Radio Misterioso

Tim and I spent a couple of hours last Sunday talking shop about paranormal radio, the futility of the "disclosure" movement, and Tim's plans for a new paranormal conference. We also discussed James Randi, Tim's favorite interviews from his show (the guest who says Hitler escaped to Argentina was one of his favorites) and when UFO research died. The takeaway quote from our latest two our conversation was a winner: "The longer you're in this, the more you have the ability to shut off caring." Perhaps we're finally both tired of the same stories and the same ideas which have gone nowhere. Alternatively, we both notice that he present wave of new blood seems to be more anti-ET than ever. In this there may be some hope. Other subjects discussed: The decline of abduction research compared to the breakup of the Beatles, the end of the world, Bigfoot and UFOS, and difficult guests we've had. Enjoy! P.S. I continue to try and repair my streaming issues. Nicecast seems to be spotty right now. If anyone has any advice, please write to me.

I asked Tim on the show in the wake of the Jim Moseley interview from last week. Tim's original plan involved our friend Miles Lewis along for Jim's interview, but he turned out to be busy. Both are little-known treasure troves of paranormal info: Miles, through his massive Anomaly News Network, and Tim through his long association with Moseley and many mutual friends, as well as his new blog, Mojo Machine. We began by of course talking about Jim and his huge influence on the field and us three in particular. We went on to question Miles about his work with UFO abductee groups. He did not notice any pattern of conforming to a set story, but did think that the participants were in need of acceptance within the group. We discussed what effect a bad reputation has on paranormal researchers (specifically the new head of MUFON - see Moseley interview.) I also harped on the value of subjective experience of strange events. The conversation was simply a few people getting together to talk shop on the paranormal, which is one of my favorite ways of doing the show. Enjoy. (The title is a reference to a dream by our friend Robert Larson. I promised Tim and Miles that I would make it the title of the show. Make of it what you will!)

Anyone who has been in the UFO biz for even a little while knows about the legendary Saucer Smear zine. What started out as a small and fairly serious newsletter over 50 years ago has evolved into the publication of record for all of the arguments, infighting and feuds amongst researchers and others in the field. Balanced with Moseley's sharp humor and eye for a good story, Smear remains the only UFO publication that is eagerly awaited and read from start to finish as soon as "nonsubscribers" get their copies in the mail, usually about once a month. Moseley's buddy Tim Brigham asked if I would record a conversation with Jim before he goes in for surgery next week. None of us had any set agenda or questions, but the conversation did feature a few comments from Moseley about researchers Bill Moore and Stanton Friedman, and how much he hated 1960s radio personality Long John Nebel. We also talked about the new director if MUFON and his company which offers "mile high club" (sex flights) for hire. There is much more in this conversation, which only lasted an hour and was interrupted twice by phone calls which Jim stopped the interview to answer. Enjoy this talk with one of the true legends of the field and a good friend. Image above is the title page of a book we talk about during the interview.

No live show yesterday, so here is another rare UFO audio gem. The largest (best attended) indoor UFO convention in US history took place on the weekend of June 24, 1967 in the Hotel Commodore in New York City. Organized by UFO researcher James Moseley, speakers included John Keel and Roy Thinnes, who was the star of the popular Invaders TV show. Tim Beckley recalls: There were quite a variety of speakers like Venus from the planet Venus, Dr. Frank Stranges, Howard Menger, and in fact Dr. Condon of the infamous Condon Report was there. He was in the audience taking notes. Another personality who “appeared” so to speak, was Albert K Bender, famous for his founding of the International Flying Saucer Bureau (IFSB), and his book on the Men In Black enigma. Due to unspecified fears or some other reason, he sent a tape recording of his presentation which was played to a room full of eager listeners. Bender described his MIB experiences, the history of the IFSB and curiously, his growing contactee-type experiences which were going to be part of a book that publisher Gray Barker was going to release. The book never saw the light of day. Barker described it as “not good enough to do anything with.” Bender apparently lives about 5 miles from me, but I have repeatedly heard that he wants nothing to do with any UFO researchers, so I have left him alone. I have posted this before at ufomystic, but the link is broken, and I can't seem to find the speech anywhere else online. The snippet of introduction at the beginning is the voice of Gray Barker.

Peter Robbins was on the show for his third appearance to discuss the psychological warfare theory of the Rendlesham Incident. His and Larry Warren's 1997 book Left At East Gate is considered the standard account, and while he does think that there may have been psychological warfare aspects to the story, they definitely do not explain everything, particularly the main encounters of December 26th and December 28, 1980, when Air Force security personnel apparently encountered two strange objects. In early February, British researcher Sacha Christie claimed that the whole affair was a psychological test or exercise to test the security of the nuclear weapons at Bentwaters Air Force Base. She referred to a document which seemed to indicate that the technology to produce all the reported events and effects were available in 1980. I can't seem to find any specific references to the Rendlesham events or Bentwaters in the document, but that doesn't mean that there isn't a connection or that Christie is wrong. She has been invited to the Rendlesham conference this year, to talk about her abduction research and her own UFO experiences. Peter talked about why he seriously doubts Christie's conclusions. I believe that we covered all the questions sent in by listeners and even discussed Peter's work with abduction researcher Budd Hopkins. Peter has always been an intelligent, thoughtful researcher who is honest about his work, motivations, and the fact that his opinions are open for discussion. Peter's Wilhelm Reich papers referenced in the program: Wilhelm Reich and UFOs Pt.1 Wilhelm Reich and UFOs Pt.2 Wilhelm Reich, Orgone Energy, and UFOs  

In-depth conversations on the paranormal alternating with weird music. Live on Sundays 8-10 PM PST @ killradio.org

My good friend Darren McGovern showed up in the studio again for a couple hours of conversation and cuts from his new album Celebrate The Light. His work gets better with every release. Darren once wrote a very funny article for my old magazine, which has taken on a life of its own. We began with a reminiscence about our early bonding on such subjects as western occultism, Robert Anton Wilson, and Monty Python. We went on at length about the motif running through his latest songs. The underlying theme is The Denial of Death, a 1973 book by Ernest Becker. Becker argued that all human motivations stem from a realization of our own mortality and how we try to rationalize the inevitable or attempt to transcend it. I also played some comedy from Patton Oswalt's latest album and a bootleg recording I made of Tony Clifton. I don't think we mentioned UFOs even once.

No live show tonight, but here is a show that has been waiting in the wings for a couple of years for rebroadcast. On May 6th of 2010, my friend, author John Shirley presented a contact of his who claimed that he had worked on a hybrid airship that could duplicate many of the the reported movements of classic UFOs (i.e. stopping in midair, abrupt changes of direction, etc.) The man, known only as "Matthew," said that he believed that this explained the famous "Belgian Triangle" sightings of 1990. I thought that "Matthew" presented a compelling case that would benefit from further research. A quick open source search did not turn up any such craft as our guest described, but advanced technologies in development seldom receive any publicity. Walter was in the studio to provide his perspective on the history of possible anti-gravity craft. Image: Alberto Santos-Dumont's combined aircraft/dirigible experiments of 1906.

Bill Moore has become a legendary figure in the history of UFO research. I was lucky to know and call him a friend almost 20 years. He was the author of two benchmark books that all of our listeners should have read by now: The Philadelphia Experiment (1979) and The Roswell Incident (1980.)  All subsequent Roswell books, festivals, etc would not exist today if Moore, Stan Friedman, and Charles Berlitz had not done the original research and writing, even if no one seems to want to acknowledge this fact. This was the last interview he gave before leaving public life entirely and moving back to the East Coast in 2006. After telling me he would be late, Bill arrived far earlier than expected and we launched into a discussion of the Alexander Litivenko polonium poisoning case. We were soon discussing his first contacts with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, which occurred in 1980 during book tours for Roswell. Moore corrected a misstatement that researcher Jerome Clark made about this period. We then discussed a little-known incident involving a breach of Air Force base security in which Moore was involved with his research partner Jamie Shandera, which then led to some discussion about the history and methods of counterintelligence. Moore recalled his first trips out to New Mexico to interview Roswell witnesses: He said that ten primary witnesses all said that they’d handled parts of a flying saucer, or at least something unearthly. He also recalled with some pain how his co-author Charles Berlitz changed and sensationalized Moore's reports and data as he worked them into the manuscript. We changed subjects and talked about possible occult elements in the Wizard of Oz, and humorous names Bill had come across in his research. Walter revealed that the son of Larry Fine (of Three Stooges fame) was an Air Force OSI agent. Walter also described (as much as he legally could) the history of Russian intelligence in the closed files of the FBI, which he saw as an agent. The balance of the show was filled with a discussion of other mysteries and a bit on Moore's research and writing about on the origins of the Mormon faith. As with many shows here, this was much more of a fun conversation than a strict interview, since I would never force Bill into any formalized discussion of subjects that most researchers would prefer. Nevertheless, there is much here for the seasoned UFO veteran to gain, if they will take the time to listen carefully. The interview was recorded on December 10th of 2006.

Stang is one of the founders (some say THE founder) of the Church of the SubGenius. We’ll cleared that issue and other things up about this religion masquerading as a joke (or is that the other way around?) Some minor technical problems did not deter us from having a great talk about the mystic origins of the SubGenius "faith," which began with phone and CB radio pranks and evolved to crazed pamphlet-writing and eventually a worldwide phenomenon. We also discussed the problem of SubGenius members who believe too much, which is strange since it seems that the entire movement was founded on the idea of fanatical non-belief masquerading as unwavering devotion. You might not hear it, but I was laughing hysterically off-microphone for much of the program. The show ends abruptly due to a technical glitch while we were talking about the band DEVO, but Ivan has told me that he wants to continue the conversation a later date. The image above is from issue #5 of my old magazine. Stang wrote the cover story. Art by Hal Robbins. That's a terrified Stang looking up at the smelly alien.

Over the last two weeks, my friend and long-lost co-host Walter Bosley returned to sit in for a couple of sessions. Although he professed his exasperation with the UFO subject, we talked about that and more with a few listeners. Ward, our friend from Southern California, called for almost the entire first show (from 2/26) and we wandered around subjects like "zones of fear," the "psy-op" angle on the Bentwaters military UFO encounter, an independent verification (by Bill Moore of all people) of an obscure player in the Roswell drama that Walter's father knew, possible air and space travel in the 19th century, and the last revelations of the late cattle mutilation researcher and New Mexico State Policeman Gabe Valdez. We continued the conversation on March 4th with a short wrap-up of the Alternative Universe Conference, which was apparently the first-ever completely online paranormal convention, and occurred the day before. Walter and I were two of the featured speakers. We had a longish discussion about the individual vs. the collective or universal consciousness. We then talked about UFO researcher Bill Moore's FBI files, which Walter (a former FBI employee himself) had a chance to examine earlier in the day. We had a first-time caller (Vicki from Hawaii) and Ward again for the last 1/3d of the program. A fun couple of shows which you will enjoy I am sure. I inserted a tone between the two shows as a marker for listeners. I will be back next week with a new show and perhaps a guest.

My friend Nick Redfern was on the show again on February 19th. The talk ranged all over the map as usual, but concentrated on his new book, entitled Keep Out!: Top Secret Places Governments Don't Want You to Know About. One story that intrigued me was that guards in Fort Knox were told that they were keeping watch over the "wings and engine of a flying saucer." It makes you wonder what other UFO stories were told in the name of "national security" which had nothing whatsoever to do with the subject. Walter called in to talk about psychological and psychotronic warfare, as well as good old garden-variety disinfo he experienced while in the Air Force. We ended up with a some complaints and suggestions about UFO and anomalies research.

Moseley is the editor/ publisher of the 50 year-old 'zine Saucer Smear. Smear has always been my favorite UFO publication because it concentrates on the people in the field, rather than the UFOs themselves. Moseley will occasionally publish new information on old cases or behind-the-story features on new ones, though. His book Shockingly Close To The Truth is a must-read. On September 7th, 2003, Jim was in Los Angeles for the National UFO Conference. For some reason, he did not want to make the 5 mile drive to the studio for an interview, so we called him in his hotel room at the Beverly Garland hotel in North Hollywood. Ralph Coon, director/ writer/ producer/ editor of the Gray Barker documentary Whispers From Space was on hand to ask non-sequitur questions. We delved into the history of Saucer Smear, Jim's experiences with the classic flying saucer contactees of the 1950s-'70s, Al Bender and his Men-In-Black experiences, his history with a certain arch-fundamentalist skeptic and a longish discussion about Moseley's best friend, the late Gray Barker, among many other subjects. This was a very enjoyable interview with one of the legendary figures of UFO study, who also happens to be quite sensible and agnostic about the mystery, which makes him one of my favorite personalities. Primitive recording and microphone techniques were in evidence throughout. Photo: Moseley wonders who has stolen the film out of his camera at the 2004 National UFO Conference. Conference director Lisa Davis is baffled.

Gorightly was on a whirlwind mega 2-city tour promoting his upcoming book release Happy Trails to High Weirdness. It's sort of an autobiography of all the strangeness he's encountered in a couple decades of writing about UFOs, conspiracies, psychedelics and the counter-culture. In the second hour we played some strange music I've picked up since the last time he appeared on the show. Subjects that came up in the free-form conversation included: the Tim Biscardi Bigfoot Hoax, the most-likely-not-hoaxed Bigfoot DNA case from last year, and quite a bit about the heavy influence on both of our lives of philosopher Robert Anton Wilson. We also  played a few fun tracks from Adam's CD release Transmissions From A Dying Planet and listened to a recording of a British dude from the 1960s jabbering in what he says was Venusian and Plutonian. A good talk with longtime friend. Enjoy and thanks again for your continued support! Illustration by the very talented caricaturist Dennis Rano.

Chris O'Brien is the go-to researcher for the weird happenings in Colorado's San Luis Valley. He has written three books about his experiences. His fourth and latest looked at the trickster element in the paranormal. We have already done interviews on all of his books, so this time, we just riffed on whatever came up. What came up were discussions on his new UFO monitoring system in the San Luis Valley (which has just recently been set up), the underground base, UFO, and Bigfoot lore of Dulce, New Mexico and how the Jicarilla Apache Tribe feels about it, the oblique way of communicating with Native Americans, Phil Imbrogno's fall from paranormal grace and  strange and scary new case O'Brien has been investigating with Rosemary Ellen Guiley. Along the way, I hope Chris was able to answer the questions sent in by listeners. We had a lot of fun and I apologize for talking too much, but Chris and I have known each other for many years, and Radio Misterioso is often just an excuse for a conversation. Enjoy.