Radio Misterioso

Two weeks ago, I attended the very first Scientific Coalition for Ufology (SCU) conference in Huntsville, AL, just outside the gates of the historic Redstone Arsenal, one of the birthplaces of NASA. The SCU was formed in part to address the lack of sober, analytical methods in the civilian study of the UFO phenomenon. The conference featured presenters such as Dr. Travis Taylor, who examined the possibility of an extraterrestrial invasion and how humans could react, Dr. Kevin Knuth on the possibilities of sub-light space travel, and detailed reports from the SCU on two recent famous cases (a video of an apparent anomalous object recorded by a Customs and Border Patrol aircraft in 2013, and the Nimitz carrier group incident from 2004.) The keynote was given by Luis Elizondo of the To The Stars Academy. We talked about these presentations and the mission of the SCU, which is gaining traction in the field. One of the things that Rich said gave me hope: he stated that the SCU would remain small and would encourage cooperation from other small groups to work on differing aspects of the subject. This is all in an effort to lift the stigma that surrounds it and to get “serious people to take the subject seriously,” as one UFO researcher famously said. Photo: Hoffman speaks at the conference. LISTEN/DOWNLOAD

Jim (seated) and Paul Kimball on the set of Haunted I have known Paul Kimball and his brother for over a decade. In that time, I have worked with both of these talented guys on a few projects. The most popular of the programs from their production company is the ghost hunting series Haunted, which until recently, was airing exclusively in Eastern Canada. It has recently become available on Vimeo to the rest of the world. The show is just the kind of ghost investigation program that I like: non-sensationalistic, thoughtful, and most importantly, the participants have fun while they engage in a serious examination of the locations, stories, and events that they encounter, some of which are definitely creepy. Jim Kimball is the producer and technical director of Haunted, and has assumed an increasing role in front of the camera as well (#morejim.) He and his brother joined me to talk about their methodology, the logistics of producing a paranormal television series, as well as some of the strangest and most disturbing things they have encountered during production and sometimes afterwards, including the apparent temporary possession of cast member Holly Stevens and a continuing string of synchronicities. Episodes available here. LISTEN/ DOWNLOAD

Eric Wargo has written perhaps one of the most important popular science books in the last year. Time Loops proposes that future events can affect the past, and provides detailed descriptions of experimental findings that suggest (some would take it a step further and say “prove”) that this concept, called “retrocausality,” is poised to make over physics and other sciences with its implications. Wargo proposes that dreams are the most basic way that we can experience a peek into the future, and we discussed the dreams and writings of Sigmund Freud as an early, well-documented and prime example of precognition, even though Wargo points out that Freud did not dare suggest that his (and his patients’) dreams foretold the future. When people apparently see events to come (such as the Titanic disaster and 9-11) in startling detail, Wargo says that there is ample evidence to suggest that what is experienced is not a sort of mental travel to the future, but a presentiment of our reaction when we learn about the event (such as reading or hearing about it in the news.) Wargo also suggested that precognition could be a tool that the human brain has evolved as a defense/ survival mechanism. There were many exciting and indeed controversial issues raised (as indeed they are in his book.) We may be looking at one aspect of a shift in how science is conducted, and that may be the most exciting thing of all. As Wargo said, “anomalies are building up, and that’s when paradigm shifts occur.” His blog is called The Nightshirt. Check it out. LISTEN/ DOWNLOAD

Binnall of America lives! This past Sunday, Tim and I continued the tradition and did a simulcast of our shows to examine and chew on all that has happened in the past 12 months. We spoke about how the TTSA has, as Tim said, “sucked all the air out of ufology” with their announcements and media blitz. This seemed to be the “year of the UFO” as we had not one, but THREE pilot sightings in the news. Tim asked about aircraft and piloting issues as well as drones, all of which I can comment about with some authority, and how accurate the news coverage might have been. Three towns in the U.S. have declared Bigfoot their official animal or mascot. We spoke on the rise of the subject in the public consciousness. Speaking of animals, there was a glut of raccoon stories this year. We mused that the masked bandits may take the place of the owl in UFO folklore. Finally, we spoke of those who have left us in the past year, such as Art Bell, Robert O. Dean, and John Anthony West, all of whom I have had some personal interaction with over the years. At the end of the show, Tim predicted that 2019 will be the “year of the UFO.” LISTEN/ DOWNLOAD

The tradition continues! Courtney and I have scoured the history of Holiday music yet again to bring you the best of the strangest. Here’s the lineup for our 2018 extravaganza. Enjoy and have a great New Year! 1 – Billy May – “Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer Mambo” 2 – Franklin McCormack – “I like Christmas” 3 – Pearl Bailey – “Five Pound Box of Money” 4 – Johnny Cash – “Ringing the Bells for Jim” 5 – Red Sovine – “Billy’s Christmas Wish” 6 – Steve Martin, Paul Simon, and Billy Joel – “Silver Bells” 7 – Augie Rios – “Donde Está Santa Claus?” 8 – Cheech Marin – “Santa Claus and his Old Lady” (excerpt) 9 – Tiny Tim – “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” 10 – Cordell Jackson – “Beboppers’ Christmas” 11 – Patsy Raye & The Beatniks – “Beatnik’s Wish” 12 – Tony Rodelle Larson – “Cool Yule” 13 – The Mushroom Tabernacle Choir – “The 12 Drugs of Christmas” 14 – National Lampoon – “Gift Of The Nazis” Show Promo 15 – Frank Zappa – “Mormon Xmas Dance Report” 16 – Frank Zappa – “Mousie’s First Xmas” 17 – ActionAid Sweden – “Silent Night Goat Edition” 18 – Jackie Beat – “Menstral Krampus” 19 – Worm Quartet – “A Worm Quartet Christmas” 20 – New Order – “Ode to Joy” 21 – Peter Murphy and Tom Waits (impersonated by the band Porn Orchard) – “Christmas Sucks” 22 – Emerald Rose – “Santa Claus is Pagan Too” 23 – David Warin Solomons – “Io! Saturnalia (Hooray, it’s Saturnalia)” 24 – Paul and Storm – “Grandma’s Christmas Dinner” 25 – Guy Llama – “Timmy’s Christmas Bedtime Story” 26 – Fat Daddy Johnson – “Fat Daddy” 27 – Arlo Gurthrie – “Pause for Mr. Clause” 28 – Billy Nayer Show – “Must Be Santa” 29 – A Christmas message from Jack Blanchard read by Courtney 30 – Bounar – “Away in a Manger” 31 – UK Subs – “Hey Santa” LISTEN/ DIRECT LINK

Another visit to David Perkins’ home, another interview. Perkins has been studying the mutilation phenomenon longer than perhaps anyone in the world. Starting in the mid-1970s, he was performing field investigations and writing up his findings. Noted mutilation researcher and author Chris O’Brien considers David his mentor and guru in the field (and the next post will feature both of them together in conversation.) This time, David decided to posit a premise that we could kick around: “The paranormal is a key to understanding consciousness and cattle mutilations are the key to understanding the paranormal.” We explored the permutations of this idea, and how science is beginning to recognize the role of the observer and the participation of consciousness in maps and conceptions of reality. In a wider sense, the Gaia hypothesis contends that the Earth can be seen as a conscious being, and David proposed that one of the ways that the planet is trying to wake us up to environmental damage is though an “unrecognized natural force” that may be behind the mutilation phenomenon. We also discussed mutilations and other aspects of the paranormal as “memeplexes” and how pervasive ideas begin, mutate, and propagate. Always fun to kick around radical ideas with a seasoned researcher and deep thinker such as David Perkins, but as he says, don’t worry, because “everything I say is a provisional theory.” LISTEN/ DOWNLOAD

Dr. Massimo Teodorani is an astrophsyicist who uses his scientific expertise to examine issues of consciousness and its relation to the physical universe, as well as the implications of the observed properties of anomalous light phenomena (such as the Hessdalen lights) to the search for ways to create stable plasma states such as those found in fusion reactor research. He is involved in ongoing research about eruptive stars, extrasolar planets and SETI, and lectures regularly at the University of Bologna. We spoke about his original deep interest in the UFO issue and how almost all the books he read on the subject were so useless to him that he burned them. He traveled to the Hessdalen Valley in Norway and observed the mysterious lights, discovering that they apparently exhibited complicated and evolving structures (one even assumed a rectangular shape.) He mentioned that some plasma phenomena seem to exhibit elements of conscious control, and that consciousness may be an element of structure in the observable universe. These issues are discussed at length in his (now sadly out of print) book The Hyperspace of Consciousness. Dr. Teodorani is also interested in visionary states and how symbols and experiences from this realm seem to have encoded information that can be useful in practical ways. We spoke about this and ended with a discussion of flight and his music compositions. Teodorani is also an accomplished electronic musician who goes by the name of “Totemtag.” LISTEN/ DOWNLOAD

Chris Lambright has written one of the only other books (besides mine and one by Greg Valdez) that deals with aspects of the Paul Bennewitz saga, which deal with issues of UFO researchers and what the military will do to misdirect attention. For this second round with Chris, we went a little more into depth about this period in history, discussing what the mysterious objects that Bennewitz photographed might have been, and what the Air Force and others at Kirtland Air Force Base might have been testing. We also delved into the weird orange balls of light that multiple witnesses observed in the Bennewitz home, and the possible technology behind them. We also went more into depth on the story of John Lear and his sudden appearance on the UFO scene in the mid 1980s, and his immediate impact on research. Chris pointed out his history with the CIA and their covert operations under cover of “Air America” during the Vietnam era in Laos and other countries. Finally, we talked about his longstanding and detailed research into the famous Socorro incident as well as how some of these threads that reach back to the 1980s and ’90s can be found in the present activities of To The Stars Academy and those associated with it. LISTEN/ DOWNLOAD

The annual Radio Misterioso Halloween shows are turning into quite the extravaganza. Courtney “The Ear” O’Hearn once again helped choose the cream of the strange crop for this year’s show. We packed over 100 years of the creepy and unusual into over 2 hours of music and commentary. Enjoy and Happy Halloween!! 1 – !Action Pact! – Gothic Party Time – (1983) 2 – American Quartet – Skeleton Rag – (1911) 3 – Leslie Sarony – Ain’t it Grand to be Blooming Well Dead (1932) 4 – Phil Harris – The Thing (1950) 5 – Salty Holmes – The Ghost Song (1954) 6 – Griz Green – Jam At the Mortuary (ca.1958-60) 7 – The Revels – Dead Man’s Stroll (1959) 8 – Screamin’ Jay Hawkins – There’s Something Wrong With You (1958) 9 – The Vampires – Natasha (from LP “At The Monster’s Ball”) (1964) 10 – Sheldon Allman – Children’s Day at the Morgue (1961) 11 – The Denims – The Ghost In Your House Is Me (1966) 12 – Jim Friss and the Valiants – Serpents and Spiders (ca. 1963) 13 – Boomer & Travis – Foul Owl On The Prowl (1967) 14 – Hans Conried and Alice Pearce – Mostly Ghostly (from LP “Monster Rally”) (1959) 15 – King Horror – Frankenstein (1970) 16 – Desmond Dekker – Dracula (1964) 17 – Bobby Bare – Marie Laveau (1974) 18 – Albert DeSalvo/ Dick Levitan – Strangler in the Night (1967) 19 – Audience reactions to seeing “The Exorcist” (1973) 20 – Tommy Scott & Scotty Lee – Exorcism (1975) 21 – Annelise Michel – Sounds of an actual exorcism (1976) 22 – Tili Tili Bom (Russian lullaby) (2007?) 23 – Excerpts from “The Bad Seed” (1956) 24 – The Fibonaccis – Leroy (1987) 25 – Vincent Price – How To Cook A Small Boy (cut up re-edit) (ca. 1990s) 26 – The Centimeters – I Want A Dead One (1999) 27 – Beanpole – Pumpkin Pickin’ Time (2018) 28 – The Shaggs – It’s Halloween (1969) LISTEN/ DOWNLOAD

Over the past few years, by design or just by his continuous delving into the connection between anomalous experiences with apparent nonhuman entities and a certain nocturnal avian, Mike Clelland has become informally known in UFO circles as “The Owl Man.” Mike was staying at the house for a few days and I didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to have him as an in-studio guest. He was in town to give a lecture on ultralight backpacking (which was knows enough about to have written an authoritative book.) For the first 11 minutes, we actually talked about that subject as well as how to construct in igloo before getting into the subjects at hand. We opened with a few little-known facts about Kenneth Arnold (who had a pet owl and was a huge fan of Charles Fort, and experienced mysterious orbs floating around his home.) He told me the little known issue that many, if not all abductees have a specific number that is special to them, and that is apparently “assigned” during their experiences. We talked about problems with abduction research, of which I am a little more critical than Mike, but then I am not in the middle of that world, and it was valuable to hear his perspective. Our mutual friend, the late Mac Tonnies, suggested that Mike visit as many researchers as possible and see how they differed in their approaches. Among people with unexplained experiences, this is rare. Mike also discussed his own years of anguish while he tried to figure out what was happening to him, and how the ultimate answer to the enigma may simply be the reconciliation of the personal experience, even if there is no answer to be found for UFO researchers. Mike’s newest book is Stories From The Messengers. LISTEN/ DOWNLOAD

Charles Topham has nothing to sell, no book to promote, not even a website. He simply has an interesting story with implications for all who look to the interactive relationship between human activity and consciousness and the vast subject we call “the paranormal.” A few months ago, Miguel Romero (aka “Red Pill Junkie”) wrote to tell me about Charles, and his story of “psychic questing,” which is a concept that is virtually unknown outside of the UK. The basic story is that from the late 1970s to sometime in the mid-to-late 1990s, small, private groups in Britain began meeting to use seances, ouija boards, and other methods in order to locate hidden objects of apparent historical importance, such as swords, precious stones, and documents. The practice is intimately connected with the rich history of English magic and folklore. Miguel served as co-interviewer as Charles described his interest in UFOs and other out-there subjects from an early age, including apparent communications with non-humans by radio (a’la contactee George Hunt Williamson.) In the early 1990s, he formed a group with a few friends and began their own questing sessions, eventually establishing contact with an apparent entity calling itself “Addie,” who self-described as a young teenage girl of the Victorian era. Addie began “apporting” objects to the group which responded to the whims of questions from different members, such as photos, books, divination cards, and even precious stones. When I asked Charles early on if there was any chance of fraud, he said “I didn’t see you there,” which was his way of saying “From outside the confines of the group, of course.” We discussed these issues and the fact that hoaxing or faking is an intimate part of much of these phenomena, but does not explain all of it, a concept that is admittedly difficult for some to accept. I choose to listen without making sharp judgments. Things just seem more interesting that way, and whatever your beliefs, we hope you find Charles’ story worth hearing. Image above: A Egyptian divination card that Charles says was apported during one of their sessions with “Addie,” and which recently formed the nexus of a personal synchronicity. LISTEN/ DOWNLOAD

Jeremy Corbell’s upcoming film based on George Knapp’s groundbreaking book of the same name was the subject of our interview for this edition of Radio Misterioso. The film has generated a great deal of buzz because of the controversial subject. We went into depth about the history of the property known as “Skinwalker Ranch” and the various owners, incidents, research and high strangeness that have been swirling around the location since the early 1990s. The takeaway from the years of research conducted at the site seems to indicate that there is no one theory or mechanism that can account for all the strange activity observed. From cattle mutilations, eerie lights, shadowy figures, and paraphysical animals, to events and activities that seemed to trigger the phenomena, Corbell and Knapp report that no data-driven report or columns of numbers could solve the puzzle. My guests also took time to answer some of the rumors that they say have gotten out of hand, such as stories of human experimentation and the idea that anything physical was ever found that could be examined in a laboratory. We discussed the little-known debate between the scientists who were originally assigned to do the first systematic research at the property, and their regrets about roads not taken. We also spoke about the history of government-sponsored research in the area, as well as the new owner of the property and his efforts to continue the work started by former owner Robert Bigelow. I believe that you will hear things in this interview that have not been discussed elsewhere or previously. LISTEN/ DOWNLOAD

I’ve been getting requests for another music show and Josh was in town last weekend, so we recorded this one on my phone. Dropped the music in after the fact. A very fun show with one of my favorite guests, and a fine musician to boot. Tracklist: Clara Rockmore “The Swan” (Theremin) Grace Chang – The Habanera from Carmen (L’amour est un oiseau rebelle) Maria Callas – Habanera from Carmen (excerpt) Øystein Baadsvik – “Fnugg for Solo Tuba” Sam Space and the Cadettes – “Take Me to Your Leader Cha Cha” Jesse and the G-Runs – “Lady Madonna” Kiyoko Itoh & The Happenings Four – “Lady Madonna” Michyo Azusa – “Please Please Me” MC Hawking – “E=MC Hawking” Brute Force – “Tapeworm of Love” Brute Force – “The King of Fuh” Colin Hodgkinson – Kick Ass Bass solo Bobby Zehm – “Sitar Picking’ Man The Vandals – “Play That Country Tuba Cowboy” Paul Anka – “Smells Like Teen Spirit DIRECT LINK

I finally met Chris Lambright at one of the Dulce Base conferences in New Mexico this year. Chris has been a researcher since the late 1970s, and is one of those people who do some of the most interesting and important work in the background of the field, away from the celebrity status and TV shows, which is where I think some of the real insights can be found. Chris has seen the infamous film from controversial UFO researcher Ray Stanford which is claimed to depict one of the clearest images ever captured of an unidentified flying object, and says that whatever it was bears a close resemblance to what a man named Paul Bennewitz was filming at Kirtland Air Force Base beginning in 1979. The Bennewitz story is the main subject of my 2006 book Project Beta. When there is new or overlooked information on the story, I am interested. Chris says that tbe object in Stanford’s film closely resembles the work of scientist Leik Myrabo and his work in laser propulsion research, and says that Stanford received a visit from Myrabo, who looked at his evidence with interest before starting his project. We also discussed the timeline of events in the Bennewitz story and how the picture presented in my book may need to be slightly revised based on Lambright’s findings as reported in his book X Descending. Chris is also one of the few people I have met who actually knew and spoke to Bennewitz . He also describes a strange interaction with infamous UFO researcher/ personality John Lear. Some of the scientists Lambright has uncovered in his research have connections to recent developments in such projects as To The Stars. The interview will be continued! DIRECT LINK

Joshua Cutchin‘s new book is his best yet, and deeply examines the ancient folklore surrounding children who are supposedly taken from their homes and parents by denizens of the “fairy realm.” Don’t make the mistake that he believes in a literal interpretation. He makes this clear in the first interview he gave for the book. Throughout the interview, one of the themes (as in the book) is that there are very definite parallels between this phenomenon and the “hybrid” lore of UFO abduction literature. These comparisons have of course been made before, but Cutchin’s book also points out the similarities between fairy lore and Bigfoot encounters, as well as the recent focus on wilderness disappearances (think Missing 411.) We spoke about the “changeling” lore, which holds that children are taken and replaced with a fairy child, which appears weak, sickly, or otherwise “strange” to the rest of the family. Josh pointed out that this tradition was often used as an excuse to ostracize those who were deemed strange or otherwise useless to the community, all too often resulting in cases of infanticide. He hastens to add, however, that we “do the phenomenon a disservice” by reducing it to mundane explanations. The true nature of this tradition can be best approached by detailed and careful study, such as can be found in Cutchin’s new work, Thieves In The Night: A Brief History of Supernatural Child Abductions. DIRECT LINK