The 1979 Amazon That Started Delivering People

In the late 1970s, ordering something through the mail meant waiting weeks. Catalogs were slow, deliveries slower, and patience was just part of the deal.

Then Jeff Bezos showed up early.

In this twisted version of 1979, Jeff launches The Jungle—a mail-order catalog that promises something no one has ever seen: delivery in hours, not weeks. He runs it out of a suffocating garage filled with books and sweat. His “secret weapon” is a box he calls Alexa—not a computer, but a wooden box with a microphone that never turns off. He says it’s for market research. In reality, it’s listening to people’s nightmares.

Customers start getting packages they never ordered. A woman complains about a headache, and minutes later, a hawk with a basket strapped to it drops aspirin on her porch. A husband whispers about a divorce, and The Jungle deli ...