Star Tours

Summary

---

Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

Episode: Star Tours

Date: July 30, 2026

---

Episode Overview

In this episode of Cabinet of Curiosities, Aaron Mahnke guides listeners through two fascinating historical tales under the theme "Star Tours." The first story exposes the grim history of the Hawk's Nest Tunnel disaster, a tragedy of industrial greed and forgotten lives in 1920s West Virginia. The second segment transports listeners to 16th-century Nuremberg, recounting a mysterious and spectacular celestial event that has fueled centuries of speculation about its meaning — from ominous portents of godly power to early alien encounters.

---

Story 1: The Hawk's Nest Tunnel Disaster (00:38 - 06:07)

Setting and Background

• Deep in the mountains of West Virginia, the New River flows through a landscape of preserved natural beauty (00:38).
• In the 1920s, Union Carbide, a major chemical company, set out to build a hydroelectric plant in Alloy, West Virginia — an ambitious engineering project requiring a three-mile-long tunnel through solid rock (00:57).

Catastrophe Unfolds

• Thousands of workers, primarily Black men recruited from the rural South, were brought in for the project (01:10).
• The tunnel was bored through rock rich in silica. Pulverized into dust, inhaled silica is deadly — yet the air was thick with it, and no protective equipment or ventilation was provided (01:25).
• Silicosis, a lung disease usually developing over years, struck the workers within months. Symptoms worsened rapidly, leading to respiratory failure and death (01:42).
• "It's estimated that between 750 and 1,000 workers due to respiratory failure from working in the Hawk's Nest tunnel, making it the deadliest industrial disaster in US History, surpassing even the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire." (02:10 - 02:22)

Aftermath and Cover-up

• Union Carbide dismissed workers who showed signs of illness, sending them home without support. Many were buried by the company in unmarked graves (02:26).
• Attempts at justice, such as a class-action lawsuit, were largely dismissed; victims received little to no compensation (02:39).
• Corporate records for the disaster were neglected, but survivor communities formed to preserve oral histories and remember the dead (03:10).

The Human Cost and Legacy

• "These were men whose coughing shook them so hard they could barely speak. Men who described it as dry drowning and the feeling of sand filling their lungs." (03:22)
• The racial dimension was critical: most victims were Black. "Instead of treatment, the men would receive their final paycheck and a train ticket home. What became of them after that was none of the management's business." (03:55)
• Survivor families gathered to share stories, craft oral histories, and inspire future remembrance through art and writing (04:57).
• "The miners of Hawk's Nest may have been forgotten by the company, but they are remembered by history today. Their story is a call to action, a reminder that we must never forget the sacrifices made in the pursuit of progress and that we must always protect the lives of those who build our world." (05:38)

---

Story 2: The Nuremberg Celestial Phenomenon (07:08 - 12:51)

Setting the Scene

• Aaron opens by reflecting on humanity's age-old fascination with the sky as a place of dreams, myths, and wonder (07:08).
• On April 14, 1561, residents of Nuremberg (then part of the Holy Roman Empire) witnessed a stunning and bewildering event in the early morning skies (07:37).

The Mysterious Event

• As the sun rose, witnesses saw "two arcs of red light...like large crescent moons" accompanied by red spots, dark orbs, crosses, and green stripes, all moving aggressively, "weaving around like agitated birds" (07:52 - 08:17).
• Some objects seemed to fall from the sky, leaving smoke columns on the horizon—described as a "battle" raging above, lasting about an hour (08:26).
• When the event ended, an "immense black spear pointing to the east" appeared, then the skies cleared (08:35).

Recording and Interpreting the Event

• Hans Glässer, a woodcutter, made a woodcut illustration and described the event, calling it a sign of God's might (08:48).
• Centuries later, his account resurfaced in discussion—especially in the 1958 book Flying Saucers: Modern Myths of Things Seen in the Sky—and is now often interpreted as evidence of early UFO sightings (09:12).

Skepticism and Mystery

• Some argue the spectacle was a natural phenomenon such as "sun dogs," an atmospheric optical effect, or results of overactive imagination after staring at the sun (09:41).
• "It's hard to imagine even the most superstitious person looking at them and thinking that there's actually whole celestial battles being waged in the heavens." (09:56)
• The sole witness, Glässer, is the original source—so skepticism centers on the lack of corroboration, though this is not unusual for the era (10:10).

Enduring Fascination

• Aaron summarizes, "The world is a place full of awe inspiring sights... Even if we never know what happened that day in Nuremberg, we'll never be short of signs from above and humanity will always spring to the task of interpreting them." (11:26)

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "The real story of Hawks Nest doesn't lie in some redacted memos or columns on a spreadsheet, but in the fragmented accounts of the victims themselves." (02:59, Hawk's Nest)
• "Their story is a call to action, a reminder that we must never forget the sacrifices made in the pursuit of progress and that we must always protect the lives of those who build our world." (05:38, Hawk's Nest)
• "The Earth's skies produce auroras in the Arctic Circle and green flashes on the ocean's horizon... Even if we never know what happened that day in Nuremberg, we'll never be short of signs from above and humanity will always spring to the task of interpreting them." (11:20, Nuremberg story)
• On oral history: "Survivors and families of the dead... gathered in community centers and churches to share their stories of loved ones lost. These meetings became the first real oral history of the events and the people it most affected." (04:34, Hawk's Nest)

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:38 — Introduction to the Hawk's Nest Tunnel disaster
• 01:10 — Description of worker conditions and the silica threat
• 02:10 — Magnitude of deaths and industrial cover-up
• 03:22 — Impact on victims, racial injustice, and corporate neglect
• 05:38 — The enduring legacy and lessons
• 07:08 — Introduction to the Nuremberg celestial event
• 07:52 — Witness descriptions of the phenomenon
• 08:48 — Hans Glässer’s woodcut and religious interpretation
• 09:12 — Modern UFO theories and skepticism
• 11:20 — Aaron’s closing reflection on wonder and uncertainty

---

Tone & Style

Aaron Mahnke’s delivery is evocative and empathetic, blending historical fact with a sense of wonder, outrage at injustice, and a deep curiosity for the unexplained. He underscores both the raw human cost behind industrial progress and the timeless nature of humanity's fascination with the skies.

---

Summary

"Star Tours" expertly balances the somber remembrance of America's deadliest industrial disaster with the awe and ambiguity of a centuries-old mystery in the heavens. The episode serves as both a call for remembrance and justice, and an invitation to remain curious about the world's enduring wonders—those that inspire awe, and those that demand accountability. Mahnke encourages listeners to keep telling these stories, whether of loss or of bewilderment in the face of nature’s unexplained spectacles.

---

For further exploration: Visit Grim & Mild’s Cabinet of Curiosities for more historical oddities, or find the official Cabinet of Curiosities book and ad-free episodes via Patreon.

Transcript

[A]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Wasn't that delicious? So good.

[B]

Your bill, ladies.

[A]

I got it. I got it. No, I got it. Seriously, I insist. I insisted first. Don't be silly. You don't be silly.

[B]

People with The Wells Fargo ActiveCash credit card prefer to pay because they earn unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases.

[A]

Okay. Rock, paper, scissors for it. Rock, paper, scissors. Shoot. No.

[B]

The Wells Fargo ActiveCash credit card. Visit Wells Fargo.comActiveCash terms apply.

[C]

Welcome to Erin Menke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim and mild. Our world is full of the unexplainable. And if history is an open book, all of these amazing tales are right there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. Deep in the mountains of West Virginia, the New river runs its ancient course through the gorge. The land around it has been preserved as a national park. And so there are miles of natural beauty. There's a sort of quiet out there in the depths of Appalachia. One could almost be forgiven for not seeing the deep scar in the limestone cliffs or for not knowing of the catastrophic industrial event that caused it all. But here, in this beautiful place, hundreds of lives were claimed by a slow, suffocating death. The 1920s were a time of incredible industrial expansion, and the chemical giant Union Carbide decided that it needed to power its plants in Alloy, West Virginia. This would require something of an engineering feat. The site of the new hydroelectric plant was not next to water. In fact, they would have to dig a tunnel three miles long to tap the new river so that the plant could make power. It was going to be one of the marvels of modern engineering. Thousands of laborers were brought in for the project, predominantly black men recruited from the South. They were to blast, drill, and then clear the tunnel. They would work long hours in small, confined spaces, and this would prove to have devastating consequences for those workers. You see, the rock through which the tunnel was bored was rich in a mineral called silica. And when pulverized into a dust, it becomes lethal to inhale. And the air was thick with silica dust, so thick that it was impossible to see more than a few feet in front of you. There were no masks to protect the men's lungs, no ventilation system to draw the toxic particles away. The men essentially toiled away in a death trap. Now, a common disease found among miners is chronic silicosis, which scars scars the lungs, making them unable to absorb oxygen. It normally takes years to develop but the men who worked in the Hawk's Nest tunnel, their working conditions were so extreme that they developed acute silicosis within just months. They suffered through shortness of breath, chest pain, and relentless coughing, and eventually their lungs would shut down completely. It's estimated that between 750 and 1,000 workers due to respiratory failure from working in the Hawk's Nest tunnel, making it the deadliest industrial disaster in US History, surpassing even the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire. Although massive in scale, the tragedy was compounded by a complete lack of accountability. Instead of helping the workers who were affected, the company fired many of those who began to show symptoms, sending them back home to die. And those who did die were often buried by the company in unmarked graves. At one point, workers gathered together to file a class action lawsuit, but it was largely dismissed, leaving victims without money for medical bills and lost wages. And so for decades, the corporate record of these men remained lost in neglect and cover up. But the disaster could not be forgotten. You see, the real story of Hawks Nest doesn't lie in some redacted memos or columns on a spreadsheet, but in the fragmented accounts of the victims themselves. The oral histories collected over the years painted a bleak picture. These were men whose coughing shook them so hard they could barely speak. Men who described it as dry drowning and the feeling of sand filling their lungs. They were fathers, brothers and sons, and it's impossible to ignore the racial dimension of this disaster as well. The vast majority of the men who died were black, recruited from the rural South. And when the illness began settling in, Union Carbide's response was as cruel as it was fast. Instead of treatment, the men would receive their final paycheck and a train ticket home. What became of them after that was none of the management's business. And this physical distance meant that the company could deny any responsibility. As these men wasted away, their skin turning gray, their breathing reduced to a mere rattle, the company's silence was nearly as deadly as the dust itself. But in the following years, the survivors and families of the dead found each other, gathered in community centers and churches to share their stories of loved ones lost. These meetings became the first real oral history of the events and the people it most affected. In time, these were archived, and others began to tell the stories through writing, photography and art. And it remains an indictment of the human cost of industrial greed. The miners of Hawk's Nest may have been forgotten by the company, but they are remembered by history today. Their story is a call to action, a reminder that we must Never forget the sacrifices made in the pursuit of progress and that we must always protect the lives of those who build our world.

[A]

Wasn't that delicious? So good.

[B]

Your bill, ladies.

[A]

I got it. No, I got it. Seriously, I insist. I insisted first. I'm gonna be silly. You gonna be silly.

[B]

People with the Wells Fargo Active Cash credit card prefer to pay because they earn unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases.

[A]

Okay. Rock, paper, scissors for it. Rock, paper, scissors, Shoot. No.

[B]

The Wells Fargo Active Cash credit card. Visit wells fargo.com ActiveCash terms apply most

[A]

dog food brands don't really want you seeing how their food is made. Just food for dogs is the opposite. They actually invite you in. You can walk into any of their kitchens and see real human grade ingredients like chicken, beef, carrots and peas being prepared right in front of you. It's real food made in real kitchens. Nothing is hidden behind labels. And that kind of transparency says a lot. Nothing to hide, everything to love. Go to justfoodfordogs.com and get 50% off your first order.

[C]

Foreign. The skies have always been a great source of mystery and wonder. Even in our modern age. Looking up at the stars or the vastness of a storm cloud can be a potent reminder of how small we human beings really are in this universe. They make all our triumphs and struggles seem insignificant for all of human history. We projected our myths, our dreams and our stories into the heavens above. And when we didn't have our heads in the clouds, sometimes we wondered what could lie beyond them. It was April 14th of 1561 in the city of Nuremberg. This was long before the formation of Germany, back when it was a city in the Holy Roman Empire. Residents of the city stepped out of their homes as dawn was breaking. A number of them froze in place, staring up at the heavens. The sun looked strange as it rose to its usual place in the sky. And as they watched, two arcs of red light appeared in the middle of the sun. They looked something like large crescent moons. And around them, other lights started to spark into existence. Red spots above and below the sun. Other dark orbs started appearing as well as red crosses and stripes of green. Before the eyes of the Nuremberg citizens. All of these strange celestial objects started to fly aggressively against each other, disappearing in and out behind the sun, weaving around like agitated birds. A flurry of light that was so striking, none of the people below knew how to make sense of it. They could only describe it as a battle of some kind. Some of the objects appeared to exhaust themselves and fell down to the horizon. Enormous columns of smoke came from the crash sites. Although no one dared to investigate, it lasted for about an hour. Finally, as the skies quieted, another object, larger than all the rest appeared. And it looked like an immense black spear pointing to the east. And then the skies were clear again. At the time, no one knew what to make of what they had seen. A local woodcutter named Hans Glesser made a wood carving of the event, depicting the various celestial objects and their interaction with the sun. He wrote his description of the event below the woodcut, including his own interpretation that the sights had been a sign of God's might. Centuries after Glesser's woodcut, a different interpretation became the primary one. And I'm sure you've probably already guessed what it is you see. UFO enthusiasts eventually became convinced this so called battle in the skies was so strange and unique that it had to have been an early glimpse of some kind of alien activity. The truth is, Glasser's account had fallen into obscurity, obscurity before it was mentioned in a 1958 book called Flying Saucers Modern Myths of Things Seen in the Sky. And the book raised some interesting questions. Was this an interstellar war or some sort of attempt at communication that the 16th century Nuremberg citizens just couldn't understand? Skeptics of the UFO battle theory say that the people of 1561 Nuremberg merely saw some unusual celestial phenomenon and elaborated on it. The description of two crescent moons of light seemed to be similar to sun dogs, an effect where the sun's halo produces two sharp flares on either side of the horizon. And the other shapes likely came from staring at the sun for too long. But if you've seen sun dogs, you know that the effect is impressive, but it's mild. It's hard to imagine even the most superstitious person looking at them and thinking that there's actually whole celestial battles being waged in the heavens. Hans Glesser's woodcut shows a sky practically chock full of spots and shapes. The other popular point of skepticism is the author of the original story. As far as we're aware, Hans Glesser wasn't a con artist or a fabulist. But his account is the only one that we have of the event at all. Everything he says is filtered through his perspective and artistic depiction, even the fact that many Nuremberg residents saw the lights in the sky and is a claim with a single source. This all isn't unsurprising for the period though, but it does give us an almost infinite number of ways to express skepticism. Or credibility of what happened, depending on what you're most likely to believe. The world is a place full of awe inspiring sights. The Earth's skies produce auroras in the Arctic Circle and green flashes on the ocean's horizon. All that said, there is one thing that we know to be true. Even if we never know what happened that day in Nuremberg, we'll never be short of signs from above and humanity will always spring to the task of interpreting them. I hope you enjoyed today's guided tour through the Cabinet of Curiosities. This show was created by me, Aaron Manke, in partnership with iHeart Podcasts, researched and written by the Grim and Mile team and produced by Jesse Funk. Learn more about the show and the people who make it [e-mail] curiosities. You'll also find a link to the official Cabinet of Curiosities hardcover book available in bookstores and online, as well as ebook and audiobook. And if you're looking for an ad free option, consider joining our Patreon. It's all the same stories, but without the interruption for a small monthly fee. Learn more and sign up [e-mail] grimandmild and until next time, stay curious.

[A]

Wasn't that delicious? So good.

[B]

Your bill, ladies.

[A]

I got it. No, I got it. Seriously, I insist. I assisted first. Oh, don't be silly. You don't be silly.

[B]

People with the Wells Fargo Active Cash Credit card prefer to pay because they earn unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases.

[A]

Okay. Rock, paper, scissors for it. Rock, paper, scissors. Shoot.

[B]

No. The Wells Fargo ActiveCash credit card. Visit Wells Fargo.comActiveCash terms apply.

[A]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.