Short Stuff: 1561 Celestial Event | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

[Music]. Hey and welcome to the short stuff. I'm. Josh and there's Chuck and we're sitting. in for Jerry who would be sitting in for. Dave. And if that's confusing, it. doesn't matter because that has nothing. to do with this episode on the 1561. celestial phenomenon of Nerburgg. That's right. Nerburgg, Germany. Of. course, uh on April 14th of that year, there were uh people, this is early. morning, and there were a lot of people. around. And this happened for over an.

hour where they looked up in the sky and. saw what looked like an aerial battle. between airships of uh unknown origin, I. guess, is the best way you could say it. They there were different colors. There. were different shapes. There were. squares and globes and uh crescent. And. eventually the ships uh crashed outside. of town and dissolved into smoke. And a. lot of people saw this. >> and a a lot of people who weren't just. like. >> uh silly rubes, >> right? It wasn't like um Rusty and. Eugene who were out drinking that night.

who saw it and came back and told. everybody. >> We know other people doing their thing. in the morning. >> Exactly. And we don't know how many. We. just know quote a lot of men and women. >> Uh and then after all that something. like a black spear appeared in the sky. too. So this was a big deal you can. imagine and we know about it because. there was a broad sheet that was. published recording it or documenting. it. There's a publisher named Hans. Glazer and he published an ein blat did.

I say that right? >> Yeah. >> Okay. Which is a type of broad sheet. that has a headline an illustration. usually a woodcut and then you know an. account of what happened. And so there's. this famous einlot juke of the 1561. celestial phenomenon in Nuremberg that. Hans Hans Glazer made. And if you've. even remotely heard of this I'll bet. you've seen his famous wood cut from it. It's It's quite lovely. >> Yeah, I love a woodcut. We both love. woodcuts. >> Yeah, a good woodcut is something to.

behold. >> Agreed. So, uh now we look back and say. like, hey, these people saw this is like. one of the first UFO encounters. Um they. didn't talk of such things back then. So, of course, they didn't talk about it. that way. >> Um but it was not, as it turns out, an. isolated incident even at the time. Uh. there were apparently a lot of sort of. sightings like this at the time uh where. it looked like airship battles were. going on. So if you lived around that. area, the Alpine sort of Scandinavian. area at the time, uh between like a.

9-year period or so, there were 400 of. these broad sheets. So it was it was. like a hot thing, a hot topic. >> Yeah, people were nuts for it. Right. So. um this was during the time where. Austria, Switzerland, Germany, some. other countries and Nuremberg is in. Germany of course they were part of the. Holy Roman Empire and the Holy Roman. Empire was ruled by an emperor and the. pope. So therefore it was a pretty. Catholic uh empire and at the time of. this event in Nuremberg um the.

reformation's going on. So this is a. really tumultuous time that was kicked. off by Martin Luther. And during the. reformation era, there was a lot of. religious fervor. There was a lot of. emphasis on end times. So when people. saw things like these aerial battles in. the sky, they're like, "This is clearly. a sign from God. We don't know what it. means, but what it's ultimately telling. us is that we're doomed unless we repent. our and and mend our ways.". >> That's right. Uh so just to sort of. reiterate, they did not call these UFOs.

That's an us thing. Yeah. And maybe. we'll take that break and we will come. back right after this and dig in once. more. [Music]. S Y L Y S K. [Music]. >> Okay, Chuck. So if like you said um this.

1561 celestial event over Nuremberg was. one of hundreds in this this era this. era of the trend of seeing aerial. battles in the sky. Why is that the one. we're talking about and there's actually. a really good explanation why. The. reason why is because this was a. forgotten event because again it just. got mixed in with all the others. Um, it. was a forgotten event in history largely. that was plucked out of obscurity to be. used as an example in a book about.

flying saucers or actually the mythology. we create around things like flying. saucers by none other than psychoanalyst. Carl Jung. And because this one event. was plucked from all the other ones that. he could have used, it came to seem to. us people living today as a singular. event. Like nothing like this had ever. happened before. Right. >> Yeah. >> So it loses its context in that sense. And then eventually over time since 1958.

when that book came out it was stripped. further of its context that Carl Young. was using this as an example of people. um coming up with their own myth. mythologies about something they didn't. understand like we do with UFOs. And. it's so this one event that happened in. Nuremberg in 1561 that Carl Young um put. in his book about flying saucers is a UF. is he's talking about a UFO sighting. That's where we landed today when we. think about the 1561 celestial.

phenomenon being a UFO sighting. >> Yeah. Aliens basically. >> Exactly. >> Uh but you know I think I said in the. first part that you know these weren't. rubs they were just regular people. Um. it was 1561 but like science was around. a little bit there in some form or. fashion. Like less than a decade after. this uh they figured out like what. comets were that they were space fairing. natural objects. So they weren't they. weren't people sitting around looking at. the sky saying it was like a dragon or. something like that?

>> No. Yeah, they Yes. And when you take. that into account that these weren't. just dummies, you can't just be like, "Yeah, it was a comet obviously or maybe. even a couple shooting stars. Who. knows?" If you take that kind of easy um. explanation out of your toolbox, as they. put it in HR, um it becomes much harder. to explain what exactly they saw. You. also have to take into account these. people had eons of collective awareness. and memory of an experience with natural.

phenomenon. >> So again, it's not going to be a comet. It's not going to be a rainbow. It's not. going to be something like that. Over. time, basically three main explanations. have been uh profered. >> Uh and that's sund dogs, fireworks, and. embellishment. >> Yeah. Um, a sund dog is uh it's it's not. something you see every day, but it's. not like super super uncommon. Apparently, like they're as common or. more common than rainbows. So, it's the. kind of thing that happens uh with with.

some frequency, but that's when the. sun's reflected uh by these low angled. ice crystals up in the air and it it. triples it basically where you have two. suns on either side and it fits that. it's morning because it happens the sund. dogs happen when the sun is low on the. horizon. Mhm. >> So that would sort of make sense that it. was daybreak. Yeah. >> Uh the one thing though is that this. happens a lot. So if this is kind of. thing that or not a lot, but with enough. frequency that people wouldn't be like, "Oh my god, let's make a woodcut about. this.". >> Right. One other thing that actually is. a mark in the Sund Dog's favor as an.

explanation, they typically last between. 15 and 30 minutes. But as recently as. 2023, one in northern China was. witnessed that lasted a couple hours. So. it's if this thing lasted an hour, it it. it's not like a sund dog is ruled out. because of the length of time. That was. one. >> Yeah. >> Another one is that in 1540, full 20. plus years before this event, um a man. named Veninocio Berinio. published Dea Pyrochnneia, which is the.

first book from Europe at least on how. to prepare rockets, including using. rockets in festivals, what we would call. fireworks. So, the question is like, was. there somebody in Nerburgg who had had. gotten a hold of this book and was. putting on a fireworks display without. telling anybody? And there's actually. some of the details are like, yeah, that. that would make sense that these things. fell out of the sky and and fizzled out. into smoke when they were on the ground. >> I mean, it sounds silly at first, but. that one makes a little more sense to me.

than even Sund Dogs as far as like maybe. creating weird shapes. >> and the fizzling out part like you've. talked about. like uh but then then. you're just sort of making a theory. about some some rogue uh you know German. that got this book but hey that's that's. not unbelievable. >> right like on its face it seems unlikely. but when you dig in it's like it gets a. little meteor for sure I mean like this. is something that they probably wouldn't. have seen before you know so at least it. checks that box. >> and then there's embellishment too right.

>> yeah I mean that's that's kind of the. obvious one that um maybe I don't know. something happened maybe it was a sun. dog gone wild and uh it's a great series. of videos in the ' 80s. >> Uh a sund dog gone wild in the account. and then the the the wood cutting on. that broad sheet. Um maybe that's what. happened because even it wasn't like the. heyday of yellow journalism and. tabloids, but even very early on in. publishing, they were uh kind of doing.

some more um sort of salacious stuff to. get readers because there was. competition going on. >> Exactly. So it makes a lot of sense that. they might have been embellishing. No. matter what it is, that doesn't explain. what it is, but that explains probably. the account of it, right? >> Yeah, agreed. >> So I mean, I guess that's it. It was a. one of multiple stories of something. that happened at the time, plucked out. of obscurity by Carl Young, stripped of. context, turned into a UFO sighting that. had nothing to do with that by us. I.

want to also thank our listener James. Calamra who's written in multiple times. to ask for us to do this one uh as far. back as 2021 which is 460 years after. the Nermberg event. Exactly. Pretty. spooky short stuff is out. Stuff you should know is a production of. iHeart Radio. For more podcasts iHeart. Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app. Apple.

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