June 10, 2025 • 10 mins
Curious stories always seem to sit on the fringes of conflict, as today's Cabinet tour will show.
Order the official Cabinet of Curiosities book by clicking here today, and get ready to enjoy some curious reading!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
iHeartRadio and Grimm 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.
(00:36):
I have this idea. Arts is a lot like Isaac
Newton's third Law of Motion. Just hear me out for
a second. As the law states, for every action there
is an equal and opposite reaction. The forces of motion
push and pull at each other, and in the same way,
artistic movements exist in tension with themselves. You cannot have
modernism without postmodernism as an essential counterbalance force. And in
(01:01):
that regard, consider the historical significance of art in relation
to totalitarianism. Every time a state uses art as a
means of control, oppression, or propaganda, they cannot fully contain
how that will reverberate in the greater artistic world. Oppressive
art can birth art that is, in its very form,
an expression of rebellion. In nineteen thirty four, Maxim Gorky
(01:24):
proposed an artistic philosophy that would become known as socialist realism.
As an artistic expression of the new Soviet Union. The
works in this field would celebrate the state and the
party for the people. It was supposed to be a movement,
but it would become a doctrine. The form of the
work became the way in which the art was supposed
to look in Soviet Russia, and naturally it provoked a response.
(01:47):
The generation that came later birthed the so called sixtiars artists,
writers and thinkers who came to prominence in the nineteen sixties.
Their work actively defied socialist realism in form and content.
Many of these artists were socialist politically, but had become
disillusioned with life in the USSR. Their interpretation of left
wing values was not strict adherence to the communist party line.
(02:10):
It was an artistic expression. Enter A La Horska. She
was the Ukrainian daughter of a Soviet film executive, and
she would grow to resent the repressive politics of Stalin's Russia.
She started painting when she was young, earning praise and
recognition for realistic works, but ultimately she grew away from
the style, growing increasingly fond of traditional Ukrainian art. Her
(02:34):
later works favored bold colors and abstract, fantastical designs, work
that was in direct defiance of Soviet realism. In Kiev,
she freely experimented with mediums, paints, mural, stained glass windows,
you name it. Her apartment became a popular meeting place
for sixty year gatherings. By the mid nineteen sixties, the
(02:54):
KGB was keeping tabs on all of these artists. Their
work was defiant in spirit as well as in form.
One of a La Horska's early stained glass windows was
destroyed before it could be exhibited for the way that
it depicted Mother Ukraine as a sorrowful presence under the
yoke of Russia. Her phone would be tapped and many
of her friends arrested or killed. Horska's work for the
(03:18):
Ukrainian underground had only just begun. She provided shelter to
enemies of the USSR, attended anti government protests, supported her
colleagues who had been sent to labor camps, and all
of this while continuing to produce bold artwork that celebrated
the unique culture of Ukraine. Horska, however, didn't escape persecution
(03:38):
for long. In nineteen seventy she vanished without a trace.
Her body was later found in her father in law's cellar.
Her father in law meanwhile had been found dead on
some nearby railroad tracks. It was supposed to look like
a suicide after he had killed her, but everyone knew
the truth. This was the KGB attempting to silence a
public opponent. But if the intent was decided silence her,
(04:00):
it was ineffective. Her funeral later that December turned into
a massive protest against the communist regime, and her name
joined the ranks of martyrs for the cause of Ukrainian liberty.
And then there's her artwork, those murals, paintings and portraits.
They outlived the USSR and many still remain in treasured
museum collections all across Ukraine. Their value comes from the
(04:24):
indomitable voice she represented, someone who fought for persecuted people
with every tool she had available to her. Art is
a curious thing. It is inherently political, no matter how
escapist it aspires to be. Art exists as an expression
of culture, and culture is a cumulative thing, something that
can't be forced onto a nation against the will of
(04:46):
its people, and Russia today clearly realizes this as during
the war in Ukraine, Several of Alahorska's pieces have been
destroyed by invading forces, but it's twenty twenty five and
artistic practice exists farther than just one physical space. Destroying
Horska's murals does not erase them from cultural memory or
the digital copies taken by people who have seen them.
(05:09):
Art is as ephemeral as an emotion, and both are indestructible.
The winds were lighter than usual as Tommy Tomberlin climbed
(05:31):
skyward over the island. The twenty six year old part
time flight instructor kept his hands off the controls, letting
his students in the front seat. Twenty four year old
Jimmy Duncan get used to piloting the small two seat airplane.
It was a clear morning with only light clouds and
great visibility. You couldn't ask for a better day to fly,
and Tommy was enjoying the warmth of the sun on
(05:53):
his face through the glass cockpit window. Glancing down, he
saw another plane parked on a small runway. It had
botched its landing, rolled off the gravel into the grass
where it had gotten stuck. The two pilots, a young
man and a woman were struggling to push it back
onto the runway. The woman looked up, saw Tommy's plane
and waved. That had to be Marguerite's, another young flight
(06:16):
instructor who worked with Tommy. She wouldn't be happy about
the delay, which would put her behind schedule for her
next student. Tommy did not envy her. He'd hate to
be grounded on a morning like this. He waved back
and then instructed Jimmy to bank right and follow the
island's northeastern shore. A few minutes later, they were soaring
over Rocky Cliffs when a flash caught Tommy's attention. He
(06:38):
turned to see two bright red lines streak toward him.
The plane shuddered as something punched through the rear fuselage.
Jimmy shouted in surprise, and Tommy whirled around, searching the
skies in a panic. He saw another flash and heard
the sharp burst of machine gun fire. Someone was shooting
at them. Tommy didn't think. He grabbed the stick, taking
(07:00):
control of the plane back from Jimmy, and he dove.
Now Tommy wasn't a military pilot in a warplane. He
was a twenty six year old civilian in a slow,
cheap hobby aircraft made of wood and canvas, but he
knew that he'd have a better chance of evading an
attack by flying low. As long as he stayed close
to the waves and the cliffs, anyone dive bombing him
(07:20):
from above would be forced to pull up to avoid
a crash. When he was just fifty feet above the water,
Tommy leveled out. He glanced back to see two sleek
metal fighters close on his tail. They fired again, and
Tommy rolled, turning into the island. They had to get
out of the sky as soon as possible, and that
meant cutting across the island to the civilian airport on
(07:42):
the southwestern harbor. But as he banked in that direction,
he let out a groan of despair. Dark clouds blocked
his path. A rain squall had appeared over the mountains,
cutting off the quickest path back to the airport, and
that left only one option. With the fighters still close
on his tail, Tommy plunged toward a canyon, cutting through
(08:02):
the jungle. It was a risky play. The pass was
notorious for powerful gusts that could throw his injured plane
into a tailspin, but Tommy gritted his teeth and pushed ahead,
skimming just eight feet above the trees. His knuckles turned
white as he fought with the controls. The plane trembled
with every dip and turned, but the tailwind was in
his favor today, rocketing him through the pass at breakneck speed.
(08:26):
The fighters finally peeled away, unwilling to follow so close
to the jagged cliffs. Tommy barely noticed, though, his focus
locked on the narrow strip of sky ahead. Then the
trees fell away and the sky opened up, and he
was through. Tommy led out a breath that he'd been
holding onto, but his relief was short lived. As he
emerged from the pass, the whole island unfolded before him.
(08:49):
The sky was filled with hundreds of planes, all bearing
the red circle of the rising sun. They swarmed over
the island's many military buildings, strafing runways and bombing aircraft carriers.
Fires burned along the shores as dark smoke billowed up
from the naval base at Pearl Harbor. You see, Tommy's
plane was one of six civilian aircraft in the sky
(09:12):
when the Japanese Naval Air Force descended on Hawaii that Sunday.
Tommy and his student passenger made it to the airport
in one piece, although the plane was riddled with bullets.
Not all the other civilian pilots were so lucky. The
next day, President Franklin Roosevelt told the world what had
happened on December seventh of nineteen forty one, a day
that would live in infamy and one that, as Tommy
(09:34):
Tomberland learned firsthand, was a very curious day to fly.
I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet
of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn
more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com.
(09:54):
The show was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership
with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show
called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show,
and you can learn all about it over at Theworldoflore
dot com. And until next time, stay curious.
Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
iHeartRadio and Grimm 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.
(00:36):
I have this idea. Arts is a lot like Isaac
Newton's third Law of Motion. Just hear me out for
a second. As the law states, for every action there
is an equal and opposite reaction. The forces of motion
push and pull at each other, and in the same way,
artistic movements exist in tension with themselves. You cannot have
modernism without postmodernism as an essential counterbalance force. And in
(01:01):
that regard, consider the historical significance of art in relation
to totalitarianism. Every time a state uses art as a
means of control, oppression, or propaganda, they cannot fully contain
how that will reverberate in the greater artistic world. Oppressive
art can birth art that is, in its very form,
an expression of rebellion. In nineteen thirty four, Maxim Gorky
(01:24):
proposed an artistic philosophy that would become known as socialist realism.
As an artistic expression of the new Soviet Union. The
works in this field would celebrate the state and the
party for the people. It was supposed to be a movement,
but it would become a doctrine. The form of the
work became the way in which the art was supposed
to look in Soviet Russia, and naturally it provoked a response.
(01:47):
The generation that came later birthed the so called sixtiars artists,
writers and thinkers who came to prominence in the nineteen sixties.
Their work actively defied socialist realism in form and content.
Many of these artists were socialist politically, but had become
disillusioned with life in the USSR. Their interpretation of left
wing values was not strict adherence to the communist party line.
(02:10):
It was an artistic expression. Enter A La Horska. She
was the Ukrainian daughter of a Soviet film executive, and
she would grow to resent the repressive politics of Stalin's Russia.
She started painting when she was young, earning praise and
recognition for realistic works, but ultimately she grew away from
the style, growing increasingly fond of traditional Ukrainian art. Her
(02:34):
later works favored bold colors and abstract, fantastical designs, work
that was in direct defiance of Soviet realism. In Kiev,
she freely experimented with mediums, paints, mural, stained glass windows,
you name it. Her apartment became a popular meeting place
for sixty year gatherings. By the mid nineteen sixties, the
(02:54):
KGB was keeping tabs on all of these artists. Their
work was defiant in spirit as well as in form.
One of a La Horska's early stained glass windows was
destroyed before it could be exhibited for the way that
it depicted Mother Ukraine as a sorrowful presence under the
yoke of Russia. Her phone would be tapped and many
of her friends arrested or killed. Horska's work for the
(03:18):
Ukrainian underground had only just begun. She provided shelter to
enemies of the USSR, attended anti government protests, supported her
colleagues who had been sent to labor camps, and all
of this while continuing to produce bold artwork that celebrated
the unique culture of Ukraine. Horska, however, didn't escape persecution
(03:38):
for long. In nineteen seventy she vanished without a trace.
Her body was later found in her father in law's cellar.
Her father in law meanwhile had been found dead on
some nearby railroad tracks. It was supposed to look like
a suicide after he had killed her, but everyone knew
the truth. This was the KGB attempting to silence a
public opponent. But if the intent was decided silence her,
(04:00):
it was ineffective. Her funeral later that December turned into
a massive protest against the communist regime, and her name
joined the ranks of martyrs for the cause of Ukrainian liberty.
And then there's her artwork, those murals, paintings and portraits.
They outlived the USSR and many still remain in treasured
museum collections all across Ukraine. Their value comes from the
(04:24):
indomitable voice she represented, someone who fought for persecuted people
with every tool she had available to her. Art is
a curious thing. It is inherently political, no matter how
escapist it aspires to be. Art exists as an expression
of culture, and culture is a cumulative thing, something that
can't be forced onto a nation against the will of
(04:46):
its people, and Russia today clearly realizes this as during
the war in Ukraine, Several of Alahorska's pieces have been
destroyed by invading forces, but it's twenty twenty five and
artistic practice exists farther than just one physical space. Destroying
Horska's murals does not erase them from cultural memory or
the digital copies taken by people who have seen them.
(05:09):
Art is as ephemeral as an emotion, and both are indestructible.
The winds were lighter than usual as Tommy Tomberlin climbed
(05:31):
skyward over the island. The twenty six year old part
time flight instructor kept his hands off the controls, letting
his students in the front seat. Twenty four year old
Jimmy Duncan get used to piloting the small two seat airplane.
It was a clear morning with only light clouds and
great visibility. You couldn't ask for a better day to fly,
and Tommy was enjoying the warmth of the sun on
(05:53):
his face through the glass cockpit window. Glancing down, he
saw another plane parked on a small runway. It had
botched its landing, rolled off the gravel into the grass
where it had gotten stuck. The two pilots, a young
man and a woman were struggling to push it back
onto the runway. The woman looked up, saw Tommy's plane
and waved. That had to be Marguerite's, another young flight
(06:16):
instructor who worked with Tommy. She wouldn't be happy about
the delay, which would put her behind schedule for her
next student. Tommy did not envy her. He'd hate to
be grounded on a morning like this. He waved back
and then instructed Jimmy to bank right and follow the
island's northeastern shore. A few minutes later, they were soaring
over Rocky Cliffs when a flash caught Tommy's attention. He
(06:38):
turned to see two bright red lines streak toward him.
The plane shuddered as something punched through the rear fuselage.
Jimmy shouted in surprise, and Tommy whirled around, searching the
skies in a panic. He saw another flash and heard
the sharp burst of machine gun fire. Someone was shooting
at them. Tommy didn't think. He grabbed the stick, taking
(07:00):
control of the plane back from Jimmy, and he dove.
Now Tommy wasn't a military pilot in a warplane. He
was a twenty six year old civilian in a slow,
cheap hobby aircraft made of wood and canvas, but he
knew that he'd have a better chance of evading an
attack by flying low. As long as he stayed close
to the waves and the cliffs, anyone dive bombing him
(07:20):
from above would be forced to pull up to avoid
a crash. When he was just fifty feet above the water,
Tommy leveled out. He glanced back to see two sleek
metal fighters close on his tail. They fired again, and
Tommy rolled, turning into the island. They had to get
out of the sky as soon as possible, and that
meant cutting across the island to the civilian airport on
(07:42):
the southwestern harbor. But as he banked in that direction,
he let out a groan of despair. Dark clouds blocked
his path. A rain squall had appeared over the mountains,
cutting off the quickest path back to the airport, and
that left only one option. With the fighters still close
on his tail, Tommy plunged toward a canyon, cutting through
(08:02):
the jungle. It was a risky play. The pass was
notorious for powerful gusts that could throw his injured plane
into a tailspin, but Tommy gritted his teeth and pushed ahead,
skimming just eight feet above the trees. His knuckles turned
white as he fought with the controls. The plane trembled
with every dip and turned, but the tailwind was in
his favor today, rocketing him through the pass at breakneck speed.
(08:26):
The fighters finally peeled away, unwilling to follow so close
to the jagged cliffs. Tommy barely noticed, though, his focus
locked on the narrow strip of sky ahead. Then the
trees fell away and the sky opened up, and he
was through. Tommy led out a breath that he'd been
holding onto, but his relief was short lived. As he
emerged from the pass, the whole island unfolded before him.
(08:49):
The sky was filled with hundreds of planes, all bearing
the red circle of the rising sun. They swarmed over
the island's many military buildings, strafing runways and bombing aircraft carriers.
Fires burned along the shores as dark smoke billowed up
from the naval base at Pearl Harbor. You see, Tommy's
plane was one of six civilian aircraft in the sky
(09:12):
when the Japanese Naval Air Force descended on Hawaii that Sunday.
Tommy and his student passenger made it to the airport
in one piece, although the plane was riddled with bullets.
Not all the other civilian pilots were so lucky. The
next day, President Franklin Roosevelt told the world what had
happened on December seventh of nineteen forty one, a day
that would live in infamy and one that, as Tommy
(09:34):
Tomberland learned firsthand, was a very curious day to fly.
I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet
of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn
more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com.
(09:54):
The show was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership
with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show
called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show,
and you can learn all about it over at Theworldoflore
dot com. And until next time, stay curious.
Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities News
Host
Aaron Mahnke
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