The Paracast Newsletter
September 17, 2023
www.theparacast.com
Clinical Psychologist and UFO Expert Dr. Tim Brigham Explores UFO Lore and UFO Culture 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! And use the coupon code ufo20 to receive a 20% discount on five-year or lifetime subscriptions. 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 guest cohost Curt Collins present clinical psychologist Dr. Tim Brigham, a long-time explorer of UFO lore. He is a contributing member of the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies (SCU) and has presented to the Society for Scientific Exploration (SSE). He grew up in Gulf Breeze, FL during a major wave of UFO sightings, which began his lifelong interest in the phenomenon. He now works as an educator in the biomedical industry. Brigham became close friends with legendary flying saucer writer and gonzo journalist James W. (Jim) Moseley. Jim was a fixture in the saucer scene nearly since it began, as editor of Saucer News magazine; in later years it morphed into Saucer Smear and was the longest running saucer zine in the known universe, known for its ironic and gonzo approach. Dr. Brigham was appointed Contributing Editor in Smear's final years. In his lecture titled "UFOs as Agents of Psychic Transformation," he discusses the fact that witnesses often report long term, life altering effects of UFO encounters, yet relatively little attention from social scientists has been paid to the experiential and transformative nature of such experiences and their direct impact on human consciousness.
After The Paracast — Available exclusively for Paracast+ subscribers on September 17: Clinical psychologist Dr. Tim Brigham, a long-time explorer of UFO lore, returns to talk with Gene and guest cohost Curt Collins about a variety of topics. There's a focus on politicians who are interested in UFOs, the limits of human perception, the cultural influences behind he phenomenon, and the serious flaws in using hypnotic regression to recover lost memories of sightings and abductions. Brigham became close friends with legendary flying saucer writer and gonzo journalist James W. (Jim) Moseley. Jim was a fixture in the saucer scene nearly since it began, as editor of Saucer News magazine; in later years it morphed into Saucer Smear and was the longest running saucer zine in the known universe, known for its ironic and gonzo approach. Dr. Brigham was appointed Contributing Editor in Smear's final years. In his lecture titled "UFOs as Agents of Psychic Transformation," he discusses the fact that witnesses often report long term, life altering effects from UFO encounters.
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.
Remember This
By Gene Steinberg
In a court of law, the fate of a criminal defendant may depend on memories, memories of those who witnessed the alleged crime. But as you probably know if you’ve watched any police procedural on your TV or on a movie screen, eyewitness testimony can be inconsistent, or downright wrong.
Yet, absent solid forensic evidence, it may be the only way to determine someone’s guilt or innocence.
When it comes to paranormal encounters, again we are largely left to anecdotal reports. One or more people see something, and it’s written down or recorded for posterity. Maybe there’s a photograph or a video, but usually there isn’t. Even then, the picture may not be worth a thousand words or any words, because it’s blurry. Or, real or not, it appears to be something easily fabricated with today’s cheap and sophisticated CGI apps.
On rare occasions, there may be trace evidence, such as indentations in the soil where an object appeared to land. But, so far at least, samples of demonstrably alien materials haven’t been recovered.
Now when it comes to what a witness reports, there are also encounters that deviate from the norm; norm being something strange in the sky or floating nearby. An uncounted number of people claim to have seen the entities or beings connected to a flying saucer sighting. Some say those beings captured or guided them to the inside of their craft, where they might interact in different ways.
Again, we are left with anecdotal testimony. There’s no evidence of anything physical, although the percipient may react in different ways to the encounter. Some sort of post-traumatic stress disorder may occur, or perhaps the path of one’s life may be altered. Or perhaps a case of both.
So experiencers may go forth and proclaim the gospel of ET, said to be here to help us rather than to harm us.
For some, memories of those abductions may only come forth, either in part or completely, as the result of hypnotic regression. And that’s where the trouble begins.
Putting someone in a highly suggestible state is apt to place them in a position to make it all up if given the right influences. So someone who has strange visions or nightmares of owls with huge eyes or even gray aliens, or has experienced what they believe is missing time, might go to a UFO club to find some answers.
Now a properly trained hypnotherapist will evidently use regression sparingly, and will try to encourage the experiencer to recall what happened without such a drastic step. Even then, the answers may be questionable, simply because the results have been prejudged.
After all, why seek counsel from a UFO abduction investigator if you didn’t believe, deep down, that you did have an up-close and personal encounter with ET?
But even if the therapist isn’t involved in the UFO field, there’s always the danger of asking a leading question that causes the experiencer to conflate such an event. Regression might work best in limited circumstances. To cite one example, perhaps to help the subject recall where they dropped their car keys.
Or at least that’s what people who know far more than I about the process have written.
Indeed, there is a real danger when regression is brought into play. So on one telltale episode of The Paracast, broadcast on October 18, 2015, we featured veteran abduction researcher Dr. David Jacobs. In questioning him about his hypnotic methodology, I asked him about the steps he took to avoid leading questions.
He took offense, and to my surprise, he barked: “There are no leading questions!”
So that, as they say, was that.
Now I don’t pretend to be a trained hypnotist, though I did give it a whirl in my late teens. I learned my craft, such as it was, from a cheap instruction book published by a legendary mail order house, Johnson Smith Company.
So one summer’s day, I invited some friends to my home. One of them had a smoking habit, though I forbade him from smoking in that apartment. But he agreed to allow me to experiment with a post-hypnotic suggestion to help with his addiction.
Sure enough, as the book said, he went under. I slowly, deliberately and repeatedly informed him that, anytime he tried to smoke, it would have a very bitter taste. He was then awakened.
Once outside, he gave a cigarette a try and, sure enough, he couldn’t stand the taste. While post-hypnotic suggestions won’t last forever, that command, such as it was, might have truly helped him lick the habit.
If not for his friends.
So for the next few days, they constantly urged him to take a smoke. With the suggestion fading, he soon resumed the habit. That’s the last I saw of him, so I don’t know if he was able to lick it in the future. I hope he did.
Now when it comes to memories, unless there’s a contemporaneous record, such as notes, a diary entry or an article, it’s easy for the fine details to change over the years. That would explain the disparity in the recollections of witnesses to the Roswell crash in 1947. Add to that the natural tendency of some people to expand the details of their participation to feel self-important, and perhaps to extrapolate a few tidbits to make the event seem more sensational.
I recall a few instances where I remembered something as clear as day, but others who were present at the same time had a totally different version of the events.
So back in the early 1970s, my first wife, Geneva, and I were living in a rented duplex home in Coatesville, PA. We had a regular bedroom, plus a mattress in our living room to give visitors more space to sit.
Well one night we chose to go asleep on that mattress. Perhaps around the legendary 3:00 AM, Geneva woke me up to tell me that she saw what she called a “water elemental,” an apparition made of water.
I didn’t have my eyeglasses readily available, but I looked. I thought I could see a faint shadow to my left, but soon it was gone. I went back to sleep, and we didn’t talk about it the next day.
A few years ago, I asked Geneva about that curious incident, and she had no memory of it. None whatever. So did I dream it? Did she forget? Or was this yet another telltale example of the telltale flaws of human memory?
And don’t get me started about the possible shortcomings of oral history or traditions.
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!
September 17, 2023
www.theparacast.com
Clinical Psychologist and UFO Expert Dr. Tim Brigham Explores UFO Lore and UFO Culture 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! And use the coupon code ufo20 to receive a 20% discount on five-year or lifetime subscriptions. 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 guest cohost Curt Collins present clinical psychologist Dr. Tim Brigham, a long-time explorer of UFO lore. He is a contributing member of the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies (SCU) and has presented to the Society for Scientific Exploration (SSE). He grew up in Gulf Breeze, FL during a major wave of UFO sightings, which began his lifelong interest in the phenomenon. He now works as an educator in the biomedical industry. Brigham became close friends with legendary flying saucer writer and gonzo journalist James W. (Jim) Moseley. Jim was a fixture in the saucer scene nearly since it began, as editor of Saucer News magazine; in later years it morphed into Saucer Smear and was the longest running saucer zine in the known universe, known for its ironic and gonzo approach. Dr. Brigham was appointed Contributing Editor in Smear's final years. In his lecture titled "UFOs as Agents of Psychic Transformation," he discusses the fact that witnesses often report long term, life altering effects of UFO encounters, yet relatively little attention from social scientists has been paid to the experiential and transformative nature of such experiences and their direct impact on human consciousness.
After The Paracast — Available exclusively for Paracast+ subscribers on September 17: Clinical psychologist Dr. Tim Brigham, a long-time explorer of UFO lore, returns to talk with Gene and guest cohost Curt Collins about a variety of topics. There's a focus on politicians who are interested in UFOs, the limits of human perception, the cultural influences behind he phenomenon, and the serious flaws in using hypnotic regression to recover lost memories of sightings and abductions. Brigham became close friends with legendary flying saucer writer and gonzo journalist James W. (Jim) Moseley. Jim was a fixture in the saucer scene nearly since it began, as editor of Saucer News magazine; in later years it morphed into Saucer Smear and was the longest running saucer zine in the known universe, known for its ironic and gonzo approach. Dr. Brigham was appointed Contributing Editor in Smear's final years. In his lecture titled "UFOs as Agents of Psychic Transformation," he discusses the fact that witnesses often report long term, life altering effects from UFO encounters.
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.
Remember This
By Gene Steinberg
In a court of law, the fate of a criminal defendant may depend on memories, memories of those who witnessed the alleged crime. But as you probably know if you’ve watched any police procedural on your TV or on a movie screen, eyewitness testimony can be inconsistent, or downright wrong.
Yet, absent solid forensic evidence, it may be the only way to determine someone’s guilt or innocence.
When it comes to paranormal encounters, again we are largely left to anecdotal reports. One or more people see something, and it’s written down or recorded for posterity. Maybe there’s a photograph or a video, but usually there isn’t. Even then, the picture may not be worth a thousand words or any words, because it’s blurry. Or, real or not, it appears to be something easily fabricated with today’s cheap and sophisticated CGI apps.
On rare occasions, there may be trace evidence, such as indentations in the soil where an object appeared to land. But, so far at least, samples of demonstrably alien materials haven’t been recovered.
Now when it comes to what a witness reports, there are also encounters that deviate from the norm; norm being something strange in the sky or floating nearby. An uncounted number of people claim to have seen the entities or beings connected to a flying saucer sighting. Some say those beings captured or guided them to the inside of their craft, where they might interact in different ways.
Again, we are left with anecdotal testimony. There’s no evidence of anything physical, although the percipient may react in different ways to the encounter. Some sort of post-traumatic stress disorder may occur, or perhaps the path of one’s life may be altered. Or perhaps a case of both.
So experiencers may go forth and proclaim the gospel of ET, said to be here to help us rather than to harm us.
For some, memories of those abductions may only come forth, either in part or completely, as the result of hypnotic regression. And that’s where the trouble begins.
Putting someone in a highly suggestible state is apt to place them in a position to make it all up if given the right influences. So someone who has strange visions or nightmares of owls with huge eyes or even gray aliens, or has experienced what they believe is missing time, might go to a UFO club to find some answers.
Now a properly trained hypnotherapist will evidently use regression sparingly, and will try to encourage the experiencer to recall what happened without such a drastic step. Even then, the answers may be questionable, simply because the results have been prejudged.
After all, why seek counsel from a UFO abduction investigator if you didn’t believe, deep down, that you did have an up-close and personal encounter with ET?
But even if the therapist isn’t involved in the UFO field, there’s always the danger of asking a leading question that causes the experiencer to conflate such an event. Regression might work best in limited circumstances. To cite one example, perhaps to help the subject recall where they dropped their car keys.
Or at least that’s what people who know far more than I about the process have written.
Indeed, there is a real danger when regression is brought into play. So on one telltale episode of The Paracast, broadcast on October 18, 2015, we featured veteran abduction researcher Dr. David Jacobs. In questioning him about his hypnotic methodology, I asked him about the steps he took to avoid leading questions.
He took offense, and to my surprise, he barked: “There are no leading questions!”
So that, as they say, was that.
Now I don’t pretend to be a trained hypnotist, though I did give it a whirl in my late teens. I learned my craft, such as it was, from a cheap instruction book published by a legendary mail order house, Johnson Smith Company.
So one summer’s day, I invited some friends to my home. One of them had a smoking habit, though I forbade him from smoking in that apartment. But he agreed to allow me to experiment with a post-hypnotic suggestion to help with his addiction.
Sure enough, as the book said, he went under. I slowly, deliberately and repeatedly informed him that, anytime he tried to smoke, it would have a very bitter taste. He was then awakened.
Once outside, he gave a cigarette a try and, sure enough, he couldn’t stand the taste. While post-hypnotic suggestions won’t last forever, that command, such as it was, might have truly helped him lick the habit.
If not for his friends.
So for the next few days, they constantly urged him to take a smoke. With the suggestion fading, he soon resumed the habit. That’s the last I saw of him, so I don’t know if he was able to lick it in the future. I hope he did.
Now when it comes to memories, unless there’s a contemporaneous record, such as notes, a diary entry or an article, it’s easy for the fine details to change over the years. That would explain the disparity in the recollections of witnesses to the Roswell crash in 1947. Add to that the natural tendency of some people to expand the details of their participation to feel self-important, and perhaps to extrapolate a few tidbits to make the event seem more sensational.
I recall a few instances where I remembered something as clear as day, but others who were present at the same time had a totally different version of the events.
So back in the early 1970s, my first wife, Geneva, and I were living in a rented duplex home in Coatesville, PA. We had a regular bedroom, plus a mattress in our living room to give visitors more space to sit.
Well one night we chose to go asleep on that mattress. Perhaps around the legendary 3:00 AM, Geneva woke me up to tell me that she saw what she called a “water elemental,” an apparition made of water.
I didn’t have my eyeglasses readily available, but I looked. I thought I could see a faint shadow to my left, but soon it was gone. I went back to sleep, and we didn’t talk about it the next day.
A few years ago, I asked Geneva about that curious incident, and she had no memory of it. None whatever. So did I dream it? Did she forget? Or was this yet another telltale example of the telltale flaws of human memory?
And don’t get me started about the possible shortcomings of oral history or traditions.
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!