WEBVTT - S04 Episode 11 Extra: The Sky Inside 0:00:10.520 --> 0:00:14.760 Welcome to Unexplained Extra with me Richard McClane Smith, where 0:00:14.800 --> 0:00:17.280 for the weeks in between episodes, we look at stories 0:00:17.320 --> 0:00:19.960 and ideas that, for one reason or other, didn't make 0:00:20.000 --> 0:00:24.040 it into the previous show. In last week's episode, New 0:00:24.079 --> 0:00:27.320 Dawn Fades, we traced the origins of what is commonly 0:00:27.360 --> 0:00:32.120 referred to as the Roswell Incident. When researching for the episode, 0:00:32.280 --> 0:00:35.160 I was surprised to learn that, considering how well known 0:00:35.200 --> 0:00:38.520 this event is, that it wasn't actually until Major Jesse 0:00:38.680 --> 0:00:42.520 Marcel made his claims some thirty years after the fact, 0:00:42.800 --> 0:00:47.720 that this incident gained the reputation it has today. Despite 0:00:47.720 --> 0:00:52.800 its notoriety, however, many UFO enthusiasts considered the Roswell incident 0:00:52.960 --> 0:00:55.360 to be one of the less compelling examples of a 0:00:55.400 --> 0:00:59.960 possible extraterrestrial event. It may be then, that the reason 0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:02.800 and it continues to enthrall is not so much the 0:01:02.920 --> 0:01:06.319 UFO element, but rather how the event fits into a 0:01:06.400 --> 0:01:11.320 wider narrative of government cover ups and conspiracy theory. In 0:01:11.360 --> 0:01:14.039 this sense, we find in this later repositioning of the 0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:17.880 Roswell Incident an example of how often our response to 0:01:17.920 --> 0:01:21.600 a UFO sighting will often mirror the culture and general 0:01:21.680 --> 0:01:25.880 thinking of the day. Had Major Marcel made his claim 0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:29.160 of a military cover up back when the initial incident occurred, 0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:33.120 for example, we might well have been summarily dismissed and 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:36.840 the event well and truly forgotten. By the time Stanton 0:01:36.920 --> 0:01:40.720 Friedman began his investigations in nineteen seventy eight, however, the 0:01:40.760 --> 0:01:44.920 American public broadly speaking, was still reeling from the revelations 0:01:44.920 --> 0:01:48.960 of the Watergate scandal. As such, people were perhaps far 0:01:49.000 --> 0:01:52.080 more inclined to entertain the idea of a military and 0:01:52.160 --> 0:01:55.440 government cover up, with the status of the Roswell incident 0:01:55.760 --> 0:02:00.720 becoming elevated as a result. Interestingly, when we look back 0:02:00.760 --> 0:02:04.440 at the way in which UOFO events have been interpreted historically, 0:02:04.920 --> 0:02:09.919 we find a similar pattern emerging, and paradoxically, such sightings 0:02:10.120 --> 0:02:13.919 often end up revealing far more about ourselves than anything 0:02:14.080 --> 0:02:25.360 about the possibility of extraterrestrial life. Reported sightings of unknown 0:02:25.400 --> 0:02:28.079 objects in the sky have been dated to as far 0:02:28.120 --> 0:02:32.440 back as at least the third century BC. In a 0:02:32.480 --> 0:02:35.400 paper published in a two thousand and seven edition of 0:02:35.480 --> 0:02:41.840 Classical Journal titled Unidentified Flying Objects in Classical Antiquity, NASA 0:02:41.919 --> 0:02:46.680 scientist Richard Stothers charts the history of these ancient UFO sightings. 0:02:47.520 --> 0:02:51.200 As Stothers points out, most observations around the beginning of 0:02:51.200 --> 0:02:55.600 the Common Era, recorded by individuals such as Roman historians 0:02:55.800 --> 0:02:59.400 Livy and Pliny the Elder, have since been easily explained 0:02:59.560 --> 0:03:04.960 by ventional scientific ideas. Reports of ships gleaming in the sky, 0:03:05.560 --> 0:03:09.160 flaming spears and oblong shields, for example, are thought to 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:13.120 be merely an unusual cloud formation, and the streamers of 0:03:13.160 --> 0:03:17.800 an Aurora borealis, respectively. Here we find the notion of 0:03:17.800 --> 0:03:22.040 the UFO limited by the general understanding of space and cosmology, 0:03:22.520 --> 0:03:25.600 but also the interpretation of what has supposedly been seen 0:03:26.200 --> 0:03:29.400 limited and distorted by the language used to describe it. 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:34.480 As Stothers puts it, the military terminology reflects the most 0:03:34.480 --> 0:03:38.600 advanced technology known at the time, a tendency found also 0:03:38.680 --> 0:03:42.120 in modern UFO reports in which a witness gropes for 0:03:42.240 --> 0:03:47.280 a familiar technical vocabulary and perhaps a rationalization to describe 0:03:47.320 --> 0:03:51.840 an unaccountable phenomenon. That many ancient reports were made during 0:03:51.880 --> 0:03:57.920 wartime may partially explain this military terminology, But additionally, despite 0:03:57.920 --> 0:04:02.320 our ancestors elaborate descriptions, rarely in antiquity, do we find 0:04:02.400 --> 0:04:06.360 such sightings being associated with extraterrestrials in the way we 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:10.560 might find to day. The simple reason for this is 0:04:10.560 --> 0:04:13.400 that such a thing was inconceivable on account of our 0:04:13.440 --> 0:04:18.640 limited knowledge of the cosmos. The concept of cosmic pluralism, 0:04:18.880 --> 0:04:21.880 the idea that there may be other inhabited worlds beyond 0:04:21.880 --> 0:04:25.440 our own, had been discussed and considered by many thinkers 0:04:25.480 --> 0:04:29.679 from as far back as pre Common era times. In fact, 0:04:29.839 --> 0:04:34.240 many Islamic thinkers and scientists, such as Imam Muhammad Albakir, 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:37.920 who wrote of God creating thousands and thousands of worlds 0:04:38.240 --> 0:04:41.120 as far back as the seventh century c E, were 0:04:41.160 --> 0:04:45.120 particularly open to the idea, and in the second century 0:04:45.240 --> 0:04:49.520 c E. Novel True History, written by Lucian of Samosata, 0:04:49.760 --> 0:04:52.440 we find alien people from the Moon and the Sun 0:04:52.680 --> 0:04:57.640 depicted at war with each other. However, most people's understanding 0:04:57.680 --> 0:05:00.919 of space was based on the aristote alien ideas of 0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:06.400 geocentrism and the sublunary sphere. This idea, with Earth at 0:05:06.400 --> 0:05:09.680 the center of the universe, suggested that laws of physics 0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:13.840 as they were understood then only existed in the sublunary sphere, 0:05:14.400 --> 0:05:18.120 an area roughly incorporating everything from the ground up to 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:22.880 the moon. Anything beyond this was considered fixed and unchanging, 0:05:23.040 --> 0:05:27.360 as part of some kind of celestial ceiling. Although as 0:05:27.360 --> 0:05:30.440 far back as four hundred and fifty BC, the Greek 0:05:30.440 --> 0:05:34.880 philosopher Anaxagoras had speculated that the small lights in the 0:05:34.920 --> 0:05:40.720 sky were actually sun's most rejected this theory. It wasn't 0:05:40.800 --> 0:05:44.120 until the eleventh century CE, thanks to the ideas of 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:47.640 Ibn Alhitem, that we really began to consider this as 0:05:47.640 --> 0:05:52.919 a genuine possibility. Even as late as sixteen hundred CE, however, 0:05:53.320 --> 0:05:57.640 astronomer Giordano Bruno was burnt at the stake for asserting 0:05:57.640 --> 0:06:03.960 that the Sun was just a star. Are you always 0:06:04.000 --> 0:06:06.640 taking care of your family? Do you often take care 0:06:06.680 --> 0:06:09.640 of others and not yourself? Now it's time to take 0:06:09.680 --> 0:06:13.280 care of yourself, to make time for you. You deserve it. 0:06:13.800 --> 0:06:17.120 Teledoc gives you access to a licensed therapist to help 0:06:17.120 --> 0:06:19.719 you get back to feeling your best to feeling like 0:06:19.880 --> 0:06:23.800 yourself again. With teledoc, you can speak to a licensed 0:06:23.839 --> 0:06:27.880 therapist by phone or video. Therapy appointments are available seven 0:06:27.960 --> 0:06:31.119 days a week from seven am to nine pm local time. 0:06:31.640 --> 0:06:36.159 If you feel overwhelmed. Sometimes maybe you feel stressed or anxious, 0:06:36.480 --> 0:06:39.479 depressed or lonely, or you might be struggling with a 0:06:39.560 --> 0:06:44.240 personal or family issue. Teledoc can help. Teledoc is committed 0:06:44.279 --> 0:06:47.960 to facilitating great therapeutic matches, so they make it easy 0:06:48.000 --> 0:06:52.360 to change counselors if needed. For free. Teledoc therapy is 0:06:52.400 --> 0:06:56.560 available through most insurance or employers. Download the app or 0:06:56.680 --> 0:07:01.000 visit teledoc dot com forward slash Unexplained podcast today to 0:07:01.040 --> 0:07:12.600 get started. That's teladoc dot com slash Unexplained podcast. In 0:07:12.640 --> 0:07:17.240 the early morning of April fifteen sixty one, citizens of Nuremberg, 0:07:17.280 --> 0:07:21.080 Germany awoke to an extraordinarily strange event occurring in the 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:25.760 sky above the city. Small globes were witnessed seeming to 0:07:25.800 --> 0:07:28.720 come out of the sun before lining themselves up in 0:07:28.760 --> 0:07:32.720 a variety of geometric shapes, as described by a witness 0:07:32.720 --> 0:07:36.200 at the time, in between these globes there were blood 0:07:36.200 --> 0:07:40.120 red crosses, between which there were blood red strips becoming 0:07:40.160 --> 0:07:43.320 thicker to the rear and in the front malleable like 0:07:43.440 --> 0:07:47.480 the rods of reed grass. Among them were two big rods, 0:07:47.800 --> 0:07:50.600 one on the right, the other to the left, and 0:07:50.720 --> 0:07:53.920 within the small and big rods, there were three also 0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:59.280 four and more globes. These then started to fight among themselves, 0:07:59.600 --> 0:08:01.760 so that the globes which were first in the sun 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:06.680 flew out to the one standing on both sides. Thereafter, 0:08:06.960 --> 0:08:10.000 the globes standing outside the sun in the small and 0:08:10.120 --> 0:08:14.240 large rods, flew back into the sun. The globes then 0:08:14.320 --> 0:08:17.320 fought with each other for over an hour, and when 0:08:17.320 --> 0:08:20.680 the conflict was most intense, they became fatigued to such 0:08:20.720 --> 0:08:23.600 an extent that they fell from the sun down upon 0:08:23.640 --> 0:08:26.679 the earth as if they had all burned, and wasted 0:08:26.720 --> 0:08:32.000 away on the earth with immense smoke. This event, known 0:08:32.040 --> 0:08:36.320 as the fifteen sixty one celestial phenomenon over Nuremberg, was 0:08:36.360 --> 0:08:39.920 recorded and illustrated in a wood engraving by local printer 0:08:40.200 --> 0:08:44.560 Hans Glasser. For some, this event remains one of the 0:08:44.600 --> 0:08:49.199 most inexplicable UFO sightings. Others have explained it away as 0:08:49.240 --> 0:08:53.760 merely a SunDog. For Hans Glasser, however, and presumably many 0:08:53.800 --> 0:08:57.160 others who had witnessed it, the incident was a clear 0:08:57.200 --> 0:09:02.480 sign from God. It is an unsurprisingly common explanation for 0:09:02.600 --> 0:09:06.440 many UFO stings up to this point in time. But 0:09:06.600 --> 0:09:11.280 then things slowly begin to change. It is ten years later, 0:09:11.559 --> 0:09:16.120 in fifteen seventy two, when astronomer Tico bra observes a 0:09:16.160 --> 0:09:21.720 brilliant supernova traveling beyond Earth's atmosphere. It was the first 0:09:21.880 --> 0:09:25.760 verifiable proof ever that the heavens were not quite what 0:09:25.800 --> 0:09:30.239 we thought they were. Only forty years later and Galileo 0:09:30.320 --> 0:09:36.960 Galilee publishes Sedarius Nuncius, a highly controversial treatise which built 0:09:37.000 --> 0:09:40.960 on Copernicus's earlier findings that the Earth revolved around the 0:09:41.040 --> 0:09:44.839 Sun and not the other way round. And with this 0:09:45.440 --> 0:09:49.080 begins the gradual untethering of our belief that the Solar 0:09:49.160 --> 0:09:59.440 System was at the center of the universe. As the 0:09:59.480 --> 0:10:03.280 Age of re takes hold, triggered in part by Galileo's 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:08.880 heretical proofs, our understanding of space and the universe expands exponentially. 0:10:09.679 --> 0:10:13.000 With Darwin's theory of evolution to boot our sense of 0:10:13.040 --> 0:10:16.680 the age of the Earth, and consequently the universe also 0:10:16.840 --> 0:10:20.719 begins to change. And with this the horizons of our 0:10:20.800 --> 0:10:25.360 cosmological knowledge were vastly expanded, and so too did the 0:10:25.400 --> 0:10:30.920 horizons of our imaginations begin to expand. In sixteen sixty six, 0:10:31.360 --> 0:10:36.200 author Margaret Cavendish pends her pioneering novel, the Description of 0:10:36.200 --> 0:10:40.120 a new world called The Blazing World. The book, which 0:10:40.160 --> 0:10:43.560 has been described as a forerunner of science fiction, depicts 0:10:43.559 --> 0:10:48.120 a utopian kingdom on what is essentially another planet, and 0:10:48.280 --> 0:10:51.360 by the late nineteenth century, writers are really beginning to 0:10:51.400 --> 0:10:54.679 get to grips with the possibilities of outer space, with 0:10:54.760 --> 0:10:58.200 stories and ideas epitomized by H. G. Wells's War of 0:10:58.280 --> 0:11:03.160 the Worlds, and soon our interpretations of UFO sightings begin 0:11:03.240 --> 0:11:07.559 to follow suit, shifting from a theological framework to one 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:12.400 that incorporates our newly expanded ideas of space. By the 0:11:12.480 --> 0:11:16.360 end of the nineteenth century, sightings are routinely being discussed 0:11:16.480 --> 0:11:20.360 in terms of spaceships with alien entities at the helm, 0:11:20.440 --> 0:11:23.000 and in the eighteen nineties we see some of the 0:11:23.040 --> 0:11:27.760 first reports of alien abduction being recorded, With advances and 0:11:27.920 --> 0:11:32.079 radio technology, rocket science, and even our own first ventures 0:11:32.080 --> 0:11:35.800 into space developing in tandem with an ever increasing sense 0:11:35.840 --> 0:11:38.960 of the size of the universe, a golden age of 0:11:38.960 --> 0:11:44.480 science fiction explodes. Soon we are routinely imagining not only 0:11:44.520 --> 0:11:50.960 other species, but entire civilizations, intergalactic warfare, and technologies beyond 0:11:51.040 --> 0:11:57.120 our comprehension, and Consequently, no longer are UFOs observed passively 0:11:57.160 --> 0:12:00.959 flitting about in the sky, but instead begin to speculate 0:12:01.000 --> 0:12:05.000 about their intentions. Are they here to harm us or 0:12:05.040 --> 0:12:08.440 simply observers, we wonder, or do they not even notice 0:12:08.520 --> 0:12:19.080 us at all? As more abstract scientific discoveries such as 0:12:19.080 --> 0:12:22.400 Einstein's theory of relativity and the exotic realm of the 0:12:22.480 --> 0:12:26.319 quantum world begin to filter into the public consciousness, our 0:12:26.400 --> 0:12:31.560 interpretation of UFOs shifted again. No longer were they being 0:12:31.600 --> 0:12:37.719 considered as merely interstellar craft, but interdimensional two And with 0:12:37.760 --> 0:12:40.400 some of the more recent ideas about how the purpose 0:12:40.559 --> 0:12:43.960 or simply the mechanism of UFOs may be beyond our 0:12:44.000 --> 0:12:49.360 distinctly human thought processes, ironically, we find the conversation coming 0:12:49.400 --> 0:12:53.240 full circle back to the theological ideas of not being 0:12:53.280 --> 0:12:58.880 able to comprehend gods. This way in which UFO observations 0:12:58.920 --> 0:13:02.040 are often informed by the social and psychological states of 0:13:02.040 --> 0:13:06.160 the day is often referred to as the psychosocial hypothesis. 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:10.000 This idea was explored in depth by Carl Jung in 0:13:10.120 --> 0:13:14.200 his fascinating nineteen fifty nine book Flying Sources, a Modern 0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:19.040 Myth of Things Seen in the Sky. As he put it, then, 0:13:20.000 --> 0:13:23.120 the starry vault of Heaven is, in truth the open 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:27.679 book of cosmic projection, in which are reflected the mythologyms 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:32.559 of our species. Perhaps, for example, we fear the purpose 0:13:32.600 --> 0:13:35.719 of UFOs because we know only too well what their 0:13:35.760 --> 0:13:38.800 intentions might be if it were humans of the helm 0:13:38.840 --> 0:13:43.480 of an interplanetary reconnaissance mission. Or perhaps we dream of 0:13:43.480 --> 0:13:47.680 them because the universe is too incomprehensibly large that the 0:13:47.720 --> 0:13:50.559 thought of the creatures of Earth being the only sentient 0:13:50.640 --> 0:13:55.400 life forms out here is too crushing to bear. Or 0:13:55.440 --> 0:13:58.760 perhaps when we see those alien aircraft in the sky, 0:13:59.559 --> 0:14:02.920 we see not visitors from outer space, but visions of 0:14:02.920 --> 0:14:09.120 our future instead. As such, although extra terrestrial life may 0:14:09.160 --> 0:14:11.840 well exist out there, and for all we know it 0:14:11.880 --> 0:14:16.040 has even visited planet Earth, it remains that much of 0:14:16.120 --> 0:14:19.040 what we see in the sky is not something from beyond, 0:14:19.880 --> 0:14:28.040 but from inside. If you enjoy listening to Unexplained and 0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:30.640 would like to help supporters, you can now go to 0:14:30.720 --> 0:14:36.320 Unexplained podcast dot com forward slash support. All donations, no 0:14:36.360 --> 0:14:41.840 matter how large or small, are massively appreciated. All elements 0:14:41.840 --> 0:14:46.240 of Unexplained are produced by me Richard McClain Smith. Please 0:14:46.280 --> 0:14:49.440 subscribe and rate the show on iTunes, and feel free 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:52.080 to get in touch with any thoughts or ideas regarding 0:14:52.080 --> 0:14:55.280 the stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps you have 0:14:55.320 --> 0:14:58.920 an explanation of your own you'd like to share. You 0:14:58.960 --> 0:15:03.000 can reach us online at Unexplained podcast dot com, or 0:15:03.040 --> 0:15:07.960 Twitter at Unexplained Pod and Facebook at Facebook dot com. 0:15:08.120 --> 0:15:15.880 Forward slash Unexplained Now, it's time to take care of yourself. 0:15:16.320 --> 0:15:20.040 To make time for you. Teledoc gives you access to 0:15:20.080 --> 0:15:23.280 a licensed therapist to help you get back to feeling 0:15:23.280 --> 0:15:27.000 your best. Speak to a licensed therapist by phone or 0:15:27.120 --> 0:15:30.240 video any time between seven a m. To nine pm 0:15:30.360 --> 0:15:34.880 local time, seven days a week. Teledoc Therapy is available 0:15:34.880 --> 0:15:38.840 through most insurance or employers. Download the app or visit 0:15:38.960 --> 0:15:43.680 telldoc dot com. Forward slash Unexplained Podcast Today to get started. 0:15:44.120 --> 0:15:47.920 That's t e l a d oc dot com Slash 0:15:48.000 --> 0:15:49.239 Unexplained Podcast