The Paracast Newsletter
December 24, 2023
www.theparacast.com
Is a Curious Sighting and the Recovery of Metal Fragments in the 1980s Europe's Roswell? Author Mark Olly Reveals the Results of His Research on The Paracast!
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.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU HAVEN'T SIGNED UP FOR THE PARACAST+ YET? PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE PARACAST+ SO YOU CAN SUPPORT THE SHOW AND ENJOY THE ULTIMATE PARACAST EXPERIENCE AT A SPECIAL LOW PRICE! 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 an exclusive bonus podcast, After The Paracast, plus an enhanced version of The Paracast with the network ads removed, when you join The Paracast+. We also offer a special RSS feed for easy updates of the latest episodes on your device. Flash! Take advantage of our lowest rates ever! Act now! It's easier than ever to susbcribe! For the easiest signup ever, please visit: https://www.theparacast.plus
This Week's Episode: Gene and cohost Tim Swartz present author, producer, writer, lecturer, broadcaster, musician and artist Mark Olly, author of "Europe’s Roswell — 40 Years Since Impact." This book contains detailed first-hand accounts of those involved, the best images of the crash debris available to date, up-dates from those same sources, how and where the original 25-year anniversary documentary was produced back in 2008, along with new international scientific analysis of the debris fragments. For over 22 years, Olly worked as a professional DJ, musician, and in music management founding Angelharp Music, Unicorn Entertainments Agency Ltd. and Legendthink Ltd. before moving on to pursue a solo career as writer, archaeologist and television presenter. This career has so far taken him to all parts of the UK, France, Egypt, Norway, Italy, Bulgaria, Cyprus, and the Yucatan Peninsular Mexico in search of the ancient and the mysterious. He has several books in print, appeared on Carlton Television's "The History Detectives," wrote and presented three seasons of ITV Granada's award nominated 'Lost Treasures' adventure archaeology series, is a regular presenter on Sky History Channel, writes, presents and directs DVD's for U.S. media giant Reality Entertainments/Reality Films, and recently wrote and directed four Music Videos for international recording band Hayseed Dixie, and played sessions with atmospheric band Soul Path and rock bands Stone Cold Nero and Sacred Wind.
After The Paracast — Available exclusively for Paracast+ subscribers on December 24: Renaissance Man Mark Olly returns to talk with Gene and cohost Tim Swartz about a variety of pop culture topics. After revealing that he was part of what he calls "the last Mersey Beat band," Olly talks about rock and roll and UFOs, where artists wrote and sung flying saucer songs and perhaps had strange experiences. He also talks about what he calls the "real" crop circles that remain unexplained. Other topics include his years of research into the King Arthur legend. Olly is an internationally recognized author, TV producer/presenter, writer, lecturer, broadcaster, musician and artist. Mark was educated at Appleton Hall County Grammar School, Warrington College Of Art & Design, University Of Liverpool Institute Of Extension Studies field archaeology unit, various business schools, and El-Shaddai College Of Advanced Ministry U.K. Manchester where he obtained a Certificate Of Ministry (Ct.Min.AP) and Diploma Of Biblical Studies (Dip.BS.AP). He has several books in print, including "Europe’s Roswell — 40 Years Since Impact."
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. Visit our new online shop for great branded merchandise at: https://www.theparacast.shop.
It’s Gonna Happen Any Day Now — Or Maybe Not
Gene Steinberg
There’s something about making promises you probably can’t keep. If someone depends on those promises for support, money or just fulfilling a dream, they should plan to be disappointed. Or just be realistic and not expect things to happen that shouldn’t be promised.
Take the imagined disclosure that flying saucers are spaceships, that the governments of the U.S. and other countries have known the truth but have refused to reveal it to an expectant republic.
This theory — or belief — has been persistent for some 70 years. Some of the very first UFO books I read in my preteen years expressed that point of view. I remember, for example, Major Donald E. Keyhoe’s fourth book on the topic, “Flying Saucers: Top Secret,” which was published in 1960. The title said it all.
But it wasn’t the first time he touted that conspiracy theory. His previous books also took this posture, only he became more aggressive in his demands for disclosure after he became director of the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) in 1956.
While it did engage in some investigations of sightings, publishing reports in its irregular newsletter, The UFO Investigator, Keyhoe possibly sabotaged member growth with an ill-thought assertion. It was his intention to put NICAP out of business if disclosure was achieved. In short, its main purpose was lobbying.
That wasn’t an argument that would appeal to those who might otherwise consider long-term memberships. Even then, NICAP could be a tad selective about whom to accept as as member.
So UFO gadfly James W. Moseley, then editor and publisher of Saucer News, dutifully sent in a check to join the club. For reasons I don’t have the patience to express here, Keyhoe didn’t like Moseley, and thus his check was returned.
In the end, Moseley did what I would have expected him to do. It was the ultimate solution, which was to get a friend to subscribe and have that friend send him copies of The UFO Investigator.
NICAP’s disclosure quest never succeeded, as we know. When Congress finally held hearings on the flying saucers in the 1960s, NICAP’s lobbying attempts had little or nothing to do with it. It was more an outgrowth of a claim that sightings in Michigan were caused by swap gas. It was a rushed, ill-considered statement from an astronomer hired by the Air Force’s Project Blue Book, one Dr. J. Allen Hynek. Hynek later said he regretted the statement almost as soon as he expressed it.
Regardless, NICAP soldiered on. But Major Keyhoe’s tenure came to an end in the late 1960s, when the group’s board ousted him over possible financial irregularities. It wasn’t so much that Keyhoe was a crook; it was more that he was careless in the handling of NICAP’s finances.
With Keyhoe gone, NICAP faded rapidly over the following years.
Over the next few decades, demands for disclosure didn’t quite receive the coverage that such investigators as Keyhoe attracted. Not that it wasn’t there, of course.
While some might disagree about the work of disclosure advocates, my recent memories of such efforts start with the Disclosure Project, an organization founded in 1993 by Dr. Steven Greer, once a hospital emergency room physician.
Greer also evidently engaged in such questionable tactics as charging people large sums to participate in UFO sighting quests. On the other hand, he did attempt to attract serious attention to the subject, notably with a 2001 event at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. featuring some 20 retired military notables from the Air Force, Federal Aviation Administration and intelligence officers.
It certainly had its bonafides. But it didn’t move the disclosure needle.
These days, a lot of the civilian disclosure attention focuses on someone who claims to be one of the few — perhaps the only — UFO lobbyist. That’s Stephen Bassett.
According to published reports, Bassett’s had a shaky personal journey. He earned a physics degree, but had an inconsistent job history. That is, until he caught the UFO bug.
His most significant exposure to UFO lore began when he read John Mack’s book on a controversial element of the UFO field, “Abduction.” It set Bassett on his life’s journey, which eventually resulted in becoming an active advocate for disclosure.
As regular listeners to The Paracast know, Bassett and his ongoing quest to vindicate his belief in extraterrestrial visitors have been featured on the show from time to time.
How successful his journey has been is questionable. While he remains a persistent thorn in the side of folks who ignore the importance of the phenomenon, the renewed interest in the subject largely came from another source: The New York Times.
On December 16, 2017, the Times published an article entitled, "Glowing Auras and ‘Black Money’: The Pentagon’s Mysterious U.F.O. Program.”
Written by Helene Cooper, Ralph Blumenthal and Leslie Kean, the article revealed the existence of an apparently secret Pentagon UFO study. In all, a mere $22 million was allocated for the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program. Its title clearly did not indicate its true purpose, which was to study what they labeled UAP.
The story is rather complicated. Those funds reportedly went to a private company run by hotel billionaire Robert Bigelow, who has had a long interest in UFOs and other weird phenomena. In turn, Bigelow contracted with none other than the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) to provide assistance and materials about their investigations.
The alliance was rather less than a marriage made in heaven, and was eventually terminated.
In the end, no doubt in part due to the worldwide publicity the project received, solid efforts were made to set up an ongoing body to study UAP. After some confusing and curious musical chairs, it currently bears the title “All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO),” and exists within the Department of Defense.
While efforts are supposedly being made to enhance reporting of sightings, it unaccountably remains confined to the military. Civilians need to go elsewhere to report UAPs.
Conclusions have yet to be reached. But AARO continues to maintain that there is no evidence that extraterrestrials are involved, without actually defining what sort of evidence they’d require. The public posture is that they are more interested in detecting possible drone and other airborne visitors from other countries on this planet.
As usual when it comes to UFOs, there are the usual complications, such as the presence of a whistleblower, a former Air Force and intelligence officer by the name of David Grusch. He claims to have knowledge that the U.S. military is concealing the truth, that it possesses spaceship wreckage, possible alien bodies, and all the other evidence disclosure advocates have lusted after. However, he can’t provide evidence for any of it, allegedly because it involves national security, thus preventing him from providing specifics.
The byplay with Grusch and AARO hasn’t resulted in any secret sessions to allow him to speak his mind. So remains at a standstill.
Meanwhile, Bassett is still at it, continuing his quest for disclosure, continuing to convey hopes that it’ll happen real soon now. He seems sincere enough in his quest, but the chances that he’ll succeed don’t seem any better. I wish him luck, though. I’d like to see the UFO quest reach a conclusion after all these years.
But hopes and realities seldom converge.
Copyright 1999-2023 The Paracast Company. 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 24, 2023
www.theparacast.com
Is a Curious Sighting and the Recovery of Metal Fragments in the 1980s Europe's Roswell? Author Mark Olly Reveals the Results of His Research on The Paracast!
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.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU HAVEN'T SIGNED UP FOR THE PARACAST+ YET? PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE PARACAST+ SO YOU CAN SUPPORT THE SHOW AND ENJOY THE ULTIMATE PARACAST EXPERIENCE AT A SPECIAL LOW PRICE! 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 an exclusive bonus podcast, After The Paracast, plus an enhanced version of The Paracast with the network ads removed, when you join The Paracast+. We also offer a special RSS feed for easy updates of the latest episodes on your device. Flash! Take advantage of our lowest rates ever! Act now! It's easier than ever to susbcribe! For the easiest signup ever, please visit: https://www.theparacast.plus
This Week's Episode: Gene and cohost Tim Swartz present author, producer, writer, lecturer, broadcaster, musician and artist Mark Olly, author of "Europe’s Roswell — 40 Years Since Impact." This book contains detailed first-hand accounts of those involved, the best images of the crash debris available to date, up-dates from those same sources, how and where the original 25-year anniversary documentary was produced back in 2008, along with new international scientific analysis of the debris fragments. For over 22 years, Olly worked as a professional DJ, musician, and in music management founding Angelharp Music, Unicorn Entertainments Agency Ltd. and Legendthink Ltd. before moving on to pursue a solo career as writer, archaeologist and television presenter. This career has so far taken him to all parts of the UK, France, Egypt, Norway, Italy, Bulgaria, Cyprus, and the Yucatan Peninsular Mexico in search of the ancient and the mysterious. He has several books in print, appeared on Carlton Television's "The History Detectives," wrote and presented three seasons of ITV Granada's award nominated 'Lost Treasures' adventure archaeology series, is a regular presenter on Sky History Channel, writes, presents and directs DVD's for U.S. media giant Reality Entertainments/Reality Films, and recently wrote and directed four Music Videos for international recording band Hayseed Dixie, and played sessions with atmospheric band Soul Path and rock bands Stone Cold Nero and Sacred Wind.
After The Paracast — Available exclusively for Paracast+ subscribers on December 24: Renaissance Man Mark Olly returns to talk with Gene and cohost Tim Swartz about a variety of pop culture topics. After revealing that he was part of what he calls "the last Mersey Beat band," Olly talks about rock and roll and UFOs, where artists wrote and sung flying saucer songs and perhaps had strange experiences. He also talks about what he calls the "real" crop circles that remain unexplained. Other topics include his years of research into the King Arthur legend. Olly is an internationally recognized author, TV producer/presenter, writer, lecturer, broadcaster, musician and artist. Mark was educated at Appleton Hall County Grammar School, Warrington College Of Art & Design, University Of Liverpool Institute Of Extension Studies field archaeology unit, various business schools, and El-Shaddai College Of Advanced Ministry U.K. Manchester where he obtained a Certificate Of Ministry (Ct.Min.AP) and Diploma Of Biblical Studies (Dip.BS.AP). He has several books in print, including "Europe’s Roswell — 40 Years Since Impact."
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. Visit our new online shop for great branded merchandise at: https://www.theparacast.shop.
It’s Gonna Happen Any Day Now — Or Maybe Not
Gene Steinberg
There’s something about making promises you probably can’t keep. If someone depends on those promises for support, money or just fulfilling a dream, they should plan to be disappointed. Or just be realistic and not expect things to happen that shouldn’t be promised.
Take the imagined disclosure that flying saucers are spaceships, that the governments of the U.S. and other countries have known the truth but have refused to reveal it to an expectant republic.
This theory — or belief — has been persistent for some 70 years. Some of the very first UFO books I read in my preteen years expressed that point of view. I remember, for example, Major Donald E. Keyhoe’s fourth book on the topic, “Flying Saucers: Top Secret,” which was published in 1960. The title said it all.
But it wasn’t the first time he touted that conspiracy theory. His previous books also took this posture, only he became more aggressive in his demands for disclosure after he became director of the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) in 1956.
While it did engage in some investigations of sightings, publishing reports in its irregular newsletter, The UFO Investigator, Keyhoe possibly sabotaged member growth with an ill-thought assertion. It was his intention to put NICAP out of business if disclosure was achieved. In short, its main purpose was lobbying.
That wasn’t an argument that would appeal to those who might otherwise consider long-term memberships. Even then, NICAP could be a tad selective about whom to accept as as member.
So UFO gadfly James W. Moseley, then editor and publisher of Saucer News, dutifully sent in a check to join the club. For reasons I don’t have the patience to express here, Keyhoe didn’t like Moseley, and thus his check was returned.
In the end, Moseley did what I would have expected him to do. It was the ultimate solution, which was to get a friend to subscribe and have that friend send him copies of The UFO Investigator.
NICAP’s disclosure quest never succeeded, as we know. When Congress finally held hearings on the flying saucers in the 1960s, NICAP’s lobbying attempts had little or nothing to do with it. It was more an outgrowth of a claim that sightings in Michigan were caused by swap gas. It was a rushed, ill-considered statement from an astronomer hired by the Air Force’s Project Blue Book, one Dr. J. Allen Hynek. Hynek later said he regretted the statement almost as soon as he expressed it.
Regardless, NICAP soldiered on. But Major Keyhoe’s tenure came to an end in the late 1960s, when the group’s board ousted him over possible financial irregularities. It wasn’t so much that Keyhoe was a crook; it was more that he was careless in the handling of NICAP’s finances.
With Keyhoe gone, NICAP faded rapidly over the following years.
Over the next few decades, demands for disclosure didn’t quite receive the coverage that such investigators as Keyhoe attracted. Not that it wasn’t there, of course.
While some might disagree about the work of disclosure advocates, my recent memories of such efforts start with the Disclosure Project, an organization founded in 1993 by Dr. Steven Greer, once a hospital emergency room physician.
Greer also evidently engaged in such questionable tactics as charging people large sums to participate in UFO sighting quests. On the other hand, he did attempt to attract serious attention to the subject, notably with a 2001 event at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. featuring some 20 retired military notables from the Air Force, Federal Aviation Administration and intelligence officers.
It certainly had its bonafides. But it didn’t move the disclosure needle.
These days, a lot of the civilian disclosure attention focuses on someone who claims to be one of the few — perhaps the only — UFO lobbyist. That’s Stephen Bassett.
According to published reports, Bassett’s had a shaky personal journey. He earned a physics degree, but had an inconsistent job history. That is, until he caught the UFO bug.
His most significant exposure to UFO lore began when he read John Mack’s book on a controversial element of the UFO field, “Abduction.” It set Bassett on his life’s journey, which eventually resulted in becoming an active advocate for disclosure.
As regular listeners to The Paracast know, Bassett and his ongoing quest to vindicate his belief in extraterrestrial visitors have been featured on the show from time to time.
How successful his journey has been is questionable. While he remains a persistent thorn in the side of folks who ignore the importance of the phenomenon, the renewed interest in the subject largely came from another source: The New York Times.
On December 16, 2017, the Times published an article entitled, "Glowing Auras and ‘Black Money’: The Pentagon’s Mysterious U.F.O. Program.”
Written by Helene Cooper, Ralph Blumenthal and Leslie Kean, the article revealed the existence of an apparently secret Pentagon UFO study. In all, a mere $22 million was allocated for the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program. Its title clearly did not indicate its true purpose, which was to study what they labeled UAP.
The story is rather complicated. Those funds reportedly went to a private company run by hotel billionaire Robert Bigelow, who has had a long interest in UFOs and other weird phenomena. In turn, Bigelow contracted with none other than the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) to provide assistance and materials about their investigations.
The alliance was rather less than a marriage made in heaven, and was eventually terminated.
In the end, no doubt in part due to the worldwide publicity the project received, solid efforts were made to set up an ongoing body to study UAP. After some confusing and curious musical chairs, it currently bears the title “All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO),” and exists within the Department of Defense.
While efforts are supposedly being made to enhance reporting of sightings, it unaccountably remains confined to the military. Civilians need to go elsewhere to report UAPs.
Conclusions have yet to be reached. But AARO continues to maintain that there is no evidence that extraterrestrials are involved, without actually defining what sort of evidence they’d require. The public posture is that they are more interested in detecting possible drone and other airborne visitors from other countries on this planet.
As usual when it comes to UFOs, there are the usual complications, such as the presence of a whistleblower, a former Air Force and intelligence officer by the name of David Grusch. He claims to have knowledge that the U.S. military is concealing the truth, that it possesses spaceship wreckage, possible alien bodies, and all the other evidence disclosure advocates have lusted after. However, he can’t provide evidence for any of it, allegedly because it involves national security, thus preventing him from providing specifics.
The byplay with Grusch and AARO hasn’t resulted in any secret sessions to allow him to speak his mind. So remains at a standstill.
Meanwhile, Bassett is still at it, continuing his quest for disclosure, continuing to convey hopes that it’ll happen real soon now. He seems sincere enough in his quest, but the chances that he’ll succeed don’t seem any better. I wish him luck, though. I’d like to see the UFO quest reach a conclusion after all these years.
But hopes and realities seldom converge.
Copyright 1999-2023 The Paracast Company. 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!