The Cuckoo Town Podcast

In this episode I discuss my weird encounter with what appeared to be a HUGE owl, back in 2013, and its portent effect on my life. I'm not the first to have experienced something odd like this, and I'm sure these encounters are on-going around the world. As to what they represent, I'm no wiser, all I do know is that my life changed in so many ways in the months and years that followed my sighting....

This episode is a thorough investigation of The legend of the lost land of Lyonesse, a mythical land that may have sat off the coast of Cornwall many, many years ago. No one is sure that the place ever existed, let alone sank, but there are tantalising little bits of evidence, both historical and geological. Do I solve the mystery? Listen and find out, you might enjoy my journey of discovery! If y...

I had a short but fascinating conversation with Dr Jack Hunter. Along the way we talked about his personal encounters with the fae, his PhD studies on trance mediumship, his mushroom trips, bees, hoverflies, gremlins, and the folklore of his home region, the Tanat Valley, nestled amongst the lofty mountains of mid-Wales, amongst many other topics. It was fun, I hope you enjoy listening as much as...

In this episode, Bob Osborne shines a light on the far west of Cornwall, a place that has influenced YOUR life, whether you know it or not, through the gifted intellectuals and artists who were once lured there by its strange unearthly magnetism. A place where Aleister Crowley, D.H. Lawrence, Aldous Huxley, Frieda Von Richtofen, and many other world famous artists, writers, and musicians, once liv...

This is an amusing, weird, but, I assure you, true story, a small part of an auto-biography I'm publishing in the next few months, to be called, 'Surf 'n' Turf', but be forewarned, it's an unconventional auto-biography! If you enjoy it, I would appreciate you sharing with all your friends/on social media etc, and please subscribe too. Thanks for listening, and.....'Be Lucky! Become a supporter of...

Just a short episode to promote the book 'Fairy Films: Wee Folk on the Big Screen'. I contributed an essay (on Twin Peaks) to this book. Mark Anthony Wyatt Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-cuckoo-town-podcast--5640100/support .

Following on from the Ascona Monte Verita commune episode, (Ep 18) we travel across the Atlantic to California, to see how German emigrant lebensreformers/naturmenschen (life reformers/nature men) some of them direct from Monte Verita in Ascona, Switzerland, heavily influenced the Nature Boys of California, and how that thread can be traced to the late 1960s flower power generation of hippies. We...

An overview/beginner's guide to the Monte Verita commune at Ascona. At its peak(1900 to 1920) Ascona was at the epicenter of the counterculture, emitting seismic waves of intellectual thought and creativity. It played host, and influenced some of the brightest and best of a generation (Otto Gross, Sigmund Freud, D.H. Lawrence, Aldous Huxley, H.G. Wells, Rudolph Steiner, Frieda van Richtofen, Herma...

In this episode we're looking into the Victorian plant-hunters, adventurers who risked their lives in their pursuit of florae to bring back to Britain, and changed our gardens for ever.....but fear not, it's NOT going to be boring! This isn't 'Gardeners' World' you know, it's not Alan Titchmarsh, this isn't the BBC! There's lots of fun along the way, especially in the final part of this episode, w...

I recently caught up with an old Cornish friend, Matthew James. I've known Matt for many years now. Matt is very knowledgeable about the paranormal, both as a student of the genre, and as an experiencer, too; he's had many odd owl encounters for example. We have attended many conferences together, and sky watches too, we've had a few adventures....including getting lost on the high, bleak, creepy,...

I recently had the pleasure of talking with Shane Taylor, one half of the excellent Dark Notes podcast team. We had a varied discussion, taking in, amongst other topics, high-strangeness, literature (William Burroughs), music (Ska, Bruce Hornsby, Grateful Dead, Michael Nesmith etc), global politics, the old west, finding our space in the podcast world, therapeutic drug use, and many other subjects...

In this episode I take a look at a small area of intense and historic high-strangeness. The north-east of Cornwall has a paranormal reputation second to none, except perhaps other parts of Cornwall and London, but it's fair to say that the Bude area triangle that takes in historic Morwenstow and Stratton has always been a very active area for weird events. We can only really scratch the surface in...

This episode takes a deep dive into the history and mystery of Cornish mermaids mythology. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-cuckoo-town-podcast--5640100/support .

We take a brief look at the work of Algernon Blackwood, what (and who) inspired his weird fiction, this is followed by Mark reading one of his short stories (Entrance and Exit) We also talk about how woodlands and the concept of Higher Space influenced his work. Along the way we discuss Hinton, Gauss, Immanuel Kant, Skinwalker Ranch, the Gaia Hypothesis, John Keel, Jacques Vallee, David Paulides'...

In this episode, I discuss the dreams I've had where I've spoken to deceased loved ones. I believe this is a fairly common experience, have a listen and see if my dreams of the dead are similar to your own! There are a couple of other weird experiences, of a similar nature, towards the end of the episode too. I hope you enjoy it, if you do, please like/subscribe/spread the word, thank you! Mark Be...

This episode is in 2 parts, in the 1st, Steve Cleaves and Mark Toombs, two long-time colleagues of a legendary Cornish ghost-hunter, Michael Williams, discuss his legacy, and their own paranormal experiences, and then, in part 2, it's Michael himself, taken from my interview with him at his home on Bodmin Moor, back in 2016. It's a wide-ranging conversation about his life. Michael was, as his Corn...

I have a conversation with Bob Osborne, an artist, writer and researcher, about his deep interest in how our culture, specifically the counter culture of the 20th century, was heavily influenced by D.H. Lawrence and Aleister Crowley, among others. We discuss how they both spent time living in Cornwall (the far west of England in the UK), Lawrence during the First World War, Crowley around 21 years...

I sit down with Prof. Jeffrey R. Paine to discuss his research into the flying saucer flap of 1947, what led up to it, what happened, what followed in its aftermath, and how some of the experiencers of that flap were emotionally affected. Jeff has recently re-read all the classic UFO literature of that golden era, which he had first read as a youngster in the mid-1960s, but he was armed this time...

An episode where I read a short essay I wrote in 2019. It's about Donovan, creativity, and a sense of place. Anyone who loves Donovan's music and Cornwall should enjoy it, but it also digs deep into the nature of creativity, and how landscape can affect art. Oh, just listen to it, it will all make sense! Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-cuckoo-town-podcast--...

Guy Fawkes Night/ Bonfire Night/ November 5th/ Gunpowder Treason and Plot/ Remember. Remember the 5th of November/ Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-cuckoo-town-podcast--5640100/support .

Gunpowder, Treason and Plot! Bonfire Night Guy Fawkes Night/ November 5th Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-cuckoo-town-podcast--5640100/support .

We visit a cemetery in south central Illinois, well-known for inexplicable events. They seem to have just about every paranormal event happening around here, there are many documented ghost and UFO sightings, sinister robed men in the woods, dislocations, there were cattle mutilations in the same area back in 1977, there's an abundance of bigfoot activity, there are light anomalies too, oh, and ev...

How a chance encounter with a beautiful, historic mansion led to us meeting the owners, and being invited to investigate its history and hauntings! Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-cuckoo-town-podcast--5640100/support .

This episode begins by offering a few ideas as to how and why our railway networks may be haunted. There are several real-life experiences, from railway workers and enthusiasts too, all are taken from an excellent book by Barry Herbert, entitled, 'A Stranger in the Fog' I highly recommend his railway ghost books, there are quite a few available, you can find them all online. The stories include a...

This episode is an initial look at an intriguing Cornish mystery, dating back to 1938, but it's now a part of Cornish folklore, alongside the older lore of merry maids, Spriggans, piskies, owlmen and giants. This mystery is about the untimely, suspicious death of an upper-class English lady, and it has Aleister Crowley centre-stage as the major suspect, the self-styled beast himself, plus espionag...