WEBVTT - Star Tours

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of

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<v Speaker 1>iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild.

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<v Speaker 2>Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history

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<v Speaker 2>is an open book, all of these amazing tales are

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<v Speaker 2>right there on display, just waiting for us to explore.

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<v Speaker 2>Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. Deep in the mountains

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<v Speaker 2>of West Virginia, the New River runs its ancient course

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<v Speaker 2>through the gorge. The land around it has been preserved

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<v Speaker 2>as a National park, and so there are miles of

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<v Speaker 2>natural beauty. There's a sort of quiet out there in

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<v Speaker 2>the depths of Appalachia. One could almost be forgiven for

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<v Speaker 2>not seeing the deep scar in the limestone cliffs, or

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<v Speaker 2>for not knowing of the catastrophic industrial event that caused

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<v Speaker 2>it all. Here in this beautiful place, hundreds of lives

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<v Speaker 2>were claimed by a slow, suffocating death. The nineteen twenties

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<v Speaker 2>were a time of incredible industrial expansion, and the chemical

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<v Speaker 2>giant Union Carbide decided that it needed to power its

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<v Speaker 2>plants in Alloy, West Virginia. This would require something of

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<v Speaker 2>an engineering feat. The site of the new hydroelectric plant

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<v Speaker 2>was not next to water. In fact, they would have

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<v Speaker 2>to dig a tunnel three miles long to tap the

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<v Speaker 2>new river so that the plant could make power. It

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<v Speaker 2>was going to be one of the marbles of modern engineering.

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<v Speaker 2>Thousands of laborers were brought in for the project, predominantly

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<v Speaker 2>black men recruited from the South. They were to blast, drill,

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<v Speaker 2>and then clear the tunnel. They would work long hours

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<v Speaker 2>in small, confined spaces, and this would prove to have

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<v Speaker 2>devastating consequences for those workers. You see, the rock through

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<v Speaker 2>which the tunnel was bored was rich in a mineral

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<v Speaker 2>called silica, and when pulverized into a dust, it becomes

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<v Speaker 2>lethal to inhale. And the air was thick with silica dust,

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<v Speaker 2>so thick that it was impossible to see more than

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<v Speaker 2>a few feet in front of you. There were no

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<v Speaker 2>masks to protect the men's lungs, no ventilation system to

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<v Speaker 2>draw the toxic particles away. The men essentially toiled away

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<v Speaker 2>and a death trap. Now, a common disease found among

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<v Speaker 2>miners is chronic silicosis, which scars the lungs, making them

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<v Speaker 2>unable to absorb oxygen. It normally takes years to develop,

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<v Speaker 2>but the men who worked in the Hawk's Nest tunnel

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<v Speaker 2>their working conditions were so extreme that they developed acute

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<v Speaker 2>silicosis within just months. They suffered through shortness of breath,

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<v Speaker 2>chest pain, and relentless coughing, and eventually their lungs would

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<v Speaker 2>shut down completely. It's estimated that between seven hundred and

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<v Speaker 2>fifty and one thousand workers due to respiratory failure from

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<v Speaker 2>working in the Hawk's Nest tunnel, making it the deadliest

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<v Speaker 2>industrial disaster in US history, surpassing even the infamous Triangle

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<v Speaker 2>Shirtwaist factory fire. Although massive in scale, the tragedy compounded

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<v Speaker 2>by a complete lack of accountability. Instead of helping the

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<v Speaker 2>workers who were affected, the company fired many of those

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<v Speaker 2>who began to show symptoms, sending them back home to die,

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<v Speaker 2>and those who did die were often buried by the

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<v Speaker 2>company in unmarked graves. At one point, workers gathered together

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<v Speaker 2>to file a class action lawsuit, but it was largely dismissed,

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<v Speaker 2>leaving victims without money for medical bills and lost wages,

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<v Speaker 2>and so for decades, the corporate record of these men

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<v Speaker 2>remained lost to neglect and cover up, but the disaster

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<v Speaker 2>could not be forgotten. You see, the real story of

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<v Speaker 2>Hawk's Nest doesn't lie in some redacted memos or columns

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<v Speaker 2>on a spreadsheet, But in the fragmented accounts of the

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<v Speaker 2>victims themselves, the oral histories collected over the years painted

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<v Speaker 2>a bleak picture. These were men whose coughing shook them

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<v Speaker 2>so hard they could barely speak, men who described it

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<v Speaker 2>as dry drowning and the feeling of sand filling their lungs.

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<v Speaker 2>They were fathers and sons, and it's impossible to ignore

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<v Speaker 2>the racial dimension of this disaster as well. The vast

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<v Speaker 2>majority of the men who died were black, recruited from

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<v Speaker 2>the rural self, and when the illness began settling in Union,

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<v Speaker 2>Carbide's response was as cruel as it was fast. Instead

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<v Speaker 2>of treatment, the men would receive their final paycheck and

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<v Speaker 2>a train ticket home. What became of them after that

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<v Speaker 2>was none of the management's business, and this physical distance

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<v Speaker 2>meant that the company could deny any responsibility. As these

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<v Speaker 2>men wasted away, their skin turning gray, their breathing reduced

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<v Speaker 2>to a mere rattle. The company's silence was nearly as

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<v Speaker 2>deadly as the dust itself. But in the following years,

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<v Speaker 2>the survivors and families of the dead found each other,

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<v Speaker 2>gathered in community centers and churches to share their stories

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<v Speaker 2>of loved ones lost.

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<v Speaker 1>These meetings became the first real oral history of the

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<v Speaker 1>events and the people it most affected. In time, these

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<v Speaker 1>were archived and others began to tell the stories through writing, photography,

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<v Speaker 1>and art, and it remains an indictment of the human

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<v Speaker 1>cost of industrial greed. The miners of Hawk's Nest may

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<v Speaker 1>have been forgotten by the company, but they are remembered

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<v Speaker 1>by history today. Their story is a call to action,

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<v Speaker 1>a reminder that we must never forget the sacrifices made

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<v Speaker 1>in the pursuit of progress, and that we must always

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<v Speaker 1>protect the lives of those who build our world. The

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<v Speaker 1>skies have always been a great source of mystery and wonder,

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<v Speaker 1>even in our modern age. Looking up at the stars

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<v Speaker 1>or the vastness of a storm cloud can be a

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<v Speaker 1>potent reminder of how small we human beings really are

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<v Speaker 1>in this universe. They make all our triumphs and struggles

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<v Speaker 1>seem insignificant. For all of human history, we projected our myths,

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<v Speaker 1>our dreams, and our stories into the heavens above, and

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<v Speaker 1>when we didn't have our heads in the clouds, sometimes

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<v Speaker 1>we wondered what could lie beyond them. It was April

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<v Speaker 1>fourteenth of fifteen sixty one in the city of Nuremberg.

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<v Speaker 1>This was long before the formation of Germany, back when

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<v Speaker 1>it was a city in the Holy Roman Empire. Residents

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<v Speaker 1>of the city stepped out of their homes as dawn

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<v Speaker 1>was breaking. A number of them froze in place, staring

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<v Speaker 1>up at the heavens. The sun looked strange as it

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<v Speaker 1>rose to its usual place in the sky, and as

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<v Speaker 1>they watched, two arcs of red light appeared in the

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<v Speaker 1>middle of the sun. They looked something like large crescent moons,

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<v Speaker 1>and around them other lights started to spark into existence,

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<v Speaker 1>red spots above and below the sun. Other dark orbs

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<v Speaker 1>started appearing, as well as red crosses and stripes of green.

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<v Speaker 1>Before the eyes of the Nuremberg citizens, all of these

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<v Speaker 1>strange celestial objects started to fly aggressively against each other,

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<v Speaker 1>disappearing in and out behind them, the sun weaving around

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<v Speaker 1>like agitated birds, a flurry of light that was so

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<v Speaker 1>striking none of the people below knew how to make

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<v Speaker 1>sense of it. They could only describe it as a

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<v Speaker 1>battle of some kind. Some of the objects appeared to

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<v Speaker 1>exhaust themselves and fell down to the horizon. Enormous columns

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<v Speaker 1>of smoke came from the crash sites, although no one

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<v Speaker 1>dared to investigate. It lasted for about an hour. Finally,

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<v Speaker 1>as the skies quieted, another object larger than all the

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<v Speaker 1>rest appeared, and it looked like an immense black spear

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<v Speaker 1>pointing to the east, and then the skies were clear again.

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<v Speaker 1>At the time, no one knew what to make of

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<v Speaker 1>what they had seen. A local woodcutter named Hans Glesser

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<v Speaker 1>made a wood carving of the event, depicting the various

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<v Speaker 1>celestial objects and their interaction with the sun. He wrote

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<v Speaker 1>his description of the event below the woodcut, including his

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<v Speaker 1>own interpretation that the sites had been a sign of

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<v Speaker 1>God's might. Centuries after glare Us would cut, a different

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<v Speaker 1>interpretation became the primary one, and I'm sure you've probably

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<v Speaker 1>already guessed what it is you see. UFO enthusiasts eventually

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<v Speaker 1>became convinced the so called battle in the skies was

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<v Speaker 1>so strange and unique that it had to have been

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<v Speaker 1>an early glimpse of some kind of alien activity. The

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<v Speaker 1>truth is, Glasser's account had fallen into obscurity before it

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<v Speaker 1>was mentioned in a nineteen fifty eight book called Flying Saucers.

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<v Speaker 1>Modern myths of things seen in the sky, and the

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<v Speaker 1>book raised some interesting questions. Was this an interstellar war

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<v Speaker 1>or some sort of attempt at communication that the sixteenth

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<v Speaker 1>century Nuremberg citizens just couldn't understand. Skeptics of the UFO

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<v Speaker 1>Battle theory say that the people of fifteen sixty one

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<v Speaker 1>Nuremberg merely saw some unusual celestial phenomenon and elaborated on it.

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<v Speaker 1>The description of two crescent moons of light seemed to

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<v Speaker 1>be similar to sun dogs, an effect where the Sun's

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<v Speaker 1>halo produces two sharp flares on either side of the horizon,

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<v Speaker 1>and the other shapes likely came from staring at the

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<v Speaker 1>sun for too long. But if you've seen sun dogs,

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<v Speaker 1>you know that the effect is impressive, but it's mild.

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<v Speaker 1>It's hard to imagine even the most superstitious person looking

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<v Speaker 1>at them and thinking that there's actually whole celestial battles

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<v Speaker 1>being waged in the heavens. Hans Glesser's woodcut shows a

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<v Speaker 1>sky practically chalk full of spots and shapes. The other

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<v Speaker 1>popular point of skepticism is the author of the original story.

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<v Speaker 1>As far as we're aware, Hans Glesser wasn't a con

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<v Speaker 1>artist or a fabuloust, but his account is the only

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<v Speaker 1>one that we have of the event at all. Everything

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<v Speaker 1>he says is filtered through his perspective and artistic depiction.

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<v Speaker 1>Even the fact that many Nuremberg residents saw the lights

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<v Speaker 1>in the sky is a claim with a single source.

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<v Speaker 1>This all isn't unsurprising for the period, though, but it

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<v Speaker 1>does give us an almost infinite number of ways to

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<v Speaker 1>express skepticism or credibility of what happened, depending on what

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<v Speaker 1>you're most like to believe. The world is a place

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<v Speaker 1>full of awe inspiring sites. The earth skies produce auroras

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<v Speaker 1>in the Arctic Circle and green flashes on the ocean's horizon.

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<v Speaker 1>All that said, there is one thing that we know

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<v Speaker 1>to be true, even if we never know what happened

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<v Speaker 1>that day in Nuremberg, will never be short of signs

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<v Speaker 1>from above, and humanity will always spring to the task

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<v Speaker 1>of interpreting them. I hope you enjoyed today's guided tour

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<v Speaker 1>through the Cabinet of Curiosities. This show was created by

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<v Speaker 1>me Aaron Mankey in partnership with iHeart Podcasts, researched and

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<v Speaker 1>written by the Grim and Mild team, and produced by

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<v Speaker 1>Jesse Funk. Learn more about the show and the people

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<v Speaker 1>who make it over at Grimandmild dot com slash Curiosities.

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<v Speaker 1>You'll also find a link to the official Cabinet of

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<v Speaker 1>Curiosity's hardcover book, available in bookstores and online, as well

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<v Speaker 1>as ebook and audiobook. And if you're looking for an

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<v Speaker 1>ad free option, consider joining our page. It's all the

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<v Speaker 1>same stories, but without the interruption for a small monthly fee.

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<v Speaker 1>Learn more and sign up over at Patreon dot com,

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<v Speaker 1>slash Grimandmild, and until next time, stay curious.