Wide Atlantic Weird

In 2015, a fantastic horror/historical film called The Witch made the rare decision to take the religion and worldview of its characters seriously. Cian and Donal discuss the film, the life and beliefs of 17th-century puritans, the difference between Catholics and Protestants, and other light subjects! This spoiler-ific take on The Witch also touches on (of course) witchcraft itself, the importanc...

Wondering what all the hype is about? As the hype builds, Cian phones friend of the show and man of medicine James Lynch for a brief chat about the Coronavirus. Is it unique? Should we be scared? And are there any conspiracy theories about this one yet? (the answer to this last question is OF COURSE). Whether you're a sceptic or you've been prepping for the virus apocalypse for years, you'll pick...

While a winter gale rocks the Essex woods, Cian stokes the fire and cracks out a remarkable story written in the mid 19th Century by a fellow Corkman. Allow us to introduce to you the remarkable (and unjustly forgotten) Fitz-James O’Brien: immigrant, man of letters, toast of the literary scene of both London and New York, Civil War fighter, and writer of classic tales of the mysterious. Barely rem...

While driving across England, Cian reads some classic accounts of mysterious disappearances from wilderness areas and national parks in the US in an attempt to review the idea proposed by David Paulides that there are strange elements that link each of these cases. Full credit for this idea goes to Mr Paulides. From the forests and cafes of Southern England, Cian does his best to get lost, both ph...

Cian quits the cabin and travels to London where he’s joined by Faye from Youtube’s The Ghost Trail and Ali from punk band The Scuts to test whether any of them really have any psychic ability using the (infamous) Zener cards. Yes, the ones from Ghostbusters. Invented by Karl Zener for JB Rhine back in the 1930s, Zener cards were instrumental in Rhine’s decades-long attempt to get proper scientifi...

Cian leaves his Essex cabin in search of mystery: join our host on the first Wide Atlantic Weird road trip as he travels to Scotland to investigate the site of the famous Dechmont Woods encounter of 1979. This case has it all: a credible witness, a police investigation, and a sighting of craft and ‘creatures’ utterly unique in the UFO canon of alien greys and silver-suited Nordics. In all seriousn...

NOTE: If you have a low tolerance for banter, you can safely skip the first 20 mins. In the early 90s, when we didn’t really have much to worry about but didn’t appreciate it, our collective unconscious fears manifested in the form of The X-Files, a TV show that took inspiration from supposedly real paranormal encounters, and in turn helped to perpetuate the belief in UFOs and government-alien con...

Cian digs out an old favourite from the days of pulp magazine adventure and horror: a short story by Clark Ashton Smith from 1933 about a trip down a South American river that goes very, very wrong. If you enjoy chaps in pith helmets going to forbidden lost cities and learning Things Man Was Not Meant To Know, if you like seriously disgusting body horror, and if you like Triffids and other kinds o...

Things are getting about as festive as they ever do in the Wide Atlantic Weird cabin: the forest around is bare, and the fire is roaring. It’s the right time for some ghost stories, so Cian is joined by Faye from the Youtube show The Ghost Trail . They brew a batch of Columbian coffee and get comfortable. The Ghost Trail is all about visiting spooky locations and telling ghost stories, so it’s an...

Stories of hiking and camping in remote places frequently feature elements of isolation and horror. On a sunny day on the porch of the Wide Atlantic Weird cabin, Cian explores a few campfire-worthy examples. Are they true? Your host offers his 2 cents, but you can decide for yourself.  Cian brings you a few of his favourite scary (non-supernatural) outdoor tales, mostly culled from the darkes...

On a brilliantly starry, starry night, Cian leaves the Wide Atlantic Weird cabin to wander through the woods, sit by the railway tracks, and phone his friend Chris ‘Spooky’ Joyce. They have an important conversation to resume: The Coming Of The Greys! Yes, the interrupted journey is un-interrupted (?) at last in this sort-of follow-up to The Coming Of The Greys: One From The Vaults ! So where do t...

Poor public understanding of science is leading to an overall dumbing-down of decision-making around the world; environmental, political, and otherwise. So Cian leaves the cabin to visit ecologist Neil Philips in the woods to find out how sensationalist ‘journalism’ and fake news is affecting wildlife in the UK and abroad. Is hunting good for conservation? Are seagulls and foxes a menace to societ...

Cian thinks longingly of his days in the Pacific Northwest while sipping on a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale round the campfire at the Wide Atlantic Weird Cabin. Join him to learn of the wonder and mystery, the lies and intrigue, behind the 1958 Bluff Creek footprints – the case that kickstarted a legend. Is it true that prankster logging manager Ray Wallace really invented the Bigfoot myth using giant wo...

We all know what aliens look like – small grey guys with big heads, right? Over coffee with sometime co-host Mr Chris ‘Spooky’ Joyce, Cian plans an episode about the origin of the grey alien trope. It’s going to be called ‘The Coming Of The Grays’ – but wait, it seems that some time ago, in early 2017, Cian and Chris already recorded an episode for an older ‘cast on this topic! On a windy day at t...

The Flat Earth Theory – so obviously wrong, and bonkers, that it isn’t even worth talking about, right? While Cian enjoys a morning coffee on the porch of the Wide Atlantic Weird cabin, all-round man of science, engineering and medicine James Lynch calls to offer his expertise on this surprisingly important issue. After all, if such a basic ‘fact’ can be thrown into doubt, then so could just about...

In 1958, enormous footprints found near Bluff Creek, California made Bigfoot a worldwide phenomenon, elevating the mystery primate to cryptozoological superstardom. But believers have always maintained that ideas about Sasquatch predate this key year, both in the legends of Native Americans and in the reports of white settlers. In this episode of Wide Atlantic Weird, Cian relocates to his cabin in...

Cian is joined by naturalist and wildlife photographer Neil Philips to discuss  what makes British monsters different (and sometimes similar) from their international cousins (American monsters in particular). From the leafy woods surrounding the Wide Atlantic Weird bunker, they discuss the history of Nessie sightings, the Owlman of Mawnan, the Canvey Island Monster, and the incredibly bizarr...

When it comes to the beasts that hide from man, nobody did backwoods Americana mystery creatures quite like Manly Wade Wellman. His character John the Balladeer was a guitar-slinging hobo who wandered the Appalachian mountains, encountering mythical creatures from North Carolina folklore. In this episode, Cian relaxes in the forest outside the Wide Atlantic Weird bunker and reads one of the best S...

When reports of the so-called 'Abominable Snowman' first filtered from the peaks of the Himalayas to Western Europe during the golden age of mountaineering, English writer of classic ghost stories E. F. Benson took the trendy new idea of the mysterious hairy mountain-dwelling apemen and wondered what might happen if they existed not only in remotest Asia, but in the Alps too. 'The Horror-Horn,' wr...

Somehow the Wide Atlantic Weird Bunker has gotten itself blasted into Earth orbit, and from there, host Cian samples a fine session IPA and speaks with Apollo buff James Lynch about the technical details behind one of the original Big Three conspiracy theories: the Apollo Moon Landing Hoax. They dissect why people believe conspiracy theories in general, why the Apollo landing was ripe for a campai...

NOTE: the style and format of the show was very different back in these days! But we think you'll still enjoy it. Cian is fascinated by the origins of cyptids and mysterious animals. How do these beliefs get started? Often we’re sold the idea that a creature has been reported for centuries, or has its origins in local folklore. And sometimes it’s clear that a creature has actually been invented (o...

Conspiracy theories, UFO folklore, fringe beliefs - they all have something in common, and it's something worrying. A thread of anti-intellectualism runs through them all. Cian decides to find out what's really going on and enlists the help of his brother Donal, PHd student and lecturer in Political Science, to get to the bottom of several important mysteries. Why is conspiracy thinking more rampa...

NOTE: the style and format of the show was very different back in these days! But we think you'll still enjoy it. The bizarre episode of mass hysteria known as the 2016 Clown Panic gets centre stage in this episode as Cian downs a can of Brooklyn lager in the bunker and gets down to investigating a modern case of an anomalous phenomenon. THE 2016 CLOWN PANIC: Cian remembers following this case as...

Cian downs a Theakston's Old Peculiar and gets a little serious in this episode about conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his frenemy and all-round bro Joe Rogan. See, conspiracy theories are no longer a silly fringe interest that we can afford to dismiss. They are mainstream, and are having serious effects on world politics. So we might as well understand them. And what better place to start than...

NOTE: the style and format of the show was very different back in these days! But we think you'll still enjoy it.  Join Cian by the fire to discuss paranormal and unexplained topics in this spooky episode of Wide Atlantic Weird. Oh, and have a fine ale at hand too! THE FIRST UFO: In 1947, pilot Kenneth Arnold saw nine, shiny, disc-shaped somethings flying in formation over Mount Ranier in Was...