The Paracast Newsletter
June 25, 2023
www.theparacast.com
Long-Time Researcher Paul Ascough Reveals Amazing Personal UFO Encounters 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 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! Use the coupon code ufo20 to receive a 20% discount on five-year or lifetime subscriptions. And PayPal now accepts cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, in payment. And if you don't want to use PayPal, we now also offer a second payment option, from Stripe, which accepts major credit or debit cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay. For "qualified users," you can also take advantage of Pay Later options, so act now! For the easiest signup ever, please visit: https://www.theparacast.plus
This Week's Episode: Gene and cohost Tim Swartz present UFO researcher Paul Ascough, who has spent over 50 years involved in UFO research and investigation. He has had his own sightings and was a member of the British UFO Research Association. His book, "UFOs — The Real Story Revised Edition 2023," is described as a refreshing new slant on the subject of UFOs. The front cover shows a representation of his first sighting, witnessed with his father and younger brother in September 1968. The book looks at the bigger picture with all of its complexities, with expanded explanations of why we see and experience what we do and is interlaced with many of the author's own sightings throughout his life. Employed in the medical field all of his career, before retirement Ascough was a qualified nurse, occupational health nurse and qualified paramedic, spending 13 years with both the regular and territorial British Army around the world, gaining perspectives in people and places that would stand him in good stead for his ideas and experiences that contribute to his ongoing UFO studies.
After The Paracast — Available exclusively for Paracast+ subscribers on June 25: We are rejoined by long-time UFO researcher Paul Ascough, author of “UFOs — The Real Story Revised Edition 2023.” He talks with Gene and cohost Tim Swartz about pop culture, such as the “Paul is Dead” rumor, where Gene offers a new slant (not to be taken seriously) on the topic. And what about UFO abductions and the possibilities that extraterrestrials might be integrating in our society? The discussion turns to UFO whistleblower David Grusch, the growing concerns over his so-far unproven claims, and what government secrecy might be all about. Ascough has spent over 50 years involved in UFO research and investigation. He has had his own sightings and was a member of the British UFO Research Association. He’s also retired from the medical field, having worked as a qualified nurse, occupational health nurse and qualified paramedic.
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, and check out our new YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheOfficialParacastChannel.
Have the Flying Saucers Betrayed Us?
By Gene Steinberg
I wrote this article on June 24, 2023, some 76 years after the modern UFO era began with Kenneth Arnold’s sighting of nine mysterious objects in the State of Washington.
And I remember when I first heard about demands for “disclosure” of UFO reality. They didn’t necessarily even include that word, but the intent was the same. The going theory was that the governments of Earth knew the secret of the saucers, and that they should serve their constituents and let us in on the secret.
One of the most prominent of the early disclosure advocates was Major Donald E. Keyhoe, who wrote aviation pieces and pulp fiction. With “The Flying Saucers Are Real,” published in 1950, his breezy style almost read like fiction. He’d recreate the conversations he had with military personnel and other authoritative sources, thus cleverly spinning a tale of a possible visitation by beings from other planets.
Certainly the reports were credible enough, and even Captain Edward Ruppelt, who came to head the Air Force’s Project Blue Book in the early 1950s, described the True magazine version of the book as “one of the most widely read and widely discussed magazine articles in history.”
Keyhoe’s basic contention never wavered over the years. Extraterrestrials were in our midst, and their presence increased after the first test of nuclear weapons in 1945. A connection? Presaging the later furor over the 1947 Roswell incident, he even suggested that the U.S. government may have recovered some of these spaceships, and was working on reverse engineering their advanced technology.
How little things change.
I first discovered flying saucer lore in 1956, when I read Keyhoe’s second book on the subject, “Flying Saucers from Outer Space,” which was first published in 1953. I was hooked.
Three years later, Keyhoe was embarrassed with the 1956 release of a sci-fi film, “Earth vs. the Flying Saucers,” which, according to the credits, was suggested by that very book. I gathered from what he wrote on the subject later on, that he believed — or hoped — that the producers would take a documentary focus rather than deliver more B-movie aliens-on-the-loose fare.
But before that movie arrived, Keyhoe was already going full bore into his disclosure efforts with the publication, in 1955, of “The Flying Saucer Conspiracy.” Nothing more need be said about that book, except that the title was perfect.
Later, Keyhoe took control of a failing UFO club, the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) and dedicated it towards lobbying the U.S. Congress to hold hearings on the subject. Indeed, he even said his goal was to put NICAP out of business once the government took over.
In the late 1960s, after the Condon Committee released a report whitewashing UFO reality, Keyhoe found himself on the outs with NICAP. It was evidently the result of his careless bookkeeping, although it did not appear that he actually stole any money. It was more a matter of incompetence I gather.
Anyway, NICAP folded some years later, but Keyhoe remained active in UFO research and writing for a number of years.
I even encountered him at a UFO conference in Fort Smith, Arkansas in 1975, where he sat down for an interview. Since I intended it for a general audience, I didn’t get deep and dirty into the more elaborate theories about what the phenomenon was all about. Besides, Keyhoe never changed his view that we were being visited by ET.
It wasn’t the first time I met Keyhoe, and through it all, he seemed calm and personable, thoroughly convinced that his original belief in visitors from space was the real deal.
He soon retired and stayed mostly away from the field due to declining health. Nonetheless he lived until 1988, when he died at the age of 91.
Over the years, some have suspected that Keyhoe was a disinformation agent, someone charged with focusing the public’s attention on a narrow corner of the phenomenon, along with his unrealized claims that the authorities would soon reveal the truth about the saucers.
Unfortunately, NICAP’s governing board was heavily laden with former military figures, his compatriots. One of the most notable — and possibly suspicious — members was Rear Admiral Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter. Once a classmate of Keyhoe’s, Hillenkoetter became the third Director of Central Intelligence, and the first Director when it was rebranded as the CIA.
He served on NICAP’s board from 1957 to 1962.
While I have no doubt that he was perfectly sincere in his belief about UFOs and his desire to be of help to his friend, his presence on that board fueled the conspiracy theories. Indeed, it seemed so obvious that NICAP was a military front that its influence in the field was often questioned.
Through it all, I suspect Keyhoe was naive about some things. He believed, for example, that the U.S. Congress consisted largely of honest brokers and not necessarily political hacks on power trips. Thus, if they were shown the evidence, they would demand that the Air Force let us in on the secret.
If it was all about spaceships, we could take it.
When it came to that sci-fi film, it’s likely that Keyhoe sold book rights to Hollywood not fully aware of his lack of power to direct the shape of the film. Perhaps 30 seconds at the beginning were devoted to a basic summary of UFO lore before moving on to the actual story of a scientist’s quest to stop an alien invasion.
By the same token, Keyhoe may not have realized that the presence of ex-military on NICAP’s board would raise lots of red flags. He apparently felt that it would give the organization an air of credibility. After all, with the Air Force debunking UFO reality, having so many respected people advising the organization would be a positive development.
Over the years, I often thought that real disinformation agents in the field would actually behave in ways that would serve as convincing covers to their real purpose.
In any case, Keyhoe helped pave the way for the modern UFO field, and many still follow his theories, even if they don’t know their true source. He may have been right, after all. But his hopes and dreams have still not been realized.
Sure, the fact that the Pentagon and NASA have active UFO projects nowadays seems encouraging enough, but I would not be surprised if they reach dead ends in the not-distant future. Indeed, I still wonder whether we are all destined to chase after the flying saucers for many years to come, and not find a solution.
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!
June 25, 2023
www.theparacast.com
Long-Time Researcher Paul Ascough Reveals Amazing Personal UFO Encounters 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 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! Use the coupon code ufo20 to receive a 20% discount on five-year or lifetime subscriptions. And PayPal now accepts cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, in payment. And if you don't want to use PayPal, we now also offer a second payment option, from Stripe, which accepts major credit or debit cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay. For "qualified users," you can also take advantage of Pay Later options, so act now! For the easiest signup ever, please visit: https://www.theparacast.plus
This Week's Episode: Gene and cohost Tim Swartz present UFO researcher Paul Ascough, who has spent over 50 years involved in UFO research and investigation. He has had his own sightings and was a member of the British UFO Research Association. His book, "UFOs — The Real Story Revised Edition 2023," is described as a refreshing new slant on the subject of UFOs. The front cover shows a representation of his first sighting, witnessed with his father and younger brother in September 1968. The book looks at the bigger picture with all of its complexities, with expanded explanations of why we see and experience what we do and is interlaced with many of the author's own sightings throughout his life. Employed in the medical field all of his career, before retirement Ascough was a qualified nurse, occupational health nurse and qualified paramedic, spending 13 years with both the regular and territorial British Army around the world, gaining perspectives in people and places that would stand him in good stead for his ideas and experiences that contribute to his ongoing UFO studies.
After The Paracast — Available exclusively for Paracast+ subscribers on June 25: We are rejoined by long-time UFO researcher Paul Ascough, author of “UFOs — The Real Story Revised Edition 2023.” He talks with Gene and cohost Tim Swartz about pop culture, such as the “Paul is Dead” rumor, where Gene offers a new slant (not to be taken seriously) on the topic. And what about UFO abductions and the possibilities that extraterrestrials might be integrating in our society? The discussion turns to UFO whistleblower David Grusch, the growing concerns over his so-far unproven claims, and what government secrecy might be all about. Ascough has spent over 50 years involved in UFO research and investigation. He has had his own sightings and was a member of the British UFO Research Association. He’s also retired from the medical field, having worked as a qualified nurse, occupational health nurse and qualified paramedic.
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, and check out our new YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheOfficialParacastChannel.
Have the Flying Saucers Betrayed Us?
By Gene Steinberg
I wrote this article on June 24, 2023, some 76 years after the modern UFO era began with Kenneth Arnold’s sighting of nine mysterious objects in the State of Washington.
And I remember when I first heard about demands for “disclosure” of UFO reality. They didn’t necessarily even include that word, but the intent was the same. The going theory was that the governments of Earth knew the secret of the saucers, and that they should serve their constituents and let us in on the secret.
One of the most prominent of the early disclosure advocates was Major Donald E. Keyhoe, who wrote aviation pieces and pulp fiction. With “The Flying Saucers Are Real,” published in 1950, his breezy style almost read like fiction. He’d recreate the conversations he had with military personnel and other authoritative sources, thus cleverly spinning a tale of a possible visitation by beings from other planets.
Certainly the reports were credible enough, and even Captain Edward Ruppelt, who came to head the Air Force’s Project Blue Book in the early 1950s, described the True magazine version of the book as “one of the most widely read and widely discussed magazine articles in history.”
Keyhoe’s basic contention never wavered over the years. Extraterrestrials were in our midst, and their presence increased after the first test of nuclear weapons in 1945. A connection? Presaging the later furor over the 1947 Roswell incident, he even suggested that the U.S. government may have recovered some of these spaceships, and was working on reverse engineering their advanced technology.
How little things change.
I first discovered flying saucer lore in 1956, when I read Keyhoe’s second book on the subject, “Flying Saucers from Outer Space,” which was first published in 1953. I was hooked.
Three years later, Keyhoe was embarrassed with the 1956 release of a sci-fi film, “Earth vs. the Flying Saucers,” which, according to the credits, was suggested by that very book. I gathered from what he wrote on the subject later on, that he believed — or hoped — that the producers would take a documentary focus rather than deliver more B-movie aliens-on-the-loose fare.
But before that movie arrived, Keyhoe was already going full bore into his disclosure efforts with the publication, in 1955, of “The Flying Saucer Conspiracy.” Nothing more need be said about that book, except that the title was perfect.
Later, Keyhoe took control of a failing UFO club, the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) and dedicated it towards lobbying the U.S. Congress to hold hearings on the subject. Indeed, he even said his goal was to put NICAP out of business once the government took over.
In the late 1960s, after the Condon Committee released a report whitewashing UFO reality, Keyhoe found himself on the outs with NICAP. It was evidently the result of his careless bookkeeping, although it did not appear that he actually stole any money. It was more a matter of incompetence I gather.
Anyway, NICAP folded some years later, but Keyhoe remained active in UFO research and writing for a number of years.
I even encountered him at a UFO conference in Fort Smith, Arkansas in 1975, where he sat down for an interview. Since I intended it for a general audience, I didn’t get deep and dirty into the more elaborate theories about what the phenomenon was all about. Besides, Keyhoe never changed his view that we were being visited by ET.
It wasn’t the first time I met Keyhoe, and through it all, he seemed calm and personable, thoroughly convinced that his original belief in visitors from space was the real deal.
He soon retired and stayed mostly away from the field due to declining health. Nonetheless he lived until 1988, when he died at the age of 91.
Over the years, some have suspected that Keyhoe was a disinformation agent, someone charged with focusing the public’s attention on a narrow corner of the phenomenon, along with his unrealized claims that the authorities would soon reveal the truth about the saucers.
Unfortunately, NICAP’s governing board was heavily laden with former military figures, his compatriots. One of the most notable — and possibly suspicious — members was Rear Admiral Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter. Once a classmate of Keyhoe’s, Hillenkoetter became the third Director of Central Intelligence, and the first Director when it was rebranded as the CIA.
He served on NICAP’s board from 1957 to 1962.
While I have no doubt that he was perfectly sincere in his belief about UFOs and his desire to be of help to his friend, his presence on that board fueled the conspiracy theories. Indeed, it seemed so obvious that NICAP was a military front that its influence in the field was often questioned.
Through it all, I suspect Keyhoe was naive about some things. He believed, for example, that the U.S. Congress consisted largely of honest brokers and not necessarily political hacks on power trips. Thus, if they were shown the evidence, they would demand that the Air Force let us in on the secret.
If it was all about spaceships, we could take it.
When it came to that sci-fi film, it’s likely that Keyhoe sold book rights to Hollywood not fully aware of his lack of power to direct the shape of the film. Perhaps 30 seconds at the beginning were devoted to a basic summary of UFO lore before moving on to the actual story of a scientist’s quest to stop an alien invasion.
By the same token, Keyhoe may not have realized that the presence of ex-military on NICAP’s board would raise lots of red flags. He apparently felt that it would give the organization an air of credibility. After all, with the Air Force debunking UFO reality, having so many respected people advising the organization would be a positive development.
Over the years, I often thought that real disinformation agents in the field would actually behave in ways that would serve as convincing covers to their real purpose.
In any case, Keyhoe helped pave the way for the modern UFO field, and many still follow his theories, even if they don’t know their true source. He may have been right, after all. But his hopes and dreams have still not been realized.
Sure, the fact that the Pentagon and NASA have active UFO projects nowadays seems encouraging enough, but I would not be surprised if they reach dead ends in the not-distant future. Indeed, I still wonder whether we are all destined to chase after the flying saucers for many years to come, and not find a solution.
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!