# Who invented the tinfoil hat? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 26, 2001, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-invented-the-tinfoil-hat/78151 "2001-08-26T03:00:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![curiousgeorgeordeadcat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@curiousgeorgeordeadcat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curiousgeorgeordeadcat)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2001, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-invented-the-tinfoil-hat/78151/1 "2001-08-26T03:00:32Z")
Who first came up with the idea of wearing a tinfoil hat to protect yourself from mind control rays (or whatever)? Or more seriously, who first told a joke involving this? ---
**Author:** ![Sultan\_Kinkari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7bcc69/32.png) [@Sultan\_Kinkari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sultan_Kinkari)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2001, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-invented-the-tinfoil-hat/78151/2 "2001-08-26T03:06:05Z")
When I worked at Deer Valley Ski Resort in Utah there was an eccentric lift operator who had worked there for years and years so he had first choice of the lift he worked on. Of course he picked the one highest up on the mountain with the best view, but it was right next to three very large microwave antennas. He wore mylar(or similar type of material) under his ski hat to protect his brain from excessive radiation. True story. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2001, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-invented-the-tinfoil-hat/78151/3 "2001-08-26T04:55:15Z")
Well when I was out fishing on the bayou and got transported up into that UFO… ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2001, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-invented-the-tinfoil-hat/78151/4 "2001-08-26T11:56:19Z")
[Do tinfoil helmets provide adequate protection against mind control rays?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/000609.html) by **Cecil Adams** ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2001, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-invented-the-tinfoil-hat/78151/5 "2001-08-26T13:35:21Z")
Maybe they help by notifying you when some omniscent being has secretly placed you into a giant microwave oven. or WAG maybe it has something to do with why people put it around their TV antennas? ---
**Author:** ![urban1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d07c76/32.png) [@urban1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/urban1)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2001, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-invented-the-tinfoil-hat/78151/6 "2001-08-26T13:59:24Z")
If you are interested, you can buy one [here](http://zapatopi.net/) ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2001, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-invented-the-tinfoil-hat/78151/7 "2001-08-26T16:54:12Z")
In _Total Recall_, Arnold Schwartzenegger (sp?) used a wet towel to block mindcontrol rays. Maybe that movie was made before tinfoil hats were invented. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2001, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-invented-the-tinfoil-hat/78151/8 "2001-08-26T17:28:43Z")
Tinfoil hats probably date back to [the inception of radio broadcasting](http://www.library.wisc.edu/etext/WIReader/Images/WER0607.html) in the 1920’s. I remember hearing stories about people who wore them in the early 1960’s It was considered strange behavior even for THAT decade. ---
**Author:** ![peepthis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@peepthis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peepthis)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2001, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-invented-the-tinfoil-hat/78151/9 "2001-08-27T06:26:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jomo Mojo \* > \*\*In _Total Recall_, Arnold Schwartzenegger (sp?) used a wet towel to block mindcontrol rays. Maybe that movie was made before tinfoil hats were invented. \*\* IIRC, I believe Ah-Nold was sporting the wet towel to dampen (pun intended) the signal being emitted by a tracking (not mind control) device in his head – which gave him time enough to dig the glowing transmitter from his nose, and then proceed to kick the ass of every bad guy in the Earth-Mars vicinity. ---
**Author:** ![micco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f8ce5/32.png) [@micco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/micco)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2001, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-invented-the-tinfoil-hat/78151/10 "2001-08-27T13:53:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by wishbone \* > \*\*He wore mylar(or similar type of material) under his ski hat to protect his brain from excessive radiation. True story. \*\* I’m not one to argue practicality with a man in a tinfoil hat, but wouldn’t mylar be ineffective? I thought it was completely non-conductive, meaning it wouldn’t provide shielding from E/M. I don’t know if mind control waves use E/M, but I’d think you’d need a grounded conductor to shield yourself from microwaves. ---
**Author:** ![Kilt-wearin\_man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/82dd89/32.png) [@Kilt-wearin\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilt-wearin_man)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2001, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-invented-the-tinfoil-hat/78151/11 "2001-08-27T16:29:43Z")
Yeah, I found the whole “wrap the towel around your head” set of instructions to be amusingly similar to one of the reasons the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy lists a towel as an indispinsible travel accessory. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2001, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-invented-the-tinfoil-hat/78151/12 "2001-08-27T17:08:35Z")
Tinfoil hat or wet towel, both of them are premised on just covering the skull. I have a problem with the underlying assumption that human consciousness is entirely localized in the brain alone. That may be an outmoded model. What about the studies these days showing that every cell in the body is conscious, that the neurotransmitters released throughout the whole body are an integral part of the whole process of consciousness? Even if you block the brain off from microwaves or whatever is supposed to carry mindcontrol rays, I don’t see how that would be enough to totally screen out anything that could affect your consciousness, if consciousness is diffused throughout the entire body. This is all assuming for the sake of discussion that there really exist such things as “mindcontrol waves.” I’m not taking that as a given, but just suppposing this technology is real, otherwise this thread would have nothing to discuss. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2001, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-invented-the-tinfoil-hat/78151/13 "2001-08-27T17:08:50Z")
kwm, do you happen to know if wet kilts provide a similar level of protection for other parts of the body ?