1 00:00:03,040 --> 00:00:05,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, the production of 2 00:00:05,320 --> 00:00:14,520 Speaker 1: My Heart Radio. Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow 3 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:18,080 Speaker 1: your Mind. My name is Robert Land, and I'm Joe McCormick. 4 00:00:18,079 --> 00:00:20,000 Speaker 1: And you know, we just came off of doing a 5 00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:23,959 Speaker 1: couple of episodes about the artistic convention of the halo 6 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:28,160 Speaker 1: and how that comes through in in various different religious concepts, 7 00:00:28,240 --> 00:00:32,400 Speaker 1: and how it might be related to optical phenomena that 8 00:00:32,440 --> 00:00:35,840 Speaker 1: are sometimes observed in the sky, like like solar halos 9 00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:39,320 Speaker 1: or sun dogs, and jumping off of that, we wanted 10 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:42,240 Speaker 1: to hop over to explore another theme today that the 11 00:00:42,320 --> 00:00:44,720 Speaker 1: sort of in the same wheelhouse, not quite halos, but 12 00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:49,080 Speaker 1: an optical phenomenon that has some connection to legendary accounts 13 00:00:49,080 --> 00:00:51,320 Speaker 1: and myths. And so I thought a great place to 14 00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:53,720 Speaker 1: start today to get us in the mood would be 15 00:00:53,800 --> 00:00:56,800 Speaker 1: a reading from the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner by 16 00:00:56,800 --> 00:00:59,760 Speaker 1: Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Now, I think this is going to 17 00:00:59,840 --> 00:01:02,600 Speaker 1: be probably what would you guess, Rob, like the seventh 18 00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:05,720 Speaker 1: time we've quoted this poem on the show, always introducing 19 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:08,000 Speaker 1: a different type of subject matter. It seems to go 20 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:10,160 Speaker 1: off in a lot of great directions. Well, you know, 21 00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:12,800 Speaker 1: it's a it's a long work, and it it has 22 00:01:12,840 --> 00:01:14,880 Speaker 1: a lot of cool things happening in It has a 23 00:01:14,920 --> 00:01:18,399 Speaker 1: great story and just an infectious cadence. You know, it 24 00:01:18,520 --> 00:01:22,360 Speaker 1: just gets gets into your brain. Right. So in this poem, 25 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:24,679 Speaker 1: the narrator here, I guess this is a narration within 26 00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:28,240 Speaker 1: a narration. So this guy gets accosted by an ancient 27 00:01:28,319 --> 00:01:31,119 Speaker 1: gray beard. He says, like, unhand me, gray beard loon. 28 00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:33,679 Speaker 1: But then the gray beard loon starts telling his story, 29 00:01:33,840 --> 00:01:36,720 Speaker 1: and and his story is of course one of terror 30 00:01:36,760 --> 00:01:39,520 Speaker 1: and tragedy in the high seas. He he tells that 31 00:01:39,880 --> 00:01:41,600 Speaker 1: he was once out on a ship and I think 32 00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:44,720 Speaker 1: they've been sailing around in the south seas and uh, 33 00:01:44,760 --> 00:01:47,880 Speaker 1: he somehow brings a curse upon his ship and its 34 00:01:47,960 --> 00:01:50,960 Speaker 1: crew by shooting an albatross out of the sky with 35 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:54,480 Speaker 1: an arrow. And after this, their ship falls into unnatural 36 00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:57,640 Speaker 1: duld RUMs in the equatorial regions. There are no winds 37 00:01:57,720 --> 00:02:00,200 Speaker 1: for it to sail, so it's just sitting there in 38 00:02:00,240 --> 00:02:02,440 Speaker 1: the water, and and the mariner and the rest of 39 00:02:02,480 --> 00:02:06,360 Speaker 1: the crew are dying of thirst without fresh water. Yeah, 40 00:02:06,440 --> 00:02:08,800 Speaker 1: and it's one thing that I guess worth noting about this. 41 00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:11,079 Speaker 1: You know, we've been talking about the ships at sea 42 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:14,400 Speaker 1: in these days and superstition among the um among the 43 00:02:14,440 --> 00:02:19,480 Speaker 1: crew is that on one hand, absolutely the best science 44 00:02:19,600 --> 00:02:23,639 Speaker 1: and navigation of the day was utilized to get where 45 00:02:23,639 --> 00:02:26,360 Speaker 1: you're going and to survive on the open seas. But 46 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:29,120 Speaker 1: the crew was often held together by by also this 47 00:02:29,120 --> 00:02:33,480 Speaker 1: this tenuous web of superstitions, and you read about some 48 00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:35,480 Speaker 1: of them, and at times it seems like it would 49 00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:39,200 Speaker 1: not take much to shift things into the realm of 50 00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:42,520 Speaker 1: of of you know, dire omens. Well sailing vessels really 51 00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:46,120 Speaker 1: are at the at the mercy of forces beyond your control. Yeah, 52 00:02:46,160 --> 00:02:47,960 Speaker 1: I mean, there's a lot you can do to design 53 00:02:48,040 --> 00:02:50,520 Speaker 1: a ship well and work hard to you know, do 54 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:52,280 Speaker 1: everything you can to get where you're going, but you're 55 00:02:52,280 --> 00:02:54,200 Speaker 1: still at the mercy of the seas and the weather, 56 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:56,680 Speaker 1: and that can make it feel very much like you 57 00:02:56,720 --> 00:02:59,480 Speaker 1: are a sinner in the hands of an angry god. Yeah, 58 00:02:59,680 --> 00:03:03,320 Speaker 1: saying beneath this uncertain sky and uh a top this 59 00:03:03,760 --> 00:03:07,400 Speaker 1: just dark, unfathomable ocean. Right, So, in the context of 60 00:03:07,440 --> 00:03:09,000 Speaker 1: the part of the poem we're about to read, so 61 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:11,760 Speaker 1: the curse has already come upon them. They're out there diet. 62 00:03:11,840 --> 00:03:13,960 Speaker 1: You know, you get to the part about water, water everywhere, 63 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:16,600 Speaker 1: and not a drop to drink. They're all parched and thirsty, 64 00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:19,160 Speaker 1: and the boat is just floating around in the dull drums. 65 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:21,600 Speaker 1: And then the mariners see something horrible. So I'm gonna 66 00:03:21,639 --> 00:03:24,000 Speaker 1: read this first bit here, and then rob. I. I 67 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:25,760 Speaker 1: don't think I can do a sailor voice, but I 68 00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:27,800 Speaker 1: hope you can do the sailor voice for your part. 69 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:36,480 Speaker 1: I'll try, Okay, So the mariner says, there past a 70 00:03:36,520 --> 00:03:40,720 Speaker 1: weary time. Each throat was parched and glazed, each eye 71 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:45,320 Speaker 1: a weary time, A weary time, how glazed each weary eye? 72 00:03:45,720 --> 00:03:49,960 Speaker 1: When looking westward, I beheld something in the sky. At 73 00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:52,680 Speaker 1: first it seemed a little speck, and then it seemed 74 00:03:52,720 --> 00:03:56,200 Speaker 1: a missed. It moved and moved, and took at last 75 00:03:56,320 --> 00:04:00,480 Speaker 1: a certain shape. I whist A speck, a mist shape. 76 00:04:00,480 --> 00:04:03,720 Speaker 1: I whisked, And still it neared and neared, as if 77 00:04:03,760 --> 00:04:07,880 Speaker 1: it dodged a water sprite. It plunged and tacked and veered, 78 00:04:08,360 --> 00:04:11,960 Speaker 1: with throats unslaked, with black lips baked. We could not 79 00:04:12,160 --> 00:04:15,960 Speaker 1: laugh nor wail through utter drought. All dumb we stood. 80 00:04:16,160 --> 00:04:19,200 Speaker 1: I bit my arm, I sucked the blood and cried 81 00:04:19,440 --> 00:04:23,919 Speaker 1: a sail a sail. The western wave was all aflame, 82 00:04:24,080 --> 00:04:28,200 Speaker 1: The day was well nigh done. Almost upon the western 83 00:04:28,279 --> 00:04:32,200 Speaker 1: wave rested the broad bright sun. When that strange shape 84 00:04:32,200 --> 00:04:36,159 Speaker 1: stove suddenly betwixt us and the sun, and straight the 85 00:04:36,200 --> 00:04:39,720 Speaker 1: sun was flecked with bars. Heaven's mother send us grace, 86 00:04:40,279 --> 00:04:43,560 Speaker 1: as if through a dungeon grade. He peered with broad 87 00:04:43,680 --> 00:04:48,120 Speaker 1: and burning face. Alas thought I and my heart beat loud. 88 00:04:48,320 --> 00:04:52,680 Speaker 1: How fast she nears and nears? Are those her sails 89 00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:59,760 Speaker 1: that glance in the sun like restless Gossimir's rob I 90 00:04:59,800 --> 00:05:05,120 Speaker 1: give that four urs? Why thank you? Uh so? Yeah, 91 00:05:05,160 --> 00:05:09,320 Speaker 1: So he sees something approaching. They see a weird spectral 92 00:05:09,480 --> 00:05:12,760 Speaker 1: type of ship coming close. And when this phantom ship 93 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:15,400 Speaker 1: gets up close to them, they see the figures of 94 00:05:15,600 --> 00:05:18,680 Speaker 1: death and life in death I think represented as like 95 00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:22,400 Speaker 1: a skeleton and then like a pale naked body casting 96 00:05:22,520 --> 00:05:26,200 Speaker 1: lots to claim the fate of the sailors. That's creepy stuff. Yeah. 97 00:05:26,640 --> 00:05:30,240 Speaker 1: Also a great couple's halloween cost him to keep in mind, right, 98 00:05:30,360 --> 00:05:33,160 Speaker 1: death and life and death I call life and death. 99 00:05:35,160 --> 00:05:37,919 Speaker 1: Uh So these passages from the rhyme of the ancient mariner. 100 00:05:38,160 --> 00:05:41,279 Speaker 1: Uh It's not known for sure, but they may well 101 00:05:41,360 --> 00:05:45,880 Speaker 1: have been influenced by the legend of the Flying Dutchman, 102 00:05:46,480 --> 00:05:50,320 Speaker 1: a set of related folk tales shared by the seafaring 103 00:05:50,360 --> 00:05:52,760 Speaker 1: people of Europe at least as far back as the 104 00:05:52,800 --> 00:05:57,599 Speaker 1: eighteenth century, probably earlier. And usually the way this legend 105 00:05:57,640 --> 00:06:01,359 Speaker 1: goes is that there is some kind of spectral ship, 106 00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:05,320 Speaker 1: a ghost vessel. It's a doomed to sail the globe 107 00:06:05,320 --> 00:06:09,200 Speaker 1: in a terrible limbo, forever circling the seas and never 108 00:06:09,320 --> 00:06:12,320 Speaker 1: allowed to come into port. Often it's regarded as an 109 00:06:12,320 --> 00:06:16,279 Speaker 1: omen of disaster. If a sailor sees the flying Dutchman, 110 00:06:16,400 --> 00:06:19,320 Speaker 1: he knows he's going to die in a shipwreck. Yeah, 111 00:06:19,400 --> 00:06:21,640 Speaker 1: like this is one of the big ones, uh, you know, 112 00:06:21,839 --> 00:06:24,280 Speaker 1: as opposed to you know, things like killing I mean, 113 00:06:24,680 --> 00:06:27,120 Speaker 1: I mean, certainly killing an albatross clearly can be a 114 00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:30,640 Speaker 1: big deal, you know, not touching the horseshoe nailed to 115 00:06:30,680 --> 00:06:33,480 Speaker 1: the mast, you know, things like that. But to see 116 00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:37,160 Speaker 1: the flying Dutchman like all is lost. In some versions, 117 00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:40,000 Speaker 1: even worse than seeing it is that sometimes the ship 118 00:06:40,040 --> 00:06:42,880 Speaker 1: will come up next to you and the doomed crew 119 00:06:42,920 --> 00:06:45,240 Speaker 1: will try to hand off letters for you to give 120 00:06:45,279 --> 00:06:47,360 Speaker 1: to their loved ones. Because you know, they can't call 121 00:06:47,440 --> 00:06:49,880 Speaker 1: the port to send the letters themselves, and you are 122 00:06:49,880 --> 00:06:52,880 Speaker 1: not supposed to accept these letters. You you say, sorry, 123 00:06:52,960 --> 00:06:55,480 Speaker 1: I I can't. I can't do it. Oh man, that's 124 00:06:55,520 --> 00:06:58,000 Speaker 1: so creepy that that totally holds up. Now, there are 125 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:01,640 Speaker 1: a number of popular story is explaining the origin of 126 00:07:01,640 --> 00:07:04,479 Speaker 1: the flying Dutchman. I think the belief itself goes back 127 00:07:04,560 --> 00:07:08,000 Speaker 1: farther than any of these, like written versions of the stories. 128 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:12,360 Speaker 1: But in one version, there's a captain named Vanderdecken or 129 00:07:12,480 --> 00:07:16,240 Speaker 1: sometimes just the Dutchman, who's on a sea voyage home 130 00:07:16,320 --> 00:07:19,560 Speaker 1: from Batavia, which is in present day Indonesia around the 131 00:07:19,600 --> 00:07:22,320 Speaker 1: area of Jakarta, but at the time would have been 132 00:07:22,360 --> 00:07:27,240 Speaker 1: in the Duchyst Indies. And he's traveling from Batavia trying 133 00:07:27,240 --> 00:07:30,160 Speaker 1: to go back around the southern tip of Africa to 134 00:07:30,200 --> 00:07:33,280 Speaker 1: a place called Table Bay, and so he's trying to 135 00:07:33,520 --> 00:07:37,000 Speaker 1: round the Cape of Good Hope, but his ship falls 136 00:07:37,080 --> 00:07:40,960 Speaker 1: under a terrible squall, and in defiance of God, he 137 00:07:41,120 --> 00:07:44,280 Speaker 1: swears a brazen oath that he will round the Cape 138 00:07:44,320 --> 00:07:47,320 Speaker 1: of Good Hope despite the storm, even if it takes 139 00:07:47,360 --> 00:07:51,800 Speaker 1: him until Armageddon to do it. And as this oath 140 00:07:51,960 --> 00:07:55,760 Speaker 1: leaves his lips. The ship sinks, but before it does, 141 00:07:55,880 --> 00:07:59,800 Speaker 1: the devil hears Vanderdecken's promise and he holds him to it, 142 00:08:00,200 --> 00:08:02,920 Speaker 1: and this turns the Dutchman and the ghost of his 143 00:08:03,040 --> 00:08:05,760 Speaker 1: vessel into a kind of wraith of the seas, and 144 00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:09,800 Speaker 1: they sail forever between life and death without rest until 145 00:08:09,960 --> 00:08:13,200 Speaker 1: he can reach his destination. Uh. This version is the 146 00:08:13,240 --> 00:08:15,680 Speaker 1: subject of an opera by Wagner, and I think in 147 00:08:15,720 --> 00:08:19,960 Speaker 1: that version actually can go to land once every seven 148 00:08:20,040 --> 00:08:22,800 Speaker 1: years so that he can try to find the true 149 00:08:22,840 --> 00:08:27,280 Speaker 1: love that will break the curse, presumably stop at White 150 00:08:27,320 --> 00:08:31,200 Speaker 1: Castle or something that this sounds this sounds like a 151 00:08:31,240 --> 00:08:34,000 Speaker 1: great setup for like a modern horror film, or maybe 152 00:08:34,040 --> 00:08:35,679 Speaker 1: not a morrow of modern one, but at least like 153 00:08:35,720 --> 00:08:38,080 Speaker 1: a nineteen seventies film, you know, or like it could 154 00:08:38,080 --> 00:08:40,000 Speaker 1: have been a hammer horror film. You could have a 155 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:44,560 Speaker 1: Vanderdecken as your sort of Dracula s ghostly sailor chap 156 00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:48,440 Speaker 1: that has come on shore to seduce a hapless woman 157 00:08:48,520 --> 00:08:50,959 Speaker 1: that that has no idea that this attractive man is 158 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:53,400 Speaker 1: actually the captain of a damn ship. Oh. I mean, 159 00:08:53,440 --> 00:08:56,080 Speaker 1: that's a great sort of variation on Dracula, right, The 160 00:08:56,120 --> 00:09:00,199 Speaker 1: more seductive versions of Dracula where where you know he 161 00:09:00,200 --> 00:09:02,160 Speaker 1: he falls in love with a woman and he's like, 162 00:09:02,200 --> 00:09:04,240 Speaker 1: you can be with me, you can we can live forever, 163 00:09:04,320 --> 00:09:07,440 Speaker 1: but she doesn't realize that that involves being damned along 164 00:09:07,440 --> 00:09:10,959 Speaker 1: with him. Should have been Christopher Lee, Yeah, he would have. 165 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:12,400 Speaker 1: He would have. He would have made a good vanderdeck 166 00:09:12,440 --> 00:09:15,120 Speaker 1: and for sure, but the story that this version of 167 00:09:15,120 --> 00:09:17,559 Speaker 1: the story was I think very strong around the area 168 00:09:17,600 --> 00:09:20,120 Speaker 1: of the South Seas and the southern tip of Africa. 169 00:09:20,280 --> 00:09:22,760 Speaker 1: But there's another common version that takes place in the 170 00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:25,680 Speaker 1: North Sea, and this is a captain named Hair von 171 00:09:25,800 --> 00:09:30,080 Speaker 1: Falconberg who sails without rest around the North Sea while 172 00:09:30,120 --> 00:09:33,040 Speaker 1: playing dice with Satan for the possession of his soul. 173 00:09:33,480 --> 00:09:36,320 Speaker 1: And the part about playing dice with the devil for 174 00:09:36,320 --> 00:09:39,360 Speaker 1: for his soul that recalls very much what happens in 175 00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:41,280 Speaker 1: the rhyme of the ancient mariner right after the part 176 00:09:41,320 --> 00:09:44,760 Speaker 1: we read because remember death and life and death or 177 00:09:44,880 --> 00:09:47,640 Speaker 1: gambling for the souls of the crew. Yeah, but there 178 00:09:47,679 --> 00:09:49,679 Speaker 1: are a lot of other variations on this story with 179 00:09:49,720 --> 00:09:52,480 Speaker 1: a good deal of elasticity. It is not known for 180 00:09:52,520 --> 00:09:55,840 Speaker 1: sure exactly where the legend comes from. Originally. I think 181 00:09:55,880 --> 00:09:58,480 Speaker 1: I've read some speculation that it could have to do 182 00:09:58,559 --> 00:10:01,400 Speaker 1: with the Norse legend about a sailor who encounters a 183 00:10:01,480 --> 00:10:05,520 Speaker 1: kind of damned limbo fate, but records of this story 184 00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:08,640 Speaker 1: go at least as far back as the late seventeen hundreds. 185 00:10:08,679 --> 00:10:11,719 Speaker 1: I found one early reference to it from the memoirs 186 00:10:11,760 --> 00:10:15,240 Speaker 1: of a Scottish man named John McDonald who lived seventeen 187 00:10:15,280 --> 00:10:18,600 Speaker 1: forty one to seventeen ninety six, and in writing about 188 00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:21,559 Speaker 1: one of his sea voyages, he writes, quote, the weather 189 00:10:21,679 --> 00:10:24,360 Speaker 1: was so stormy that the sailors said they saw the 190 00:10:24,480 --> 00:10:28,400 Speaker 1: flying Dutchman. The common story is that this Dutchman came 191 00:10:28,440 --> 00:10:31,040 Speaker 1: to the cape in distress of weather and wanted to 192 00:10:31,080 --> 00:10:33,320 Speaker 1: get into harbor, but could not get a pilot to 193 00:10:33,360 --> 00:10:36,480 Speaker 1: conduct her and was lost, and that ever since, in 194 00:10:36,640 --> 00:10:40,640 Speaker 1: very bad weather her vision appears. Now in some versions 195 00:10:40,679 --> 00:10:44,319 Speaker 1: of the story, I think the ship is even more spectral, 196 00:10:44,400 --> 00:10:47,840 Speaker 1: even more of just a clear apparition, something that is 197 00:10:47,960 --> 00:10:51,400 Speaker 1: on the horizon and with a kind of like ghostly silhouette, 198 00:10:51,600 --> 00:10:54,360 Speaker 1: or even appears over the horizon. I think it's not 199 00:10:54,480 --> 00:10:57,800 Speaker 1: exactly clear in the version of the Rhyme of the 200 00:10:57,840 --> 00:11:01,320 Speaker 1: Ancient Mariner whether the ship is said to be approaching 201 00:11:01,440 --> 00:11:03,679 Speaker 1: on the water, or when they first see it it's 202 00:11:03,720 --> 00:11:06,600 Speaker 1: above the water. He he does say that he looked 203 00:11:06,600 --> 00:11:09,240 Speaker 1: and he beheld something in the sky that it first 204 00:11:09,280 --> 00:11:11,360 Speaker 1: looked like it looks like a speck, and then later 205 00:11:11,400 --> 00:11:14,480 Speaker 1: he realizes it's a ship coming toward them. Uh. And 206 00:11:14,559 --> 00:11:15,960 Speaker 1: I guess there are a couple of ways you could 207 00:11:16,040 --> 00:11:18,800 Speaker 1: read that. I know, I've always read that as he 208 00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:21,680 Speaker 1: originally saw the ship flying in the sky. I guess 209 00:11:21,679 --> 00:11:24,120 Speaker 1: you could also read it as they see the ship 210 00:11:24,240 --> 00:11:26,760 Speaker 1: on the water and what he's seeing is the sails 211 00:11:26,920 --> 00:11:30,079 Speaker 1: poking up over the horizon and the sky. But either way, 212 00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:32,160 Speaker 1: I think there are some versions where there's a kind 213 00:11:32,160 --> 00:11:35,280 Speaker 1: of ghost ship that isn't necessarily even confined to the 214 00:11:35,320 --> 00:11:39,120 Speaker 1: water like it flies. Yeah. Yeah, that a true flying 215 00:11:39,240 --> 00:11:42,360 Speaker 1: flying Dutchman. Yeah. And of course this is gonna lead 216 00:11:42,440 --> 00:11:45,480 Speaker 1: us into what we're really talking about here today, a 217 00:11:45,559 --> 00:11:49,839 Speaker 1: very particular type of of optical phenomena, uh that may 218 00:11:49,880 --> 00:11:53,200 Speaker 1: be responsible at least in part for legends like this, 219 00:11:53,480 --> 00:11:56,240 Speaker 1: though of course is always worth remembering that you know, 220 00:11:56,440 --> 00:11:58,800 Speaker 1: anything like this, like the flying Dutchman, for example, in 221 00:11:58,840 --> 00:12:02,000 Speaker 1: all likelihood, we're dealing with a story that has multiple 222 00:12:02,040 --> 00:12:05,520 Speaker 1: converging origins to what extent they are based on things 223 00:12:05,559 --> 00:12:08,920 Speaker 1: that people really saw. They were likely different things, you know, 224 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:11,800 Speaker 1: like somebody staring into a dark night on a ship, 225 00:12:12,120 --> 00:12:16,160 Speaker 1: somebody seeing an optical phenomenon on the horizon, or somebody 226 00:12:16,360 --> 00:12:18,520 Speaker 1: you know, looking into the chaos of a storm and 227 00:12:18,800 --> 00:12:23,080 Speaker 1: momentarily making out some shape in the flash of lightning. Right, 228 00:12:23,200 --> 00:12:27,640 Speaker 1: But there are some well known optical phenomenon that fit 229 00:12:27,760 --> 00:12:30,640 Speaker 1: with some of these accounts so closely that you have 230 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:33,559 Speaker 1: to assume at least some of these accounts probably are 231 00:12:33,640 --> 00:12:36,160 Speaker 1: based on the thing we're gonna be talking about today, 232 00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:40,079 Speaker 1: which is known as the Superior Mirage or a variation 233 00:12:40,120 --> 00:12:44,160 Speaker 1: of Superior Mirrage known as the Fatim Morgana. Um. Now, 234 00:12:44,320 --> 00:12:46,320 Speaker 1: the one thing that will tie into this before we 235 00:12:46,360 --> 00:12:50,080 Speaker 1: explain the Superior Mirage and the Fatim Organa. Something I 236 00:12:50,120 --> 00:12:53,079 Speaker 1: noticed that was kind of interesting about the Flying Dutchman accounts. 237 00:12:53,120 --> 00:12:56,880 Speaker 1: A lot of these accounts seemed concentrated towards the polar 238 00:12:56,920 --> 00:13:00,880 Speaker 1: regions rather than the equatorial ones. The go ship usually 239 00:13:00,880 --> 00:13:04,120 Speaker 1: seems to be sailing either the North Seas or the 240 00:13:04,120 --> 00:13:08,800 Speaker 1: South Seas more so than anywhere in between. Yeah, quite interesting, 241 00:13:08,840 --> 00:13:11,400 Speaker 1: So keep keep that in mind as we proceed here. 242 00:13:11,640 --> 00:13:14,440 Speaker 1: So yeah, basically from here we're gonna talk about the 243 00:13:14,480 --> 00:13:17,719 Speaker 1: mirage itself and mirages in general, but then we'll get 244 00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:21,320 Speaker 1: back into some more examples of various folk tales and 245 00:13:21,400 --> 00:13:26,400 Speaker 1: myths that seem to be or perhaps are inspired by 246 00:13:26,760 --> 00:13:31,360 Speaker 1: Fatmorgana sightings. So let's start by talking about the mirage itself. 247 00:13:31,400 --> 00:13:34,120 Speaker 1: A mirage in general is an optical effect that is 248 00:13:34,160 --> 00:13:36,959 Speaker 1: sometimes seen at sea or in the desert or over 249 00:13:37,040 --> 00:13:40,400 Speaker 1: hot pavement, and in some cases these may take on 250 00:13:40,440 --> 00:13:43,040 Speaker 1: the appearance of, say a pool of water or a 251 00:13:43,080 --> 00:13:48,480 Speaker 1: mirror surface, and this can cause distant objects to appear inverted. Uh. Now, 252 00:13:48,520 --> 00:13:51,280 Speaker 1: to be clear on the language here, you do find 253 00:13:51,280 --> 00:13:55,400 Speaker 1: the word mirage sometimes used interchangeably with the notion all 254 00:13:55,480 --> 00:13:58,640 Speaker 1: an illusion, right, and the louse is something that you're 255 00:13:58,679 --> 00:14:01,959 Speaker 1: seeing but is not there. So in common language it's 256 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:05,040 Speaker 1: sometimes conflated with even like the idea of a hallucination. 257 00:14:05,240 --> 00:14:07,679 Speaker 1: You know, somebody's just seeing something like it's real in 258 00:14:07,720 --> 00:14:10,880 Speaker 1: their perception, but there is not an external reality to it. 259 00:14:11,240 --> 00:14:13,880 Speaker 1: And that's not the case with the technical meaning of 260 00:14:13,920 --> 00:14:18,439 Speaker 1: a mirage, right, and I feel like this is also uh, 261 00:14:18,520 --> 00:14:21,040 Speaker 1: this is also complicated because a lot of us grew 262 00:14:21,120 --> 00:14:25,440 Speaker 1: up watching, especially cartoons that would occasionally have a mirage scene, 263 00:14:25,840 --> 00:14:28,040 Speaker 1: and those would be a bit confusing because a lot 264 00:14:28,040 --> 00:14:29,480 Speaker 1: of times I feel like they would play it up 265 00:14:29,520 --> 00:14:32,680 Speaker 1: like just something magical that you're you only saw because 266 00:14:32,720 --> 00:14:35,040 Speaker 1: you were you were thirsty and dying and you were 267 00:14:35,080 --> 00:14:38,080 Speaker 1: also a cartoon dog. Right. Well, in cartoons, I feel 268 00:14:38,120 --> 00:14:41,000 Speaker 1: like the mirage is always shown in the desert rather 269 00:14:41,040 --> 00:14:43,200 Speaker 1: than say, over an ice sheet or on the seas. 270 00:14:43,520 --> 00:14:46,560 Speaker 1: Uh and and that over the desert you were probably 271 00:14:46,560 --> 00:14:49,720 Speaker 1: looking at a particular type of mirage, the inferior mirage. 272 00:14:49,760 --> 00:14:52,160 Speaker 1: Will get into more of the distinctions there in just 273 00:14:52,200 --> 00:14:54,600 Speaker 1: a minute. But yeah, in the cartoons, it's always like, 274 00:14:55,360 --> 00:14:57,960 Speaker 1: I don't know that you know, Daffy Duck is seeing 275 00:14:57,960 --> 00:14:59,720 Speaker 1: a mirage in the desert, and it's like an ice 276 00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:03,400 Speaker 1: cream stand or something some variation of the oasis in 277 00:15:03,440 --> 00:15:07,000 Speaker 1: the desert. Yet, right, it's something very specific that gives 278 00:15:07,040 --> 00:15:12,560 Speaker 1: the suggestion that you're seeing like a complicated, detailed hallucination. Right, 279 00:15:12,920 --> 00:15:16,680 Speaker 1: But in reality, the sort of mirage, the specific mirrage 280 00:15:16,720 --> 00:15:19,560 Speaker 1: that we're talking about here, this is an optical effect 281 00:15:19,680 --> 00:15:22,440 Speaker 1: that is visible to all, Like if there is a mirage. 282 00:15:22,680 --> 00:15:24,880 Speaker 1: If you're in a party of say, you know, five 283 00:15:24,920 --> 00:15:27,680 Speaker 1: people in the desert or on a ship wherever, if 284 00:15:27,680 --> 00:15:30,880 Speaker 1: you see a mirage in the distance, everyone with you, 285 00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:33,680 Speaker 1: you know, assuming they have the same site capacity that 286 00:15:33,720 --> 00:15:36,120 Speaker 1: you have, they will be able to see the mirage 287 00:15:36,160 --> 00:15:39,400 Speaker 1: as well, and assuming they're looking from the same place also, 288 00:15:39,560 --> 00:15:41,720 Speaker 1: right right, Yeah, you gotta have the same vantage point 289 00:15:41,760 --> 00:15:45,440 Speaker 1: for sure. Um, but you know, now that's not also 290 00:15:45,520 --> 00:15:47,320 Speaker 1: not to say that you know, this could not be 291 00:15:47,400 --> 00:15:50,440 Speaker 1: further distorted by the individual, either visually or in memory. 292 00:15:51,040 --> 00:15:53,560 Speaker 1: But it is a thing that you could and be 293 00:15:53,680 --> 00:15:57,840 Speaker 1: people can and do capture photographically or on you know, 294 00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:00,440 Speaker 1: or with a like a video camera. So is it 295 00:16:00,600 --> 00:16:02,960 Speaker 1: is not something you're seeing that isn't there. It is 296 00:16:02,960 --> 00:16:07,600 Speaker 1: an actual optical phenomena, right, Uh. You you are seeing 297 00:16:07,680 --> 00:16:10,680 Speaker 1: something that is really light coming into your eyes looking 298 00:16:10,720 --> 00:16:13,120 Speaker 1: that way. It's not in your head though, what you're 299 00:16:13,160 --> 00:16:16,600 Speaker 1: seeing is very distorted, so you're probably wandering. Okay, mirage. 300 00:16:16,680 --> 00:16:19,160 Speaker 1: How does the mirage happen? It's you know, not caused 301 00:16:19,240 --> 00:16:21,840 Speaker 1: by you know, um, you know, weird spirits in the 302 00:16:21,960 --> 00:16:24,040 Speaker 1: you know, in the desert or on the seas well. 303 00:16:24,280 --> 00:16:28,240 Speaker 1: Mirages in general occur when light passes through air of 304 00:16:28,320 --> 00:16:32,440 Speaker 1: differing temperatures and the light is reflected or refracted a 305 00:16:32,560 --> 00:16:36,000 Speaker 1: ka bent. And there are two types of mirages. We 306 00:16:36,040 --> 00:16:41,320 Speaker 1: can divide them up generally into inferior mirages and superior mirages. 307 00:16:41,360 --> 00:16:44,520 Speaker 1: This is not about their quality. It's not like you know, 308 00:16:44,960 --> 00:16:48,960 Speaker 1: discount mirages and bespoke mirrages. It has to do with 309 00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:52,720 Speaker 1: where they fall in relation to the horizon. Right. So 310 00:16:52,800 --> 00:16:56,920 Speaker 1: the inferior mirrage is the kind that is being lampooned 311 00:16:56,920 --> 00:16:59,280 Speaker 1: in the cartoons where a character isn't you know, Daffy 312 00:16:59,360 --> 00:17:01,160 Speaker 1: Ducks in the death sert and he thinks he sees 313 00:17:01,200 --> 00:17:04,160 Speaker 1: an oasis. This is a very real thing that people 314 00:17:04,200 --> 00:17:08,160 Speaker 1: often experience in desert climates. And this is the inferior mirage. Yes, 315 00:17:08,240 --> 00:17:11,440 Speaker 1: so the inferior mirage again is your stereotypical oasis mirage. 316 00:17:11,680 --> 00:17:14,840 Speaker 1: It looks like a pool of blue water sometimes you know, 317 00:17:14,880 --> 00:17:17,760 Speaker 1: appears when you also look out across the desert or 318 00:17:17,800 --> 00:17:20,480 Speaker 1: down a highway. You've probably seen one of these on 319 00:17:20,520 --> 00:17:23,480 Speaker 1: your own drives or in movies, especially in movies that 320 00:17:23,560 --> 00:17:26,359 Speaker 1: have a desert highway. This is this is like cat 321 00:17:26,359 --> 00:17:28,560 Speaker 1: Net two directors, they they got to have it you know, 322 00:17:28,600 --> 00:17:30,360 Speaker 1: so they'll they'll get a little bit of that mirage 323 00:17:30,720 --> 00:17:33,520 Speaker 1: in their in their shot. Right. And it's not only 324 00:17:33,600 --> 00:17:36,280 Speaker 1: because the desert is hot and you're thirsty that it 325 00:17:36,320 --> 00:17:38,520 Speaker 1: looks like there's water on the desert. There is a 326 00:17:38,560 --> 00:17:42,440 Speaker 1: specific climate related reason that you're likely to see a 327 00:17:42,480 --> 00:17:45,720 Speaker 1: mirage in the desert that looks like a pool of water. Yeah. 328 00:17:45,960 --> 00:17:48,600 Speaker 1: These occur when a dense layer of cold air sits 329 00:17:48,680 --> 00:17:51,399 Speaker 1: on or above line of sight with a layer of 330 00:17:51,720 --> 00:17:54,840 Speaker 1: less dense, warmer air below line of sight. Now, um, 331 00:17:55,640 --> 00:17:58,600 Speaker 1: an example to to pull from here is consider the 332 00:17:58,640 --> 00:18:02,439 Speaker 1: desert highway. Okay, the unbeats down, heats the asphalt, and 333 00:18:02,480 --> 00:18:06,000 Speaker 1: the hot asphalt heats up the bottom portion of the air. 334 00:18:06,640 --> 00:18:10,560 Speaker 1: Rays of light from above are refracted when they hit 335 00:18:10,640 --> 00:18:14,879 Speaker 1: that refracted toward your eyes, resulting in the mirage. So 336 00:18:14,920 --> 00:18:17,480 Speaker 1: the light of the blue sky above is bent back 337 00:18:17,520 --> 00:18:21,040 Speaker 1: towards you from below the horizon, and thus you have this, 338 00:18:21,320 --> 00:18:23,240 Speaker 1: you know, it's it's like a pool of water, but 339 00:18:23,359 --> 00:18:25,760 Speaker 1: essentially like what seems like a pool of sky. Yeah, 340 00:18:25,760 --> 00:18:28,320 Speaker 1: you're essentially seeing the blue light of the sky that 341 00:18:28,480 --> 00:18:32,080 Speaker 1: is refracted as it changes from the cooler air above 342 00:18:32,480 --> 00:18:35,520 Speaker 1: to this pocket of warmer air below, and it bends 343 00:18:35,600 --> 00:18:38,000 Speaker 1: down and makes it look like part of the sky 344 00:18:38,240 --> 00:18:41,200 Speaker 1: is just sitting on the ground. And when you see that, 345 00:18:41,200 --> 00:18:44,840 Speaker 1: that blue sky looks a lot like water. Yeah. Now 346 00:18:44,880 --> 00:18:48,960 Speaker 1: the superior mirage works the opposite way. Warm air sits 347 00:18:48,960 --> 00:18:53,240 Speaker 1: above line of side, cool layer beneath it, light bends down. 348 00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:57,080 Speaker 1: The light is not traveling straight at us, but our 349 00:18:57,200 --> 00:19:00,399 Speaker 1: visual process assumes that it is, so it makes appear 350 00:19:00,440 --> 00:19:03,840 Speaker 1: as if it is. Uh, it is above its actual positions, 351 00:19:03,880 --> 00:19:07,359 Speaker 1: such as above the horizon, hanging in the sky, and so. 352 00:19:07,400 --> 00:19:10,119 Speaker 1: Of course, in some cases this can cause objects that 353 00:19:10,160 --> 00:19:14,000 Speaker 1: are actually past where you can see on the horizon, 354 00:19:14,080 --> 00:19:16,359 Speaker 1: so they're you know, beyond the curve of the earth 355 00:19:16,440 --> 00:19:19,640 Speaker 1: from your vision, to appear as if they are popping 356 00:19:19,760 --> 00:19:22,760 Speaker 1: up over the horizon. Yeah. They can make something that's 357 00:19:22,800 --> 00:19:25,920 Speaker 1: that's actually just beyond the optical horizons, such as mountain tops, 358 00:19:25,920 --> 00:19:28,160 Speaker 1: appear ahead of schedule. You can imagine how this would 359 00:19:28,160 --> 00:19:32,840 Speaker 1: play into some of your expectations whilst whilst out on 360 00:19:32,880 --> 00:19:36,280 Speaker 1: the open seas. Uh. It can also make objects appear 361 00:19:36,320 --> 00:19:41,440 Speaker 1: closer or further away, larger or smaller than they actually are. Um, 362 00:19:41,480 --> 00:19:45,120 Speaker 1: it's quite interesting. Uh. And and and for another example 363 00:19:45,119 --> 00:19:48,480 Speaker 1: of this. Apparently, the most common example of a superior mirage, 364 00:19:48,800 --> 00:19:52,840 Speaker 1: according to Christine Plam in two thousand eight speaking to 365 00:19:52,920 --> 00:19:56,720 Speaker 1: Robert Siegel of NPR, is a sunrise or a sunset. Quote, 366 00:19:57,000 --> 00:20:00,040 Speaker 1: the same phenomenon occurs to the sun every day and 367 00:20:00,119 --> 00:20:02,360 Speaker 1: makes it appear to be above the horizon when it's 368 00:20:02,359 --> 00:20:05,240 Speaker 1: actually slightly below it. Oh, I think I've read that 369 00:20:05,280 --> 00:20:08,040 Speaker 1: this is even more common, like in polar regions. This 370 00:20:08,119 --> 00:20:11,200 Speaker 1: might be related to what's known as the Novaya Zimilea effect. 371 00:20:11,600 --> 00:20:14,399 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, it's of course. The thing with the 372 00:20:14,640 --> 00:20:18,560 Speaker 1: sunrise and sunset is since it happens every day, and 373 00:20:18,560 --> 00:20:20,199 Speaker 1: and you know, generally it's the kind of thing you 374 00:20:20,200 --> 00:20:22,240 Speaker 1: see every day, it doesn't seem out of place. But 375 00:20:22,560 --> 00:20:25,199 Speaker 1: where we get into these, you know, remarkable stories and 376 00:20:25,320 --> 00:20:30,600 Speaker 1: legends arising from from sightings of of superior mirages, it's 377 00:20:30,600 --> 00:20:33,200 Speaker 1: because they occur. They don't occur every day. It's something 378 00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:36,159 Speaker 1: you would see maybe some frequency, depending on what part 379 00:20:36,200 --> 00:20:38,520 Speaker 1: of the world and what the exactive environmental settings happen 380 00:20:38,560 --> 00:20:41,200 Speaker 1: to be. But they have more mystery to them. They're 381 00:20:41,240 --> 00:20:44,120 Speaker 1: not part of just the everyday movements of the sun 382 00:20:44,320 --> 00:20:48,840 Speaker 1: or everyday atmospheric behavior. Yeah, the conditions have to be right, 383 00:20:49,320 --> 00:20:53,600 Speaker 1: So superior mirages they require there to be a certain 384 00:20:53,680 --> 00:20:57,320 Speaker 1: kind of pocket of warmer air sitting above a pocket 385 00:20:57,359 --> 00:21:01,000 Speaker 1: of cooler air, which is not normally how the sphere works. Right, 386 00:21:01,080 --> 00:21:03,520 Speaker 1: Usually the air up higher is going to be cooler, 387 00:21:03,560 --> 00:21:06,360 Speaker 1: even though heat rises. Usually it's just farther away from 388 00:21:06,400 --> 00:21:08,479 Speaker 1: the Earth and it's going to be cooler. Now, if 389 00:21:08,520 --> 00:21:10,879 Speaker 1: you're completely lost at this point, which I will, I 390 00:21:10,880 --> 00:21:13,440 Speaker 1: will forgive you for for being so um, I will 391 00:21:13,480 --> 00:21:15,840 Speaker 1: say a couple of resources you can turn to how 392 00:21:15,880 --> 00:21:18,280 Speaker 1: stuff works dot Com has an article about mirages, but 393 00:21:18,320 --> 00:21:21,040 Speaker 1: also the University of British Columbia's Department of Earth, Ocean 394 00:21:21,040 --> 00:21:24,679 Speaker 1: and Atmospheric Sciences. They have a great page that I 395 00:21:24,720 --> 00:21:28,560 Speaker 1: was looking at earlier with very helpful illustrations. Included one 396 00:21:28,560 --> 00:21:30,439 Speaker 1: of these for you to see here, Joe. But uh, 397 00:21:30,840 --> 00:21:33,720 Speaker 1: just very well presented information about like light bending downward, 398 00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:37,880 Speaker 1: that's your superior mirrage, light bending upward, that's your inferior mirage. 399 00:21:42,119 --> 00:21:47,040 Speaker 1: Thank thank now. The superior mirrage can actually get even 400 00:21:47,080 --> 00:21:51,399 Speaker 1: more complicated than just making something appear above where it 401 00:21:51,480 --> 00:21:54,760 Speaker 1: actually is because of the bending of light through these 402 00:21:54,760 --> 00:21:58,040 Speaker 1: pockets of air when there are very specific conditions. I 403 00:21:58,080 --> 00:22:01,439 Speaker 1: think this is something that's usually called atmospheric ducting, like 404 00:22:01,480 --> 00:22:04,360 Speaker 1: when a certain kind of duct or column of atmospheric 405 00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:08,879 Speaker 1: conditions in different temperature gradients in the atmospheric gases are created. 406 00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:12,960 Speaker 1: This can lead to what's known as fatim morgana. Right, 407 00:22:13,080 --> 00:22:15,800 Speaker 1: These occur when there are several layers of warm and 408 00:22:15,840 --> 00:22:18,399 Speaker 1: cold air that cause what is actually a combination of 409 00:22:18,440 --> 00:22:23,480 Speaker 1: superior and inferior images. The uneven inversion causes the light 410 00:22:23,560 --> 00:22:27,040 Speaker 1: to refract and ultimately bizarre ways, so you can wind 411 00:22:27,119 --> 00:22:31,800 Speaker 1: up with multiple segmented reflections in there. So, um, you know, 412 00:22:31,800 --> 00:22:33,720 Speaker 1: it's here that we get into the you know, the 413 00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:38,320 Speaker 1: confusing images that may be interpreted as floating walls or 414 00:22:38,440 --> 00:22:42,040 Speaker 1: castles in the sky, or gigantic ships that are flying 415 00:22:42,080 --> 00:22:45,640 Speaker 1: through the atmosphere above the horizon, that sort of thing. Now, 416 00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:50,080 Speaker 1: you might wonder where the name Fati Morgana actually comes from, 417 00:22:50,080 --> 00:22:52,520 Speaker 1: like why would an optical effect have a name like this? 418 00:22:52,680 --> 00:22:56,240 Speaker 1: The name fatim Morgana actually comes from the character from 419 00:22:56,400 --> 00:23:00,679 Speaker 1: our Thurian legend, usually known by her French name Morgan 420 00:23:00,840 --> 00:23:03,679 Speaker 1: la Fee. In English, of course, Morgan la Fay is 421 00:23:03,760 --> 00:23:07,240 Speaker 1: Morgan the Fairy. Though. When I was writing about this, 422 00:23:07,320 --> 00:23:10,240 Speaker 1: for some reason, I kept thinking back to our episodes 423 00:23:10,280 --> 00:23:12,720 Speaker 1: of Invention where we were talking about Alice gy Blush 424 00:23:13,040 --> 00:23:16,760 Speaker 1: and her first film, The Cabbage Fairy La Faye Shoe. 425 00:23:17,440 --> 00:23:20,320 Speaker 1: So I kept thinking about Morgan the Cabbage Fairy. But 426 00:23:20,400 --> 00:23:23,119 Speaker 1: she she is not merely a cabbage fairy. She is 427 00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:27,359 Speaker 1: a fairy, sometimes a fairy of of helpfulness and and medicine, 428 00:23:27,480 --> 00:23:31,160 Speaker 1: and sometimes a fairy of lies and destruction. It always 429 00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:34,080 Speaker 1: makes me think of the wonderful film ex Caliber, where 430 00:23:34,200 --> 00:23:38,320 Speaker 1: Helen Mirren plays MORGANA Do you remember seen it? Oh? 431 00:23:38,320 --> 00:23:40,440 Speaker 1: It's pretty great, has a very shiny armor, a great 432 00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:44,600 Speaker 1: cast John Borman picture. He's got Nisan's in it. Oh really, yeah, 433 00:23:44,800 --> 00:23:46,800 Speaker 1: this is John Boorman. Did he do it before or 434 00:23:46,840 --> 00:23:51,879 Speaker 1: after Deliverance? That's a strange eight one. So okay, I 435 00:23:51,920 --> 00:23:54,360 Speaker 1: can't remember when Deliverance came out. It was seventies film, right, 436 00:23:54,920 --> 00:23:57,919 Speaker 1: I think, so, yeah, well, maybe i'll check that one 437 00:23:57,920 --> 00:24:01,439 Speaker 1: out soon. Yeah, Deliverance was seventy two. Okay, Well, so 438 00:24:01,600 --> 00:24:07,000 Speaker 1: Morgan suddenly I'm imagining Burt Reynolds as King Arthur. But 439 00:24:07,280 --> 00:24:10,320 Speaker 1: Morgan la Faye is a character that exists in multiple 440 00:24:10,400 --> 00:24:14,800 Speaker 1: stages throughout the evolution of the Arthurian legendary corpus uh As. 441 00:24:14,840 --> 00:24:17,840 Speaker 1: You probably know that there are lots of different types 442 00:24:17,880 --> 00:24:20,720 Speaker 1: of stories of Arthur, and the character of Arthur and 443 00:24:20,760 --> 00:24:23,480 Speaker 1: the stories about him and all the characters around him. 444 00:24:23,520 --> 00:24:27,280 Speaker 1: They change a lot over the centuries. As this story, 445 00:24:27,400 --> 00:24:30,760 Speaker 1: uh As, the story is retold and retold, and so 446 00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:35,440 Speaker 1: she is usually some kind of sorceress or witch or fairy. 447 00:24:35,480 --> 00:24:39,359 Speaker 1: In earlier sources, it seems she's more often a sympathetic character, 448 00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:42,760 Speaker 1: a kind of helper or a healer, sometimes a sister 449 00:24:43,040 --> 00:24:46,640 Speaker 1: or half sister of King Arthur. In later stories she's 450 00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:50,840 Speaker 1: presented as more morally ambiguous or even the vindictive and 451 00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:55,080 Speaker 1: deceitful villainous of the plot, as in the fifteenth century 452 00:24:55,160 --> 00:24:58,520 Speaker 1: Lamorte d'artour and by that one was by Thomas Mallory, 453 00:24:58,560 --> 00:25:02,000 Speaker 1: Sir Thomas Mallory, uh and that one is the source 454 00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:04,840 Speaker 1: of a lot of the Arthurian stories that people know. 455 00:25:05,359 --> 00:25:08,480 Speaker 1: But La fata Morgana is just the Italian for Morgan 456 00:25:08,560 --> 00:25:11,280 Speaker 1: le fay or Morgan the fairy. But you still might 457 00:25:11,280 --> 00:25:14,000 Speaker 1: be wondering, wait a minute, why is this type of 458 00:25:14,200 --> 00:25:19,600 Speaker 1: complex superior mirage associated with a fairy or sorceress from 459 00:25:19,760 --> 00:25:25,080 Speaker 1: Arthurian literature. Well, remember that fairies are tricksters first of all, 460 00:25:25,160 --> 00:25:27,679 Speaker 1: and Morgan la Fay in these later tellings of the 461 00:25:28,080 --> 00:25:31,480 Speaker 1: arthur Saga, is known for her deceptions. But the connection 462 00:25:31,520 --> 00:25:34,359 Speaker 1: appears to run even deeper than that. So I was 463 00:25:34,400 --> 00:25:38,200 Speaker 1: reading about this in a article for Wired by Matt 464 00:25:38,320 --> 00:25:41,119 Speaker 1: Simon that is in part, I think, a review of 465 00:25:41,119 --> 00:25:46,080 Speaker 1: a book by Marina Warner called Phantasmagoria, published in two 466 00:25:46,080 --> 00:25:50,159 Speaker 1: thousand eight from Oxford University Press. And Matt Simon is 467 00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:53,720 Speaker 1: writing up a section from this book that is about 468 00:25:53,880 --> 00:25:56,600 Speaker 1: the discovery of the Fati Morgana, or at least an 469 00:25:56,600 --> 00:25:59,639 Speaker 1: early documentation of the Fati Morgana with a with a 470 00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:03,000 Speaker 1: sign tific point of view. So he tells the story 471 00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:07,720 Speaker 1: of a Jesuit priest named Father Domenico Giardina, who lived 472 00:26:07,720 --> 00:26:11,600 Speaker 1: in the seventeenth century on the island of Sicily. And 473 00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:14,920 Speaker 1: so I'm about to describe some visions. I think there's 474 00:26:14,960 --> 00:26:19,840 Speaker 1: some confusion about whether Giardina saw these visions himself or 475 00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:22,639 Speaker 1: whether he was describing the visions of another person. But 476 00:26:23,080 --> 00:26:26,080 Speaker 1: either way, one day in the sixteen forties, somebody. Maybe 477 00:26:26,119 --> 00:26:30,320 Speaker 1: Jardina was gazing out across the Strait of Messina, which 478 00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:34,800 Speaker 1: is the stretch of ocean between Sicily and mainland Italy. 479 00:26:35,200 --> 00:26:38,960 Speaker 1: And according to Jardina's writings, uh, what was seen here 480 00:26:39,080 --> 00:26:42,000 Speaker 1: was quote a city all floating in the air and 481 00:26:42,080 --> 00:26:46,840 Speaker 1: so measureless and so splendid, so adorned with magnificent buildings, 482 00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:49,280 Speaker 1: all of which was found on a base of a 483 00:26:49,359 --> 00:26:53,800 Speaker 1: luminous crystal. So okay, that's impressive. But it didn't just 484 00:26:53,880 --> 00:26:57,800 Speaker 1: remain that way. Jardina claims that the city transformed itself 485 00:26:57,840 --> 00:27:00,639 Speaker 1: into a garden and then into a worst And I 486 00:27:00,680 --> 00:27:04,119 Speaker 1: can't help but notice the dangerous inversion that might imply. 487 00:27:04,720 --> 00:27:07,720 Speaker 1: The city, of course, is the place of order and humanity, 488 00:27:08,119 --> 00:27:10,760 Speaker 1: and it transforms into the woods, which is the place 489 00:27:10,800 --> 00:27:13,959 Speaker 1: where the power of nature rules and travelers become lost. 490 00:27:14,400 --> 00:27:17,800 Speaker 1: And in some of the classic Arthurian stories, I think 491 00:27:17,840 --> 00:27:20,760 Speaker 1: that's the place you you really see this like civilization 492 00:27:21,400 --> 00:27:24,399 Speaker 1: versus the woods distinction, where the woods are just full 493 00:27:24,520 --> 00:27:28,400 Speaker 1: of unaccountable magic that has power over you rather than 494 00:27:28,440 --> 00:27:31,879 Speaker 1: you over it. Yeah. Absolutely, And Uh, one thing I 495 00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:34,399 Speaker 1: love about this is this is already hit on several 496 00:27:34,480 --> 00:27:38,800 Speaker 1: different themes that we will find not only in you know, um, 497 00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:42,119 Speaker 1: you know, tales from you know, elsewhere in Europe, but 498 00:27:42,119 --> 00:27:44,560 Speaker 1: but tales from the other side of the world. Uh 499 00:27:44,600 --> 00:27:48,000 Speaker 1: and you know other you know, other other cultures seem 500 00:27:48,040 --> 00:27:50,920 Speaker 1: to have possibly or in some cases possibly seen, um 501 00:27:51,800 --> 00:27:54,560 Speaker 1: optical phenomena of this nature and had some of the 502 00:27:54,640 --> 00:28:01,440 Speaker 1: same interpretations. Uh So Anyway, Jardina's description goes on after that, 503 00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:04,400 Speaker 1: even after it becomes a bunch of woods, there are 504 00:28:04,480 --> 00:28:07,359 Speaker 1: more transformations and more chaos. He saw what looked like 505 00:28:07,560 --> 00:28:12,480 Speaker 1: armies attacking towns, and then eventually the entire scene just vanishes. 506 00:28:13,280 --> 00:28:18,000 Speaker 1: And Jardina tried to explain this vision in terms of 507 00:28:18,040 --> 00:28:22,000 Speaker 1: science rather than magic. He he blamed salts in the region, 508 00:28:22,400 --> 00:28:25,159 Speaker 1: which he wrote, quote rise up in hot weather in 509 00:28:25,320 --> 00:28:29,320 Speaker 1: vapors from the sea to form clouds, which then condensed 510 00:28:29,320 --> 00:28:32,679 Speaker 1: in the cooler upper air to become a mobile specchio, 511 00:28:32,720 --> 00:28:37,600 Speaker 1: which means a moving polyhedracal mirror. Now this is not correct, 512 00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:40,360 Speaker 1: but as we've seen, this actually isn't very far off. 513 00:28:40,640 --> 00:28:43,360 Speaker 1: It doesn't necessarily have to do with salts, but the 514 00:28:43,440 --> 00:28:48,080 Speaker 1: effect probably was something like a superior mirage of the 515 00:28:48,120 --> 00:28:52,280 Speaker 1: opposing shore and things on it, or a fata morgana 516 00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:56,840 Speaker 1: even more complex, uh sort of shifting, quickly transforming mirage 517 00:28:57,640 --> 00:29:01,000 Speaker 1: that was caused by the vertical arranged end of of 518 00:29:01,200 --> 00:29:06,360 Speaker 1: gases of different temperatures and atmospheric ducting. Yeah. And you know, 519 00:29:06,400 --> 00:29:08,320 Speaker 1: one of the interesting things about this I was reading 520 00:29:08,560 --> 00:29:11,440 Speaker 1: from a source that i'll side later in the episode, 521 00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:13,880 Speaker 1: and they were talking about how indeed, we we didn't 522 00:29:13,920 --> 00:29:17,320 Speaker 1: really um begin to understand what was going on with 523 00:29:17,360 --> 00:29:20,400 Speaker 1: mirages like this until the eighteenth and nineteenth century, and 524 00:29:20,480 --> 00:29:25,360 Speaker 1: even even say Arab scientists who during the medieval period 525 00:29:25,520 --> 00:29:28,000 Speaker 1: like that was they knew more about optics than anyone 526 00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:31,080 Speaker 1: else in the world, even they were not able to 527 00:29:31,080 --> 00:29:33,680 Speaker 1: to make sense of what they were experiencing when they 528 00:29:33,680 --> 00:29:39,680 Speaker 1: too experienced uh you know, superior inferior mirages on the horizon. Yeah, exactly. So, 529 00:29:39,680 --> 00:29:42,560 Speaker 1: so this explanation is not correct, but I think it's 530 00:29:42,600 --> 00:29:47,040 Speaker 1: surprising how close he got. Yeah. So here here's the question, 531 00:29:47,200 --> 00:29:50,360 Speaker 1: where does Morgan la Fay come in? Right? Well, here 532 00:29:50,360 --> 00:29:54,600 Speaker 1: I'm going to read from from Simon's article. According to Warner, 533 00:29:54,880 --> 00:29:59,400 Speaker 1: the Norman's brought stories of Morgan's magic to Italy, particularly 534 00:29:59,480 --> 00:30:03,160 Speaker 1: her Pin and for luring sailors to an undersea palace 535 00:30:03,280 --> 00:30:07,560 Speaker 1: with visions of castles in the air. Fatim morgana is 536 00:30:07,600 --> 00:30:11,760 Speaker 1: particularly prevalent in southern Italy Strait of Messina, where Father 537 00:30:11,880 --> 00:30:16,960 Speaker 1: Giardina experienced his own vision, and then later Simon writes, 538 00:30:17,240 --> 00:30:20,200 Speaker 1: and long before Arthurian legend, it could have been that 539 00:30:20,360 --> 00:30:23,719 Speaker 1: sightings of these phenomena gave rise to any number of 540 00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:27,680 Speaker 1: woe something is appearing in the sky scenes in antiquity. 541 00:30:27,840 --> 00:30:31,280 Speaker 1: Warner argues, So, I think the the idea of the 542 00:30:31,320 --> 00:30:34,479 Speaker 1: fatim morgana is that there is some equation of this 543 00:30:34,560 --> 00:30:38,840 Speaker 1: optical phenomena of seeing things far away or over the 544 00:30:38,880 --> 00:30:42,240 Speaker 1: horizon appearing up in the air above the horizon, and 545 00:30:42,280 --> 00:30:47,440 Speaker 1: in some cases even uh distorted, inverted and stacked upon themselves, 546 00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:51,440 Speaker 1: forming bizarre visions that could look like castles in the sky, 547 00:30:51,720 --> 00:30:56,280 Speaker 1: cities in the sky, uh weird floating objects, ships sailing 548 00:30:56,320 --> 00:30:59,280 Speaker 1: in the air or among the clouds. And you might 549 00:30:59,280 --> 00:31:02,360 Speaker 1: be tempt to reading accounts of things like this, to think, well, okay, 550 00:31:02,400 --> 00:31:05,720 Speaker 1: you know it's either just creative the creative mind at work, 551 00:31:05,880 --> 00:31:09,080 Speaker 1: or it is uh it is you know that these 552 00:31:09,120 --> 00:31:13,560 Speaker 1: people's mythology or or legends that are then described. But 553 00:31:13,880 --> 00:31:17,160 Speaker 1: the fatam organa gives us uh the opportunity to look 554 00:31:17,200 --> 00:31:20,520 Speaker 1: to actual optical phenomena as a is it possible or 555 00:31:20,520 --> 00:31:24,200 Speaker 1: in some cases like it seems almost definite cause yes, 556 00:31:24,240 --> 00:31:26,640 Speaker 1: though I guess somebody would not be could not be 557 00:31:26,720 --> 00:31:29,120 Speaker 1: blamed too too much for thinking of it as a 558 00:31:29,200 --> 00:31:32,720 Speaker 1: kind of deceptive fairy magic. Yeah, no, I think so, 559 00:31:32,760 --> 00:31:34,959 Speaker 1: because ultimately, like we said before, when you when you 560 00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:38,720 Speaker 1: witness something that you cannot explain, uh, a lot of 561 00:31:38,720 --> 00:31:41,640 Speaker 1: times you have to go to the pre existing uh narratives, 562 00:31:41,640 --> 00:31:44,280 Speaker 1: the pre existing scripts UH to figure out what it 563 00:31:44,360 --> 00:31:46,960 Speaker 1: might be. And that might be aliens, it might be 564 00:31:47,480 --> 00:31:50,040 Speaker 1: um you know, fit that the fairy folk, it might 565 00:31:50,080 --> 00:31:52,840 Speaker 1: be the gods or sea monsters, etcetera. It seems like 566 00:31:52,880 --> 00:31:54,600 Speaker 1: the CEA in particular is full of a lot of 567 00:31:54,680 --> 00:31:56,920 Speaker 1: characters who want to lead you astray and get you 568 00:31:56,960 --> 00:32:00,880 Speaker 1: into trouble with deceptive visions or invitations, you know, the sirens, 569 00:32:00,920 --> 00:32:04,440 Speaker 1: the all those things. Though I guess the woods too, 570 00:32:04,520 --> 00:32:06,080 Speaker 1: I don't know. The woods in the sea have some 571 00:32:06,120 --> 00:32:09,480 Speaker 1: things in common. Yeah, they're both wild realms. And there 572 00:32:09,520 --> 00:32:13,360 Speaker 1: you know, there's a plethora of of mythical creatures and 573 00:32:13,400 --> 00:32:16,760 Speaker 1: beings and strange lights that will lead you astray. Now 574 00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:20,400 Speaker 1: I came across what I thought was a pretty interesting hypothesis. 575 00:32:20,440 --> 00:32:23,719 Speaker 1: I'm not sure how well supported it is, but at 576 00:32:23,760 --> 00:32:27,160 Speaker 1: least in this one case, the fottom Organo mirage has 577 00:32:27,200 --> 00:32:31,520 Speaker 1: been said to not just influence supernatural legends, it may 578 00:32:31,720 --> 00:32:38,040 Speaker 1: possibly explain specific catastrophic navigational blunders in maritime history. And 579 00:32:38,120 --> 00:32:41,120 Speaker 1: the main possibility that has been proposed here is the 580 00:32:41,160 --> 00:32:45,720 Speaker 1: iceberg collision that sank the Titanic. Oh wow, okay. So 581 00:32:45,960 --> 00:32:50,200 Speaker 1: this hypothesis is covered in an April article for The 582 00:32:50,240 --> 00:32:53,960 Speaker 1: New York Times by William J. Broad. In short, there's 583 00:32:54,000 --> 00:32:58,520 Speaker 1: British historian named Tim Malton who was working with the 584 00:32:58,560 --> 00:33:01,800 Speaker 1: help of somebody named Andrew Young, who's an astronomer and 585 00:33:01,880 --> 00:33:07,880 Speaker 1: mirage specialist at San Diego State University. And with Young's help, 586 00:33:08,040 --> 00:33:12,160 Speaker 1: Malton refined and put forward a hypothesis that could explain 587 00:33:12,320 --> 00:33:16,520 Speaker 1: why the Titanics lookouts failed to spot the iceberg in 588 00:33:16,600 --> 00:33:20,360 Speaker 1: time to avoid the collision and why a nearby ship 589 00:33:20,440 --> 00:33:24,360 Speaker 1: failed to respond to a distress signal. Uh So, Malton 590 00:33:24,520 --> 00:33:28,400 Speaker 1: claims that the conditions of the icy water in the 591 00:33:28,400 --> 00:33:30,880 Speaker 1: North Atlantic on the night of the sinking of the 592 00:33:30,920 --> 00:33:34,840 Speaker 1: Titanic were responsible for creating a kind of wall of 593 00:33:34,920 --> 00:33:39,280 Speaker 1: water illusion that could have obscured the approaching iceberg from 594 00:33:39,360 --> 00:33:43,440 Speaker 1: view and A Broad describes the fatim organa effect as 595 00:33:43,480 --> 00:33:47,920 Speaker 1: follows quote. Most people know mirages as natural phenomena caused 596 00:33:47,920 --> 00:33:51,000 Speaker 1: when hot air near the earth surface bends light rays 597 00:33:51,200 --> 00:33:54,840 Speaker 1: upward in a desert, the effect prompts lost travelers to 598 00:33:54,960 --> 00:33:58,560 Speaker 1: mistake patches of blue sky for pools of water. But 599 00:33:58,640 --> 00:34:01,960 Speaker 1: another kind of mirage as when cold air bins light 600 00:34:02,080 --> 00:34:05,960 Speaker 1: raised downward. In that case, observers can see objects and 601 00:34:06,040 --> 00:34:11,160 Speaker 1: settings far over the horizon. The images often undergo quick distortions, 602 00:34:11,200 --> 00:34:15,120 Speaker 1: not unlike the wavy reflections in a fun house mirror. Okay, 603 00:34:15,160 --> 00:34:17,520 Speaker 1: so this is in line with what we've been talking about, 604 00:34:18,080 --> 00:34:20,439 Speaker 1: but Broad goes on to say in an interview, Mr 605 00:34:20,520 --> 00:34:23,960 Speaker 1: Malton said he first learned the possibility of cold mirages 606 00:34:23,960 --> 00:34:27,640 Speaker 1: when reading a nine British inquiry on the Titanic sinking. 607 00:34:28,200 --> 00:34:31,120 Speaker 1: It suggested that the icy waters could have cooled the 608 00:34:31,160 --> 00:34:35,880 Speaker 1: adjacent air and warped images that confused the Californian, a 609 00:34:35,960 --> 00:34:38,759 Speaker 1: nearby ship that could have rushed to the Titanic's aid 610 00:34:39,120 --> 00:34:43,600 Speaker 1: but instead did nothing. Fascinated. Mr Malton, who sailed boats 611 00:34:43,600 --> 00:34:47,040 Speaker 1: in his youth, dug into navigational records and found that 612 00:34:47,120 --> 00:34:50,360 Speaker 1: both the Californian and the Titanic had moved into the 613 00:34:50,600 --> 00:34:54,800 Speaker 1: icy Labrador current that night and had encountered conditions ideal 614 00:34:54,960 --> 00:34:59,320 Speaker 1: for cold mirages. He then hunted through reams of official 615 00:34:59,400 --> 00:35:02,920 Speaker 1: and unaff issual testimony to see what people saw or 616 00:35:03,040 --> 00:35:06,840 Speaker 1: what they thought they saw. A drama of misperceptions and shoes. 617 00:35:07,320 --> 00:35:10,560 Speaker 1: Mr Malton's book shows how mirages could have created false 618 00:35:10,640 --> 00:35:14,880 Speaker 1: horizons that hid the iceberg from the Titanic's lookouts. By 619 00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:18,359 Speaker 1: this theory, the intersection of dark sea and starry sky 620 00:35:18,480 --> 00:35:22,520 Speaker 1: would have looked blurry, reducing the contrast with the looming iceberg. 621 00:35:23,080 --> 00:35:24,600 Speaker 1: And then he goes on to site some of the 622 00:35:24,640 --> 00:35:27,640 Speaker 1: testimony of the lookouts who were who were watching the 623 00:35:27,680 --> 00:35:30,160 Speaker 1: horizon that night, and and so they put together this 624 00:35:30,200 --> 00:35:33,200 Speaker 1: idea that superior mirages could have hidden the iceberg from 625 00:35:33,200 --> 00:35:35,719 Speaker 1: sight as they were approaching it by creating a kind 626 00:35:35,760 --> 00:35:39,120 Speaker 1: of blur or haze along the horizon. And then also 627 00:35:39,400 --> 00:35:43,440 Speaker 1: that that a type of superior mirage caused by the 628 00:35:43,440 --> 00:35:46,799 Speaker 1: the icy currents in the cold water could have interfered 629 00:35:46,920 --> 00:35:50,000 Speaker 1: with the Californians ability. I remember that was the other 630 00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:52,920 Speaker 1: ship that was nearby that did not intervene could have 631 00:35:53,040 --> 00:35:56,719 Speaker 1: interfered with its ability to correctly assess what was going 632 00:35:56,760 --> 00:35:59,880 Speaker 1: on with the Titanic, and this led to a series 633 00:35:59,920 --> 00:36:05,640 Speaker 1: of misunderstandings that cause them not to help. That is interesting. Yeah, 634 00:36:06,280 --> 00:36:09,000 Speaker 1: Now I don't know how much you know, the most 635 00:36:09,040 --> 00:36:12,120 Speaker 1: relevant experts would put into this hypothesis. Today, I was 636 00:36:12,520 --> 00:36:14,920 Speaker 1: trying to see if I could find criticisms of it, 637 00:36:15,400 --> 00:36:18,440 Speaker 1: and I did find a series of papers in the 638 00:36:18,520 --> 00:36:23,239 Speaker 1: journal Weather from twenty nineteen by Mila's in Cova. The 639 00:36:23,280 --> 00:36:26,200 Speaker 1: first one of the four part series is called Titanic's 640 00:36:26,239 --> 00:36:29,440 Speaker 1: Mirage Part one, The Enigma of the Arctic High and 641 00:36:29,520 --> 00:36:32,960 Speaker 1: a Cold Water Tongue of the Labrador Current. I didn't 642 00:36:32,960 --> 00:36:34,920 Speaker 1: have time to get into this whole series in depth, 643 00:36:34,960 --> 00:36:36,719 Speaker 1: but it looks from what I can tell like the 644 00:36:36,760 --> 00:36:40,920 Speaker 1: author argues that maybe the mirage explanation is possible, but 645 00:36:41,160 --> 00:36:44,440 Speaker 1: probably not the explanation that they think is most consistent 646 00:36:44,480 --> 00:36:48,239 Speaker 1: with the facts, and other explanations for the haze over 647 00:36:48,280 --> 00:36:51,640 Speaker 1: the water that night that would reduce visibility would include 648 00:36:51,680 --> 00:36:54,560 Speaker 1: something that is more commonly known as sea smoke, which 649 00:36:54,600 --> 00:36:57,239 Speaker 1: is just a kind of natural fog that forms when 650 00:36:57,360 --> 00:37:01,080 Speaker 1: very cold air moves over warmer water. Yeah. And that 651 00:37:01,120 --> 00:37:04,040 Speaker 1: coupled with the fact that Billy Zane is chasing Leonard 652 00:37:04,120 --> 00:37:08,000 Speaker 1: DiCaprio around ownership and that's probably distracting everybody. I mean, 653 00:37:08,040 --> 00:37:16,120 Speaker 1: that's gonna create a steamy fog of its own, right, Yeah, 654 00:37:16,400 --> 00:37:21,520 Speaker 1: thank well. Um yeah, I have an interesting historic tidbit 655 00:37:21,560 --> 00:37:23,839 Speaker 1: here that I think you know. It flows nicely out 656 00:37:23,840 --> 00:37:27,760 Speaker 1: of the Titanic example. Uh, this one takes place, um 657 00:37:27,920 --> 00:37:30,279 Speaker 1: well techno technically it takes place on water as well, 658 00:37:30,280 --> 00:37:34,520 Speaker 1: but on frozen water. And it concerns something that pops 659 00:37:34,560 --> 00:37:38,520 Speaker 1: up as well, the idea of like phantom islands, phantom mountains. Uh, 660 00:37:38,600 --> 00:37:40,440 Speaker 1: something in the distance that you know, looks like some 661 00:37:40,480 --> 00:37:44,719 Speaker 1: sort of large geographical um occurrence, but then as you 662 00:37:44,719 --> 00:37:48,360 Speaker 1: get closer it does not. And this particular tidbit concerns 663 00:37:48,600 --> 00:37:51,399 Speaker 1: crocker Land. Have you ever been to crocker Land, Joe, 664 00:37:51,640 --> 00:37:54,479 Speaker 1: I don't think so. No. For some reason, I'm thinking 665 00:37:54,480 --> 00:37:58,759 Speaker 1: Betty crocker Land. Well, it turns out nobody has been 666 00:37:58,800 --> 00:38:01,480 Speaker 1: to crocker Land. And here's the story. So it's n 667 00:38:02,040 --> 00:38:06,840 Speaker 1: SI and Robert E. Perry Arctic explorers exploring the polar regions, 668 00:38:07,080 --> 00:38:10,400 Speaker 1: and he makes an alarming sighting a range of mountain 669 00:38:10,440 --> 00:38:13,440 Speaker 1: peaks rising above the ice cap some what looks like 670 00:38:13,480 --> 00:38:17,240 Speaker 1: four hundred miles, uh, you know, west of Greenland's northern tip. 671 00:38:17,880 --> 00:38:20,839 Speaker 1: So he names this Crocker Land, and it apparently goes 672 00:38:20,960 --> 00:38:23,080 Speaker 1: from there. It ends up appearing on at least one 673 00:38:23,160 --> 00:38:27,400 Speaker 1: published map. And then seven years later, Arctic explorer Donald B. 674 00:38:27,640 --> 00:38:31,279 Speaker 1: McMillan he ventures into the same region in search of 675 00:38:31,400 --> 00:38:34,359 Speaker 1: crocker Land, um, you know, thinking that he is going 676 00:38:34,400 --> 00:38:36,880 Speaker 1: to you know, arrive there and further study it. And 677 00:38:37,000 --> 00:38:40,920 Speaker 1: he initially sees these mountains, but then they slowly vanish 678 00:38:40,960 --> 00:38:43,640 Speaker 1: as he draws closer, and as it turns out, there 679 00:38:43,719 --> 00:38:48,120 Speaker 1: was nothing there at all but flat, featureless ice. And 680 00:38:48,360 --> 00:38:50,920 Speaker 1: this is how he describes it. This is from his beliefs. 681 00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:55,240 Speaker 1: Is from his autobiography quote. The day was exceptionally clear, 682 00:38:55,320 --> 00:38:57,960 Speaker 1: not a cloud or trace of mist. If land could 683 00:38:58,000 --> 00:39:00,840 Speaker 1: be seen, now is our time us there It was, 684 00:39:01,360 --> 00:39:04,120 Speaker 1: It could even be seen without a glass. Extending from 685 00:39:04,200 --> 00:39:09,600 Speaker 1: southwest true to north northeast. Are powerful glasses, however, brought 686 00:39:09,600 --> 00:39:12,799 Speaker 1: out more clearly the dark background in contrast with the 687 00:39:12,840 --> 00:39:17,200 Speaker 1: white the whole resembling hills, valleys and snow capped peaks 688 00:39:17,239 --> 00:39:19,640 Speaker 1: to such a degree that had we not been out 689 00:39:19,719 --> 00:39:22,319 Speaker 1: on the frozen sea for a hundred and fifty miles, 690 00:39:22,360 --> 00:39:25,359 Speaker 1: we would have staked our lives upon its reality. Our 691 00:39:25,440 --> 00:39:28,680 Speaker 1: judgment then as now is that this was a mirage 692 00:39:28,800 --> 00:39:31,279 Speaker 1: or loom of the sea ice. Oh. I guess the 693 00:39:31,320 --> 00:39:35,360 Speaker 1: thing that we haven't discussed yet but is related, is 694 00:39:35,400 --> 00:39:38,920 Speaker 1: that there is another phenomenon called looming that can also 695 00:39:39,160 --> 00:39:43,839 Speaker 1: cause illusions of this kind, seeing different things like with 696 00:39:43,960 --> 00:39:46,840 Speaker 1: relationship to the horizon, sort of appearing out of place 697 00:39:47,200 --> 00:39:51,760 Speaker 1: that works by a different mechanism. Yeah. Now, the next 698 00:39:51,760 --> 00:39:56,160 Speaker 1: example I want to cover though, is almomst definitely an 699 00:39:56,160 --> 00:39:59,440 Speaker 1: example of the fatimorgana uh. And this is actually the 700 00:39:59,480 --> 00:40:02,879 Speaker 1: one that that led me uh to uh to bringing 701 00:40:02,920 --> 00:40:06,160 Speaker 1: this up as a potential topic. UM, because I was 702 00:40:06,239 --> 00:40:09,640 Speaker 1: researching the shan Haijing for our recent episode on the 703 00:40:09,680 --> 00:40:14,080 Speaker 1: shan Haijing and uh I ran across a Chinese connection 704 00:40:14,120 --> 00:40:17,160 Speaker 1: to the Fata Morgana. In an article from nineteen eighty 705 00:40:17,280 --> 00:40:20,440 Speaker 1: nine by Edward H. Schaeffer published in the Journal of 706 00:40:20,480 --> 00:40:25,040 Speaker 1: the American Oriental Society, titled Fusang and Beyond the Haunted 707 00:40:25,120 --> 00:40:30,320 Speaker 1: Seas to Japan now. Edward H. Schaefer lived nineteen thirteen 708 00:40:30,360 --> 00:40:34,480 Speaker 1: through nineteen one. He was an American historians, sinologist, and 709 00:40:34,560 --> 00:40:37,640 Speaker 1: writer noted for his experience on the Tang dynasty, and 710 00:40:37,680 --> 00:40:40,960 Speaker 1: he was a professor of Chinese at the University of California, 711 00:40:41,040 --> 00:40:43,799 Speaker 1: Berkeley for thirty five years. He also did some key 712 00:40:43,840 --> 00:40:48,279 Speaker 1: English translations. In this article, however, Schaefer is looking at 713 00:40:48,400 --> 00:40:51,840 Speaker 1: various examples of a class of Chinese poem about travel, 714 00:40:52,080 --> 00:40:57,160 Speaker 1: particularly about this very specific about saying goodbye to honored 715 00:40:57,160 --> 00:41:00,680 Speaker 1: guests as they depart on a journey. I'm trying to 716 00:41:00,760 --> 00:41:03,560 Speaker 1: think of there are any um like English poems that 717 00:41:03,600 --> 00:41:05,840 Speaker 1: come to mind that have a similar theme. I don't know, 718 00:41:07,160 --> 00:41:09,520 Speaker 1: not that I can think of. At any rate, it 719 00:41:09,520 --> 00:41:12,640 Speaker 1: was a popular motif at the time in China. Uh 720 00:41:12,719 --> 00:41:15,960 Speaker 1: In a popular journey. Specific journey for these poems during 721 00:41:15,960 --> 00:41:19,160 Speaker 1: the Tang dynasty, which which was six eighteen through nine 722 00:41:19,200 --> 00:41:22,040 Speaker 1: oh seven, was a journey across the Sea of Japan, 723 00:41:22,520 --> 00:41:26,520 Speaker 1: frequently taken by monks, diplomats, and others. So this was 724 00:41:26,719 --> 00:41:29,960 Speaker 1: and is the puffing Sea, the bursting Sea, the domain 725 00:41:30,040 --> 00:41:34,600 Speaker 1: of danger, for sure, but also a supernatural wonder. Now, 726 00:41:34,640 --> 00:41:36,960 Speaker 1: as we've said, this can be said of basically any 727 00:41:37,040 --> 00:41:39,560 Speaker 1: large body of water, this can be said of any 728 00:41:39,600 --> 00:41:44,680 Speaker 1: seafaring civilization. Right anywhere people meet the ocean, you find 729 00:41:44,680 --> 00:41:47,959 Speaker 1: these descriptions of the ocean as as a potentially deadly placed, 730 00:41:48,000 --> 00:41:51,040 Speaker 1: a mysterious place. And we've developed rich myths and legends 731 00:41:51,080 --> 00:41:53,600 Speaker 1: to account for it. Uh, you know, any time, you know, 732 00:41:53,760 --> 00:41:58,160 Speaker 1: just across cultures. But Schaefer points out that there was 733 00:41:58,239 --> 00:42:01,000 Speaker 1: really a lot of this talk regard in the Eastern Sea, 734 00:42:01,440 --> 00:42:03,400 Speaker 1: and you'll find it in poems and in accounts of 735 00:42:03,440 --> 00:42:07,680 Speaker 1: all sorts, including from very well traveled and well educated individuals. 736 00:42:08,200 --> 00:42:11,240 Speaker 1: And he describes these sightings as being marked with quote 737 00:42:11,480 --> 00:42:14,560 Speaker 1: greater awareness than ever before of the denizens of the 738 00:42:14,640 --> 00:42:19,439 Speaker 1: oceanic world. So what are these denizens of particular? Note 739 00:42:19,480 --> 00:42:23,160 Speaker 1: here are the shin or clam monsters of the Eastern Sea. 740 00:42:23,760 --> 00:42:27,520 Speaker 1: And uh, this is where we get shn jing, which 741 00:42:27,640 --> 00:42:30,799 Speaker 1: is or um or high shishi and low, which are 742 00:42:30,960 --> 00:42:35,080 Speaker 1: terms for mirages in Mandarin. Oh wow, So if you 743 00:42:35,160 --> 00:42:38,760 Speaker 1: were talking in Mandarin about a mirage, you're saying something 744 00:42:38,880 --> 00:42:43,239 Speaker 1: that literally could mean something like clam monster. Uh. Yeah. Yeah, 745 00:42:43,280 --> 00:42:46,200 Speaker 1: like the these terms are are all connected. Yeah. So 746 00:42:46,760 --> 00:42:49,799 Speaker 1: while the pre Han genesis of the term shafer rights 747 00:42:50,040 --> 00:42:52,880 Speaker 1: would seem to apply to real world clams, you know, 748 00:42:52,960 --> 00:42:54,759 Speaker 1: the type of clams you might catch and eat and 749 00:42:55,320 --> 00:42:59,480 Speaker 1: some culinary traditions, uh, it clearly evolved into a legend. 750 00:43:00,040 --> 00:43:03,239 Speaker 1: And so this is what he writes quote. Beginning as 751 00:43:03,239 --> 00:43:07,080 Speaker 1: an unassuming marine invertebrate, the shin was later imagined as 752 00:43:07,120 --> 00:43:10,759 Speaker 1: a gaping, pearl producing clam, possibly to be identified with 753 00:43:10,840 --> 00:43:15,520 Speaker 1: the giant clams of tropical seas, for instance, Tridactna. That's 754 00:43:15,560 --> 00:43:18,040 Speaker 1: the genus. So these if you've ever seen images of giant, 755 00:43:18,160 --> 00:43:21,719 Speaker 1: real world giant clams, that's uh, that's the genus, he 756 00:43:21,760 --> 00:43:25,280 Speaker 1: continues quote. Finally, by early medieval times, it had become 757 00:43:25,320 --> 00:43:29,640 Speaker 1: a monster, lurking in submarine grottoes, and was sometimes endowed 758 00:43:29,719 --> 00:43:32,719 Speaker 1: with the attributes of a dragon, or, more likely, under 759 00:43:32,800 --> 00:43:36,400 Speaker 1: Indian influence, a naga. So it gets this gets like 760 00:43:36,560 --> 00:43:39,920 Speaker 1: just super super super weird, and I love it. Uh. 761 00:43:40,440 --> 00:43:43,480 Speaker 1: So these the shin were said these giant clams in 762 00:43:43,560 --> 00:43:46,239 Speaker 1: the ocean deep were said to exhale and belsh up 763 00:43:46,400 --> 00:43:49,279 Speaker 1: bubbles and froth, which that they could they could then 764 00:43:49,400 --> 00:43:53,960 Speaker 1: manifest into spectral castles and haunted palaces made of what 765 00:43:54,160 --> 00:43:58,000 Speaker 1: Schaefer translates as a kind of plasma and later describes 766 00:43:58,040 --> 00:44:01,480 Speaker 1: as being something between less in energy, like a kind 767 00:44:01,520 --> 00:44:06,840 Speaker 1: of ectoplasm quote dream like carrescant with strange lights and 768 00:44:06,960 --> 00:44:12,680 Speaker 1: prismatic hazes. These seemingly insubstantial confections or counterparts of the 769 00:44:12,760 --> 00:44:16,440 Speaker 1: sea asle pin lay, and also of the astral places 770 00:44:16,600 --> 00:44:21,480 Speaker 1: of the high gods of Daoism, all from clams. Huh, well, 771 00:44:21,680 --> 00:44:26,279 Speaker 1: giant clams, giant magical clams that breathe ectoplasm and use 772 00:44:26,360 --> 00:44:31,640 Speaker 1: it to craft massive illusions in the sky. So he 773 00:44:31,800 --> 00:44:34,680 Speaker 1: from here he goes on to share what I believe 774 00:44:34,760 --> 00:44:38,160 Speaker 1: his translation, one of two translations he provides of a 775 00:44:38,280 --> 00:44:42,720 Speaker 1: poem by Wen chi Uh rhapsody on the High House 776 00:44:42,920 --> 00:44:46,200 Speaker 1: of the clam Monsters, and it's it's just glorious. Um. 777 00:44:46,560 --> 00:44:48,960 Speaker 1: You can look up the Shaffer article. You can find it. Um. 778 00:44:49,719 --> 00:44:51,680 Speaker 1: I think it's on j store and you can access 779 00:44:51,719 --> 00:44:53,200 Speaker 1: it for free, and you can you can read the 780 00:44:53,239 --> 00:44:55,879 Speaker 1: full version of both poems. I just want to read 781 00:44:56,360 --> 00:44:59,280 Speaker 1: the first part of the initial I think was supposed 782 00:44:59,280 --> 00:45:03,120 Speaker 1: to be a more accurate translation. There in the peeing 783 00:45:03,400 --> 00:45:07,600 Speaker 1: bird's basin. Shoreless and boundless are the clam monsters, high 784 00:45:07,680 --> 00:45:11,640 Speaker 1: houses crag crested. They do not rely on timber to 785 00:45:11,719 --> 00:45:15,160 Speaker 1: knit their frames, but use their own fnast to fly 786 00:45:15,440 --> 00:45:19,560 Speaker 1: and float them hidden away without present sign they blaze 787 00:45:19,640 --> 00:45:22,880 Speaker 1: and splendor, hardly to be matched. Then one of them 788 00:45:22,920 --> 00:45:26,600 Speaker 1: emitst waves and surges there as if it would stud 789 00:45:26,680 --> 00:45:31,360 Speaker 1: the sky with them, forming semilacra. Mutating, it creates porches 790 00:45:31,400 --> 00:45:35,080 Speaker 1: and railings, preferring to simulate the sun, which melts our 791 00:45:35,200 --> 00:45:38,480 Speaker 1: cares so large that it would cover a giant turtle 792 00:45:38,560 --> 00:45:42,160 Speaker 1: mountain with yet another island, or dripped down on the 793 00:45:42,280 --> 00:45:46,279 Speaker 1: shark men's houses and hanging streams. Then it is as 794 00:45:46,320 --> 00:45:50,440 Speaker 1: if the fogs have used up their mistiness, the melting 795 00:45:50,520 --> 00:45:54,279 Speaker 1: clouds have gone home. The moon sheds brilliance over a 796 00:45:54,360 --> 00:46:00,759 Speaker 1: thousand lee vision is terminated only by the eight horizons. Yeah, 797 00:46:00,920 --> 00:46:02,960 Speaker 1: it's it's I love it. It's just so full of 798 00:46:03,120 --> 00:46:07,080 Speaker 1: weird wonder and and again has has just start start. 799 00:46:07,160 --> 00:46:09,920 Speaker 1: Comparisons can be made to those to the accounts of 800 00:46:10,000 --> 00:46:13,080 Speaker 1: the fatim Organa that you were reading earlier from you know, 801 00:46:13,120 --> 00:46:14,960 Speaker 1: the other side of the world. But I love all 802 00:46:15,000 --> 00:46:20,239 Speaker 1: the unexplained elements, the shark men's houses. Yeah, yeah, I 803 00:46:20,320 --> 00:46:21,960 Speaker 1: may touch on the shark man in a bit, But yeah, 804 00:46:21,960 --> 00:46:24,000 Speaker 1: there's just so much wonder This feels like some sort 805 00:46:24,000 --> 00:46:28,200 Speaker 1: of a just it's a weird hallucinatory vision out of uh. 806 00:46:28,280 --> 00:46:30,320 Speaker 1: You know that you might find something similar out of 807 00:46:30,360 --> 00:46:33,759 Speaker 1: say the weird fiction era in an American literature. Now 808 00:46:33,800 --> 00:46:36,839 Speaker 1: I am kind of wondering how exactly some of these 809 00:46:37,040 --> 00:46:41,320 Speaker 1: uh words are translated, because obviously, like so the words 810 00:46:41,400 --> 00:46:44,960 Speaker 1: simulacras in there, and I understand what that means in context. 811 00:46:45,040 --> 00:46:48,719 Speaker 1: I wonder if there's actually like a term in the 812 00:46:48,800 --> 00:46:52,879 Speaker 1: original that is becoming exactly that word, or if there 813 00:46:53,080 --> 00:46:56,960 Speaker 1: is something that's somehow the gist of something. Yeah, you know, offhand, 814 00:46:57,000 --> 00:46:59,160 Speaker 1: I can't recall of Schaefer got into that. He it's 815 00:46:59,200 --> 00:47:02,640 Speaker 1: a he. It's mostly related to these two translations that 816 00:47:02,719 --> 00:47:04,200 Speaker 1: he gives, but he does get into some of the 817 00:47:04,280 --> 00:47:08,520 Speaker 1: specific terminology. Um. But on top of that, Shaffer himself 818 00:47:08,560 --> 00:47:12,120 Speaker 1: seemed to be, you know, pretty poetic in his own right. Um, 819 00:47:12,360 --> 00:47:15,279 Speaker 1: you know, just as he's describing the text, there's some 820 00:47:15,360 --> 00:47:18,920 Speaker 1: wonderful sections like he writes in this literary vision, the 821 00:47:19,000 --> 00:47:22,000 Speaker 1: clammy builders are not ordinary creatures at all, but alien 822 00:47:22,360 --> 00:47:26,480 Speaker 1: and anonymous natural forces. Their amorphous bodies are unstable and 823 00:47:26,560 --> 00:47:31,440 Speaker 1: perhaps illusory at least ectoplasmic or spectral. They have no gender. 824 00:47:31,520 --> 00:47:35,600 Speaker 1: They dwell in the murky benthos of the Sea of Whales, 825 00:47:36,000 --> 00:47:39,480 Speaker 1: beyond the domains of the shark people. And uh and 826 00:47:39,800 --> 00:47:44,120 Speaker 1: he actually he provides a second translation in which he 827 00:47:44,480 --> 00:47:48,600 Speaker 1: uses meter in English rhyme. Uh. And again, I just 828 00:47:48,800 --> 00:47:51,920 Speaker 1: have the first section here. Uh, but but he does 829 00:47:52,000 --> 00:47:53,239 Speaker 1: the whole thing. I don't know, did, Joe? Do you 830 00:47:53,280 --> 00:47:55,040 Speaker 1: want to read this one? Oh? Sure I could if 831 00:47:55,080 --> 00:47:58,200 Speaker 1: you want, Jeff, go for it. Where giant fish foul 832 00:47:58,520 --> 00:48:02,960 Speaker 1: range above the seas, and craggy houses clammy monsters weeze. 833 00:48:03,600 --> 00:48:07,560 Speaker 1: They need no dedar to build these halls. Extruded e 834 00:48:07,680 --> 00:48:13,080 Speaker 1: cores fuse as roofs and walls. Abistle gloom eclipses them below, 835 00:48:13,520 --> 00:48:17,239 Speaker 1: but spouted up, they shed a fiery glow. When one 836 00:48:17,320 --> 00:48:21,120 Speaker 1: explodes up through the tossing spume. We hope a vault 837 00:48:21,200 --> 00:48:25,200 Speaker 1: of spangled stars to bloom. Instead, it seems a shining 838 00:48:25,320 --> 00:48:29,040 Speaker 1: golden dome to match the Sun, the God's immortal home. 839 00:48:29,600 --> 00:48:33,000 Speaker 1: It makes the giant seamount seem a hill as vast 840 00:48:33,200 --> 00:48:37,720 Speaker 1: cascades into the vortex spill. Then when the upcast spray 841 00:48:37,840 --> 00:48:41,960 Speaker 1: and froth degrade, and clouds beyond the far horizon fade, 842 00:48:42,280 --> 00:48:45,759 Speaker 1: the lunar lantern sets the sky alight, and all the 843 00:48:45,840 --> 00:48:49,840 Speaker 1: seven seas show clear and bright. The fishy peoples shine 844 00:48:49,920 --> 00:48:53,360 Speaker 1: their scales around. The waves, now soothed, give out no 845 00:48:53,520 --> 00:48:58,080 Speaker 1: further sound. A palace heaves and spouting rare perfumes and 846 00:48:58,239 --> 00:49:02,520 Speaker 1: majesty above the ocean ooms pierces the stubborn haze that 847 00:49:02,760 --> 00:49:07,799 Speaker 1: round it lies and thrusts its mighty walls into the skies. Yeah, 848 00:49:08,040 --> 00:49:14,560 Speaker 1: I absolutely love it. Excellent. Yeah again, giant clam spouting, uh, 849 00:49:14,719 --> 00:49:17,600 Speaker 1: you know, bubbles and froth and exoplasm up into the 850 00:49:17,680 --> 00:49:21,680 Speaker 1: sky and forming an otherworldly castle or city in the sky, 851 00:49:22,280 --> 00:49:25,600 Speaker 1: and then you know, it vanishes and uh. And Schaffer 852 00:49:25,680 --> 00:49:29,279 Speaker 1: himself points to the connection here between these tales and 853 00:49:29,320 --> 00:49:33,319 Speaker 1: the very real phenomenon of fatim organa mirages, which are 854 00:49:33,640 --> 00:49:37,600 Speaker 1: still seen today on the Eastern Sea. So you know these, uh, 855 00:49:37,719 --> 00:49:41,200 Speaker 1: these strange castles are are still glimpsed out there. You 856 00:49:41,280 --> 00:49:44,239 Speaker 1: know that these are this is an optical phenomenon that 857 00:49:44,400 --> 00:49:47,480 Speaker 1: still occurs. What who are the shark people? Do you 858 00:49:47,600 --> 00:49:50,120 Speaker 1: know something about sharkman? Yes? I look these up. These 859 00:49:50,160 --> 00:49:52,759 Speaker 1: would be the jow wren or the people of the 860 00:49:52,840 --> 00:49:55,080 Speaker 1: flood dragons, So they were a kind of mir folk 861 00:49:55,680 --> 00:49:57,840 Speaker 1: um or you know, or a shark person. I like 862 00:49:57,920 --> 00:50:00,800 Speaker 1: how he describes them as as as the shark people 863 00:50:01,080 --> 00:50:03,239 Speaker 1: or fishy people if you will. Well, that makes them 864 00:50:03,280 --> 00:50:06,000 Speaker 1: sound more like the subject of that Peter Benchley novel 865 00:50:06,040 --> 00:50:08,319 Speaker 1: adapted to a made for TV movie that we talked 866 00:50:08,360 --> 00:50:10,160 Speaker 1: about not too long ago. What was the one about 867 00:50:10,200 --> 00:50:12,920 Speaker 1: like the shark human hybrid? Oh? What was it? It 868 00:50:13,000 --> 00:50:15,760 Speaker 1: wasn't beast. It had a similar one word name, because 869 00:50:15,840 --> 00:50:18,359 Speaker 1: you know that you stick with what what works? Kim 870 00:50:18,440 --> 00:50:20,920 Speaker 1: control in it? Is that right? Yeah? And Craig T. 871 00:50:21,080 --> 00:50:23,359 Speaker 1: Nelson And a shark that I think in the book 872 00:50:23,400 --> 00:50:27,560 Speaker 1: at least wasn't was a Nazi created mutant intelligent shark. 873 00:50:27,600 --> 00:50:30,040 Speaker 1: I'm not sure if that translated into the TV adaptation 874 00:50:30,160 --> 00:50:32,320 Speaker 1: or not looking it up, or if it had like 875 00:50:32,400 --> 00:50:35,800 Speaker 1: big muscular arms or not. Oh, it's a mini series. 876 00:50:35,880 --> 00:50:39,879 Speaker 1: It's called Creature Creature. Yes, but I I really want 877 00:50:39,920 --> 00:50:43,120 Speaker 1: to see a film about um, about this giant clam 878 00:50:43,719 --> 00:50:45,800 Speaker 1: um about the Shin and uh, you know, I'm not 879 00:50:45,920 --> 00:50:48,480 Speaker 1: sure that that it doesn't exist. Clearly, there's a lot 880 00:50:48,520 --> 00:50:53,360 Speaker 1: of a wonderful and fantastic Chinese cinema out there, and um, 881 00:50:53,600 --> 00:50:55,480 Speaker 1: I didn't really dive in enough. So anyone out there, 882 00:50:55,480 --> 00:50:57,719 Speaker 1: if you're aware of a film that features even a 883 00:50:57,840 --> 00:51:03,000 Speaker 1: cameo by a giant um of fairy city spouting clam, 884 00:51:03,400 --> 00:51:06,480 Speaker 1: let me know. Alright, I have another example I want 885 00:51:06,480 --> 00:51:08,960 Speaker 1: to turn to, and this one takes this to another 886 00:51:09,120 --> 00:51:13,440 Speaker 1: continent entirely. This takes us to Africa, specifically Southern Africa, 887 00:51:14,640 --> 00:51:18,120 Speaker 1: and this concerns the San people. So these are indigenous 888 00:51:18,160 --> 00:51:24,160 Speaker 1: peoples found chiefly in Botswana, uh Namibia and southeastern Angola. 889 00:51:25,200 --> 00:51:27,880 Speaker 1: Historically they would have been a hunter gatherer people and 890 00:51:27,960 --> 00:51:30,239 Speaker 1: they've been referred to by several different names over time 891 00:51:30,320 --> 00:51:34,600 Speaker 1: and today are apparently not instantly identifiable by any physical features, 892 00:51:34,719 --> 00:51:38,160 Speaker 1: language or culture. Um, but I was reading an article 893 00:51:38,200 --> 00:51:40,360 Speaker 1: about this. This is a from the year two thousand 894 00:51:40,400 --> 00:51:45,799 Speaker 1: by Helmett trabuch Uh titled does mirage derived mythology give 895 00:51:46,440 --> 00:51:49,000 Speaker 1: access to sun Rock Art? And this was published in 896 00:51:49,040 --> 00:51:53,839 Speaker 1: the Southern African Archaeological Bulletin. In it, the author contemplates 897 00:51:53,880 --> 00:51:56,279 Speaker 1: a link between the traditional rock art of the sun, 898 00:51:56,800 --> 00:52:00,440 Speaker 1: their myths, and the superior mirages they would have deserved 899 00:52:00,560 --> 00:52:03,120 Speaker 1: in their environment. That again, like all these can still 900 00:52:03,160 --> 00:52:06,720 Speaker 1: be observed in those environments today, and the author points 901 00:52:06,760 --> 00:52:08,920 Speaker 1: out that you know that that naturally the sort of 902 00:52:09,000 --> 00:52:11,680 Speaker 1: mirage was seen throughout the world for thousands of years. 903 00:52:11,760 --> 00:52:14,080 Speaker 1: He's the author who brings up, uh, you know, the 904 00:52:14,239 --> 00:52:17,560 Speaker 1: the idea that even Arab sciencests, who uh, we're pretty 905 00:52:17,640 --> 00:52:20,880 Speaker 1: much masters of optics. Uh, during the medieval period, they 906 00:52:20,960 --> 00:52:22,680 Speaker 1: weren't able to understand this. So it wasn't ntil the 907 00:52:22,719 --> 00:52:25,279 Speaker 1: eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that we we really were able 908 00:52:25,360 --> 00:52:27,719 Speaker 1: to fully crack what's going on when we behold a 909 00:52:27,760 --> 00:52:32,000 Speaker 1: superior mirage. But you know, everyone who had access to 910 00:52:32,200 --> 00:52:35,400 Speaker 1: to these mirages would have probably had some thoughts about them, 911 00:52:35,440 --> 00:52:38,280 Speaker 1: and you can imagine how they might have influenced one's 912 00:52:38,640 --> 00:52:43,200 Speaker 1: worldview and magical thinking. So sun rock art in particular 913 00:52:43,280 --> 00:52:47,520 Speaker 1: depicts in some cases huge flying creatures, upside down creatures 914 00:52:48,000 --> 00:52:53,879 Speaker 1: and double creatures, finned land creatures, as well as floating waters. Now, 915 00:52:54,400 --> 00:52:58,120 Speaker 1: there there have been a different ways of interpreting these, uh, 916 00:52:58,200 --> 00:53:01,440 Speaker 1: the author points out, so rep presentations of mythic ideas 917 00:53:01,920 --> 00:53:04,840 Speaker 1: art for art's sake, or and this is always interesting, 918 00:53:05,040 --> 00:53:10,080 Speaker 1: altered states of consciousness or shamatic visions, but attributes presents 919 00:53:10,120 --> 00:53:13,839 Speaker 1: a what he refers to a naturalistic interpretation in which 920 00:53:13,960 --> 00:53:18,120 Speaker 1: the observation of superior mirages are a key factor. Um, 921 00:53:18,920 --> 00:53:20,920 Speaker 1: of course, and we should drive home. Uh. You know, 922 00:53:21,000 --> 00:53:22,960 Speaker 1: it's it seems like all of these could be employed 923 00:53:23,000 --> 00:53:25,840 Speaker 1: at the same time, because certainly you could have hallucinations 924 00:53:25,880 --> 00:53:31,120 Speaker 1: occurring whilst looking at, or remembering or or contemplating the 925 00:53:31,239 --> 00:53:34,600 Speaker 1: nature of things seen on the horizon. Combine that with 926 00:53:34,760 --> 00:53:39,279 Speaker 1: your own myth making uh, and just creative thinking in general. Now, 927 00:53:39,360 --> 00:53:41,799 Speaker 1: as for the specific things he's referring to, first of all, 928 00:53:41,880 --> 00:53:45,560 Speaker 1: giant sky water snakes or rain animals above the horizon 929 00:53:45,920 --> 00:53:49,680 Speaker 1: would have been linked to superior mirages that that were 930 00:53:49,760 --> 00:53:53,640 Speaker 1: often observed in the lull before rain storms. So these 931 00:53:53,640 --> 00:53:57,120 Speaker 1: would have been interpreted as powerful entities responsible for rain 932 00:53:57,560 --> 00:54:00,440 Speaker 1: that could then be called out to spiritually like these 933 00:54:00,480 --> 00:54:04,040 Speaker 1: were the masters of rain, the gods and monsters of rain, 934 00:54:04,640 --> 00:54:07,520 Speaker 1: and uh, and they're the ones who who you need 935 00:54:07,600 --> 00:54:10,239 Speaker 1: favor from in order to, you know, to have a 936 00:54:11,000 --> 00:54:14,920 Speaker 1: wet and rich environment. And then there's this really fascinating 937 00:54:15,040 --> 00:54:19,160 Speaker 1: concept of the underwater where souls and the sorcerers went 938 00:54:19,520 --> 00:54:22,560 Speaker 1: to become stretched. Uh. And this may be linked to 939 00:54:22,800 --> 00:54:28,520 Speaker 1: glimmering inferior and mirages and stretched or elongated forms. Uh. 940 00:54:28,640 --> 00:54:32,719 Speaker 1: These may derive from superior mirages. And yeah, you look 941 00:54:32,719 --> 00:54:34,560 Speaker 1: at examples of this and it's like, you know, um, 942 00:54:34,800 --> 00:54:38,040 Speaker 1: you know, clearly humanoid representations, and some will be of 943 00:54:38,600 --> 00:54:40,840 Speaker 1: what you might take to be normal size, and others 944 00:54:40,920 --> 00:54:45,120 Speaker 1: are greatly elongated. And uh, yeah, I'm particularly interested by 945 00:54:45,200 --> 00:54:48,560 Speaker 1: this idea of the inverted world and sorcerers who try 946 00:54:48,600 --> 00:54:52,719 Speaker 1: to make contact with the inverted world by he points out, 947 00:54:52,840 --> 00:54:56,360 Speaker 1: adopting an inverted arm position. Here's a quote from the 948 00:54:56,400 --> 00:55:00,360 Speaker 1: paper quote, what would be more realistic than depicting inverted 949 00:55:00,480 --> 00:55:03,799 Speaker 1: lions in a mirage in such an environment the underwater 950 00:55:04,120 --> 00:55:08,000 Speaker 1: of sun belief. It could even be that trance has 951 00:55:08,080 --> 00:55:11,160 Speaker 1: developed as a way to imitate the inverted world, the 952 00:55:11,239 --> 00:55:14,640 Speaker 1: world where everything is the other way around. The body 953 00:55:14,719 --> 00:55:18,240 Speaker 1: does not preserve the upright position anymore. Food or liquid 954 00:55:18,280 --> 00:55:20,640 Speaker 1: does not enter the mouth but leaves. It has depicted 955 00:55:20,719 --> 00:55:24,440 Speaker 1: in many scenes where liquid sometimes interpreted as blood, is 956 00:55:24,520 --> 00:55:28,120 Speaker 1: streaming from the nose of animals and shamans. Maybe the 957 00:55:28,239 --> 00:55:32,040 Speaker 1: crossed legs of painted antelopes and trans dancers and sound 958 00:55:32,360 --> 00:55:35,400 Speaker 1: rock art may simply mean that they do not walk normally, 959 00:55:35,480 --> 00:55:38,920 Speaker 1: but walk in an inverted way, that is backwards, as 960 00:55:39,000 --> 00:55:44,120 Speaker 1: they should in the other world. That's really interesting. Yeah, 961 00:55:44,239 --> 00:55:47,000 Speaker 1: and again this this connects with with some of what 962 00:55:47,120 --> 00:55:49,560 Speaker 1: you were sharing earlier on again from the other side 963 00:55:49,600 --> 00:55:53,160 Speaker 1: of the world, uh, you know, dealing with contemplations of 964 00:55:53,239 --> 00:55:58,719 Speaker 1: fatimorgana and superior and inferior mirages. So from from here, really, 965 00:55:58,800 --> 00:56:00,759 Speaker 1: I mean, we don't even have to spend much time 966 00:56:00,800 --> 00:56:04,520 Speaker 1: at all talking about the nature of unidentified flying objects 967 00:56:04,560 --> 00:56:07,440 Speaker 1: in the sky UM because you can see I mean, 968 00:56:07,480 --> 00:56:09,040 Speaker 1: it's all written on the wall here. I mean the 969 00:56:09,200 --> 00:56:12,799 Speaker 1: bottom organa is sometimes used to explain UFO sightings, which 970 00:56:13,760 --> 00:56:16,240 Speaker 1: which is just a natural direction to go into, especially 971 00:56:16,360 --> 00:56:20,080 Speaker 1: when you consider modern sailing vessels um and and modern 972 00:56:20,520 --> 00:56:24,279 Speaker 1: vehicles and objects in generals often glinting with metallic details. 973 00:56:24,840 --> 00:56:29,160 Speaker 1: You can imagine them seeing above the horizon as superior mirages. 974 00:56:29,239 --> 00:56:33,600 Speaker 1: And you know, if you consume enough UFO material, which 975 00:56:33,640 --> 00:56:36,600 Speaker 1: I think everybody has at this point, that might be 976 00:56:36,760 --> 00:56:38,880 Speaker 1: one of the first places if not the first places 977 00:56:38,960 --> 00:56:41,600 Speaker 1: that your mind goes. Well, yeah, I mean, I'd imagine 978 00:56:41,640 --> 00:56:47,080 Speaker 1: that superior mirages could explain all kinds of especially anomalous lights. Yeah, 979 00:56:47,520 --> 00:56:51,040 Speaker 1: I've in particular, I've seen it linked to discussions of 980 00:56:51,360 --> 00:56:54,560 Speaker 1: UFO sightings in Texas and also the so called men 981 00:56:54,640 --> 00:56:58,160 Speaker 1: Men light in the Australian Outback. And uh, and I 982 00:56:58,239 --> 00:57:00,200 Speaker 1: think and I think you can. You can find plenty 983 00:57:00,239 --> 00:57:02,640 Speaker 1: of other examples of this as well. They're similar lights 984 00:57:02,719 --> 00:57:05,040 Speaker 1: that can be found in the Middle East that have 985 00:57:05,120 --> 00:57:09,640 Speaker 1: been linked to two superior mirages. So again we're dealing 986 00:57:09,680 --> 00:57:11,520 Speaker 1: with something you can find around the world, and then 987 00:57:11,560 --> 00:57:15,040 Speaker 1: we find all these interesting stories that are either directly 988 00:57:15,520 --> 00:57:19,440 Speaker 1: linked to superior mirages or could easily be linked to them, 989 00:57:19,600 --> 00:57:22,320 Speaker 1: at least at least in part So it basically explains 990 00:57:22,320 --> 00:57:26,240 Speaker 1: everything is so bigfoot. I don't know, I could an 991 00:57:26,320 --> 00:57:29,440 Speaker 1: elongated humanoid. Um, you know that that could work. Oh, 992 00:57:29,520 --> 00:57:32,480 Speaker 1: slender Man is a superior mirrage. Oh you know, I 993 00:57:32,560 --> 00:57:35,960 Speaker 1: was just thinking about the San Rock illustrations and traditions 994 00:57:35,960 --> 00:57:38,520 Speaker 1: about people walking backwards. That makes me think of the 995 00:57:39,040 --> 00:57:42,600 Speaker 1: leshy again. Oh did the less she walk backwards? Was that? 996 00:57:42,680 --> 00:57:45,680 Speaker 1: I think you could confuse the leshy by walking backwards. 997 00:57:45,720 --> 00:57:47,560 Speaker 1: I don't know that's right, or you could put your 998 00:57:47,640 --> 00:57:53,120 Speaker 1: clothes on backwards, right, yeah, yeah, the upside down, the 999 00:57:53,440 --> 00:57:58,800 Speaker 1: the inverted world moving backwards. Um. Now, as I mentioned 1000 00:57:59,480 --> 00:58:03,480 Speaker 1: or earlier on the superior mirages uh and the Fate Morgana, 1001 00:58:03,760 --> 00:58:06,280 Speaker 1: these are things that can and our photograph. They can 1002 00:58:06,320 --> 00:58:08,280 Speaker 1: be photographed. They are photographs. So if you do some 1003 00:58:08,400 --> 00:58:11,720 Speaker 1: image searches you can find some some really excellent examples 1004 00:58:11,760 --> 00:58:15,240 Speaker 1: of these. I remember seeing one in particular that instantly 1005 00:58:15,360 --> 00:58:20,920 Speaker 1: made me think of the gigantic spaceship from Independence Today. Um. Now, 1006 00:58:20,960 --> 00:58:24,520 Speaker 1: Independence Day wasn't an actual movie, it was not a mirrage, 1007 00:58:24,960 --> 00:58:29,000 Speaker 1: but but the mirages that that that occur can be 1008 00:58:29,120 --> 00:58:31,400 Speaker 1: of that nature. You know, it's like there's something huge 1009 00:58:31,480 --> 00:58:34,080 Speaker 1: in the sky or on the horizon, and it does 1010 00:58:34,160 --> 00:58:38,240 Speaker 1: not confirm, confirm, conform to, uh to to anything that 1011 00:58:38,320 --> 00:58:40,800 Speaker 1: would occur in the natural world that you you know of. 1012 00:58:41,240 --> 00:58:43,360 Speaker 1: You know, like you have to lead to the the 1013 00:58:43,480 --> 00:58:45,880 Speaker 1: unexplained if you're not aware of the sort of you know, 1014 00:58:45,960 --> 00:58:48,240 Speaker 1: the again, the optical phenomena that can take place, just 1015 00:58:48,360 --> 00:58:52,000 Speaker 1: some shimmering hulk. Yeah. So on that note, we would 1016 00:58:52,080 --> 00:58:54,080 Speaker 1: obviously love to hear from anyone out there who has 1017 00:58:54,120 --> 00:58:56,680 Speaker 1: witnessed one of these, you know, because I don't think 1018 00:58:56,760 --> 00:59:00,400 Speaker 1: I have. I don't remember ever seeing a superior arraje 1019 00:59:00,880 --> 00:59:04,760 Speaker 1: much much less uh fata morgana um unless I was 1020 00:59:04,840 --> 00:59:08,040 Speaker 1: just you know, barely noticing it certainly. And that's the thing. 1021 00:59:08,120 --> 00:59:10,960 Speaker 1: A lot of these examples that you hear about, they're 1022 00:59:11,080 --> 00:59:13,920 Speaker 1: they're hard to ignore. Uh So, if you have experience 1023 00:59:14,000 --> 00:59:16,000 Speaker 1: with them, please write in and let us know, tell 1024 00:59:16,080 --> 00:59:17,840 Speaker 1: us all about it, tell us about your experience with it, 1025 00:59:17,880 --> 00:59:20,560 Speaker 1: what was going through your mind when you looked at it. Also, 1026 00:59:20,720 --> 00:59:23,320 Speaker 1: if you're familiar with any other of the you know, 1027 00:59:23,400 --> 00:59:27,680 Speaker 1: the many global traditions that either are directly linked to 1028 00:59:28,400 --> 00:59:31,160 Speaker 1: these optical phenomena or could easily be linked to them, 1029 00:59:31,600 --> 00:59:33,200 Speaker 1: we'd love to hear about it. And you know, well, 1030 00:59:33,240 --> 00:59:36,240 Speaker 1: we'll try and discuss it on an upcoming episode of 1031 00:59:36,400 --> 00:59:39,120 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind listener mail. That's what publishes 1032 00:59:39,200 --> 00:59:42,600 Speaker 1: Monday's in the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast feed. 1033 00:59:42,960 --> 00:59:45,560 Speaker 1: On Wednesdays we have The Artifact. Tuesdays and Thursdays we 1034 00:59:45,640 --> 00:59:48,360 Speaker 1: have Core episodes, and on Fridays we have Weird House 1035 00:59:48,400 --> 00:59:50,960 Speaker 1: Cinema where we don't so much get into the science, 1036 00:59:51,040 --> 00:59:54,800 Speaker 1: but we talk about a weird movie of note, Huge Things. 1037 00:59:54,840 --> 00:59:57,840 Speaker 1: As always to our excellent audio producer Seth Nicholas Johnson. 1038 00:59:57,960 --> 00:59:59,440 Speaker 1: If you would like to get in touch with us 1039 00:59:59,520 --> 01:00:01,520 Speaker 1: with feed back on this episode or any other, to 1040 01:00:01,600 --> 01:00:03,880 Speaker 1: suggest a topic for the future, just to say hello, 1041 01:00:04,360 --> 01:00:06,960 Speaker 1: you can email us at contact at stuff to Blow 1042 01:00:07,000 --> 01:00:16,800 Speaker 1: your Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your Mind is 1043 01:00:16,840 --> 01:00:19,520 Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts for my 1044 01:00:19,600 --> 01:00:22,640 Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or 1045 01:00:22,640 --> 01:00:24,360 Speaker 1: wherever you listening to your favorite shows.