THE PARACAST NEWSLETTER
September 4, 2010

The Paranormal Events in Your Backyard Explored on The Paracast

Special Announcement: The Paracast is heard Sundays from 6:00 PM until 9:00 PM (Central Time) on the GCN radio network.

The Paracast Humbly Requests Your Donations: Although ads help cover a small part of our expenses, the income they produce is never enough, and we don't want to overwhelm the show with them, so we hope you'll be willing to help fill the gap if you can to help us cover increasing server costs and other expenses -- or perhaps provide a little extra cash for lunch. No contribution is too small (or too large :). We have a Donate link on our home page, below the logo and audio player. There's also a Donate link on our forums, right below our logo. Or just send your PayPal donation direct to sales (at) theparacast (dot) com.

You Can Now Order The Official Paracast T-Shirt: You asked, and we answered. We are now taking orders for The Official Paracast T-Shirt and a collection of other specially customized merchandise. To get your T-Shirt, just pay a visit to our new online store at http://store.theparacast.com/ to select your size and place your order. We now also offer a lineup of other premium merchandise featuring The Paracast logo.

Sunday, September 5, 2010: The Paracast covers a world beyond science, where UFOs, poltergeists and strange phenomena of all kinds have been reported by millions across the planet.

Set Up: The Paracast hosts interview long-time researchers in the field, to shed light on the mysteries and complexities of our Universe and the secrets that surround us in our everyday lives.

Join us as we explore the realms of the known and unknown, and hear great stories of the history of the paranormal field in the 20th and 21st centuries.

This Week's Episode: Co-host Nicholas Redfern presents an interview with journalist Jason Offutt, who returns to The Paracast to talk about his latest book, "œWhat Lurks Beyond: The Paranormal in Your Backyard."

Nick Redfern's site: Nick Redfern

Coming November 12: Co-hosts Christopher O’Brien and Nicholas Redfern present a return visit with paranormal author and adventurer David Hatcher Childress, author of “Yetis, Sasquatch & Hairy Giants.”

Christopher O'Brien's Site: Home - Our Strange Planet

Nick Redfern's site: Nick Redfern

Coming November 19: Co-host Christopher O’Brien introduces an elder for the Zuni tribe making his first radio appearance, Clifford Mahooty, who will discuss Indian legends, including those involving “star people” who came to Earth in ancient times.

Christopher O'Brien's Site: Home - Our Strange Planet

Reminder: Don't forget to visit our always-active Discussion Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal (and note our new Internet address): The Paracast Community Forums.

Were There Really Ancient Astronauts?

In the early 1950s, when people focused on the controversial claims of contactee George Adamski, not so many considered the fact that Adamski’s book, “Flying Saucers Have Landed,” had another author, Desmond Leslie.

Leslie’s large contribution to the book contained chapters theorizing that advanced or higher beings reported in the Bible and other sacred texts were, in fact, ET. The Ancient Astronauts concept was also advanced by Brinsley Le Poer Trench and Yonah Fortner, the latter writing in Jim Moseley’s original “Saucer News” as “Y.N. Ibn Aharon.”

Later on, a former hotel manager, Erich von Daniken, parlayed widespread lore about advanced beings from the skies into a number of successful books, beginning with “Chariots of the Gods.”

Now the truth or falsity of all this speculation is beyond the scope of this brief commentary. On the other hand, you can’t dismiss the sheer ubiquity of these tales around the world and the consistent information, such as the larger stature and evident longevity of these visitors from the unknown.

It’s also commonly believed that these creatures were emissaries from God, and certainly the potential influence (or harm) of any superior culture can drastically change a relatively primitive civilization. That is the logic in Star Trek’s Prime Directive, one involving non-interference. Of course, the mere presence of an advanced society may be sufficient to forever change the life experiences and culture of the people (or creatures) they visit, and there were episodes of Star Trek in which that interference occurred, despite the best of intentions.

Using Ancient Astronaut legends, the creators of the Stargate movie, which spawned three popular TV series, imagined a universe in which advanced creatures actually enslaved early humans.

Now I’m not about to suggest that the “real” beings from the stars, assuming the legends and beliefs are genuine, came here to turn is into slaves. There may have been all sorts of motivations involved, some of which we can only guess. In the end, maybe their intentions were benevolent, at least from their point of view, although visiting a primitive culture and altering it to fulfill some sort of cosmic plan may not seem such a good idea if it is your civilization that’s harmed.

But is all this real? Well, assuming there are advanced civilizations throughout the galaxy, and the existence of more and more potential Earth-like planets makes this a distinct possibility, it’s quite reasonable to suggest that they have visited us at one time, and might still be visiting us.

But the larger question is whether our visitors of today are the same ones that came from the skies in ages past. If they are, are they simply keeping tabs on us until we’re ready to engage in a dialogue among equals, or do they still regard us as irrational warlike primitives, that we must change our ways before they will treat us with respect?

Or maybe, just maybe, we were originally seeded by the giants of old who mated with the daughters of men to produce an entirely new species. For better or worse, maybe we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them.

Both the UFO mystery, and the legends of star people, are far more complicated than that. Alas, since the books on the subject -- even if they are best sellers -- are hardly taken seriously by traditional scientists, it’s highly likely that we’ll ever know the truth. That is, until or unless those higher beings decide to make a public appearance and set the record straight.

Incredible White Sands UFO Sightings Explored on The Paracast

Special Announcement: The Paracast is heard Sundays from 6:00 PM until 9:00 PM (Central Time) on the GCN radio network.

The Paracast Humbly Requests Your Donations: Although ads help cover a small part of our expenses, the income they produce is never enough, and we don't want to overwhelm the show with them, so we hope you'll be willing to help fill the gap if you can to help us cover increasing server costs and other expenses -- or perhaps provide a little extra cash for lunch. No contribution is too small (or too large :). We have a Donate link on our home page, below the logo and audio player. There's also a Donate link on our forums, right below our logo. Or just send your PayPal donation direct to sales (at) theparacast (dot) com.

You Can Now Order The Official Paracast T-Shirt: You asked, and we answered. We are now taking orders for The Official Paracast T-Shirt and a collection of other specially customized merchandise. To get your T-Shirt, just pay a visit to our new online store at http://store.theparacast.com/ to select your size and place your order. We now also offer a lineup of other premium merchandise featuring The Paracast logo.

Sunday, August 29, 2010: The Paracast covers a world beyond science, where UFOs, poltergeists and strange phenomena of all kinds have been reported by millions across the planet.

Set Up: The Paracast hosts interview long-time researchers in the field, to shed light on the mysteries and complexities of our Universe and the secrets that surround us in our everyday lives.

Join us as we explore the realms of the known and unknown, and hear great stories of the history of the paranormal field in the 20th and 21st centuries.

This Week's Episode: Co-host Christopher O’Brien presents a return engagement by veteran UFO and paranormal investigator Ray Stanford. The bill of fare includes an incredible series of UFO encounters in and around White Sands, New Mexico in 1978.

Christopher O'Brien's site: Home - Our Strange Planet

Coming September 5 (Rescheduled): Co-host Nicholas Redfern presents an interview with journalist Jason Offutt, who returns to The Paracast to talk about his latest book, "What Lurks Beyond: The Paranormal in Your Backyard (New Odyssey Series)."

Nick Redfern's site: Nick Redfern

Reminder: Don't forget to visit our always-active Discussion Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal (and note our new Internet address): The Paracast Community Forums.

The Media and UFOs Revisited

You have to feel proud of journalist Leslie Kean. She’s a real trouper, and she’s worked awfully hard to attract mainstream attention for her new book, UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go On the Record."

Indeed, the book appears to be the hottest selling UFO title in years, having risen close to the top 50 on Amazon, last time I checked. It may not sell millions, but Kean is surely moving enough product to make a real difference. In contrast, most UFO books barely sell more than a few thousand copies.

As a mainstream author, Kean has done terrific work, providing a solid case for UFOs as solid, metallic objectives that appear to display clear evidence of an advanced technology. The work is buttressed by loads of contributors who report their own sightings and investigations, including four generals.

Indeed, the late Major Donald E. Keyhoe would probably have been proud of Leslie Kean. This is a marvelous piece of work, one that makes a strong case for serious scientific investigation of the enigma.

But I have to tell you that I’m a jaded sort of person. I’ve seen the promise of serious UFO research by the U.S. government or mainstream science fail time and time again. The UFO field seemed to die the biggest death in the 1960s, when congressional hearings on the subject resulted in the notorious Condon Report.

I had to wonder how UFOs could possibly merit serious study ever again, particularly after the doors of Project Blue Book, the Air Force’s investigative arm, were shuttered.

At the same time, I remember what happened in my little corner of the world in the 1970s, when sightings in Pennsylvania received heavy (and straightforward) coverage in the mainstream press. I was working as news director of a radio station in the Philadelphia suburbs at the time, and, yes, I did cover the sightings in my area. My bosses never complained, even though I was also publishing a paranormal magazine. Or maybe they just didn’t notice.

Nowadays, the regular release of sightings from governments around the world has made it quite clear there are loads of sightings that demand proper attention. Maybe there aren’t as many compelling cases these days, or perhaps they’re just not getting regular coverage.

Then there’s Leslie Kean’s new book. She’s made the talk show circuit. Indeed, as I write this, I’ve seen her tell her story in a particularly compelling fashion on Fox News.

I suppose she got pretty fair treatment, though the two co-hosts seemed to tower over her during her interview. I don’t know if they were standing on platforms, or were just taller than Kean. Regardless, she almost appeared as the student addressing her teachers, as they exhibited indulgent smiles as she gamely made her case.

Now maybe I’m being a little obsessive in observing the fine details, although I expect body language conveyed the impression that the Fox anchors were expressing their superiority. Worse, when Kane was done, they ended the segment with excessively-indulgent smiles. Not a pretty sight.

Now it’s fair to say that most viewers probably didn’t notice any of the efforts by the Fox network to manipulate your impression about that segment. As I said, Kane’s case was presented fairly, and she wasn’t asked any lame questions about green men or gray aliens. It was a fair and balanced presentation that, in large part, offered a compelling case for UFO reality.

I wish her the best, because it’s high time the UFO field receives the attention it deserves, even though there are still various and sundry factions who are more interested in controversy and personal aggrandizement.

Incredible Prophecies for Our Future Explored on The Paracast

Special Announcement: The Paracast is heard Sundays from 6:00 PM until 9:00 PM (Central Time) on the GCN radio network.

The Paracast Humbly Requests Your Donations: Although ads help cover a small part of our expenses, the income they produce is never enough, and we don't want to overwhelm the show with them, so we hope you'll be willing to help fill the gap if you can to help us cover increasing server costs and other expenses -- or perhaps provide a little extra cash for lunch. No contribution is too small (or too large :). We have a Donate link on our home page, below the logo and audio player. There's also a Donate link on our forums, right below our logo. Or just send your PayPal donation direct to sales (at) theparacast (dot) com.

You Can Now Order The Official Paracast T-Shirt: You asked, and we answered. We are now taking orders for The Official Paracast T-Shirt and a collection of other specially customized merchandise. To get your T-Shirt, just pay a visit to our new online store at http://store.theparacast.com/ to select your size and place your order. We now also offer a lineup of other premium merchandise featuring The Paracast logo.

Sunday, August 22, 2010: The Paracast covers a world beyond science, where UFOs, poltergeists and strange phenomena of all kinds have been reported by millions across the planet.

Set Up: The Paracast hosts interview long-time researchers in the field, to shed light on the mysteries and complexities of our Universe and the secrets that surround us in our everyday lives.

Join us as we explore the realms of the known and unknown, and hear great stories of the history of the paranormal field in the 20th and 21st centuries.

This Week's Episode: Co-host Christopher O'™Brien presents a rare interview with Louis Jarvis, focusing on such topics as comparative prophesy, how some possible religious miracles can be looked at in a paranormal context, and conspiracies about a New World Order.

Christopher O'Brien's site: Home - Our Strange Planet

Coming August 29: Co-host Nicholas Redfern presents an interview with journalist Jason Offutt, who returns to The Paracast to talk about his latest book, “What Lurks Beyond: The Paranormal in Your Backyard (New Odyssey Series).”

Nick Redfern's site: Nick Redfern

Reminder: Don't forget to visit our always-active Discussion Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal (and note our new Internet address): The Paracast Community Forums.

Do We Pilot UFOs?

Even though The Paracast has, by and large, taken the position that the UFO mystery remains unexplained, that hasn’t stopped many of you from coming to the conclusion that ET is the most likely source.

The theory might make sense, on the surface. UFOs appear to engage in fantastic pinpoint maneuvers that are way beyond our current technology. They appear to be metallic, intelligently controlled, and they have been tracked on radar and photographed. Since they aren’t ours, they must be, well, theirs; that is, manifestations of an alien civilization.

As astronomers find more and more contenders in the category of possible Earth-link planets in our galaxy, the prospect that a more advanced civilization exists and might want to come here appears to gain credence. You don’t have to be a fan of Star Trek to accept the very real prospect that the universe is teeming with intelligent life. We have already made rudimentary efforts to explore space, so it makes perfect sense that more advanced races might have accomplished such goals long long ago.

Unfortunately, we have no proof that ET truly exists. Sure, some people claim to have met up with aliens, even going so far as to claim direct communication, via speech or telepathy. While I am highly skeptical of contact claimants, I will accept the possibility that some of these stories might, at least in part, be true.

However, even if some sort of “other intelligence” claims to be from another planet, is there any reason to believe them? Whether it’s simple deception, or serving some unknown purpose -- evil or even benevolent -- why would they tell Earthlings the truth about their origins and reasons for being here?

Indeed, if their origin was closer to home, they might prefer that we be kept in the dark.

Yes, I also realize there are claims, so far unsupported, that our Earthly governments have already interacted with alien emissaries. Even if that were to occur, we would have no way of knowing whether those emissaries were telling the truth. It’s not as if we’d break out the waterboarding gear to interrogate them -- at least I hope not.

Some UFO investigators have even speculated that the source of ET might actually be here on Earth. Perhaps an ancient civilization, which presently resides below the ocean or in caves, has coexisted with us for thousands of years. When their physical presence is discovered, they might appear to travel skyward, rather than to their actual destination. Certainly their advanced aircraft can elude any effort to scramble military attack jets and chase after them.

Other possibilities speak of parallel universes, separated by us except for portals or “window areas,” where our reality sometimes intrudes into theirs. That may explain why UFOs can suddenly wink in and out of existence. Or maybe they are mere projections, or holographs, designed to divert attention from what’s really going on elsewhere.

Yet another fascinating possibility is that UFOs are, in fact, time travelers from our future; they being us. Or at least our descendants, returning to engage in some direct exploration to understand their (or our) history. That, of course, creates the frightening possibility of that alleged paradox from accidentally changing an event. It brings to mind a futuristic action film from 1994, “Timecop,” where a single act may change the future in drastic ways.

Then again, maybe whatever change time travelers cause, accidentally or otherwise, is what was meant to be, and around and around it goes. Or perhaps that action, deliberate or otherwise, creates an alternate timeline, and that formed the basis for the recent reinvention of the “Star Trek” franchise, which resulted in a highly successful movie that will spawn sequels in the years to come.

What this all means, of course, is that the UFO mystery may have one or many causes beyond what the debunkers might consider. It’s also true that none of it can be proven. Even if the U.S. government is ultimately compelled to reveal all it knows, the answers may not be what you expect them to be. They may be as much in the dark as the rest of us.

The Paracast Copyright 1999-2010 Making The Impossible, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Privacy Policy: Your personal information is safe with us. We will positively never give out your name and/or e-mail address to anybody else, and that's a promise!

Leslie Kean's New UFO Book Featured on The Paracast

Special Announcement: The Paracast is heard Sundays from 6:00 PM until 9:00 PM (Central Time) on the GCN radio network.

The Paracast Humbly Requests Your Donations: Although ads help cover a small part of our expenses, the income they produce is never enough, and we don't want to overwhelm the show with them, so we hope you'll be willing to help fill the gap if you can to help us cover increasing server costs and other expenses -- or perhaps provide a little extra cash for lunch. No contribution is too small (or too large :). We have a Donate link on our home page, below the logo and audio player. There's also a Donate link on our forums, right below our logo. Or just send your PayPal donation direct to sales (at) theparacast (dot) com.

You Can Now Order The Official Paracast T-Shirt: You asked, and we answered. We are now taking orders for The Official Paracast T-Shirt and a collection of other specially customized merchandise. To get your T-Shirt, just pay a visit to our new online store at http://store.theparacast.com/ to select your size and place your order. We now also offer a lineup of other premium merchandise featuring The Paracast logo.

Sunday, August 15, 2010: The Paracast covers a world beyond science, where UFOs, poltergeists and strange phenomena of all kinds have been reported by millions across the planet.

Set Up: The Paracast hosts interview long-time researchers in the field, to shed light on the mysteries and complexities of our Universe and the secrets that surround us in our everyday lives.

Join us as we explore the realms of the known and unknown, and hear great stories of the history of the paranormal field in the 20th and 21st centuries.

This Week's Episode: Co-host Christopher O’Brien presents Leslie Kean, cofounder of the Coalition for Freedom of Information, and author of “UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go On the Record.”

Christopher O'Brien's site: Home - Our Strange Planet

Leslie Kean's site: UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go On the Record | by Leslie Kean

Coming August 22: Co-host Christopher O’Brien presents a rare interview with Louis Jarvis, focusing on such topics as comparative prophesy, how some possible religious miracles can be looked at in a paranormal context, and conspiracies about a New World Order.

Christopher O'Brien's site: Home - Our Strange Planet

Reminder: Don't forget to visit our always-active Discussion Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal (and note our new Internet address): The Paracast Community Forums.

Are You Ready for Project Blue Book II?

In writing “UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go On the Record,” investigative reporter Leslie Kane makes it exceedingly clear that the subject must be taken seriously. Certainly the evidence presented is compelling and not easily disputed.

But Leslie is not just pitching for a scientific approach. She's proposing a new U.S. government agency to figure out what’s really going on. Not just to investigate sightings, but to make sure that the public knows all about it.

If such a thing truly happens, the proposed agency would be able to harness nationwide investigative resources to get to the scene of sightings as quickly as possible, collect the evidence and make an honest effort to understand what that evidence means.

Whether it will or can happen, though, is another issue entirely, and it’s clear that the U.S. has an exceedingly poor track record handling the UFO problem, at least in public. Beginning in 1952, Project Blue Book -- the successor to Projects Sign and Grudge -- had the purported task of trying to find out the cause behind all those reports of strange flying objects.

In retrospect, it appears Blue Book was little more than a public relations operation, designed to make it seem that the government was seriously investigating UFO sightings, but, in fact, just serving as a scheme to continue to debunk their reality.

In 1969, Blue Book was ordered shut, in the wake of the notorious Condon Report whitewash of the matter. Out of sight, out of mind, but there have long been reports that the U.S. government had yet another project, operating in secret, which was the real source of UFO investigation. In the real world, however, there is no real evidence of any such thing. Sure, there are rumors and alleged whistle blowers from time to time, but no smoking guns.

Whether a reborn Project Blue Book II -- or whatever it might be called -- would fare any better is certainly a valid question. More to the point, in a politically polarized society where the government is not just regarded with distrust, but blamed for wasteful spending, justifying the financing of such an agency would be extremely difficult. Let me even say impossible. Can you imagine how the talking heads on 24/7 cable news stations would react to such a plan?

On the other hand, perhaps a private agency, funded by a few extremely wealthy people, such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, wouldn’t suffer from the same stench. More to the point, it might also be possible to harness resources that no private UFO club can afford to call upon.

A private agency would also have be able to call upon investigators and scientists from around the world to pursue a valid public investigation into the UFO mystery. They wouldn’t be restricted to any single country.

Understand that I’m not necessarily trying to attack MUFON and other organizations, nor the hard work they’ve done over the years. Most of them are sincerely trying to investigate UFOs, but continue to suffer from a severe lack of resources to really accomplish much beyond data collection. They are also, by dint of other organizations run by the fringe elements of the UFO field, seldom taken seriously, which means they really aren’t able to engage in the sort of intensive investigations that are needed, nor the proper analysis of the evidence they’ve retrieved.

So whether it’s a public or private agency, I wish Leslie and her colleagues the best of luck. But if I sound jaded over the prospects that it’ll happen in my lifetime, well, I have decades of experience in the UFO field to support my skepticism.

The Paracast Copyright 1999-2010 Making The Impossible, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Privacy Policy: Your personal information is safe with us. We will positively never give out your name and/or e-mail address to anybody else, and that's a promise!