Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of
Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all
Speaker 1: of these amazing tales are right there on display, just
Speaker 1: waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
Speaker 1: Human beings have looked to the stars for as long
Speaker 1: as well we've had stars to look at. The night
Speaker 1: sky inspires wonder in all of us. In the ancient world,
Speaker 1: it was a chart that could hold the images of
Speaker 1: God's and show a person's future, And today it shows
Speaker 1: us how small our world is in the vast universe.
Speaker 1: And sometime between these two points in history, as far
Speaker 1: back as ancient Greece, someone had that sneaking thought, what
Speaker 1: if there's another being looking back at us from the stars.
Speaker 1: In nineteen thirty nine, a well known politician wrote an
Speaker 1: eleven page essay reflecting on this age old question. Inspired
Speaker 1: by the recent radio adaptation of HG. Well's War of
Speaker 1: the Worlds. He titled his essay are we alone in Space?
Speaker 1: His country, and by extension, our planet, was in a
Speaker 1: tenuous place in the late nineteen thirties. In September of
Speaker 1: that year, the Second World War would officially begin in Europe,
Speaker 1: plunging the world into a period of distrust and death
Speaker 1: at an unprecedented scale. The following year, London itself would
Speaker 1: face several years of devastating bombardment from German planes in
Speaker 1: a period called the Blitz. Perhaps this politician wrote their
Speaker 1: essay as a form of escapism, to let his mind
Speaker 1: wander away from the impending stress and terror of the war,
Speaker 1: reflecting instead on what sort of being might live beyond
Speaker 1: the stars and what conditions might need to survive. He
Speaker 1: posited that liquid water would be required for any sort
Speaker 1: of life, as all living species here appear to require it,
Speaker 1: although he did acknowledge that they have discovered creatures so
Speaker 1: small that they cannot be seen by the human eye.
Speaker 1: He also astutely noted that for a planet to be
Speaker 1: suitable for life, like on Earth, it would need to
Speaker 1: be a specific distance away from its star, close enough
Speaker 1: for heat to encourage growth, far enough away that it
Speaker 1: has a stable atmosphere and smooth conditions. He considered each
Speaker 1: planet in turn, including the relatively recently discovered Pluto, and
Speaker 1: addressed what science knew about each environment. Some he accepted
Speaker 1: as more plausible locations than others. His unshakable conclusion about
Speaker 1: the Moon, for instance, was that it was one of
Speaker 1: the places that can never support life, because it's just
Speaker 1: an arid desert. In his words, the essay concluded by
Speaker 1: leaving the overall possibility open, and it reads as thus, I,
Speaker 1: for one, am not so immensely in pressed by the
Speaker 1: success we are making of our civilization here that I
Speaker 1: am prepared to think we are the only spot in
Speaker 1: this immense universe which contains living, thinking creatures, or that
Speaker 1: we are the highest type of mental and physical development
Speaker 1: which has ever appeared in the vast compass of space
Speaker 1: and time. The writer sold his essay to the Sunday Dispatch,
Speaker 1: which printed it in nineteen forty two under the title
Speaker 1: are There Men on the Moon? Although the beginning of
Speaker 1: the war somewhat obscured our record of this publication, the
Speaker 1: essay itself, though published, would not appear in any collections
Speaker 1: of the Dispatch's articles, and thus would be forgotten in
Speaker 1: the noise of the nineteen forties. After the war, this
Speaker 1: politician returned to the essay, revising it twice over the
Speaker 1: following decades, he considered alternate titles such as are we
Speaker 1: alone in the Universe? And does life exist elsewhere in
Speaker 1: the Universe. It seems that he was contemplating reprinting the essay,
Speaker 1: but it would never come to pass. After passed away
Speaker 1: in the nineteen sixties, these additional drafts would sit in
Speaker 1: the desks of literary agents for many years to come,
Speaker 1: until in twenty seventeen someone unearthed the history of drafts
Speaker 1: of this essay. Though the public was already aware of
Speaker 1: the existence of the original one, the discovery of subsequent
Speaker 1: drafts cast the politician's career in a new light as
Speaker 1: someone who had an untapped scientific interest, regularly returning time
Speaker 1: and time again to this same question that has puzzled philosophers, astrophysicists,
Speaker 1: and casual observers since the dawn of humanity. What is
Speaker 1: perhaps most astonishing about the essay itself, though, is the
Speaker 1: author It was written during the start of World War
Speaker 1: II by one of the principal men involved in the
Speaker 1: fighting of that war. It was written by Winston Churchill.
Speaker 1: It was nighttime in Los Angeles and the city was
Speaker 1: settling into a sort of uneasy quiet. News of the
Speaker 1: Day continued to play on radios around the city, describing
Speaker 1: the war somewhere across the Pacific. By February nineteen forty two,
Speaker 1: tension had gripped the United States, especially along the West Coast,
Speaker 1: where rumors had been circulating for months about possible Japanese
Speaker 1: attacks on California, Oregon, and Washington. Suddenly, the night exploded
Speaker 1: into light. People awoke to a shock of searchlights and
Speaker 1: thunderous gunfire as arcs of fires streaked across the sky.
Speaker 1: Anti aircraft fire thundered for nearly three hours as the
Speaker 1: battle in the sky raged, but when the dawn broke,
Speaker 1: there was no evidence of bomb damage or destroyed planes,
Speaker 1: leaving the city to wonder if the night's dramatic events
Speaker 1: had truly occurred. The strange event came to be known
Speaker 1: as the Battle of Los Angeles. Three months earlier, on
Speaker 1: the morning of December seventh, nineteen forty one, the Japanese
Speaker 1: Navy launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. The attack
Speaker 1: destroyed much in the naval shipyard and killed over two thousand,
Speaker 1: four hundred service members and civilians working in the area.
Speaker 1: Communities along the West Coast had been placed on heightened
Speaker 1: alert for months, with blackout drills, air raid sirens, and
Speaker 1: constant military patrols shaping daily life. It goes without saying
Speaker 1: that Pearl Harbor had sent shockwaves throughout the entire country,
Speaker 1: and it left West Coast residents particularly anxious. In fact,
Speaker 1: just days before this harrowing night of anti aircraft fire,
Speaker 1: a Japanese submarine had targeted a California oil field, heightening
Speaker 1: fears of further assaults. In addition to this, the Navy
Speaker 1: sent a warning out on February twenty fourth that a
Speaker 1: Japanese strike on the continental US was likely. The city
Speaker 1: began to prepare, testing air raid sirens and issuing instructions
Speaker 1: to be haired for blackouts, and the military was ready
Speaker 1: at the mere hint of an attack, they would hit
Speaker 1: back hard. When radar showed an unidentified object approaching the coast,
Speaker 1: the military sprung into action. Anti aircraft guns relentlessly hammered
Speaker 1: at the unseen enemy for over three hours. Hundreds of
Speaker 1: rounds of artillery were shot into the skies over la
Speaker 1: As searched the heavens frantically, and it's fair to say
Speaker 1: that there was a lot of confusion. Commanders struggled to
Speaker 1: coordinate the barrage, with conflicting reports from radar operators and
Speaker 1: observers that were fuelling the chaos and contributing to the
Speaker 1: night long spectacle. Residents could only shelter in place and
Speaker 1: listen as the explosions shook the city. Families clung to
Speaker 1: one another in their basements and living rooms, while street
Speaker 1: lights flickered and dogs barked wildly, turning the city into
Speaker 1: a horror scape of fear and confusion. Finally, though the
Speaker 1: all clear sounded and the bomb blast was replaced by silence.
Speaker 1: In the comings, officials scrambled for answers, and there were
Speaker 1: many possible theories for what had transpired. Some suggested that
Speaker 1: the radar might have picked up a weather balloon, although
Speaker 1: no evidence ever confirmed this. The Navy also pointed to
Speaker 1: lingering anxiety after the recent oil field Attech, which may
Speaker 1: have fueled paranoid decisions. A misreading of radar signals likely
Speaker 1: triggered the prolonged one sided barrage. Newspapers ran editorials criticizing
Speaker 1: the military and describing the whole affair as a Hollywood spectacle,
Speaker 1: and lawmakers out in Washington, d C. Pushed for formal
Speaker 1: inquiries on the barrage, and more than that, photographs of
Speaker 1: the sky over Los Angeles that were taken during this
Speaker 1: time of the barrage have fueled conspiracy theorists and UFO enthusiasts.
Speaker 1: The phrase Battle of Los Angeles kind of became shorthand
Speaker 1: for dramatic but ultimately hollow confrontation. The military thoroughly reviewed
Speaker 1: the incidents and took action to make sure that it
Speaker 1: would never happen again. More intensive protocols were created around
Speaker 1: the authorization of anti aircraft fire, and the training for
Speaker 1: radar operators became more thorough. It's been nearly eighty years
Speaker 1: since the night sky lit up over Los Angeles, and
Speaker 1: still it holds sway in the public imagination. Its inspired
Speaker 1: books like James Elroy's This Storm, and even a Steven
Speaker 1: Spielberg film loosely based on the event. In nineteen eighty three,
Speaker 1: the Office of Air Force History review the incidents and
Speaker 1: concluded that weather balloon's were the most likely explanation. The
Speaker 1: resulting confusion, combined with fear and inexperience with emerging radar technology,
Speaker 1: caused a massive overreaction. Today, historians view the Battle of
Speaker 1: Los Angeles as a classic case of mass hysteria, a
Speaker 1: perfect illustration of a moment when panic, uncertainty, and split
Speaker 1: second decisions led to utter chaos. It serves as a
Speaker 1: striking reminder of how quickly vigilance can tip into fear
Speaker 1: and how easily a tense situation can spiral out of control.
Speaker 1: And more than that, it reminds us how perception can
Speaker 1: shape historical events just as much as reality itself. I
Speaker 1: hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities.
Speaker 1: Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about
Speaker 1: the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show
Speaker 1: was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how
Speaker 1: Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore,
Speaker 1: which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and
Speaker 1: you can learn all about it over at the Worldoflore
Speaker 1: dot com. And until next time, stay curious.