The Paranoid Strain

Sorry--schedule just caught up to me. But if you care to listen, I'll give you a quick overview of the end of the UFO series, as well as the next phase of The Paranoid Strain, coming in 2027. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Yeah, the title is weird, but trust me, it's in there. We transition this week from talking about Jacques Vallee to dig into DW Pasulka's American Cosmic , a book that's equal parts fascinating and frustrating. Plus, you know...Bigfoot on Mars. What more do you want, for god's sake. PS: Sorry it's a day late, but Willem UFO needed an extra day, and I didn't want to post wit...

This time, we consider how our three authors (Jung, Vallee, and Pasulka) think and talk about the overlap between the Venn diagrams of religious revelation and UFO encounter. There's a surprising number of similarities between the two, and we have a lot of fun considering that. Hope you like it. See you in a couple of weeks. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We trek back to the 1970s, a ridiculous time when people believed all kinds of frivolous nonsense--not like our thoughtful, fact-based era, no siree! Anyway, a guy back then claimed to bend spoons with his mind. He also claimed to speak to aliens who were visiting Earth from UFOs. Our author Jacques Vallee believes some of this, which isn't great. But he doesn't believe all of it, which--thank goo...

Vallee is an interesting guy, and he has one of the most fascinating takes I've heard on what UFOs might actually represent. I mean, I don't buy it, exactly, but it's at least semi-coherent, and unquestionably interesting. Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're finished with the mirage men, and now we'll spend a few episodes considering what it all means, you know? And by "it all", I mean "UFOs". We'll start with one of the first books published about UFOs by a major cultural figure. Carl Jung's Flying Saucers--A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Sky was first published in 1957, at the height of the first UFO craze. He has some interesting things t...

Thanks to our interviewee Tanner Boyle, we wrap up the story of the fascinating Mr. Nedelcovic and the CIA mission that may have turned into the first modern alien abduction story. Next time, we get philosophical. DON'T MISS: I was a guest on this excellent video--watch it, and I encourage you to subscribe. It's a great channel: Mirage Men - The Real UFO Coverup (it's not what you think) Hosted on...

For this episode and the next, we're covering a story I thought we were going to skip. But then, I found out that a very mysterious figure may, way back in the 1970s, have explained this even older story in a way that can shed light on the full extent of CIA-funded UFO fuckery, well beyond the borders of the U.S. Featuring a fantastic interview with perhaps the world's foremost expert on Bosco Ned...

As we keep peeling away the many lies of Richard Doty and his Air Force handlers, we come to Project Serpo, a wild and essentially unbelievable story that nonetheless riled up the UFO world in the 2000s. Was Doty behind it? Hart to be sure, but the evidence seems strong. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In an event that, for our tastes, amounts to Richard Doty's disinformation chocolate landing in Art Bell's kingdom of weirdness peanut butter, we dive deep on a 2005 episode of Coast to Coast AM where the supposedly former disinformation agent faces the music under the intermittently pointed questioning of the normally gregarious host. Next time, we wrap Mirage Men with more evidence that (all? mo...

We continue our quest to learn how and why the air force's intelligence agents--specifically one Richard Doty--fed the UFO delusions of scientist and entrepreneur Paul Bennowitz until his brain broke. It's a fascinating and sad story. Next time--Doty answers for his crimes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This time, we start telling the sad story of Paul Bennewitz, a brilliant if somewhat eccentric engineer and entrepreneur who shared his UFO findings with the government, only to have them use his fascination with these phenomena to drive him insane. The real object? Confusing the broader UFO community. It's a fascinating story, if a rather dark one. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more...

We continue considering cows, contemplating cattle carnage as coordinated by clever cads in copters. In other words, we explore alternate explanations for cattle mutilations, like secret military missions by classified, silent helicopters. Plus more Linda Moulton Howe, who doesn't buy it. Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This time, we wrap on "Storm Area 51", hear Bob Lazar meet his bullshitting match on Art Bell's show, and then learn all about how aliens are sneaking up on our unsuspecting cows in the middle of the night and carving them up for unknown, but presumably nefarious reasons. We also meet Linda Moulton Howe, one of the longest-serving and most dedicated journalists exploring weird UFO crap. More on he...

This time, we leave Bob Lazard as he does a victory lap around Joe Rogan's studio, and then recall the peak late-20 teens moment when a bunch of Internet randos decided to Naruto run at the gates of Area 51. There's a Netflix doc that's way too long, so we give you the good bits in about 10 minutes. Next time: Cattle mutilations. Yuck! See you then. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more...

Bob Lazar messes with the bull and gets the horns when he goes public with what he (claims that he) knows. We wrap up Lazar's own narration of his biography, and then we consult some other perspectives that throw his claims into sharp relief. In other words, we think his pants are just the most on-fire pants you've ever seen on a liar. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bob Lazar, mild mannered physicist(?) and former brothel owner(?) goes to work at the world's most secret location, goes inside an alien craft, takes his friends out to see test flights of UFOs, gets canned, and has two guys shoot at his car. Also, nearly all of this is probably made up, because Bob Lazar is full of crap. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In case the Chads didn't bring enough bullshit about UFOs over Russia, we've got a few more tall tales about aliens from the Soviet Union. Then, we begin our miniseries on famous UFO "whistleblower" Bob Lazar, by way of the infamous Area 51 Black Mailbox. Enjoy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we uncover the roots of the Stalin Roswell UFO conspiracy with the help of two very stupid Chads and one human thumb named Joe Rogan. I know half of my audience are groaning. But for the other half,--you're welcome. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We continue the sad story of the very silly Stalin/Roswell story that the otherwise solid Annie Jacobsen decided was fit to print, and then we provide you with the minimum recommended daily requirement of Art Bell content, in this case specifically focused on the 51st Area. It's a long one, and we hope it's fun for you. See you in a couple of weeks with another epic episode, featuring some guests...

As promised, here's Annie Jacobsen's super-weird story about the *real* reason Area 51 was founded. It's super dumb. But fascinating. But dumb. Seriously. Real, real dumb. I don't know how she possibly believed this crap. Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We continue our exploration of the (actual) history of Area 51, this time emphasizing some of the truly awful, irresponsible, and dangerous stuff that went on there--not just nuclear tests, but a simulated dirty bomb explosion with radiation that should clear up in about fifty thousand years, plus an nauseating story about poisoning employees and then refusing to acknowledge said poisoning because...

Merry Christmas, or Happy Hannukah, or like whatever you're into, folks. This time, we talk about Area 51's original raison d'etre , the notorious U2 spy plane. We learn how and why this odd-looking thing was built, how it played into one of the earliest crises of the Cold War, and how its weird shape and unbelievable maximum altitude essentially made sightings of it as a truly unidentified flying...

We put J Allen's story to bed, and begin our exploration of the most mysterious stretch of desert on earth, Area 51. This time, we learn what happened when show artist Willem UFO and I visited Rachel Nevada, the wide spot in the road nearest to the Groom Lake secret facility. More Area 51 in a couple of weeks! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hynek was a good dude. But like Icarus, he chose repeatedly to fly too close to Carl Sagan's sun. We cover Hynek's turn from skeptic to believer, and then his repeated and largely embarrassing run-ins with the greatest science communicator of the 20th century, who repeatedly pantsed Hynek in public debates over the course of decades. Next time, we wrap up Hynek and move on to Area 51! Happy Turkey...