Pilot Matt & The Voynich Manuscript

Summary

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The Nightly — "Pilot Matt & The Voynich Manuscript"

Podcast: The Nightly (Hatch Podcasts)
Episode Date: November 28, 2025
Hosts: Matt (A), kp (B)

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Main Theme

This cozy late-night episode blends gentle humor, sleep advice, and pop culture curiosity. Hosts Matt and kp share their sleep tips, riff on quirky bedtime routines, and take a deep, lighthearted dive into the strange mystery of the Voynich Manuscript. The episode winds down with confessions of niche obsessions—including Matt’s belief in his ability to fly a plane thanks to “flight simulator”—creating a warm, whimsical tone ideal for bedtime listening.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Sleep Strategies & Bedtime Habits

• Heated Blanket Hype

  • Matt shares his discovery of the joys of heated blankets and recounts a local event for "pat testing" electric blankets—a process to check their safety.

    “It turned out the fire brigade were doing a talk there on how to pat test your electric blanket. It was a lot of old people.” (01:11)

  • Both hosts joke about the lengths people go for coziness.

• Sleeping Positions & Sleep Training

  • kp details her struggle to train herself to sleep on her back (supposedly healthier and better for jaw issues).

    “How do I subliminally teach myself how to sleep in my sleep?” (03:03)

  • Lighthearted speculation about using the podcast as a sleeper’s audio reminder:

    Matt: “Just one of us just on a loop saying, stay on your back. Stay on your back.” (03:13)

• Pre-Bedtime Instagram Trends

  • Recent sleep and relaxation trends: lying on the floor with legs up against the wall (“right angle time”) and “tummy time” like a baby, allegedly to help neck alignment.

    kp: “I think it’s all a ploy to get us to look silly.” (05:04)

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2. The Voynich Manuscript: A Deeply Enigmatic Mystery

• What is the Voynich Manuscript?

  • kp introduces the audience to this 15th-century illustrated book, notorious for its completely undecipherable script and strange, alien-looking plant illustrations.

    “It’s complete gibberish … The language isn’t used in other texts of the time. … Or they’re like, okay, perhaps this was like a code to hide what they were really trying to say.” (06:27, 06:49)

• Speculating Theories about Its Authorship & Purpose

  • The duo spins theories ranging from alien origin to ancient code, with a preference for “warlock doctor” or “the world’s first comedian.”

    Matt: “So probably on drugs. A lot of free time. Loads of thoughts that don’t really make sense. … I reckon that could be the first comedian.” (10:53, 11:01)

  • kp’s favorite idea: a mad genius or someone with “full time” devotion to cryptic nonsense.

• Details, Fun Facts, and the Manuscript’s Oddities

  • Found in a Southern European castle; written with some recognizable, some invented characters; no one has yet deciphered even a passage.
    • “The drawings are very like ... there’s a lot of horticulture, there’s a lot of plants, there’s a lot of fauna ... but the order makes no sense at all.” (06:49–08:40)
    • “With 300 pages, you would for sure have to get other people helping you write it, but it stays consistent the whole time.” (13:39)
  • Name given to its language: “Voyna cheese.”
  • Recruited top code-breakers (even rumored to distract them from global warfare), to no avail.

• Notable, Memorable Quotes:

  • kp: “It was such My Roman Empire that I was thinking about getting a tattoo of one of the flowers in the book because I find it just so enigmatic.” (07:16)
  • Matt: “That sounds like the notes app in my phone.” (11:01)

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3. Matt’s Flight Path Obsession & Everyday Expertise

• Matt’s “Toxic Trait”: Believe You Could Fly a Plane

  • Matt spies on planes overhead using a flight tracker and believes (with enough simulation gaming and perhaps some coaching) he could land a commercial airliner.

    “I do regularly see, like, watch them go over. And I’ve got a little flight tracker as well. … I reckon I could fly one.” (15:49)

  • kp questions this confidence, but is generally supportive if autopilot is included.

    “If you were like, oh, I’m doing this one, I’d only feel a little nervous as I put my bag in the plane.” (17:37)

• Could You Be Talked Through Surgery—or Anything?

  • This spirals into a tongue-in-cheek debate about whether, with expert instructions, you could perform surgery, cook Michelin meals, or land a plane.
    • Matt: “If you had someone to talk you through it as well and just say, right, just turn that on. I don’t think there’s actually that much …” (18:02)
    • kp: “I almost think I could probably do a quick surgery if someone’s talking me through it.” (18:14)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• Matt on the pat testing event:

  “A ginormous queue of elderly people getting their electric blanket pat tested. I didn’t sell a single ticket.” (02:12)

• kp, on Instagram sleep trends:

  “I think it’s all a ploy to get us to look silly.” (05:04) “Matt Bragg was spotted doing tummy time. On his Heated Blanket TMZ article.” (05:25–05:27)

• kp, on the Voynich mystery:

  “It was such My Roman Empire … I was thinking about getting a tattoo of one of the flowers in the book because I find it just so enigmatic.” (07:16)

• Matt, theorizing about the author:

  “That sounds like the notes app in my phone.” (11:01)

• Matt, describing his confidence:

  “I think autopilot would have a pretty big role to play in this fantasy.” (17:32)

• Sign-off (gently winding down):

  Matt: “I’m actually getting pretty sleepy and I’ve got big dreams that I need to … I tend to. So I think I’m gonna turn in.” (20:07)
  kp: “A classic dream of flying and you’re gonna, you’re gonna do it in real life. I can tell. I’m turning in. Good night, Matt.” (20:15)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:54–05:25 — Sleep habits, heated blankets, sleep position struggles, and Instagram trends
• 05:55–15:29 — Deep dive into the Voynich Manuscript: description, theories, fun facts, personal obsessions
• 15:44–19:46 — Matt’s flight path fixation, everyday expertise, “being talked through” complex tasks
• 20:07–end — Wind down, sleepy sign-off

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Tone & Language

The episode’s tone is warm, playful, irreverent, and self-deprecating, with friendly jabs and silly tangents. The language is casual, full of gentle banter, and perfectly pitched for winding down—never taking itself too seriously, even when poking at history’s mysteries.

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Summary Takeaway

“Pilot Matt & The Voynich Manuscript” serves up the perfect bedtime companion: sleep talk, weird history, and endearing, meandering conversations. By the time Matt and kp sign off, listeners are primed for odd dreams—maybe about decoding ancient scripts, flying airplanes, or just finding the coziest blanket around.

Transcript

[A]

Hello. You're about to drift into an episode of the Nightly, a podcast designed to help you unwind and relax. For the full phone free immersive light experience, visit Hatch Co. Enjoy. All right, I'm Mat.

[B]

And I'm kp. Welcome to the Nightly on Hatch, where we want to hear from you if you have any questions, thoughts, great sleep tips to share, etc. Why don't you go ahead and email them to us at thenightlyatch. Co. We'd love to discuss it on the show. Hi, Matt.

[A]

Hello, kp. How are you?

[B]

Good. Do you have great sleep tips to share before our listeners give us the ultimate ones? Because they're kind of sleep experts, I would hope by now.

[A]

I assume they are, yeah. So I don't want to spoil anybody's tips, but I don't know, really. I got a heated blanket recently, which is unbelievable.

[B]

Oh, wow.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Oh, kind of perfect timing. You're really gonna. You're gonna get to the good stuff this winter.

[A]

Yeah, I was. I was really, really cozy. And weirdly, it's a very older person thing to get, I think, because I was at the local sort of art center where I live and I'm doing a show there in a few weeks and it went on sale. And the morning that it went on sale, I'd pop down there anyway just to have a coffee. And the queue was out the door and I was like, oh, my God. Wow, this is incredible. It turned out the fire brigade were doing a talk there on how to pat test your electric blanket. It was a lot of old people.

[B]

Really?

[A]

Yeah. It was a hugely popular event.

[B]

How to pat test it. What does that mean?

[A]

A pat test is like, if you've got any electrical items, you have to get them pat tested to check that they're safe. Whoa. Yeah. So there was a ginormous queue of elderly people getting their electric blanket pat tested. I didn't sell a single ticket.

[B]

Yeah, they're like, nothing is coming between me and this electric blanket. I'll do whatever I need to.

[A]

No, they absolutely love it. What about you? Have you got any sleep tips, kp?

[B]

Well, it's tough to say because. Well, I spent a long time training myself to sleep on my back because I know that's they say that's what's best for you. Two years ago, I took a lot of months and I just forced myself to learn how to sleep on my back. Cause usually I sleep on my stomach. And now I've noticed I'm waking up and I'm on my Stomach again. So I'm in timeout. I'm not a good sleep tip sharer right now because I'm not doing what I'm supposed to be doing.

[A]

I was gonna say that's on your own. That's a pretty hard thing to train yourself to do something when you're not conscious.

[B]

I know. Yeah. They say that you subliminally learn stuff in your sleep, but this one, I was like, well, how do I subliminally teach myself how to sleep in my sleep?

[A]

Maybe we could have that as one of the hatch shows. Just one of us just on a loop saying, stay on your back. Stay on your back. Stay on your back. Stay on your back.

[B]

Drill Sergeant.

[A]

Yeah, I think that's a good idea.

[B]

Flip. Flip. That could work. I need it. I need it. I don't know. I don't know what's happening. I'm regressing.

[A]

How did you learn that sleeping on your back is probably better for you.

[B]

See, and that's the thing. I heard it once, and it just became my. Became my thing. I was willing a hill I was willing to die on. But I do notice I have tmj, like, lockjaw, so sleeping on my stomach is kind of bad for that. It kind of turns my jaw all willy nilly. So I decided to make the switch because of that.

[A]

Right, I see. Yeah. So because I always think I never know what to do, like, when I'm on Instagram or something. You know when you see, like, a reel or a post of somebody who's like, you have to do this before bed. And I saw one yesterday. It was a guy who was saying, you need to lie on the floor with your legs up against the wall. So you're at, like, a right angle.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

But you've got to stay there for about 20 minutes, apparently.

[B]

Yeah. And then they want you to do tummy time. So while you're reading or scrolling, you have to be like a little baby and do tummy time.

[A]

What's that?

[B]

Well, that is just like, you have to put your tummy down on the floor and, you know, kick your legs up and be scrolling and reading, doing whatever you're normally doing. But do it on your stomach because that's gonna realign your neck to go upwards as opposed to down. Like our phones and stuff want us to do.

[A]

Oh, interesting.

[B]

So there's tummy time. There's right angle time. I think it's all a ploy to get us to look silly.

[A]

I feel. I just think there must be a more dignified Way to do it.

[B]

You don't wanna do tummy time.

[A]

Don't get me wrong, I want to do tummy time. I like the ide of it. But that's just the end of everything. Relationship, social life.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

People can't find out that Matt Bragg has tummy time.

[B]

Matt Bragg was spotted doing tummy time.

[A]

On his Heated Blanket TMZ article.

[B]

You're riding. Okay, Matt, can I tell you a little something I've been thinking about recently?

[A]

Please do.

[B]

I've been thinking about there's something called the Voynich Manuscript and it is like an ancient book that was found. I say ancient, it was like 1400s.

[A]

But that's pretty old.

[B]

Yeah, ancient enough. And it's a humongous book. It is like, I think somebody said it would take 30 years to write or something just from the ink of it all the time spent. Because it's illustrated also and why it is so fascinating is it's complete gibberish.

[A]

Right.

[B]

So it's just complete like nonsense that nobody can figure out. Clearly somebody spent so much time, so much effort and was so focused on this book. But it makes no sense. It's been just a huge mystery of like, because the, the drawings are very like, there's a lot of horticulture, there's a lot of plants, there's a lot of fauna. So you would think it's like perhaps a gardening book or an herb based biologist or something. Yeah, there's just no way to decipher the language of it. The language isn't used in other texts of the time. It seems to just be complete gibberish. Or they're like, okay, perhaps this was like a code to hide what they were really trying to say. But even like the top cipher, people that do that for a living are completely lost. They've been trying to figure it out ever since it was found. And it's just so much work. And the drawings are very like. It was such My Roman Empire that I was thinking about getting a tattoo of one of the flowers in the book because I find it just so enigmatic. I'm like, what's going on? I like it.

[A]

You should get a passage from it instead, I reckon. As opposed to a. Just. Just roll the dice on that and.

[B]

Then see a full back piece. A full back piece of gibberish. Yeah, that's good. My friends are gonna be really. I go to the beach and everyone commits me to a hospital from how scary my back piece is. That's good. The flowers though are kind of ugly because they're just alien looking. Like, none of the flowers. It's not even like the flowers make sense. Like, the flowers aren't even flowers that you would find on Earth. They're like purple flowers with little tentacles. Just sunflowers. But something's wrong. And it looks like a lotus, but they never would have seen a lotus at that time period. So it's very enigmatic. It's very odd.

[A]

It's a real question mark when you say it's gibberish.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Is it like a totally different Alphabet, or is it letters that we'd recognize but in a weird formation?

[B]

If I'm not mistaken, it's letters we would recognize, but in A, there's some that are new. They put some new symbols that aren't letters, but mostly it's letters we'd recognize with some additional letters, but the order makes no sense at all.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Like, it's not even uncoverable, is what they say. Because it's like they'll use one letter like this, and then they'll use it 800 different ways that don't make sense if it was an E or don't make sense if it was an A.

[A]

Okay. Right. And where did they find the book?

[B]

I want to say this is in your neck of the woods. Let me go to the encyclopedia. It was found in. Yes. Southern Europe in an old castle.

[A]

Oh, cool. Great place for it.

[B]

Finding an ancient mystery in an old castle. You see why this is my Roman Empire?

[A]

Yes, I totally see why. And it's gonna become one of mine.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

So what's your theory with it? Is it like an alien text? Do you reckon so?

[B]

I mean, that's a very appealing theory to me. I kind of think there's a lot of, like, sun, moon, women, flowers, things about it. So I'm gonna say maybe like a cool warlock doctor wrote.

[A]

Right. Okay.

[B]

A witchy language with that. Like, he or she had some sort of mystical knowledge of the universe that we don't.

[A]

Interesting. And is there, like, a generally accepted theory that people have come to yet, or is it that nobody's got any idea at all?

[B]

I mean, it depends on how much you're willing to believe or disbelieve. Because I think some. A big theory is this person was unwell. A generally accepted one is this was a person that just sort of had a lot of time on their hands and a lot of thoughts that maybe didn't exactly make sense. But it is odd that it's made its way to a castle. Like, theoretically, perhaps this person did know what they were doing. And to have that much vellum and ink and somebody was supplying this guy with the good stuff to write his stuff.

[A]

Yeah. Actually, I've got a theory based on that.

[B]

Okay, please.

[A]

So probably on drugs.

[B]

Okay. Yep.

[A]

A lot of free time. Loads of thoughts that don't really make sense.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

And it's in a castle. I reckon that could be the first comedian I see. Yeah, it's like a court jester. Because that sounds like the notes app in my phone.

[B]

Yes. It's gibberish. And many people have tried to decode your notes, apparently, and they have not been successful.

[A]

No one's got a clue. And in, like, you know, 900 years, they'll look back at it and go, what sort of language was this guy using?

[B]

This was alien life.

[A]

I think that's. That's probably the most likely.

[B]

That could be it. Yeah. And then he put the illustrations just to kind of give it some, like, extra eyes on it, maybe as, like, doodles.

[A]

Yeah, we all doodle, don't we? Mm.

[B]

This joke is about alien flowers. Have you ever noticed how alien flowers are always, like. And then he does, like, a lot of riff.

[A]

Yeah. What is the deal with tentacles in their flowers?

[B]

My wife loves petals. Who's with me? And then he's got 112 pages on that.

[A]

How many pages is it, the actual book?

[B]

240. But there's some people think, like, a lot of pages were missing because it was, you know, it was in rough shape when they found it.

[A]

A lot of gaps in the plot.

[B]

Yeah. They were missing some context in every single page, it seemed.

[A]

What was the name of it again?

[B]

Voynich.

[A]

Voynich.

[B]

Voynich Manuscript. Yeah. And they've given a name to the language, which is Voyna Cheese.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

But they put, like, the top code breakers, the top American and British code breakers from World War I and World War II. They were like, hey, if you guys aren't busy with this world war, do you mind taking a look at this while we gotcha?

[A]

Oh, so it's been around for a while, then?

[B]

Yeah. They found it in 1912.

[A]

Right.

[B]

And they've gotten all of the top war people. They said, oppenheimer, take a break. Come on over. We need you.

[A]

Come and do something useful, mate, please, for once.

[B]

So they had these, like. Yeah, top guys, and they all were unsuccessful. And it's all on PDF, so if you want to take a crack at it, I think it'd be really helpful.

[A]

Yeah, I mean, I'll give it a little look over. Sure. I've actually just had a quick look and the first picture that's come up from it is a naked woman in a jug wrestling, like a sort of tentacled type thing. That is pretty weird.

[B]

It's odd. And it just doesn't match, like a lot of other things from that time period because people were sort of making sense around then. So this guy was a little on his own. What is odd, too, is, like, with 300 pages, you would for sure have to get other people helping you write it, but it stays consistent the whole time. So this really was one person spending their entire days drawing and writing this?

[A]

Yeah, especially back then. If that took 30 years, because people probably only lived to about, what, 40, 50, then maybe.

[B]

Yeah, and maybe I made the 30 year. But it would have taken a long time at least. Like, they were like, oh, this is somebody's full time. They were clocking in at the gibberish factory every day.

[A]

Again, comedian. Yes, you are right. In terms of people, like, talking sense at that point, like, it was pretty advanced. I just had a quick look in the Pillow Fort Encyclopedia 1400s. You're looking at the Battle of Agincourt, Joan of Arc, Christopher Columbus's first voyage.

[B]

Yeah, they were. They were doing stuff.

[A]

So people were. They'll pre. Switched on. Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. This guy had his own style. But it also doesn't look like rushed or any like, whatever he was trying to say. He was trying to put it in a polite, sensical setup. Yeah, he just forgot that the words have to make sense. This is my Roman Empire. This is. And it looks as if the castle was an Italy area or that's, like, where it was found. Maybe it was, like, sold and made its way there. But when it was really, like, found as its spot, it was in an Italian castle.

[A]

Interesting, though. That's great. And something that I'm definitely gonna obsess over now.

[B]

I know. I'll take a crack at it. You take a crack at it. We'll come back with our thoughts. Matt, what do you have that I can obsess over?

[A]

It's not necessarily something that you could obsess over, I don't think. I mean, you might.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

But I think we got time for a very quick one, which is lucky, because it's one of my very toxic traits is that quite often I'm underneath the flight path. So there's a lot of planes going over all day. And I do regularly see, like, watch them go over. And I've got a little flight tracker as well. So I know where they're going, where they've been, and all that kind of stuff. And I do think that in a pinch, I reckon I could fly one.

[B]

Now, this is interesting. See, I have no idea what all the buttons do up there, but I know there's a lot of them. That doesn't deter you at all.

[A]

I just. I can't imagine that they're all that important.

[B]

You think some are for show?

[A]

Do you know what I mean? Like, if you look on a keyboard, like, who uses the tilde key?

[B]

Mm. Okay. Okay.

[A]

But it's there, and it looks intimidating amongst all the other buttons, but you never need to touch that. I reckon I played a lot of flight simulator when I was younger.

[B]

Okay. This is helpful information.

[A]

Yeah. I think that's what might have triggered it recently as well, because I saw a video of a guy who had this set up in his house, you know, like the 360 screens, and he had the proper cockpit set up and the. What's called a yoke, the joystick thing. I thought, yeah, I'd love to get a proper flight simulator just in case.

[B]

Yeah. My thought is, because I know, obviously, autopilot. Well, now, are you thinking you could get in there and press autopilot and sit in the cockpit, or you're thinking without autopilot, you think you could get us there?

[A]

I think autopilot would have a pretty big role to play in this fantasy.

[B]

I think it would bear a lot of the burden. For sure. Yeah. I think you could get us a completely normal domestic flight. If you were like, oh, I'm doing this one. I'd only feel a little nervous as I put my bag in the plane.

[A]

I mean, not as nervous as I'd be. Sure. But I still think because it. Providing you've got communication, all that sort of stuff.

[B]

Mm.

[A]

If you had someone to talk you through it as well and just say, right, just turn that on. I don't think there's actually that much, like, eyeballing that you've got to do. And, like, I think so much of it is automated.

[B]

Well, now, this opens up a whole thing, because if you're being talked through it. I almost think I could probably do a quick surgery if someone's talking me through it.

[A]

Oh, I don't know about that. Have you got steady enough hands for that, do you reckon?

[B]

Not at all. Not. Not even a little. I have sort of nothing that would.

[A]

Be good about that.

[B]

But I think, right as I said it, I went, no, I don't believe that.

[A]

But do you know what that's, that is what this show is for. And you've. Anyone listening, you've got the email. So email in. We can charter a flight. I'll do that. And then when we land, one lucky listener could maybe have like a hernia operation or something from kp.

[B]

Yeah, an easy one, if that's all right. Don't, don't make it a big hernia appendix. That, that one's been going on forever. I could probably get rid of that thing.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You could get that out.

[B]

I could probably get that one out. I think if I was being talked through it maybe I could probably cook a Michelin meal if I was being talked through it.

[A]

Yeah, I reckon that's, that's maybe if.

[B]

I like had a headset in maybe.

[A]

Yeah. As long as it wasn't one of the complicated ones that requires too much hands on. But I can put something in the oven for X amount of time.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. It opens up a world that if we're being like headsetted in, how much is natural flair and how much can you just be talked through? But I think piloting makes sense.

[A]

Well, I'm glad that you believe in me, kp. That really means a lot.

[B]

I do believe in you. I say let him up there. Give him a chance.

[A]

Yeah, come on, give me a chance. Come on.

[B]

What would it hurt?

[A]

Right, well, on that note, kp.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

I'm actually getting pretty sleepy and I've got big dreams that I need to. I tend to. So I think I'm gonna turn in.

[B]

A classic dream of flying and you're gonna, you're gonna do it in real life. I can tell I'm turning in. Good night, Matt.

[A]

Sa. To learn more about our phone free light and audio experience, head to Hatch co. You can also follow us at HatchPodcasts.