Rough Landing

Published Nov 10, 2020, 10:00 AM

Curiosities aren't always easy to place in a cabinet. Sometimes they are the result of choices that can only be blamed on one ellusive object: human nature.

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Welcome to Aaron Menkey's Cabinet of Curiosity is a production of I Heart Radio 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. Even if you don't think of yourself as superstitious, you've probably knocked on wood or uttered a casual bless you when someone sneezes. It's in our nature to want to control the uncontrollable, and superstitions are just one way that we exert that desire, even if they don't really do anything at all. Triscad Ecophobic architects often leave buildings without at floor, while some commercial airplane as don't have a thirteenth row. Athletes even have their own rituals and superstitions. They may not change their socks during an entire season, or eats a bit of grass off the field before each game. Whatever it is, it's clear everyone does something to put good fortune in their favor, and presidents are no exception. William McKinley was a Civil War veteran and a lawyer. Before he became the twenty five president of the United States, he worked his way up in politics, earning a seat in Congress. In eighteen seventy seven. He had run against the Democratic nominee Levi Lamborne, beating him by over three thousand votes, a solid win, but one that had left him earning half of what he was making with his law practice. Although he and Lamborne had been political rivals, they remained friends. In fact, they had become quite close while campaigning the year prior. Lamborne was a horticulturalist known for growing red car nations. McKinley often spoke of how lovely his flowers were, so Lamborne, being the gentleman that he was, made a just of goodwill. Before one of their debates, he presented McKinley with a red carnation, which the candidate pinned to his lapel. McKinley won the debate and then went on to win Ohio's seventeenth congressional district. He was convinced that the flower had something to do with it, so he made sure that whenever he went out on the campaign trail, he had a red carnation fastened to his lapel, and it worked when the Democrats tried to jerrymander his district to sabotage his reelection, he still came out on top. He faced minor losses after a bit of political skullduggery from the other side, but eventually went on to become Governor of Ohio in eighteen two, his famous red carnation always close to his heart, the ambitious McKinley continued to climb the political ladder, and with his flower pinned to his chest, there was no way that he could lose. His friend and fellow Republican Mark Hannah helped him secure the nomination for president in eighteen ninety six. McKinley fought a hard campaign against Democratic candidate William Jennings. Bryan speak into over seven hundred thousand supporters from his front porch in Canton, Ohio on the evening of November three. After everyone had cast their votes, it was clear McKinley would be the twenty five president of the United States of America, and he easily won the election for his second term four years later in nineteen But people loved him well. Most people, leon Chilgas, saw McKinley as just another rich man exploiting the working class. He became emboldened by a speech from anarchist Emma Goldman, who inspired the struggling chole Goas to make a statement of his own, one that would resonate around the world. He would kill the President. Meanwhile, McKinley and his wife had been on a cross country tour following his inauguration. Their plan had been to visit the Pan American Exposition World's Fair in Buffalo, New York, before returning to Washington. However, the first Lady had fallen ill on the West Coast, cutting their trip short. McKinley rescheduled his visit to the Expo for a few months later. His staff was wary of the trip. His secretary actually tried to cancel it twice. King Umberto, the first of Italy, had been murdered by anarchists a year earlier, and such public events were considered too dangerous. Even with heightened security, The president wasn't worried, though. He trusted his people, and he had a red carnation pinned to his jacket for good luck, just like always. On September six of nineteen o one, McKinley arrived at the Pan American Expo as he had intended. He loved meeting with people, shaking hands and talking with everyday Americans. As he made his way through the crowd, a twelve year old girl walk up to him. Her name was Myrtle Ledger, and she had an important question. She asked if she could have his pretty red flower. McKinley usually carried bouquets of carnations with him to give out to the public. He even kept them on his desk in the Oval Office, but on this day all he had was the single carnation on his lapel. Not wanting to appear unkind, he unpinned it and extended it toward her. I'm us give this flower to another flower, he said, before moving on without his good luck charm pinto his chest. He climbed the steps to the Temple of Music Concert Hall as supporters approached him for handshakes and well wishes. And that's when a man stepped forward, his right hand shrouded in a handkerchief. It was choll Goas. McKinley went to shake his left hand instead, and as they shook, chill Goas fired the revolver he had hidden under the cloth, shooting the president twice in the stomach. McKinley didn't die immediately. He underwent an operation to remove the bullets, but the wound became infected. Gang green spread to his internal organs, and he passed away eight days later. To the superstitious, giving away his carnation was the worst thing he could have done that day at the expo. However, one good thing did come out of the tragedy. To honor the late President, Ohio passed legislation three years later adopting the scarlet carnation as the official state flower. McKinley might be gone, but thanks to Dr Levi Lamborne, we can all still catch a glimpse of his lucky charm. Superstitious or not, I'd call that curious. It's unwise for employees and dangerous professions to goof around. It's not just about professionalism either. One wrong step on a structural beam and a steel worker can find themselves falling thirty floors in seconds flat. A fisher who isn't paying attention can wind up overboard or worse. From truck drivers to loggers, people who work in these fields need to be at the top of their games at all times. That goes double for commercial pilots who are often responsible not just for their own lives, but the lives of hundreds of passengers flying with them, which brings us to Alexander Kloyev. Cloye was a pile its flying jetliners for Russian airline Aeroflot. On October twentieth, nineteen eighty six, he took eighty seven passengers and seven crew members on flight six oh two from yaketterine Burg in Central Russia to Gozni in Czechnia, with a stopover in the city of Samara. He was accompanied by his copilot, Kennedy Zernof, as well as a flight engineer and navigational expert. Each member of the crew was experienced in their field. Cloyev, in particular, was quite familiar with the kind of plane he was flying. He had operated numerous times before and knew what its twin engines were capable of. As the aircraft approached Samaraklojev dropped down to an altitude of about thirt feet. His instrument panel lit up like Christmas, so air traffic control suggested he land using a non directional beacon approach or n b D, which utilized a radio transmitter on the ground to send a signal to the plane. Think of it sort of like how bats fly, where the signals are bounced around to tell the bat where it is in space. But Kloyev had descended too fast and too quickly. The plane sped ahead at one hundred seventy three miles per hour. Landing alarms blared as air traffic control ordered the pilot to abort the landing, otherwise known as a go around, but it was also too late for that. Kloiev was too close to pull the aircraft back up. The plane touched the earth so hard it bounced and flipped upside down, missing the runway entirely. It skidded along before finally settling. As the airport authorities and first responders rushed to its location, they pride the doors opened to find a disaster inside the cabin that was even worse than what had happened on the tarmac. Sixty three people had been killed in the crash. Seven were carefully removed from the wreck and rushed to local hospitals, but died from their wounds. After the co pilot, Jernov, was one of the few survivors of the impact. He managed to help others to safety, but Sadly, his heart stopped on the way to the hospital. Miraculously, all fourteen childre and on board the plane had survived, as had Kloiev. When they interrogated him about the crash, he came clean about ignoring air traffic control. However, he lied about the reason for his rough landing, citing it as a failed training exercise. Eventually, though, the truth came out, and it earned the disgraced former pilot a one way ticket to a fifteen year prison sentence. It hadn't been a training exercise at all. Cloiev had tried the land the plane blindfolded. He was so sure of his skill in handling the aircraft he bet his copilot that he could land it without having to see the ground. Joernov thought he was joking. Surely, with ninety four souls on board the season Kloiev would not try something so dangerous, But the man turned out to be serious and confident. There was no blindfold in the cockpit, so he had the crew draw the curtains across the front windshield to block his view of the outside. When air traffic control tried to assist him in his landing, he dismissed them choosing only to rely on his instrument panel. The proximity alarms blared as the plane got closer to the ground. One crew member through the curtains open in a panic, giving everyone a glimpse of the tarmac a mere seconds before impact. Alex Kloyev only served six of the fifteen years he'd been sentenced to for his stupid and tragic stunt, and it's viewed by many as an insult to the families of those who are killed by his negligions. Most tales of curiosity are a product of wonder, or invention or lucky coincidence, and I think we can all agree how fun they are to hear. But sometimes the most curious thing we can learn is just how dumb people can be, and how deadly those mistakes end up becoming. 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. 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 the world of lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious. Yeah,

Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

From the creator of the hit podcast Lore comes a new, bite-sized storytelling experience. Each twice 
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