Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Nke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grim 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: What color is rain supposed to be? Now? I know
Speaker 1: this is a pretty silly question. Rain is the color
Speaker 1: of water, and water sometimes has a tint based on
Speaker 1: the particles that it picks up along the way, or
Speaker 1: if you step back and look at it atmospherically, you
Speaker 1: might argue that rain looks gray or cumulatively a sort
Speaker 1: of muted white. But when rain has an actual color,
Speaker 1: something very strange as happening between the clouds and the earth.
Speaker 1: The Indian States of Corolla has been a frequent side
Speaker 1: of strange rainstorms on the southwest coast of the country.
Speaker 1: It's home to over thirty three million people, and in
Speaker 1: the summer of two thousand and one, a number of
Speaker 1: villages located among the mountains there experienced a rainstorm that
Speaker 1: puzzled scientists all around the world. Between July and September,
Speaker 1: of that year, dark red water poured from the sky,
Speaker 1: staining clothing pink and turning the streets into red rivers.
Speaker 1: In other parts of Kerala, the rain was yellow, or
Speaker 1: green or black, but the most prominent color was that red.
Speaker 1: This alarming meteorological event puzzled the locals, but it didn't
Speaker 1: shock as much as you might assume, because it wasn't
Speaker 1: the first time that it had happened on and off.
Speaker 1: For decades, red rain had fallen in this region, some
Speaker 1: say as early as the nineteen fifties, with other sources
Speaker 1: pointing even further back than that, as early as eighteen
Speaker 1: ninety six. Now, according to locals, the strange rainfall began
Speaker 1: with a flash of light, and then the red downpour began.
Speaker 1: The area that it covered was sometimes alarmingly localized, so
Speaker 1: that normal rainfall would only be a few kilometers away.
Speaker 1: After that two thousand and one rainstorm, local scientists gathered
Speaker 1: enough of the rain to finally run some proper tests
Speaker 1: on it and determine what could cause a sudden explosion
Speaker 1: of dark red precipitation. At least fifty thousand kilograms of
Speaker 1: the stuff had fallen during this storm, and much of
Speaker 1: it seemed to be made up of strange particles in
Speaker 1: the rain. The theories abounded. Was it volcanic ash, was
Speaker 1: it red sand? Or maybe dust in the air. On
Speaker 1: closer examination, scientists saw cell like structures in the red rain,
Speaker 1: but they were completely absent of any DNA. The leading
Speaker 1: theory early on was a dramatic one. The red rain
Speaker 1: had been caused by an exploding meteor in the upper atmosphere.
Speaker 1: The red particles were extraterrestrial in origin, and this theory
Speaker 1: seemed to be supported by the local anecdotes about the rain,
Speaker 1: which was always preceded by a flash. But the more
Speaker 1: they studied the cells, the less likely the extraterrestrial theory became.
Speaker 1: It turns out the cells were mostly made of carbon
Speaker 1: and oxygen, with amino acids and a neutral pH Essentially,
Speaker 1: it was far more likely that these particles came from
Speaker 1: Earth than space based on their chemical composition. Later studies
Speaker 1: also seemed to contradict the early claim that they lacked DNA,
Speaker 1: pointing more firmly toward a terrestrial origin. What's more, strange
Speaker 1: red rainstorms continued sporadically throughout the two thousands, with the
Speaker 1: most recent being in the early twenty tens. Does this
Speaker 1: mean that we're haunted by the mystery of this colored
Speaker 1: rain to the present day. Fortunately no. Along the way,
Speaker 1: scientists backed by the Indian government found the real origin
Speaker 1: of Kerala's strange rain. It definitely was not from a
Speaker 1: meteor burst or from a volcano. The red coloring came
Speaker 1: from spores, specifically spores coming from local algae. Essentially, heavy
Speaker 1: rainfall inspired lichen to grow all around the area, which
Speaker 1: then released their spores, and those spores got caught in
Speaker 1: the subsequent storms, a simple causal relationship between this specific
Speaker 1: climate and its plants. However, the government report didn't seem
Speaker 1: to know how the red rain had dispersed so widely
Speaker 1: across the state of Kerala. For that to happen, it
Speaker 1: would require all of the lichen in the area to
Speaker 1: release spores all at once, which is possible but not likely.
Speaker 1: Subsequent studies have posited that the spores weren't local at all,
Speaker 1: but carried that way from Europe by heavy winds. And
Speaker 1: I find myself thinking of that old sailing adage, red
Speaker 1: sky at morning, sailors take warning, red sky at night
Speaker 1: sailor's delight, Except nobody says what we're supposed to do
Speaker 1: if the storm turns the color of blood. In the
Speaker 1: long history of England, there have been a number of
Speaker 1: notorious rulers in politicians. Take William the Conqueror, for example,
Speaker 1: whose brutal suppression of any resistance led to the deaths
Speaker 1: of thousands. Or maybe you're thinking of Oliver Cromwell, whose
Speaker 1: tyrannical reign included murderous military campaigns in Ireland. But if
Speaker 1: we turn our eyes toward more modern times, one twentieth
Speaker 1: century politician sticks out not simply for his actions, but
Speaker 1: for what horrors could have been had he actually risen
Speaker 1: to power. Sir Oswald Mosley was born into the aristocracy
Speaker 1: at the end of the nineteenth century and was an energetic,
Speaker 1: charming man who showed great promise at the beginning of
Speaker 1: his career. He was first elected to Parliament at just
Speaker 1: twenty one years old, making him the youngest member in
Speaker 1: nineteen eighteen. He began as a Conservative, but as the
Speaker 1: UK sunk into economic despair after the World War, he
Speaker 1: lost faith in his party and he joined the Labor Party,
Speaker 1: but his growing disdain for the establishment led him to
Speaker 1: resign in nineteen thirty and he founded the New Party.
Speaker 1: After that failed to gain traction, he decided to look
Speaker 1: elsewhere for a new model of governance to support. He
Speaker 1: found what he was looking for in Italy, where one
Speaker 1: Benito Mussolini and his Fascist movement had taken firm control
Speaker 1: of the government. It seems that in fascism, Mostly saw
Speaker 1: a future for the United Kingdom, and that he would
Speaker 1: sit atop that government, and so in nineteen thirty two
Speaker 1: he founded the British Union of Fascists or BUF, modeled
Speaker 1: after what he saw in Italy. Mostly became known for
Speaker 1: his fiery speeches, his populist rhetoric, and his followers, who
Speaker 1: clad in black shirts and using the Roman salute better
Speaker 1: known these days as the Nazi salute. They were the
Speaker 1: brutal enforcement arms of his party. Although he began with
Speaker 1: a message of just economic populism, the toxic nature of
Speaker 1: his moveant soon became very clear. The BUF proved itself
Speaker 1: to be deeply anti Semitic, blaming Britain's Jewish population for
Speaker 1: the nation's economic failings. His black shirts caused numerous bloody
Speaker 1: public brawls in the streets, the most famous being the
Speaker 1: nineteen thirty six Battle of Cable Street. Where the anti
Speaker 1: fascist movement blocked a street where the BUF was holding
Speaker 1: a march. A bloody riot ensued. Such hateful rhetoric and
Speaker 1: rising violence began to slowly wear away public support for
Speaker 1: Moseley and his Black Shirts, and alluming war with Germany's
Speaker 1: Nazis forced the British government to move against the threat
Speaker 1: of domestic fascism, and so in the spring of nineteen
Speaker 1: forty individuals suspected of being a threat to national security
Speaker 1: were put in jail. This included thousands of suspected fascists
Speaker 1: as well as Oswald Moseley himself, who was arrested and
Speaker 1: held without trial. Throughout his detention, he was moved to
Speaker 1: various locations and saw the insides of Welsh prison camps
Speaker 1: and even the Tower of London. The British Union of
Speaker 1: Fascists was banned in the UK and Moseley's metioric rise
Speaker 1: was cut short. His movement was not only no longer popular,
Speaker 1: but it was looked upon by the public as downright treasonous,
Speaker 1: and so he sat in confinement for the next three years,
Speaker 1: and when he was finally released in nineteen forty three,
Speaker 1: it was under the strictest of conditions. Although politics was
Speaker 1: done with Oswald Mosley, Oswald Mosley was not done with politics.
Speaker 1: Immediately upon his release, he began to plan his big comeback.
Speaker 1: Five years later, in nineteen forty eight, he made his move,
Speaker 1: founding the Union Movement and calling for a monolithic europe
Speaker 1: a nation policy that would unite the entire continent under
Speaker 1: a central fascist government. This was, he stated, the only
Speaker 1: way to push back against Soviet communists and American capitalists.
Speaker 1: But after a lengthy war against fascist regimes, there was
Speaker 1: a lingering hostility toward the far right. The devastation had
Speaker 1: been too great, cost too terrible. Fascism was a dead end,
Speaker 1: as was Moseley's career. The Union Movement had failed to
Speaker 1: catch on, and his campaigns to re enter government in
Speaker 1: nineteen fifty nine and nineteen sixty six were met with
Speaker 1: a deafening lack of support, and so he retreated to
Speaker 1: the fringes from where he came. He remained virulently antisemitic
Speaker 1: and deeply racist. He was a fierce advocate for African
Speaker 1: apartheid and was a vocal Holocaust denier. In the end,
Speaker 1: he was considered a laughing stock and deserted the United
Speaker 1: Kingdom permanently, spending his last years living in France, where
Speaker 1: he died in complete obscurity. To this day, he remains
Speaker 1: one of the most notorious British politicians of the twentieth century,
Speaker 1: exposing the violent streak of fascism that ran through British
Speaker 1: society before the war cut it out like a cancer,
Speaker 1: and yet his shadow still haunts the UK, showing how
Speaker 1: the allure of authoritarianism can become a real test of
Speaker 1: democracies strength and perseverance. I hope you enjoyed today's guided
Speaker 1: tour through the Cabinet of Curiosities. This show was created
Speaker 1: by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with iHeart Podcasts, researched
Speaker 1: and written by the Grim and Mild team, and produced
Speaker 1: by Jesse Funk. Learn more about the show and the
Speaker 1: people who make it over at Grimandmild dot com slash Curiosities.
Speaker 1: You'll also find a link to the official Cabinet of
Speaker 1: Curiosity's hardcover book, available in bookstores and online, as well
Speaker 1: as ebook and audiobook. And if you're looking for an
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Speaker 1: Slash Grimandmild, and until next time, stay curious,