THE PARACAST NEWSLETTER
December 4, 2016
www.theparacast.com
The Paracast Features a UFO Reality Check from Philip Mantle
The Paracast is heard Sundays from 3:00 AM until 6:00 AM Central Time on the GCN Radio Network and affiliates around the USA, the Boost Radio Network, the IRN Internet Radio Network, and online across the globe via download and on-demand streaming.
SUPPORT THE SHOW AND ENJOY A PREMIUM PARACAST EXPERIENCE! We have another radio show and we’d love for you listen to it. So for a low subscription fee, you will receive access to After The Paracast, plus a higher-quality version of The Paracast free of network ads, and chat rooms when you sign up for The Paracast+. We also offer a special RSS feed for easy updates of the latest episodes, the Paracast+ Video Channel, episode transcripts, Special Features, Classic Episodes and there’s more to come! We’ve just begun to add podcasts and videos from Paul Kimball’s “Other Side of Truth.” Check out our new lower rates, starting at just $4.99 per month, plus our “Lifetime” membership and special free eBook offers! For more information about our premium package, please visit: Introducing The Paracast+ | The Paracast — The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio.
This Week's Episode: Gene and Chris present noted Ufologist Philip Mantle. His interest in UFO research began in 1979 when he joined the British UFO Research Association (BUFORA), and Yorkshire UFO Society (YUFOS), and he is considered one of the UK’s top experts. Philip is well known for doggedly tackling the “Alien Autopsy” controversy, quickly becoming the top investigator into this strangely-curious affair that took place in the late summer of 1995. He has written the definitive book on the subject, Alien Autopsy Inquest, along with a number of other books. In addition, Philip and his colleague, Paul Stonehill, are considered to be the top researchers of Russian UFO cases.
Chris O’Brien’s Site: Our Strange Planet
After The Paracast -- Available exclusively to Paracast+ subscribers on December 4: Gene and Chris compare American to British and, in fact, European Ufology. Is it true that American UFO researchers tend not to be as circumspect in investigating sightings, and tend to overlook anomalous evidence? The dynamic duo also cover the tawdry realms of Ufology and the flamewars that pollute the field. Chris explains why he hates comic book movies, and both explain why it’s not always true that The Paracast has covered UFOs too month in recent years. Chris presents an update on the San Luis Valley Camera Project, a project that involves a network of detectors to monitor possible paranormal activity.
Reminder: Please don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: The Paracast Community Forums.
Don’t Look to Me for Answers!
By Gene Steinberg
I never actually joined the UFO lecture circuit full time, although I had a passing acquaintance with it. In the mid-1970s, my late friend Jim Moseley, of Saucer Smear fame, asked me to sub for him because he was unable to accept a gig.
At the time, I was busy extricating myself from a bad business deal, where I partnered with someone to run a graphic arts studio in Exton, PA. I soon sold my interest in the business for a modest sum; I never actually received the final payments, but I moved on.
Now Jim had signed up with a nationwide lecture bureau. He boasted he had taken over the assignment, for the most part, from a bestselling author of flying saucer books. His tactic was to offer what he promised would be a comparable presentation for a lower price. That impressed the bureau, and thus Jim traveled around the U.S. as a go-to expert on the subject.
On a few occasions, he decided he didn’t have time to take the gig — or the money wasn’t enough to meet his expectations — so he’d call upon me to substitute on his behalf. I think I did a decent job at it, but I didn’t enjoy the travel, navigating long airport runways, meeting some stranger in a car, and otherwise hanging out alone in a hotel room until it was my turn to shine.
So was this how rock stars spent their days of fame and fortune? Well, there were always the nights and the wild parties, but I wasn’t into such excesses, and no such opportunities were offered to a UFO lecturer.
A UFO convention was something else. At least I had the chance to actually hang out with friends — new and old — and actually enjoy something close to a social life.
But the brief experience with that lecture bureau wasn’t my first attempt at giving a pubic speech about UFOs. It happened twice before.
I was in my late teens, helping out Jim at his monthly public meetings in New York City, usually at a modest midtown hotel. On one occasion, he couldn’t come up with a speaker, and thus I was assigned. So I put something together about Hollow Earth theories and the Shaver mystery. Although I may have been a little young for the task, and the audience appeared skeptical, I think I won them over by coming across as serious, knowledgeable, and I was able to answer their questions with reasonably snappy responses.
I didn’t fare so well some time later, when I spent an entire week at UFO/paranormal researcher Allen Greenfield’s home in a fancy neighborhood in suburban Atlanta. I was 19, and had a crush on a young lady from Birmingham, AL that I met as a pen pal.
Aside from taking a one-day airplane trip to Birmingham to meet my friend and her skeptical parents, I spent most of the time with Allen and his friends. One night I was booked to deliver a presentation about UFOs before a group of locals from his saucer group.
This came about before I took voice training and became a radio broadcaster, but I think I managed the task fairly well.
But I made the fatal mistake of not offering snap answers to the abiding questions about UFOs. What were they? Where did they come from? Were they spaceships as most suggested? What about government secrecy?
I took what I felt was the honest approach, that the evidence might point in the ET direction, but there was no final proof, no smoking gun, to indicate the final solution. I pointed to some of the unanswered questions about the theory, that there may be other possibilities.
At the time, Allen and I were actively considering such theories as travelers from parallel worlds, alternate realities. Although the question was raised, I was less convinced about the possibility of time travelers, since the sci-fi concepts often focused on a paradox that complicated matters.
So what happens if you go back through time and change something ever so slightly? Maybe you meet someone and talk to them, or convince someone to do something different than they might otherwise have done. It doesn’t have to be anything major, but the action might trigger other actions over the years that cause serious changes to the timelines. People may die, or never exist, and events may no longer occur, or occur in a different way.
The results have been fodder for movies and TV shows over the years. One example is “Timecop,” from 1994, about a government agency designed to prevent alterations to the timeline. It was one of the few truly enjoyable movies featuring actor and martial artist Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Time travel is also featured on several sci-fi and comic book shows on The CW network, which is jointly owned by CBS and Warner Bros. So such programs as “Frequency,” based on a movie from 2000, “The Flash” and “Legends of Tomorrow” all focus on some sort of time travel, and the sometimes unexpected results of trying to do something with the best of intentions. NBC’s “Timeless” involves a group of time travelers who go back in time to protect history and prevent deliberate or accidental changes.
Well, back in Atlanta in the 1960s, I considered the theories. But I decided not to commit myself to the final solutions that my audience clearly wanted. I was questioned over and over again as some people tried to pin me down. In the end, it all went over like a lead balloon. Some thought I was a cynical nonbeliever and felt cheated. Add that to my sometimes unpolished delivery, and I didn’t get many favorable reviews.
I wanted to “show them,” and thus I actively pursued my dream of a career in radio. I got my wish, but I didn’t have to cope with public appearances. For the most part, I remained anonymous, seated in a studio, in front of a mic. Other than my coworkers, I actually didn’t have to see anyone, and nobody expected me to give them answers about anything. Just read the commercials, deliver the time and temperature and an occasional snappy d.j. joke, and management was only too happy to continue to sign my paychecks.
It didn’t take long for me to come to the realization that the most successful UFO speakers were the ones who promised — or pretended — to give solutions to the mystery. So the saucers were craft from other planets — and sometimes they’d suggest where. The governments of Earth knew the truth but were engaged, separately or together, in a conspiracy to keep the information from the public for reasons best known to themselves.
As you know, that’s the sum total of the most popular belief about UFOs. It hasn’t changed much in the ensuing decades.
As for me, well, my paid lectures in the 1970s were usually well received. A decade in radio taught me the basics of delivery, and I offered just enough in the way of possible answers to the enigma to mostly satisfy the audience. But I was never dishonest about it.
After a few years, the lecture invites faded. I hadn’t actively pursued the gigs because I was busy carving out a new life for myself in an altogether different business. The fees just weren’t compelling enough to take a few days off and put up with the misery of spending hours in a tin can flying from one city to another, and never actually having a chance to enjoy the sights and the sounds.
I still don’t pretend to offer final answers on The Paracast, but I’m happy to talk about possibilities that you may not have considered before. And I’m still hidden behind a microphone. I like it that way.
Copyright 1999-2016 The Paracast LLC. 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!
December 4, 2016
www.theparacast.com
The Paracast Features a UFO Reality Check from Philip Mantle
The Paracast is heard Sundays from 3:00 AM until 6:00 AM Central Time on the GCN Radio Network and affiliates around the USA, the Boost Radio Network, the IRN Internet Radio Network, and online across the globe via download and on-demand streaming.
SUPPORT THE SHOW AND ENJOY A PREMIUM PARACAST EXPERIENCE! We have another radio show and we’d love for you listen to it. So for a low subscription fee, you will receive access to After The Paracast, plus a higher-quality version of The Paracast free of network ads, and chat rooms when you sign up for The Paracast+. We also offer a special RSS feed for easy updates of the latest episodes, the Paracast+ Video Channel, episode transcripts, Special Features, Classic Episodes and there’s more to come! We’ve just begun to add podcasts and videos from Paul Kimball’s “Other Side of Truth.” Check out our new lower rates, starting at just $4.99 per month, plus our “Lifetime” membership and special free eBook offers! For more information about our premium package, please visit: Introducing The Paracast+ | The Paracast — The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio.
This Week's Episode: Gene and Chris present noted Ufologist Philip Mantle. His interest in UFO research began in 1979 when he joined the British UFO Research Association (BUFORA), and Yorkshire UFO Society (YUFOS), and he is considered one of the UK’s top experts. Philip is well known for doggedly tackling the “Alien Autopsy” controversy, quickly becoming the top investigator into this strangely-curious affair that took place in the late summer of 1995. He has written the definitive book on the subject, Alien Autopsy Inquest, along with a number of other books. In addition, Philip and his colleague, Paul Stonehill, are considered to be the top researchers of Russian UFO cases.
Chris O’Brien’s Site: Our Strange Planet
After The Paracast -- Available exclusively to Paracast+ subscribers on December 4: Gene and Chris compare American to British and, in fact, European Ufology. Is it true that American UFO researchers tend not to be as circumspect in investigating sightings, and tend to overlook anomalous evidence? The dynamic duo also cover the tawdry realms of Ufology and the flamewars that pollute the field. Chris explains why he hates comic book movies, and both explain why it’s not always true that The Paracast has covered UFOs too month in recent years. Chris presents an update on the San Luis Valley Camera Project, a project that involves a network of detectors to monitor possible paranormal activity.
Reminder: Please don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: The Paracast Community Forums.
Don’t Look to Me for Answers!
By Gene Steinberg
I never actually joined the UFO lecture circuit full time, although I had a passing acquaintance with it. In the mid-1970s, my late friend Jim Moseley, of Saucer Smear fame, asked me to sub for him because he was unable to accept a gig.
At the time, I was busy extricating myself from a bad business deal, where I partnered with someone to run a graphic arts studio in Exton, PA. I soon sold my interest in the business for a modest sum; I never actually received the final payments, but I moved on.
Now Jim had signed up with a nationwide lecture bureau. He boasted he had taken over the assignment, for the most part, from a bestselling author of flying saucer books. His tactic was to offer what he promised would be a comparable presentation for a lower price. That impressed the bureau, and thus Jim traveled around the U.S. as a go-to expert on the subject.
On a few occasions, he decided he didn’t have time to take the gig — or the money wasn’t enough to meet his expectations — so he’d call upon me to substitute on his behalf. I think I did a decent job at it, but I didn’t enjoy the travel, navigating long airport runways, meeting some stranger in a car, and otherwise hanging out alone in a hotel room until it was my turn to shine.
So was this how rock stars spent their days of fame and fortune? Well, there were always the nights and the wild parties, but I wasn’t into such excesses, and no such opportunities were offered to a UFO lecturer.
A UFO convention was something else. At least I had the chance to actually hang out with friends — new and old — and actually enjoy something close to a social life.
But the brief experience with that lecture bureau wasn’t my first attempt at giving a pubic speech about UFOs. It happened twice before.
I was in my late teens, helping out Jim at his monthly public meetings in New York City, usually at a modest midtown hotel. On one occasion, he couldn’t come up with a speaker, and thus I was assigned. So I put something together about Hollow Earth theories and the Shaver mystery. Although I may have been a little young for the task, and the audience appeared skeptical, I think I won them over by coming across as serious, knowledgeable, and I was able to answer their questions with reasonably snappy responses.
I didn’t fare so well some time later, when I spent an entire week at UFO/paranormal researcher Allen Greenfield’s home in a fancy neighborhood in suburban Atlanta. I was 19, and had a crush on a young lady from Birmingham, AL that I met as a pen pal.
Aside from taking a one-day airplane trip to Birmingham to meet my friend and her skeptical parents, I spent most of the time with Allen and his friends. One night I was booked to deliver a presentation about UFOs before a group of locals from his saucer group.
This came about before I took voice training and became a radio broadcaster, but I think I managed the task fairly well.
But I made the fatal mistake of not offering snap answers to the abiding questions about UFOs. What were they? Where did they come from? Were they spaceships as most suggested? What about government secrecy?
I took what I felt was the honest approach, that the evidence might point in the ET direction, but there was no final proof, no smoking gun, to indicate the final solution. I pointed to some of the unanswered questions about the theory, that there may be other possibilities.
At the time, Allen and I were actively considering such theories as travelers from parallel worlds, alternate realities. Although the question was raised, I was less convinced about the possibility of time travelers, since the sci-fi concepts often focused on a paradox that complicated matters.
So what happens if you go back through time and change something ever so slightly? Maybe you meet someone and talk to them, or convince someone to do something different than they might otherwise have done. It doesn’t have to be anything major, but the action might trigger other actions over the years that cause serious changes to the timelines. People may die, or never exist, and events may no longer occur, or occur in a different way.
The results have been fodder for movies and TV shows over the years. One example is “Timecop,” from 1994, about a government agency designed to prevent alterations to the timeline. It was one of the few truly enjoyable movies featuring actor and martial artist Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Time travel is also featured on several sci-fi and comic book shows on The CW network, which is jointly owned by CBS and Warner Bros. So such programs as “Frequency,” based on a movie from 2000, “The Flash” and “Legends of Tomorrow” all focus on some sort of time travel, and the sometimes unexpected results of trying to do something with the best of intentions. NBC’s “Timeless” involves a group of time travelers who go back in time to protect history and prevent deliberate or accidental changes.
Well, back in Atlanta in the 1960s, I considered the theories. But I decided not to commit myself to the final solutions that my audience clearly wanted. I was questioned over and over again as some people tried to pin me down. In the end, it all went over like a lead balloon. Some thought I was a cynical nonbeliever and felt cheated. Add that to my sometimes unpolished delivery, and I didn’t get many favorable reviews.
I wanted to “show them,” and thus I actively pursued my dream of a career in radio. I got my wish, but I didn’t have to cope with public appearances. For the most part, I remained anonymous, seated in a studio, in front of a mic. Other than my coworkers, I actually didn’t have to see anyone, and nobody expected me to give them answers about anything. Just read the commercials, deliver the time and temperature and an occasional snappy d.j. joke, and management was only too happy to continue to sign my paychecks.
It didn’t take long for me to come to the realization that the most successful UFO speakers were the ones who promised — or pretended — to give solutions to the mystery. So the saucers were craft from other planets — and sometimes they’d suggest where. The governments of Earth knew the truth but were engaged, separately or together, in a conspiracy to keep the information from the public for reasons best known to themselves.
As you know, that’s the sum total of the most popular belief about UFOs. It hasn’t changed much in the ensuing decades.
As for me, well, my paid lectures in the 1970s were usually well received. A decade in radio taught me the basics of delivery, and I offered just enough in the way of possible answers to the enigma to mostly satisfy the audience. But I was never dishonest about it.
After a few years, the lecture invites faded. I hadn’t actively pursued the gigs because I was busy carving out a new life for myself in an altogether different business. The fees just weren’t compelling enough to take a few days off and put up with the misery of spending hours in a tin can flying from one city to another, and never actually having a chance to enjoy the sights and the sounds.
I still don’t pretend to offer final answers on The Paracast, but I’m happy to talk about possibilities that you may not have considered before. And I’m still hidden behind a microphone. I like it that way.
Copyright 1999-2016 The Paracast LLC. 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!
