Overview of Lore 303: Shoot for the Stars
Host Aaron Mahnke explores humanity’s strange, often eerie relationship with the sky — from modern spaceflight and astronaut superstition to ancient star myths, comet omens, mysterious “angel hair” falls, and flying‑carpet folklore. The episode weaves historical incidents (both tragic and bizarre) with cultural rituals and explanations—scientific and speculative—showing how people have filled the cosmic void with stories, taboos, and rites.
Key stories and segments
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William Shatner (Oct 13, 2021)
- At 90 Shatner flew on Blue Origin’s New Shepard and became the oldest person to go to space. Instead of awe, he later wrote that, looking out, “All I saw was death.” The story opens the episode and frames the darker perspective on the cosmos.
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Soyuz 11 (1971)
- The only deaths recorded as occurring while actually “in outer space”: three cosmonauts returning from the world’s first space station died after accidental depressurization during undocking. Their discovery on landing was grisly.
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Other fatal incidents in space programs
- Apollo 1 (1967) — cabin fire during test killed three astronauts.
- Soyuz 1 (1967) — fatal parachute failure.
- Challenger (1986) and Columbia (2003) — shuttle disasters with multiple deaths.
- Plus many animal casualties in early space experiments.
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Astronaut and cosmonaut superstitions & rituals
- U.S. traditions: Alan Shepard’s low‑fiber preflight meal (scrambled eggs & steak) for practical reasons; card game “Possum Farro” (commander must draw the lowest poker hand) before heading to the pad; JPL engineers’ “lucky peanuts” after repeated early failures.
- Russian rituals: watching the same film (White Sun of the Desert) before launch; pilgrimages to Yuri Gagarin’s preserved office, signing his guestbook and laying flowers at the Kremlin wall; getting a haircut two days before launch; stopping to urinate on the bus’s back‑right tire (a folk homage to Gagarin); asking Gagarin’s blessing—even invoking his ghost.
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Ancient star myths & taboos
- Babylonian roots for astrology; Greek myths explaining constellations (Hercules defeating creatures; Callisto → Ursa Major; Pleiades as seven sisters).
- The Pleiades “seven sisters” myth is found across many cultures; the story may be extremely old — the cluster used to show seven stars to the naked eye ~100,000 years ago, suggesting remarkable antiquity for related myths.
- Superstitions about pointing at stars: various taboos across cultures (South Africa, Germany, Britain, Brazil) with different folkloric consequences.
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Comets as omens
- Universally read as portents (often ill): Greek etymology likened comets to long hair; Chinese likened tails to broom‑bristles sweeping change; Christian/Star of Bethlehem as a possible comet. Anecdote of Emperor Vespasian’s baldness as an ad hoc “exemption” from a comet’s hair omen.
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Angel hair (fibrous substance falling from the sky)
- Mid‑20th century incidents: Oleron, France (1952) and Florence stadium event (Oct 27, 1954) where silvery, sticky filaments reportedly fell from the sky after sightings of cigar/egg‑shaped UFOs. Similar reports exist worldwide and historically (e.g., 2nd‑century Rome, 7th‑century Japan).
- Characteristics: fibrous, silk‑like, often in October, sometimes disappears or dissolves on handling.
- Proposed explanations:
- Military chaff (fiberglass/aluminum radar countermeasures).
- Spider “ballooning” — mass dispersal of spider silk creating floaty silvery clouds (particularly plausible in calm autumn conditions).
- Unexplained/inorganic sample: a Florence sample analyzed showed calcium, magnesium, boron, silicon — not consistent with plain chaff or spider silk, leaving some events unresolved.
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Flying carpets and other airborne folklore
- Contrary to popular belief, Disney’s Aladdin popularized the flying carpet; the original Aladdin tale doesn’t include one.
- King Solomon folklore: a massive jewel‑studded, levitating carpet carrying thousands; legend ends with a divine wind tipping the rug and killing many as punishment for pride.
- Other cultures: Filipino tales, Russian Baba Yaga stories (flying carpets as favors), and a Soviet poem where a carpet bears Joseph Stalin’s face.
Themes & takeaways
- Humans fill cosmic emptiness with meaning: rituals, myths, and taboos serve psychological and cultural needs — to explain, to comfort, to control risk, or simply to connect.
- Spaceflight mixes rational safety engineering with deep superstition: many astronaut/cosmonaut rituals originated from either practical choices (low‑fiber meals) or morale/ tradition after repeated failures (peanuts, one film, homage to pioneers).
- Not all mysterious sky phenomena have neat explanations: some cases (e.g., certain angel hair reports) remain ambiguous even after scientific analysis.
- Folklore can be remarkably persistent and cross‑cultural; some star myths may predate modern human dispersal.
Notable quotes
- William Shatner (on seeing Earth from suborbital flight): “All I saw was death.”
- Closing reflection (Mahne/ke): “All the wars ever fought, all the art ever made… every love story and every heartbreak, it's all taken place right here, on this tiny blue planet… perhaps we really are utterly and entirely alone. And so, we tell stories.”
Interesting facts & trivia
- Soyuz 11’s three cosmonauts are the only people recorded to have died while actually in outer space (as distinct from deaths during launch/reentry attempts).
- Pleiades myths are globally widespread; visible star count changes over millennia may date some of these stories to extraordinarily ancient times.
- Angel hair sightings have historically clustered in October — which correlates with spider ballooning seasons and many reported mid‑century cases.
Production & additional resources
- Host: Aaron Mahnke. Episode produced with writing by Jenna Rose Nethercott; research by Cassandra de Alba; music by Chad Lawson.
- Mahnke’s new book (mentioned in episode): Exhumed — on New England vampire panics (release and pre‑order info given in episode).
- The episode includes sponsor segments (Amazon Music, Mint Mobile, Squarespace, SimpliSafe, Progressive) and options for an ad‑free paid feed via Apple Podcasts and Patreon.
If you want a one‑line summary: the episode uses real space tragedies, odd sky‑phenomena, and age‑old star myths to show how humans layer ritual and story onto the void above them to fend off isolation and make the cosmos feel comprehensible.