The Paracast

Gene and cohost Tim Swartz present the all-encompassing views of Dr. Thomas F. Lawson, a psychologist and original thinker who has done extensive research into the ontology and history of super ancient Egypt and how all of its structures/temples/pyramids are part of a “Messianic/Mashiach Plan,” now culminating and which, he says, will create a “new heaven and a new Earth.” After personal research in Egypt, Dr Lawson developed and presented a number of PowerPoint lectures on antediluvian civilizations whose members fled after a world-wide cataclysm circa 11,000 B.C. to Egypt. This ancient, technological knowledge was used to build the pyramids and recorded this history on the Egyptian temple at Edfu. In 2009-11, Dr Lawson was privately invited to explore the Sphinx enclosure by the then Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities Dr. Zahi Hawass as part of a five man “quiet” team with Raytheon Inc to use a new LIDAR tunnel detection system to surreptitiously search for the Atlantean Hall of Records. He has over 25 years experience in design, development and implementation of strategic, tactical and operational planning and systems analysis within numerous federal government, intelligence and defense environments. He is a highly experienced multi-discipline FAA Project and Air Traffic Control Facility Manager and Operations.

Gene and cohost Tim Swartz present Dr. Simon Young, a British folklore historian based in Italy. He has written extensively on the nineteenth-century supernatural. His book Magical Folk: British & Irish Fairies, came out in 2017.The Boggart (from Exeter University Press) and The Nail in the Skull and Other Victorian Urban Legends (from Mississippi University Press) came out in 2022. Dr. Young has undertaken the biggest folklore survey of its kind, on behalf of the Fairy Investigation Society and released in 2024 The Fairy Census 2: 2017-2023. His earlier collection, The Fairy Census 1, came out in 2017. The census, revived more than 60 years from the last one, gathered details of as many fairy sightings from the 20th and 21st century as possible, and to measure contemporary attitudes to fairies. He is also the editor of Exeter New Approaches to Legends, Folklore and Popular Legends, which provides a venue for growing scholarly interest in folklore narratives, supernatural belief systems and the communities that sustain them. As well, Dr. Young teaches history at University of Virginia’s Siena Campus (CET). Over the years he has run courses on the History of Christianity, Italian Food History, Italian Media History, Contemporary Italian History, WW2 in Italy and Italian Renaissance History. For more information about the Fairy Census, visit its website at: www.fairyist.com. His blog can be found at: www.strangehistory.net

Gene and cohost Tim Swartz remember one of the key figures of the early UFO field, as we interview Linda C. Powell, news editor for The Anomalist. She is the author of “Against the Odds: Major Donald E. Keyhoe and His Battle to End UFO Secrecy: A Biography.” In UFO lore, one man is largely responsible for the twin pillars of current belief: that UFOs represent extraterrestrial technology and that the government is hiding this truth from us. His name is Donald E. Keyhoe. He was a 51-year-old retired Marine Major when his own investigation of a famous 1948 flying saucer case led him to believe that the US Air Force and the CIA knew the Earth was under surveillance by beings from other worlds and were keeping it secret from the public. For the next 21 years, he devoted himself, at great personal cost, to exposing the official cover-up of what he believed was an alien visitation. Thanks to his highly-placed contacts in the military and secret informants in the Pentagon, Keyhoe became the first major figure to truly challenge the official view that UFO reports belonged in the domain of “kooks and fuzzy thinkers.” He eventually led what became the world’s most powerful civilian UFO organization for its time, the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP). You’ll also learn all about Gene’s early encounters with Keyhoe between 1965 and 1975, and some of the controversies that arose over Keyhoe’s attempts to run NICAP as a lobbying arm for UFO disclosure.

A main focus of this episode is Bigfoot as Gene and cohost Tim Swartz present Greg Ogles, who got into investigating Bigfoot in 2013 and is the founder of the Alabama Bigfoot Society. Initially he just wanted a diversion in his life as his profession can be quite stressful. Greg has hunted and fished all of his life so being in the woods in remote places was not new to him. In his regular life, he is the traffic analyst for the largest city in Alabama. As an analyst, he’s trained in investigative techniques which he has translated over to investigating the unknown. So throughout the history of mankind, we have always been curious about the unknown, making new discoveries and trekking our way into the wilderness. Greg’s first thoughts were to fully document all of his encounters. As a skeptic he thought there would be little film that he would have to edit. Then one cold day in Alabama, everything changed! His company is Relic films, a production company that seeks out the truth about America’s greatest Legends and Myths. With the use of modern technology and the study of ancient Indian cultures he attempts to uncover the hidden truth about what is real and what is just a story.

Gene and cohost Tim Swartz present best-selling author W.T. Watson, a coffee addict and writer of both fiction and non-fiction. He infuses his work with his expertise in cryptozoology, monster lore, magic, Forteana and the paranormal. W.T. brings a unique shamanic and magical perspective to all of his work after over 30 years of exploration in these topics. During this episode there’s a special focus on Bigfoot, and other strange creatures and legends of strange creatures through the ages. Watson’s books include: “Canadian Monsters & Mysteries,” “Sasquatch Canada: Beyond British Columbia,” “Mysteries in the Mist: Mist, Fog, and Clouds in the Paranormal,”, and his most recent, which will be discussed during this episode: “The Forest Poltergeist: Class B Encounters and the Paranormal.” When he is not writing or reading about monsters, he can be found outdoors allowing his dogs to take him for a walk around his neighborhood in Kitchener, Ontario. He lives with his spouse, Stacey, in a townhome that would be jammed with books if it weren’t for e-readers.

Gene and cohost Tim Swartz present “Captain” Ron Janix, a fellow who has been immersed in the UFO/paranormal community for many years. During this episode, he’ll talk in detail about the state of UFO research, especially the most recent issues regarding the Pentagon’s various investigative projects. Through reading and listening to experts, working with various conferences, and doing hundreds of interviews, Ron has built up an extensive knowledge of the subject. He began podcasting with the Elevate The Conversation show back in 2014, and then moved on to the Truth Be Told show along with Tony Sweet. In April 2021, Ron founded The Observation Deck, an online source for information on speakers and events in and around the UFO community. Additionally, he also launched a podcast entitled The Observation Desk, that focused on where his passion lies new theories and discoveries in the areas of Science, Technology, History, and the Paranormal. He is also the Co-Owner, Producer, and Host of “Contact in the Desert,” which he presents as the world’s largest UFO-themed Conference, each year featuring dozens of well-known figures in the field. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the newly launched Hollywood Disclosure Alliance, headquartered in Los Angeles.

As The Paracast begins its 19th year, Gene and cohost Tim Swartz present Peter Robbins, an investigative writer, author and lecturer best known for his books, columns, articles, radio commentaries, interviews and conference talks about UFOs. He has appeared as a guest on and been consultant to numerous television programs and documentaries. Robbins’ longtime interest in and research into the life and scientific discoveries of Dr. Wilhelm Reich have led to series of published papers and conference talks in the US and the UK, and presentations at for the International Conference on the Scientific Discoveries of Wilhelm Reich, Nice France; the American College of Orgonomy’s conferences in New York City and Princeton New Jersey, and For the Orgone Biophysical Research Laboratory conferences held near Ashland Oregon. His professional credits include, Editorial Assistant on United Nations’ Secretary General’s (requested) report “for the establishment of a UN-UFO Department,” and Editorial Assistant for Member of Parliament, the Honorable Brinsley Le Poer Trench, Earl of Clancarty’s (requested) paper for The House of Lords 1980 Debate on UFOs. Robbins was also a founding member of Budd Hopkins’ Intruders Foundation, member of its Advisory Board, and Executive Assistant to Mr. Hopkins. He was Event Coordinator for the SCI FI Channel’s “Alien Abduction Phenomenon: A Symposium,” organized to promote the release of the Steven Spielberg miniseries “Taken,” and writer, planner and commentator for the “Ultimate UFO” and “Ultimate Crop Circle” DVD sets. You can check out his weekly show, “Meanwhile, Here On Earth LIVE” on Mondays at 7:00 PM EST by going to www.unxnetwork.com and clicking on “X-Stream / Listen or Watch” at the top of the page.

Gene and cohost Tim Swartz present a return visit from the one and only Joshua Cutchin, a long-time favorite of listeners to The Paracast. He is an author, musician, husband, father, who has appeared on a wide variety of paranormal programs discussing his work, including the hit History Channel television show “Ancient Aliens.” He is the author of seven critically-acclaimed books: 2015’s “A Trojan Feast: The Food and Drink Offerings of Aliens, Faeries, and Sasquatch” (translated into Spanish as “Banquete Troyano”); 2016’s “The Brimstone Deceit: An In-Depth Examination of Supernatural Scents, Otherworldly Odors, & Monstrous Miasmas”; 2018’s “Thieves in the Night: A Brief History of Supernatural Child Abductions”; and 2020’s “Where the Footprints End: High Strangeness and the Bigfoot Phenomenon,” Volumes I & II, with Timothy Renner. In 2022, he released his two-part masterwork: “Ecology of Souls: A New Mythology of Death & the Paranormal.” 2023 marked the release of his first fictional novel, “Them Old Ways Never Died,” as well as his curated collection of essays, “Fairy Films: Wee Folk on the Big Screen.”