ADVANCE FOR SATURDAY DEC. 24, 2016 AND THEREAFTER - In this Dec. 13, 2016 photo, Pioneers Home resident Joe Nistler, 90, reacts to a virtual reality video of a herd of elephants walking while Lincoln Markham, right, watches in Fairbanks, Alaska. Lincoln Markham and Dan Markham are the father-son duo behind the extremely popular What's Inside YouTube channel. (Matt Buxton/Fairbanks Daily News-Miner via AP)

ADVANCE FOR SATURDAY DEC. 24, 2016 AND THEREAFTER - In this Dec. 13, 2016 photo, Pioneers Home resident Joe Nistler, 90, reacts to a virtual reality video of a herd of elephants walking while Lincoln Markham, right, watches in Fairbanks, Alaska. Lincoln Markham and Dan Markham are the father-son duo behind the extremely popular What's Inside YouTube channel. (Matt Buxton/Fairbanks Daily News-Miner via AP)

Father, son share virtual reality with seniors

FAIRBANKS — With a chilly Fairbanks morning framed in the rec room window, seniors at the Pioneers’ Home took turns taking a trip to sunny grassland in Africa.

There, through the lenses of a virtual reality headset donated by a family with ties to the Pioneers’ Home, the seniors laughed, gasped and smiled as a herd of elephants sauntered by in a 360-degree video.

“It just about knocked me out of the chair,” said a beaming Joe Nistler, a 90-year-old resident of the home.

The event was put on by Dan and Lincoln Markham, the father-son duo behind the enormously popular YouTube channel “What’s Inside,” during a family vacation to Fairbanks.

Lincoln Markham, who’s 10, is the great-grandson of well-known Fairbanks miner and University of Alaska Fairbanks leader Earl Beistline, who spent his final years at the Pioneers’ Home.

Dan Markham said he and Lincoln wanted to give back to the Pioneers’ Home and perhaps inspire their nearly 4 million YouTube followers to do the same for their communities.

“The reason we thought of doing this is we were looking for an opportunity to do a Christmas video and encourage people to get out and do some service,” he said.

The two donated a Google Pixel Android phone and a Google Daydream headset to the Pioneers’ Home. Seniors were thankful about the donation and eager to give it another try.

“I’d like to go to Italy,” Nistler said. “I never made it there.”

The seniors chatted with each other, describing the details they noticed in each video.

Al Weber, 99, watched the elephant video as well as one in an underwater shark cage surrounded by sharks. He said he preferred the shark video.

“It was fantastic, really great,” he said.

Lincoln and Dan Markham found YouTube fame after Dan posted some videos from Lincoln’s second-grade science project where they cut open a baseball, golf ball, soccer ball, basketball and tennis ball to see what was inside.

“My dad just wanted the teacher to have the impression that we had a YouTube channel that was cool, so I would just get some extra bonus points,” Lincoln Markham said.

Dan Markham said he did it because he was shy growing up and wanted to help Lincoln get comfortable with public speaking. Either way, it was the start of something life-changing for the two.

The channel had just been intended for some fun videos to share with the family back in Alaska and New Mexico, but after a few months he said he noticed they earned $4 from YouTube for people watching those five videos.

“People from all over the world started asking us to cut open this, cut open that and cut open a bowling ball,” he said. “I said, ‘Lincoln, we might have something. What if we hid all the rest of our (family) videos, changed the name to ‘What’s Inside’ and start cutting stuff open and maybe by the time you’re 18 you’ll have $10,000.”

But the channel took off far beyond their expectations, to the point where Dan Markham left his job to focus on producing weekly videos with his son.

Their videos include cutting open a bowling ball, light-up shoes, an Etch-A-Sketch and a genuine Olympic torch. Their most popular video is one about a rattlesnake’s rattler with an astounding 61 million viewers.

But Dan Markham said he credits the popularity not so much to the things they cut open but to the genuine relationship and fun that the father-son duo has on camera. The two have traveled the world, thrown a laptop from a helicopter and met Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

During visits to the Interior, they’ve cut open geodes with family and a snow globe from the Santa Claus House in North Pole.

“I don’t think people come to watch to just see what’s cut open, but they like Lincoln and I having fun and seeing the goofy things that we do,” he said. “We’re not the greatest hosts, or the smartest, but they have a connection together and are here for the ride.”

After filming at the Pioneers’ Home, Dan and Lincoln Markham went out to do what’s made them famous: cut open the VR headset and see what’s inside.

The video will be posted soon, you can see it online on the “What’s Inside” YouTube channel, which can be found at www.youtube.com/user/lincolnmarkham.

More in News

(Juneau Empire file photo)
Aurora forecast through the week of Nov. 10

These forecasts are courtesy of the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Geophysical Institute… Continue reading

(Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire file photo)
Juneau man arrested on suspicion of murdering 1-month-old infant after seven-month investigation

James White, 44, accused of killing child with blunt blow to head in a motel room in April.

A map shows properties within a proposed Local Improvement District whose owners could be charged nearly $8,000 each for the installation of a semi-permanent levee to protect the area from floods. (City and Borough of Juneau map)
Hundreds of property owners in flood zone may have to pay $7,972 apiece for Hesco barrier levee

City, property owners to split $7.83M project cost under plan Juneau Assembly will consider Monday.

Dan Allard (right), a flood fighting expert for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, explains how Hesco barriers function at a table where miniature replicas of the three-foot square and four-foot high barriers are displayed during an open house Thursday evening at Thunder Mountain Middle School to discuss flood prevention options in Juneau. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Residents express deluge of concerns about flood barriers as experts host meetings to offer advice

City, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers say range of protection options are still being evaluated

U.S. Geological Survey geologist Geoffrey Ellis stands on Oct. 29 by a poster diplayed at the University of Alaska Fairbanks that explains how pure hydrogen can be pooled in underground formations. Ellis is the leading USGS expert on geologic hydrogen. He was a featured presenter at a three-day workshop on geologic hydrogen that was held at UAF. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
Alaska scientists and policymakers look to hydrogen as power source of the future

The key to decarbonization may be all around us. Hydrogen, the most… Continue reading

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire file photo)
Police calls for Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024

This report contains public information from law enforcement and public safety agencies.

Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota speaks to reporters at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia in advance of the presidential debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, Sept. 10, 2024. President-elect Trump has tapped Burgum to lead the Interior Department, leading the new administration’s plans to open federal lands and waters to oil and gas drilling. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times)
Trump nominates governor of North Dakota — not Alaska — to be Interior Secretary

Doug Burgum gets nod from president-elect, leaving speculation about Dunleavy’s future hanging

Maple the dog leads Kerry Lear and Stephanie Allison across the newly completed Kaxdigoowu Heen Dei (also known as the Brotherhood Bridge Trail) over Montana Creek Monday, November 11. (Laurie Craig / Juneau Empire)
Reconnected: New bridge over Montana Creek reopens portion of Kaxdigoowu Heen Dei

People again able to walk a loop on what’s commonly known as the Brotherhood Bridge Trail.

Most Read