and the knowledge grew him to the edge of his sanity.
Speaker A:Or maybe, just maybe, dark forces were at play and Newton's work was destroyed on purpose.
Speaker A:As we've seen, history is littered with rich eccentrics chasing immortal life, and they're still around today.
Speaker A:But what if someone actually found it?
Speaker A:What if eternal life wasn't just a legend, but real and hidden?
Speaker A:In the novel Shadow of the Sunstone by myself and John Hopton, Sierra Bird will find out just how far some people will go for immortality.
Speaker A:That's out now.
Speaker A:Search the Shadow of the Sunstone online and you'll find it.
Speaker A:This is the Adventure Story Podcast.
Speaker A:Thank you so much for hanging out with me today.
Speaker A:It's great to spend some time with you.
Speaker A:If you've enjoyed the show, please subscribe, Please like and please share.
Speaker A:It'll take you just seconds, but really helps me spread the word about this show.
Speaker A:Now if you have a story you'd like me to explore, let me know in the comments or hello at Luke Richardson author Tom and if you need some more adventure in your life, and let's be honest, who doesn't, you might like to join the Adventure Society.
Speaker A:This weekly newsletter is your ticket to travel with me to share my real world adventures and find out first when a new story or a new season of this podcast drops.
Speaker A:Lukerichardsonauthor.com Adventure Society is where you need to go.
Speaker A:And if you're a fan of adventure stories like the one I've told today, check out my books@lukerichardsonauthor.com.
Speaker A:thanks so much.
Speaker A:Bon voyage.
Speaker A:Enjoy the adventure and I'll see you next time.
