Lore 303: Shoot for the Stars

It was a seemingly typical autumn day when actor William Shattner suited up, stepped into

“a starship, and for the obtained time in his career, prepared to boldly go, or no man”

has gone before. He had enacted this ritual countless times while portraying the beloved James T. Kirk, Captain of Star Trek's USS Enterprise, but this was different. Today, you see, he wasn't simply plain and astronaut on TV. No on October 13th of 2021, William Shattner actually became one.

After months of flight simulations and training courses, the actor joined three fellow voyagers aboard the blue origin rocket new shepherd N.S. 18, which successfully blasted off for a 10-minute long suborbital space flight. At 90 years old, Shattner became the oldest living person to ever visit outer space. It's hard to imagine how significant that moment must have felt for him.

After all, this is a guy whose name has been synonymous with space travel since 1966,

three years before the moon landing, and here he was, finally leaving the Earth's atmosphere

for the very first time. You would probably expect that it was a joyful experience, a full circle moment, Shattner himself certainly thought that it would be. But as it turned out, the reality was something far different. I love the mysteries of the universe, he later wrote, reflecting on the voyage.

I love all the questions that have come to us over thousands of years of exploration and hypothesis. Stars exploding years ago, their light traveling to us years later, black holes absorbing energy, satellites showing us entire galaxies and areas thought to be devoid of matter entirely. All of that has thrilled me for years, but when I looked in the opposite direction into space, there was no mystery, no majestic awe to behold. All I saw was death.

“So there you have it. Sometimes to find true horror, all you have to do is look up.”

I'm Aaron Manky, and this is lore. The spacecraft was called Soyuz 11, and in 1971 it had just returned to Earth after what everyone

thought had been a successful round trip mission to the world's first space station.

But when the recovery crew opened the hatch after landing, excitement quickly turned to horror. The three men inside were very, very dead. Dark blue patches modeled their faces, trails of blood ran from their noses and ears, and it soon became clear what had happened. Soyuz 11 had accidentally depressurized while undocking from the space station, some 100 miles above the Earth. The cosmonauts were gone before their journey home had even begun,

and no one on the ground had any idea. It's a grim tale, but here's the really surprising thing about the Soyuz 11's casualties. These three astronauts are the only people to have ever died in outer space. That's right, out of the 600 something explorers who have journeyed into the great unknown outside of our atmosphere, a mere three of them have lost their lives, and on the same expedition, no less. For most of us, our knowledge of space comes from media,

like Star Wars and Star Trek, chock full of action, adventure, and yes, lots of death. But in reality, there's only been one single deadly accident more than half a century ago. Honestly, not bad odds. But then again, that's just counting people who died while actually in outer space. If you add in those who perished in their attempts to get there, well then that number becomes absolutely horrific. Take, for example, the fire that broke out

during the launch simulation of Apollo 1, killing three astronauts back in 1967, or a parachute failure that same year, in which the lone cosmonauts aboard Soyuz 11 was reduced to, and I quote, "A lump 30 centimeters wide and 80 centimeters long." Then there's the Challenger disaster, which I got to watch happen in real time on a TV alongside my entire six-grade class, because our teacher wanted us to watch another teacher go into space. It's a bit of childhood

“trauma that I will never forget. Add to that, the seven deaths from 2003's Columbia Shuttle”

Disaster, and well, when you start adding it up, space travel clearly isn't the safest of pursuits. And that's not even counting the dog's cats, monkeys, mice rats, rabbits, turtles, fish, geckos, and various insects who have perished in the name of space flight. And with all that uncertainty, it makes sense that astronauts will try just about anything if it means being a little safer. They may be literal rocket scientists, but they're also some of the

for example, will religiously eat scrambled eggs and steak before launch. Why? Well, because that's

what Alan Shepard ate right before he became the first American in space in 1961. And while this

breakfast of champions is strictly ritual-based for today's high flyers, it wasn't a random meal choice for Shepard. In fact, the menu was carefully designed by the aerospace medical lab, due to its low fiber content, which was, yeah, important. You see, Shepard's 15-minute suborbital flight plan didn't exactly include a bathroom break, and a low fiber meal would help reduce the need to go. Now, American astronauts superstitions go far beyond the dining hall. According to

tradition, once the mission commander on American space flights suits up, they must win a card game against the tech crew before heading to the launch pad. The game of choice is usually called possum fargo, and the rules are simple. Each player draws five cards, and the lowest poker hand,

“wins. And you might be wondering, what happens if the commander doesn't draw the lowest hand?”

Well, then they keep playing until he does. And apparently there have been multiple occasions where the card game came dangerously close to messing up a launch schedule. In another example, at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab, or JPL in Southern California, mission control engineers eat lucky peanuts before launch. Way back in the early 60s, when JPL was attempting to send a probe to the moon, only for it to fail not once, not twice, but six times. By the seventh attempt,

spirits were pretty flagged, so the engineer decided to boost morale by handing out some peanuts to snack on. Low and behold, that seventh try was the charm. So ever since then, peanuts at launches are a required snack. Oh, and yes, this is the same JPL whose founder was super into satanic rituals, and attempting to summon the horror of Babylon, along with his buddy

“Elron Hubbard. But I digress. Of course, it's not only American astronauts who get a little woohoo”

before blast off. Russian cosmonauts have a whole host of their own superstitions. One of the most common involves having a little movie night on the eve before a launch.

They always watch the same film, too. A Russian action movie called "White Sun of the Desert."

This good luck ritual started in 1973 when Soyuz 12 astronauts watched the film before a mission, which was obviously a bit stressful given the fate of Soyuz 11, right? According to 12's commander, the movie's protagonist, Comrade Suhoi, became like a third crew member to them during the trip, which ended up being a huge success. And Russian rituals don't end there. Most of the others revolve around the cult-like worship of Soviet pilot Yuri Gagarin, which makes sense.

After all, in April of 1961, Gagarin became the first human being ever in space. And since then, Russian cosmonauts have been attempting to owe so precisely replicates every moment leading up to that first flight. And this includes planting a tree alongside a special grove, signing their door at the cosmonaut hotel, and getting a haircut two days before launch. Most famously, though, that would be the tradition of stopping outside the bus that brings them to the launch pad,

approaching the back-right tire, and peeing on it. And yes, you heard that right?

You see, according to the legend Gagarin did this before his first ever flight.

Assumadly, out of a genuine need, rather than urinary spellcasting. But today, it is a must. It's also important to pay respects to Yuri Gagarin directly. Although he died in a plane crash in 1968, his office has been frozen in time as a museum. Impending Voyagers will make pilgrimages to his desk there to sign a guest book, and also lay flowers on his final resting place

“at the Kremlin Wall in the Cropolis. And finally, there's one last important step. You have to”

ask Yuri Gagarin's permission to enter the skies, which might be a problem given the fact that he's dead, but don't worry, the Russian astronauts know exactly what to do. They simply beg the blessing of Gagarin's ghost. Long before humanity reached the stars, we were telling stories about them. You're probably familiar with the 12 signs of the Zodiac, a word that quite literally translates

to "circle of little animals," by the way. But while astrology apps and glossy magazine horoscopes are all too trendy today, the notion that the stars present at your birth can influence the rest of your life actually stretches way back to ancient Babylon. It was the Greeks, though, who really perfected that system. And they also had some colorful ideas as to how the stars got up there in the first place. The constellations cancer and Leo, for example, both started out

as creatures on Earth. After hercules defeated them during his 12 labors, Hera placed them in the sky as a reward for their service. Ersa Major, meanwhile, was once a nymph Calisto and Ersa Minor,

only for her son to mistake her for a real bear and try to kill her. At the last minute,

Zeus intervened by turning both of them into constellations. Meanwhile, the seven stars of the Pleiades cluster were once seven beautiful sisters, so beautiful in fact that the hunter Orion pursued them day and night, to protect them from their stalker, Zeus had a creative solution.

“You guessed it, he turned them into stars. Here's the thing, though. The Greeks weren't the only”

ones to label the Pleiades as seven women. In fact, countless world cultures have similar stories, like the Twarrag people of the Sahara, the Great Plains, Kiowa people, Southern Australia's Weirango people, and the Rajee of Nepal, just a name of few. Now, before you look up at the night sky and tell me that my count is off, yes, I know only six stars are visible in the Pleiades cluster, but I promise you they're used to be a seventh. Before things shifted a bit up there,

and one ended up blocked from our view. And it was, well, a bit before our time, though, 100,000

years ago, which has amazing implications when you think about it. If the last time seven distinct

stars were visible to the naked eye was 100,000 years ago, it means those stories about the seven sisters must be at least as old. In fact, some theorize that all of these seven women myths originate from one single lost story, told all the way back in ancient Africa. Over the Eons

“that's hailed not only spread, but it adapted with the times. Once the seventh star became invisible,”

the stories changed to match, including new myths to explain why the seventh woman is missing. In some, she's hiding in shame after marrying a mortal, and in others, she's dead or abducted, and instill others, she simply too ugly to show her face. Oh, and speaking of Africa, in South African Jose culture, where it's disrespectful to point at an elder,

it's also disrespectful to point at the stars, and they're not the only ones with a taboo against

star pointing. In Germany, pointing at the stars is equivalent to poking out an angel's eyes. The hardcore, I know. Oh, and it's also said to make your finger fall off. But don't worry, there is a work around. If you do accidentally point at a star while in Germany, simply bite your finger after and you're good to go. In Britain, you'll lose more than a finger if you point at the stars, you might straight up die, and this superstition extends to

“counting stars as well. According to legend, if you count to 100, you're dead. In Brazil,”

though, things are a little less dire. If you point at the stars there, you'll merely get a warts on the offending finger. Now, without that said, stars aren't the only celestial bodies that have made their way into humanity's folklore. Comments have long been interpreted as portends by cultures all around the world. Portends of what exactly, mostly some type of horrible doom. But occasionally, they could be good omens as well. Take the Christian folklore, for example,

while usually comets are seen as a sign of God's wrath, some have argued that the star of Bethlehem from the Christmas story, signaling the birth of Christ, wasn't to start all but a comet. In China, folks couldn't help but notice that a comet's tale looked a bit like a broom of twigs, which led to the belief the comet's swept away the old and made room for the new, for better or for worse. In ancient Rome, comets tales were likened not to the bristles of a broom,

but to human hair. In fact, the word comet comes from the Greek word "comites", meaning ahead with long hair. As if the comet were a severed head, soaring across the sky, it's luxurious dresses flowing behind. Of course, today, we know that the effect is merely a trail of dust and ionized gas, but the whole hair analogy really had an impact on the ancients. When Roman Emperor Vespasian was warned about a coming comet,

he insisted that whatever Omen it brought didn't apply to him, so not to worry about it. How was he so sure? Why because he was bald, of course? So clearly the comet was a message for the King of Perthians instead, his very hairy neighbor. All around the world and across the pages of history, it's clear that comets have been ominous signs, but at least they're the kind of signs that stay in the sky, right? Well, unfortunately, if the stories are true. That assumption

would be terribly wrong. It was without a doubt the weirdest thing the people of France had ever seen. One minute, it was a typical October day in 1952, and the next, the residents of all the run, were frozen in place, gawking skyward at a giant cigar-shaped UFO, which was alarming enough, even without what came next. Because there, in the distance, nearly 30 other flying objects

were following the UFO as it moved slowly southward. In the words of the local high school superintendent, to the naked eye they appeared as featureless balls resembling puffs of smoke,

surrounded by a sort of yellowish ring. And these things weren't just floating, they were leaving

“strange white trails behind them, pale smoke-like threads almost like spider silk, and once the”

saucers departed, these fibers slowly fell to the ground, which is where the real chaos began. Whatever this trail material was, it covered the town of Oloran, it landed in sticky clumps on rooftops, clung to trees, and telephone wires, but when people tried to pick it up, the material turned to jelly in their hands before disappearing altogether. One man, a dentist named Dr. Ballestra, was walking across a bridge when he became totally

ensnared by the filaments, basically a real-life enactment of Frodo's stuck in Shilob's web.

He arrived and fought, finally managing to break free, but that was only the half of it. Because you see, that's when the threads gathered themselves back together and rose back into the air.

“And I know what you're thinking. This all sounds very totally made up, but I promise you it is not,”

in fact the incident in Oloran wasn't even one of a kind. Cincinnati, Ohio, Sudbury, Massachusetts, Auckland, New Zealand, and Melbourne, Australia. Even second-century Rome, in all of these places witnesses have reported seeing an almost identical phenomenon occur. To quote a report from 7th century Japan, cotton-like matter in strands of about 5-6 feet long

were seen to fall from the sky and drift in the wind for quite some time. And in the year 196 AD,

the historian Cassius Die wrote, "A fine rain resembling silver descended from a clear sky upon the forum of Augustus." Yes, whatever this stuff is, it's been flaring down upon our little planet for quite some time. It's come to be known as Angel Hair, but not like the Pasta.

“According to Uofologists, the stuff is categorized as a fibrous web or silk-like substance”

that descends to Earth from above, often oddly enough in the month of October. Usually it's white although sometimes it's gray, silver, or translucent. And apparently it tastes salty, although I wouldn't recommend trying it. Oh and by the way, the Angel Hair that fell on Olaron France,

it wasn't the most recent sighting because just two October's later in 1954, it descended upon

a professional Italian soccer match in front of 10,000 witnesses. In fact, this one is worth spending just a little bit more time on. It was 227 pm on October 27th, just after half time, when gameplay influences Artimeo Frankie Stadium screeched to a halt. The players, you see, had noticed that their fans weren't actually watching them play anymore. Instead, they'd all began to shout in point at the sky. Soon, the players were looking up as well, the ball abandoned on the ground,

and what they saw is about to sound all too familiar to you. Because overhead floated strange cigar shaped and egg shaped UFOs, from which a stringy, silvery substance began to fall, landing thick and sticky on the turf. And hey, if 10,000 soccer fans aren't witnesses enough to convince you, they weren't the only ones to see the phenomenon. Similar reports flooded in from all over Florence, along with other nearby towns. Oh and by the way, this was just one out of 961 UFO

sightings in Europe just that month, nearly 500 more than any month that year, and many of those reports, yes, they also included reports of Angel Hair. But back to the stadium, the phenomenon continued for a good 15 minutes before the UFOs flew out of sight. And look, Italians clearly take their soccer game seriously, because once the spectacle vanished, they went right back to playing. The home team won in a six to two victory, by the way, but it wasn't the score that

would stick in player's memories. Decades later in 2014, one player named Romolo Tucci, recall the feeling that he had as he stood on the field that day, watching the mysterious sky. I was spellbound, he said, and I was also so, so happy. All the wars ever fought, all the arts ever made, and all the music ever composed, every love story and every heartbreak, it's all taking place right here on this tiny blue planet, barely a spec

in the vast expanse of the universe. And yes, maybe there are other livable planets. Maybe there's even intelligent life out there, but if there's one thing more terrifying than the idea of something out there, it's the hollow isolating notion that perhaps we really are utterly and entirely alone. And so, we tell stories. We transform the stars into characters with names and feelings and faces.

In other words, we bring the void to life. Of course, not every space encounter is just a story. Stringy, alien, angel hair really has fallen from the sky. But there are those who believe that even that has an earthly explanation. Some theorize that the gunk that fell on France and Italy in the 1950s was a substance called Chaff, a tingle of tiny fiberglass and aluminum wires that planes will drop to disrupt radar. Perhaps a military fighter jet was training that day,

and inadvertently released the stuff on unsuspecting citizens. And sure, that might explain some of the events of the 1950s, but what about the angel hair sightings from back before Chaff, or before planes for that matter were even invented? Well, some have an explanation for

“that as well. Remember how I mentioned earlier that these angel hair sightings are most frequently”

reported during the month of October? Well, here's something else that occurs in October as well. Spider migration. Now, apologies in advance to the arachnophobes out there because I'm about to drop

a whole new nightmare on you. Literally, it's called ballooning. Basically, after certain species

of baby spiders hatch, they disperse by catching a ride on the breeze, assisted by long strands of their silk. And if you have enough floating spiders, the silk can get all tangled up into a big, silvery cloud of cobwebs soaring through the sky. Oh, and by the way, ideal conditions for this happen to be calm, sunny autumn days, just like the weather during those incidents in France and Italy. And I know what you're thinking, what about those oblong spacecraft scenes spewing the stuff?

Well, apparently when light reflects off the spider web balloons, it can cause all sorts of optical illusions, like making a glob resemble a single solid object. It is a pretty good explanation, and in most cases, probably exactly right, but it may not be good enough for those cases in the 1950s, because you see, I left out one tiny detail from that 1954 soccer match. As sticky strands overtook the stadium, one quick thinking journalist scooped up some of the substance and

tucked it away, and then he took it to a lab at the University of Florence. Chemical analysis revealed it to contain calcium, magnesium, boron, and silicon, but do you know what is very much missing from this little cocktail? That's right, it has neither plain chef nor spider silk.

“I hope you enjoyed today's adventure through folklore's final frontier. Seems like the only thing”

expanding faster than the universe itself are the tales that we tell about it, but we aren't done with airborne legends just yet. In fact, I've been hiding one last story under the rug, that's just about ready to fly. Stick around through this brief sponsor break to hear all about it. This episode was made possible by simply safe. Look, I'm just going to say it, traditional home security brands make home security a headache with expensive monthly fees,

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taxes and fees extra cement mobile for details. This episode was made possible by Squarespace. I often tell people that I'm not just a podcast producer. I'm also a recovering former graphic designer. I know firsthand how tough it can be to craft a brand and a website around a business or a personal identity. But Squarespace makes it so incredibly easy. Squarespace is the all-in-one website platform that's designed to help you stand out and succeed online. So whether

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for a live session based on over 1.7 million client reviews. When life feels overwhelming, therapy can help. Sign up and get 10% off at BetterHelp.com/law. That's BetterHELP.com/law. When I say the term "magic carpets," most of us think of one particular story, Aladdin. After all, who could forget that cheeky purple rug zooming across the desert carrying Disney's favorite street rat? Heck, it's so ubiquitous you're probably already humming a whole new world

to yourself without even noticing. But guess what? It's all a lie. Because it turns out the actual Aladdin story from 1,000 in one night doesn't include a single-flying carpet. Not one. That entire association is a Disney invention. Now don't get me wrong. Magical flying carpets are a traditional feature in Persian folklore. And in fact, other stories in 1,000 and 1 nights do mention the odd flying textile. I'll be at far and few between and not in Aladdin itself. No, for much of history,

the title of the world's most famous carpet writer actually belonged to a different character entirely, none other than the biblical king Solomon of Israel. And it was it flying around on some scrawny purple bath mats, either. No, according to Jewish folklore, King Solomon had a magic

carpet that took up 60 square miles, basically the size of Washington, DC. It was said to be made of

green silk woven with golden threads and studded with jewels. Then Jewish versions of the story, it was the carpet itself that had levitating powers. In Islamic versions, God had simply given Solomon power over the four winds. Other versions still held that it wasn't God but the queen of

vehicle flew through the sky so swiftly that Solomon could eat breakfast and Damascus and supper

“in Medea, which, if I'm calculating my biblical geography correctly, were roughly 800 miles apart”

as the crow flies. And the big wig wasn't traveling alone, either. Solomon's entire entourage would come along for the ride, while flocks of birds soared overhead protecting the carpet's occupants from the sun. Suffice to say, Solomon was very, very proud of this thing and of himself for that matter and look who can blame him, right? A city-sized flying rug definitely puts my card to shame, but we all know how these stories go. Pride comes before the fall. And in this case, that fall

is literal. As the ancient legend goes, God was none too pleased with Solomon's pridefulness, so he sent a wind to tip the carpet, sending 40,000 of Solomon's men plummeting to their deaths

“and forcing the king to realize the error of his ways. Don't worry, though. I'm not quite ready”

to land, just yet. Flying carpets appear in other world folklore as well. In one Filipino story for example, three brothers are given three gifts in exchange for helping a mysterious old man

they meet on the road. The first of those gifts? That's right. A flying carpet. And just as a

quick aside, but the other two gifts are too good not to mention here. One is a tube that if you stick it up someone's nose and blow through it can heal all their ailments. And the other, it's a book that when red reveals to the reader every possible current event, which sounds a lot like a tablet if you ask me, but I digress. Magic carpets, though, aren't just for warm climates, they pop up in Russian stories too, specifically tales about

Baba Yaga. As anyone who's read our writer generous nethercotts novel Fistlefoot Nose, the infamous Slavic witch herself rides around in a house on chicken legs, but apparently she keeps a few flying carpets on hand as party favors for visitors that she deems worthy. So if Disney's

“Aladdin is the American manifestation of Magic Carpet lore, what's the Russian equivalent?”

Well for that let me direct you to a little 1940s prop again, a poem called The Wonderful Carpet. In this Soviet story, two little girls fly over the USSR on a beautiful tapestry. What image is on this magical tapestry you might ask? Well that would be none other than an intricately woven portrait of Joseph Stalin's face. Talk about rolling out the red carpet. This episode of lore was produced by me, Aaron Manky, with writing by generous nethercotts

researched by Cassandra Dayalba and music by Chad Lawson. Just a reminder folks, I have a brand new history book that's coming out this year on August 4th, it's called Exhumed, and it explores the roots of the New England Vampire Panic through the lens of centuries of folklore, medical advancements, and pseudo science. It is available right now for pre-order though, and if you pre-order the hardcover, my publisher has a web page set up where you can submit your

receipt and get a free gorgeous tote bag. Head over to AaronManky.com/exhumed to see the gorgeous cover, find out where you can buy it, and lock in your copy today. Don't like hearing the ads, there's a paid version of lore on Apple Podcasts and Patreon that is 100% ad-free. Subscribers also get weekly mini bonus episodes, be called lorebites, and Patreon members get discounts on merch, and access to my inbox. Learn more over at lorepodcast.com/supports. You can follow

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