WEBVTT - Dressed for Failure 0:00:04.080 --> 0:00:07.440 Welcome to Aaron Nke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 0:00:07.480 --> 0:00:14.440 iHeartRadio and Grim and Mild. Our world is full of 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:18.440 the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:22.079 of these amazing tales are right there on display, just 0:00:22.200 --> 0:00:28.840 waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 0:00:36.320 --> 0:00:39.120 What color is rain supposed to be? Now? I know 0:00:39.240 --> 0:00:42.440 this is a pretty silly question. Rain is the color 0:00:42.479 --> 0:00:45.559 of water, and water sometimes has a tint based on 0:00:45.640 --> 0:00:48.360 the particles that it picks up along the way, or 0:00:48.440 --> 0:00:51.320 if you step back and look at it atmospherically, you 0:00:51.400 --> 0:00:54.960 might argue that rain looks gray or cumulatively a sort 0:00:54.960 --> 0:00:58.200 of muted white. But when rain has an actual color, 0:00:58.400 --> 0:01:02.240 something very strange as happening between the clouds and the earth. 0:01:03.400 --> 0:01:06.440 The Indian States of Corolla has been a frequent side 0:01:06.480 --> 0:01:09.720 of strange rainstorms on the southwest coast of the country. 0:01:09.760 --> 0:01:12.920 It's home to over thirty three million people, and in 0:01:12.959 --> 0:01:15.080 the summer of two thousand and one, a number of 0:01:15.160 --> 0:01:19.319 villages located among the mountains there experienced a rainstorm that 0:01:19.440 --> 0:01:24.000 puzzled scientists all around the world. Between July and September, 0:01:24.040 --> 0:01:26.960 of that year, dark red water poured from the sky, 0:01:27.280 --> 0:01:31.319 staining clothing pink and turning the streets into red rivers. 0:01:31.680 --> 0:01:34.560 In other parts of Kerala, the rain was yellow, or 0:01:34.600 --> 0:01:38.520 green or black, but the most prominent color was that red. 0:01:39.080 --> 0:01:43.399 This alarming meteorological event puzzled the locals, but it didn't 0:01:43.440 --> 0:01:46.039 shock as much as you might assume, because it wasn't 0:01:46.080 --> 0:01:48.520 the first time that it had happened on and off. 0:01:48.640 --> 0:01:52.160 For decades, red rain had fallen in this region, some 0:01:52.200 --> 0:01:55.400 say as early as the nineteen fifties, with other sources 0:01:55.440 --> 0:01:58.680 pointing even further back than that, as early as eighteen 0:01:58.800 --> 0:02:02.760 ninety six. Now, according to locals, the strange rainfall began 0:02:02.880 --> 0:02:06.559 with a flash of light, and then the red downpour began. 0:02:07.040 --> 0:02:10.480 The area that it covered was sometimes alarmingly localized, so 0:02:10.560 --> 0:02:14.200 that normal rainfall would only be a few kilometers away. 0:02:14.800 --> 0:02:18.000 After that two thousand and one rainstorm, local scientists gathered 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:20.880 enough of the rain to finally run some proper tests 0:02:20.919 --> 0:02:23.920 on it and determine what could cause a sudden explosion 0:02:24.040 --> 0:02:28.280 of dark red precipitation. At least fifty thousand kilograms of 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:30.840 the stuff had fallen during this storm, and much of 0:02:30.880 --> 0:02:33.360 it seemed to be made up of strange particles in 0:02:33.360 --> 0:02:37.320 the rain. The theories abounded. Was it volcanic ash, was 0:02:37.360 --> 0:02:40.880 it red sand? Or maybe dust in the air. On 0:02:41.160 --> 0:02:45.519 closer examination, scientists saw cell like structures in the red rain, 0:02:45.880 --> 0:02:49.560 but they were completely absent of any DNA. The leading 0:02:49.639 --> 0:02:52.760 theory early on was a dramatic one. The red rain 0:02:52.800 --> 0:02:56.480 had been caused by an exploding meteor in the upper atmosphere. 0:02:56.760 --> 0:03:00.959 The red particles were extraterrestrial in origin, and this theory 0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:03.840 seemed to be supported by the local anecdotes about the rain, 0:03:04.080 --> 0:03:07.560 which was always preceded by a flash. But the more 0:03:07.600 --> 0:03:11.720 they studied the cells, the less likely the extraterrestrial theory became. 0:03:12.160 --> 0:03:14.520 It turns out the cells were mostly made of carbon 0:03:14.639 --> 0:03:19.320 and oxygen, with amino acids and a neutral pH Essentially, 0:03:19.360 --> 0:03:21.639 it was far more likely that these particles came from 0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:26.240 Earth than space based on their chemical composition. Later studies 0:03:26.280 --> 0:03:29.600 also seemed to contradict the early claim that they lacked DNA, 0:03:29.680 --> 0:03:33.720 pointing more firmly toward a terrestrial origin. What's more, strange 0:03:33.760 --> 0:03:37.520 red rainstorms continued sporadically throughout the two thousands, with the 0:03:37.520 --> 0:03:40.720 most recent being in the early twenty tens. Does this 0:03:40.800 --> 0:03:43.360 mean that we're haunted by the mystery of this colored 0:03:43.440 --> 0:03:47.360 rain to the present day. Fortunately no. Along the way, 0:03:47.440 --> 0:03:50.840 scientists backed by the Indian government found the real origin 0:03:50.960 --> 0:03:54.000 of Kerala's strange rain. It definitely was not from a 0:03:54.040 --> 0:03:57.600 meteor burst or from a volcano. The red coloring came 0:03:57.640 --> 0:04:04.040 from spores, specifically spores coming from local algae. Essentially, heavy 0:04:04.160 --> 0:04:08.000 rainfall inspired lichen to grow all around the area, which 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:11.120 then released their spores, and those spores got caught in 0:04:11.160 --> 0:04:15.600 the subsequent storms, a simple causal relationship between this specific 0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:19.800 climate and its plants. However, the government report didn't seem 0:04:19.800 --> 0:04:22.120 to know how the red rain had dispersed so widely 0:04:22.200 --> 0:04:24.960 across the state of Kerala. For that to happen, it 0:04:25.000 --> 0:04:27.680 would require all of the lichen in the area to 0:04:27.760 --> 0:04:32.080 release spores all at once, which is possible but not likely. 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:36.320 Subsequent studies have posited that the spores weren't local at all, 0:04:36.560 --> 0:04:39.920 but carried that way from Europe by heavy winds. And 0:04:40.160 --> 0:04:43.200 I find myself thinking of that old sailing adage, red 0:04:43.240 --> 0:04:46.840 sky at morning, sailors take warning, red sky at night 0:04:47.120 --> 0:04:50.480 sailor's delight, Except nobody says what we're supposed to do 0:04:50.880 --> 0:05:06.919 if the storm turns the color of blood. In the 0:05:06.960 --> 0:05:09.600 long history of England, there have been a number of 0:05:09.960 --> 0:05:14.080 notorious rulers in politicians. Take William the Conqueror, for example, 0:05:14.160 --> 0:05:17.680 whose brutal suppression of any resistance led to the deaths 0:05:17.720 --> 0:05:21.239 of thousands. Or maybe you're thinking of Oliver Cromwell, whose 0:05:21.279 --> 0:05:25.640 tyrannical reign included murderous military campaigns in Ireland. But if 0:05:25.640 --> 0:05:28.919 we turn our eyes toward more modern times, one twentieth 0:05:28.960 --> 0:05:33.120 century politician sticks out not simply for his actions, but 0:05:33.279 --> 0:05:36.240 for what horrors could have been had he actually risen 0:05:36.279 --> 0:05:41.280 to power. Sir Oswald Mosley was born into the aristocracy 0:05:41.360 --> 0:05:44.560 at the end of the nineteenth century and was an energetic, 0:05:44.680 --> 0:05:47.520 charming man who showed great promise at the beginning of 0:05:47.560 --> 0:05:50.560 his career. He was first elected to Parliament at just 0:05:50.640 --> 0:05:53.640 twenty one years old, making him the youngest member in 0:05:53.760 --> 0:05:57.240 nineteen eighteen. He began as a Conservative, but as the 0:05:57.360 --> 0:06:01.160 UK sunk into economic despair after the World War, he 0:06:01.240 --> 0:06:04.000 lost faith in his party and he joined the Labor Party, 0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:07.240 but his growing disdain for the establishment led him to 0:06:07.279 --> 0:06:10.800 resign in nineteen thirty and he founded the New Party. 0:06:11.279 --> 0:06:13.920 After that failed to gain traction, he decided to look 0:06:13.960 --> 0:06:17.159 elsewhere for a new model of governance to support. He 0:06:17.200 --> 0:06:19.719 found what he was looking for in Italy, where one 0:06:19.880 --> 0:06:23.880 Benito Mussolini and his Fascist movement had taken firm control 0:06:23.920 --> 0:06:27.239 of the government. It seems that in fascism, Mostly saw 0:06:27.279 --> 0:06:30.440 a future for the United Kingdom, and that he would 0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:33.800 sit atop that government, and so in nineteen thirty two 0:06:33.880 --> 0:06:38.360 he founded the British Union of Fascists or BUF, modeled 0:06:38.360 --> 0:06:41.400 after what he saw in Italy. Mostly became known for 0:06:41.440 --> 0:06:45.640 his fiery speeches, his populist rhetoric, and his followers, who 0:06:45.920 --> 0:06:49.440 clad in black shirts and using the Roman salute better 0:06:49.480 --> 0:06:52.360 known these days as the Nazi salute. They were the 0:06:52.400 --> 0:06:55.839 brutal enforcement arms of his party. Although he began with 0:06:55.880 --> 0:06:59.479 a message of just economic populism, the toxic nature of 0:06:59.520 --> 0:07:03.279 his moveant soon became very clear. The BUF proved itself 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:07.080 to be deeply anti Semitic, blaming Britain's Jewish population for 0:07:07.120 --> 0:07:11.640 the nation's economic failings. His black shirts caused numerous bloody 0:07:11.680 --> 0:07:14.760 public brawls in the streets, the most famous being the 0:07:14.880 --> 0:07:18.400 nineteen thirty six Battle of Cable Street. Where the anti 0:07:18.520 --> 0:07:22.040 fascist movement blocked a street where the BUF was holding 0:07:22.080 --> 0:07:26.240 a march. A bloody riot ensued. Such hateful rhetoric and 0:07:26.360 --> 0:07:29.800 rising violence began to slowly wear away public support for 0:07:29.960 --> 0:07:33.400 Moseley and his Black Shirts, and alluming war with Germany's 0:07:33.520 --> 0:07:36.559 Nazis forced the British government to move against the threat 0:07:36.680 --> 0:07:39.960 of domestic fascism, and so in the spring of nineteen 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:43.880 forty individuals suspected of being a threat to national security 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:48.000 were put in jail. This included thousands of suspected fascists 0:07:48.200 --> 0:07:51.520 as well as Oswald Moseley himself, who was arrested and 0:07:51.640 --> 0:07:54.680 held without trial. Throughout his detention, he was moved to 0:07:54.760 --> 0:07:58.160 various locations and saw the insides of Welsh prison camps 0:07:58.200 --> 0:08:01.320 and even the Tower of London. The British Union of 0:08:01.320 --> 0:08:05.480 Fascists was banned in the UK and Moseley's metioric rise 0:08:05.600 --> 0:08:09.240 was cut short. His movement was not only no longer popular, 0:08:09.280 --> 0:08:12.120 but it was looked upon by the public as downright treasonous, 0:08:12.440 --> 0:08:15.440 and so he sat in confinement for the next three years, 0:08:15.680 --> 0:08:18.160 and when he was finally released in nineteen forty three, 0:08:18.360 --> 0:08:22.000 it was under the strictest of conditions. Although politics was 0:08:22.080 --> 0:08:26.520 done with Oswald Mosley, Oswald Mosley was not done with politics. 0:08:26.840 --> 0:08:30.640 Immediately upon his release, he began to plan his big comeback. 0:08:31.000 --> 0:08:34.360 Five years later, in nineteen forty eight, he made his move, 0:08:34.559 --> 0:08:38.800 founding the Union Movement and calling for a monolithic europe 0:08:38.880 --> 0:08:42.520 a nation policy that would unite the entire continent under 0:08:42.520 --> 0:08:46.679 a central fascist government. This was, he stated, the only 0:08:46.720 --> 0:08:51.040 way to push back against Soviet communists and American capitalists. 0:08:51.600 --> 0:08:54.720 But after a lengthy war against fascist regimes, there was 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:58.559 a lingering hostility toward the far right. The devastation had 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:03.319 been too great, cost too terrible. Fascism was a dead end, 0:09:03.679 --> 0:09:07.040 as was Moseley's career. The Union Movement had failed to 0:09:07.080 --> 0:09:09.880 catch on, and his campaigns to re enter government in 0:09:10.000 --> 0:09:13.160 nineteen fifty nine and nineteen sixty six were met with 0:09:13.240 --> 0:09:16.880 a deafening lack of support, and so he retreated to 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:21.160 the fringes from where he came. He remained virulently antisemitic 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:24.720 and deeply racist. He was a fierce advocate for African 0:09:24.760 --> 0:09:28.440 apartheid and was a vocal Holocaust denier. In the end, 0:09:28.600 --> 0:09:31.680 he was considered a laughing stock and deserted the United 0:09:31.760 --> 0:09:35.200 Kingdom permanently, spending his last years living in France, where 0:09:35.240 --> 0:09:38.960 he died in complete obscurity. To this day, he remains 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:42.760 one of the most notorious British politicians of the twentieth century, 0:09:43.080 --> 0:09:46.720 exposing the violent streak of fascism that ran through British 0:09:46.760 --> 0:09:49.439 society before the war cut it out like a cancer, 0:09:49.800 --> 0:09:53.120 and yet his shadow still haunts the UK, showing how 0:09:53.160 --> 0:09:56.800 the allure of authoritarianism can become a real test of 0:09:56.840 --> 0:10:05.200 democracies strength and perseverance. I hope you enjoyed today's guided 0:10:05.200 --> 0:10:08.760 tour through the Cabinet of Curiosities. This show was created 0:10:08.800 --> 0:10:13.120 by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with iHeart Podcasts, researched 0:10:13.120 --> 0:10:15.560 and written by the Grim and Mild team, and produced 0:10:15.640 --> 0:10:18.280 by Jesse Funk. Learn more about the show and the 0:10:18.320 --> 0:10:22.760 people who make it over at Grimandmild dot com slash Curiosities. 0:10:23.000 --> 0:10:25.319 You'll also find a link to the official Cabinet of 0:10:25.360 --> 0:10:29.520 Curiosity's hardcover book, available in bookstores and online, as well 0:10:29.520 --> 0:10:32.240 as ebook and audiobook. And if you're looking for an 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:35.559 ad free option, consider joining our Patreon. It's all the 0:10:35.600 --> 0:10:39.360 same stories, but without the interruption. For a small monthly fee, 0:10:39.520 --> 0:10:42.360 learn more and sign up over at patreon dot com. 0:10:42.400 --> 0:10:47.080 Slash Grimandmild, and until next time, stay curious,