Seeing Red

occur for another few thousand years. But volcanoes do erupt, and when they do, they have devastating effects on the people and areas surrounding them. They dramatically change the landscape and at least in one case, how the population of the planet looks at the world. To understand how, we need to go back in time to the Indonesian island of Krakatoa had been active for some time. Earthquakes from the region had rippled out as far as Australia, and

there was evidence that something big was brewing below. For weeks, thence forming around the island blasted steam and ash into the atmosphere, turning the sky dark and casting a black fog over everything. Then the eruptions got worse, each one firing more and more debris into the air and sending out shock waves that could be felt for miles. The final explosion was so loud it could be heard over

three thousand miles away. One sixty five villages were destroyed, more than thirty six thousand people died, and two thirds of the island was annihilated. So yeah, it was bad. But a strange side effect of the eruption happened shortly after The skies had been transformed darker, sure, with all that floating in the air, but sunsets in particular were affected. As the sun began to dip below the horizon, the sky lit up in dazzling shades of orange and yellow

and white. Such wondrous sunsets could be seen as far as England and Norway. Photography at the time couldn't produce pictures with any color, let alone reflect the skies and all their glory. However, another medium could. Artists were so captivated by the colors overhead they took the painting the sunsets more vibrant than any photo could ever exhibit. William Ashcroft painted and sketched dozens of scenes of the blazing

skies over the Thames and Chelsea. His works are so lifelike the clouds appeared to be on fire, swallowing the vulnerable blue expanse behind them. Since we don't have color photographs of the skies at the time, ascroft sketches are as close as we can get to experiencing even a fraction of what he saw. The poet Gerard Manly Hopkins attempted to paint the sun sets with his words, describing them as looking more like inflamed flesh than the lucid

reds of ordinary sunsets. He also wrote, it bathes the whole sky. It is mistaken for the reflection of a great fire. But he wasn't the only artist influenced by Krakatoa's afterglow. Another painter, this one from Norway, looked up and didn't see fire. He saw blood. To him, someone had sliced open the sky like a vein and coated everything in red. It instilled in him a feeling of angst of despair, as though the world had ended and

only he had survived. He channeled these feelings onto the canvas, producing four different versions of a painting that has come to symbolize the entire Expressionist movement. Knowing all of this, it becomes clear that the painting subject is most likely the artist himself. In it, he stands on a wooden platform set against a blue sea. Overhead, the sky swirls

with red, orange, and white. The man's head is deformed, and his hands frame each side of his face, which is trapped in a chilling look of horror a scream. The Scream painted by and of Edvard Munk. Since the country's founding, the United States flag design has followed a fairly standard formula each time a new state has been added.

The thirteen original colonies are represented by the seven red and six white stripes, while the current states themselves are represented by white stars against the field of blue in the upper left corner. Something's changed from flag to flag.

For example, when Oregon became a state in eighteen fifty, several different versions of the flag existed at the same time, one where the thirty three separate stars were arranged in the shape of one big star, while another flag chose a diamond shape for them instead, but the blue background and the thirteen stripes remained the same no matter what. But despite calls for change to the status quo, it seems people still love and admire the flags simple yet

iconic design. However, things were a bit different almost sixty years ago. After Alaska and Hawaii were admitted as states in nineteen fifty nine and nineteen sixty, respectively, it had been decided that such a drastic change to the country required an equally drastic change to its flag. To that end, a government employee named Stanley Pratt solicited ideas for new

flag designs from a group of Ohio residents. Within a week, he had flags of all shapes and sizes on his desk and had one of the toughest jobs of his career ahead of him, judging every single submission. He wrote back to each entrance explaining his decision. Almost everyone took it well except for one. Robert Heft, felt he had put a lot of work into his flag. He didn't just draw it on a piece of paper. He spent twelve and a half hours sewing a full size version

for Mr. Pratt. He kept the thirteen stripes of red and white, as well as the blue rectangle in the top left corner. The stars he arranged in a kind of grid pattern, the lines of five and six stars alternating until they numbered fifty. Mr Pratt's comments weren't entirely wrong. He felt He's flag lacked originality, which it did, but he felt that he had something special, something fit for a country. So he did what any self respecting flag

designer would do. He wrote his congress person. Ohio Congressman Walter Moehler hoisted Robert's flag all the way up to the United States Congress for a vote. It didn't take much for him to convince his fellow congressman of the flag's importance. They voted in favor of its design, and it was formally accepted as the new symbol of the United States on ly four. Yeah, Independence Day. Poetic right. However, the story doesn't end there. In fact, it wasn't even

the whole story. You see, I haven't been completely honest with you about the flags provenance. You might be asking why a government official went to Ohio to source a new design rather than open up the opportunity nationwide. And it's true that Robert half designed the flag, but he didn't do it as part of a contest, and Stanley Pratt technically did work for the government, but not for any federal agency. The flag had been part of a class project. Pratt had been a high school teacher and

Robert Heft his student. Robert ended up getting a B minus on his project. Disappointed and as grade, he asked his teacher if there was anything he could do. After all, he'd spent an entire day stitching it together, it had to be worth more than a B minus. So Mr

Pratt gave him a seemingly impossible task. He told him if he could get the United States Congress to accept his design as the official national flag, then he changed his grade to an A. Robert passed away in two thousand nine, but his design lives on flying over the White House and every government building across the country. Has family still possesses the original flag he made by hand, although museums and wealthy collectors have tried to purchase it.

To them, it isn't just a piece of history, it's a family heirloom. And as for Mr. Pratt's promise, he made good on it. Robert got his A. 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 Mankey 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.