The Paracast Newsletter

Your Paracast Newsletter -- November 26, 2011

Sat, 26 Nov 2011 22:17:00 GMT

<div id="PageWrapper"> <div id="Header" onclick="location.href='http://www.theparacast.com/newsletters/mail.cgi';" style="cursor:pointer;"> Your Paracast Newsletter -- November 26, 2011 <div class="floatclear"></div> </div> <div id="Content"> <h3>THE PARACAST NEWSLETTER November 26, 2011</h3> Incredible UFO Sightings in Wartime 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. Please Consider a Holiday Donation to The Paracast: Although ads help cover a small part of our expenses, the income they produce is never enough. Also, we do not receive any revenue from the ads placed on the show by our network or local stations. So we hope you're able 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. Attention U.S. Listeners: Help Us Bring The Paracast to Your City! Last summer, The Paracast joined the GCN radio network. This represented a huge step in bringing our show to a larger, mainstream audience. But we need your help to add additional affiliates to our growing network. Please ask one of your local talk stations if they are interested in carrying The Paracast. Feel free to contact us directly with the names of programming people we might be able to contact on your behalf. We can't do this alone, and if you succeed in convincing your local station to carry the show, we'll reward you with one of our special T-shirts, and other goodies. With your help, The Paracast can grow into one of the most popular paranormal shows on the planet! 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 now featuring our brand new logo, just pay a visit to our 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, November 27, 2011: 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 is a paranormal radio show that takes you on a journey to a world beyond science, where UFOs, poltergeists and strange phenomena of all kinds have been reported by millions. The Paracast seeks to shed light on the mysteries and complexities of our Universe and the secrets that surround us in our everyday lives. Join long-time paranormal researcher Gene Steinberg, co-host Christopher O'Brien, and a panel of special guest experts and experiencers, as they explore the realms of the known and unknown. Listen each week to the great stories of the history of the paranormal field in the 20th and 21st centuries. This Week's Episode: Gene and Chris explore UFO sightings through the ages during wartime with Mack Maloney, author of "UFOs in Wartime: What They Didn't Want You To Know," which covers a number of compelling and not always well-known cases from our early history until modern times. Christopher O'Brien's Site: http://www.ourstrangeplanet.com/ Mac Maloney's Site: http://mackmaloney.com/ Reminder: Reminder: Don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: http://www.theparacast.com/forum/. And stay tuned for a major, social network friendly, forum update, coming real soon now. One Step Ahead -- or Beyond By Gene Steinberg Although amazing aerial apparitions have been observed throughout recorded history, these apparent UFOs have also presented themselves in a curious fashion, particularly in modern times. Take the 1897 airship mystery, where there were loads of reports of flying ships around the world. Where details of these aircraft could be discerned, they would often resemble a dirigible. In some cases, members of the crew of these unusual craft would interact with the local populace and claim to be inventors who weren’t ready to reveal their findings to the public, although those findings never saw the light of day after the airships departed. It has also been suggested that many of these reports were hoaxes created by individuals and perhaps local newspapers looking to gain attention. Now it’s well known that humans were busy working on their own airships in those days, although these particular craft didn’t seem to be based on such real-world concepts. More to the point, in the years after this outbreak of sightings passed off the map, there do not appear to be any reports about uncovering diaries, blueprints, or any other evidence that any of these airships represented a genuine attempt to develop a new flying machine. You don’t, for example, hear about people who speak of family members who may have been responsible for such inventions. More to the point, it seemed here that these UFOs, or whatever they might have been, were by and large just a step or two ahead of our own technology of that era. This "step ahead" phenomenon has played out in the UFO field time and time again. Strange aircraft are seen, evincing evidence of superior maneuverability and speed, but it’s not as if they seem to be that more advanced than we are at any given stage in our technological advancement. Yes, they can elude our fastest aircraft, but they also show a way to the future. I suppose you could suggest that UFOs, if they are truly visitors from another planet, simply represent craft that demonstrate ongoing advances in alien technology. As they develop superior spaceships, it only stands to reason that they will fly their latest and greatest craft to our planet for their regular visits. On the other hand, if those same UFOs, meaning their origin is the same, have been visiting us since Biblical times, they long ago mastered the ability to travel across the stars, assuming they’re extraterrestrial. That being the case, it would seem curious that they would evince technology in recent times that is only sufficiently ahead of us to intrigue us. Now I’ve been accused of saying this far too often, although I don’t think it’s being said often enough. Consider that oft-quoted statement from Ray Palmer, known to various people as an editor of "Amazing Stories," a famous sci-fi magazine, co-founder of "Fate" magazine and, later, as editor of "Flying Saucers," "Search" and other publications. He said: "Flying saucers are here to make us think." The obvious question is, of course, think about what? Are they here to show us the future in advanced technology, to demonstrate that if we strive just a little harder, we’ll build more capable aircraft and, some day, travel to other planets and to the stars? Are the reported interactions between humans and alleged alien visitors where ET warns us of the consequences of war and/or causing more damage to our environment meant mostly as a wake up call? Some suggest that these contact experiences do not involve aliens at all, but the efforts of "Mother Earth" or "Gaia" to employ a form of mind control to admonish us to take better care of this planet. Of course that creates greater opportunities for speculation, and suggests that that maybe these supposed aliens are nothing more than hallucinations generated by planetary forces we do not understand. They deliver their messages of peace and brotherhood in a way that we can best accept those messages. So if, in times past, the apparitions were gods or angels, so be it. Whatever is necessary to exhort us to stop behaving badly. Regardless of the reason why UFOs often seem just a step or two ahead, it also causes you to wonder how much of these experiences are colored by our own subconscious beliefs and expectations. All in all, it appears to me that the UFO mystery is far more complicated than we expect or believe. It may not be a matter of whether they are real or fake, because encompass a host of gray areas that we do not yet understand. The Paracast Copyright 1999-2011 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! Go back to <a href="http://www.theparacast.com"> The Paracast — The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio </a> </div> </div>

Your Paracast Newsletter -- November 19, 2011

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 21:30:00 GMT

<div id="PageWrapper"> <div id="Header" onclick="location.href='http://www.theparacast.com/newsletters/mail.cgi';" style="cursor:pointer;"> Your Paracast Newsletter -- November 19, 2011 <div class="floatclear"></div> </div> <div id="Content"> <h3>THE PARACAST NEWSLETTER November 19, 2011</h3> Strange and Terrible Creatures 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. Here's How You Can Help The Paracast Live Long and Prosper: Although ads help cover a small part of our expenses, the income they produce is never enough. Also, we do not receive any revenue from the ads placed on the show by our network or local stations. So we hope you're able 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. Attention U.S. Listeners: Help Us Bring The Paracast to Your City! Last summer, The Paracast joined the GCN radio network. This represented a huge step in bringing our show to a larger, mainstream audience. But we need your help to add additional affiliates to our growing network. Please ask one of your local talk stations if they are interested in carrying The Paracast. Feel free to contact us directly with the names of programming people we might be able to contact on your behalf. We can't do this alone, and if you succeed in convincing your local station to carry the show, we'll reward you with one of our special T-shirts, and other goodies. With your help, The Paracast can grow into one of the most popular paranormal shows on the planet! 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 now featuring our brand new logo, just pay a visit to our 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, November 20, 2011: 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 is a paranormal radio show that takes you on a journey to a world beyond science, where UFOs, poltergeists and strange phenomena of all kinds have been reported by millions. The Paracast seeks to shed light on the mysteries and complexities of our Universe and the secrets that surround us in our everyday lives. Join long-time paranormal researcher Gene Steinberg, co-host Christopher O'Brien, and a panel of special guest experts and experiencers, as they explore the realms of the known and unknown. Listen each week to the great stories of the history of the paranormal field in the 20th and 21st centuries. This Week's Episode: Gene and Chris present a fascinating visit with J.C. Johnson, president of the North American Fortean Society, who has investigated a bewildering array of crypto-creatures, and has worked extensively on the Navajo Reservation on cases ranging from giant reptiles, livestock mutes, skinwalkers to bigfoot and packs of dinosaurs. This will be a show you won't want to miss! Christopher O'Brien's Site: http://www.ourstrangeplanet.com/ The North American Fortean Society: http://nafsociety.net/ Reminder: Reminder: Don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: http://www.theparacast.com/forum/. And stay tuned for a major, social network friendly, forum update, coming real soon now. Creatures, Creatures, and Still More Creatures By Gene Steinberg In the British TV series, “Primeval,” the intrepid protagonists discover that networks of dimensional or time portals are erupting around the countryside in the UK, allowing people, and an assortment of prehistoric creatures, to enter our reality. This makes for lots of “monster on the loose” episodes, although the producers and writers try to stick a few conspiracy arcs here and there to get your attention. In the Fox TV series, “Terra Nova,” in which Steven Spielberg is involved, we send specially selected people back millions of years in an effort to rebuild the human race. Of course, dinosaurs and other horrific creatures are rampant, and it doesn’t seem as if our petty conflicts with one another have changed all that much. There are still conspiratorial hints that will, I suppose, be played out if the series survives past the first season. Whether that happens depends on a decision by the network to accept middling ratings as good enough. Now despite the fictional implications, the conventional theory has it that dinosaurs largely disappeared ages ago, though their more mundane descendants are still around. The real question, however, is whether there are animals about that we have yet to discover (or at least recognize), whose existence, though rumored and reported by eyewitnesses around the world, has yet to be confirmed by scientists. Those who participate in the search for such unknown creatures are involved in something called “Cryptozoology,” which is defined as a study of hidden animals. Those who are involved in these studies will investigate reports of creatures thought to be extinct, such as dinosaurs, and all creatures yet to be confirmed. Here, of course, a fair amount of folklore comes into play, as researchers examine legends and myths about such creatures as Bigfoot, wild animals that are observed in regions where they shouldn’t be present, strange flying beasts, such as Thunderbirds, and lots of other creatures monstrous and otherwise. Visit any indigenous people, perhaps on an Indian reservation in the U.S., and, if you manage to earn their trust, you’ll hear loads of stories about encounters with all sorts of these strange creatures over the centuries. Their reality is a given; no proof is required. Unfortunately, the question of whether such beings exist has been steeped in controversy. Even when apparently reliable people report sightings, they are largely anecdotal. Photographs, where anything’s visible at all, usually show blurry things in the distance that aren’t easily identified. There are occasional reports of footprints, casts, and those ever-elusive DNA tests. Regardless, it seems as if smoking guns remain elusive. As if the obstacles against getting to the bottom of these mysteries aren’t hard enough to overcome, some people continue to perpetrate hoaxes, hoping to cash in on their 15 minutes of fame. Consider that curious story where some people claimed to be keeping the remains of Bigfoot in a refrigerator. But don’t get me started. Now some people seeped in paranormal research suggest that these unusual creatures are not from planet Earth. Or at least not from a planet Earth in our reality, but from somewhere else. The theory goes that they enter our world via some sort of dimensional rip, shades of those sci-fi TV shows that cover such matters. To buttress these claims, some investigators will tell you how certain regions are subject to a higher number of anomalous events, such as UFO sightings, ghosts, and, of course, all sorts of strange creatures. They don’t come from here. Others suggest that we simply haven’t explored the right places, that the theory that we know everything about our planet is shortsighted. There is an awful lot that we do not understand, and loads of amazing animals, birds and fish that we have yet to discover. We just need to look harder, and not allow egos to get in the way of understanding the strange and unknown. Maybe they have a point. After all, someone at the U.S. Patent Office said long ago that everything had been invented. Maybe that person was trying to reduce the workload, but this claim was made some years before the Wright Brothers demonstrated heavier than air flying craft. So there you go. In the meantime, The Paracast will continue to present the experts in the field of Cryptozoology, in an ongoing effort to separate the truth from fiction, and get to the bottom of these mysteries. The Paracast Copyright 1999-2011 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! Go back to <a href="http://www.theparacast.com"> The Paracast — The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio </a> </div> </div>

Your Paracast Newsletter -- November 12, 2011

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 18:17:00 GMT

<div id="PageWrapper"> <div id="Header" onclick="location.href='http://www.theparacast.com/newsletters/mail.cgi';" style="cursor:pointer;"> Your Paracast Newsletter -- November 12, 2011 <div class="floatclear"></div> </div> <div id="Content"> <h3>THE PARACAST NEWSLETTER November 12, 2011</h3> The Amazing 1897 Airships 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. Here's How You Can Help The Paracast: Although ads help cover a small part of our expenses, the income they produce is never enough. Also, we do not receive any revenue from the ads placed on the show by our network or local stations. So we hope you're able 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. Attention U.S. Listeners: Help Us Bring The Paracast to Your City! Last summer, The Paracast joined the GCN radio network. This represented a huge step in bringing our show to a larger, mainstream audience. But we need your help to add additional affiliates to our growing network. Please ask one of your local talk stations if they are interested in carrying The Paracast. Feel free to contact us directly with the names of programming people we might be able to contact on your behalf. We can't do this alone, and if you succeed in convincing your local station to carry the show, we'll reward you with one of our special T-shirts, and other goodies. With your help, The Paracast can grow into one of the most popular paranormal shows on the planet! 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 now featuring our brand new logo, just pay a visit to our 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, November 13, 2011: 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 is a paranormal radio show that takes you on a journey to a world beyond science, where UFOs, poltergeists and strange phenomena of all kinds have been reported by millions. The Paracast seeks to shed light on the mysteries and complexities of our Universe and the secrets that surround us in our everyday lives. Join long-time paranormal researcher Gene Steinberg, co-host Christopher O'Brien, and a panel of special guest experts and experiencers, as they explore the realms of the known and unknown. Listen each week to the great stories of the history of the paranormal field in the 20th and 21st centuries. This Week's Episode: Gene and Chris present long-time paranormal author and researcher Jeff Danelek, author of a number of books that include "The Great Airship of 1897: A Provocative Look at the Most Mysterious Aviation Event in History (Popular Beliefs Controversial)." Were those early UFO reports the result of balloons, dirigibles, or something totally unknown? Christopher O'Brien's Site: http://www.ourstrangeplanet.com/ Reminder: Reminder: Don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: http://www.theparacast.com/forum/. And stay tuned for a major, social network friendly, forum update, coming real soon now. Failing Again to Force Government Action By Gene Steinberg In theory, our government leaders, at least in countries where they can be elected, work for us. If they fail to act properly on our behalf, they can be replaced during the next election. Of course theories and realities don’t always combine. You want to vote for the best candidate, and quite often you’re merely selecting what you perceive to be the lesser of two evils. Regardless, you cast your vote and hope for the best. Maybe your voice will be heard. Now when it comes to actually getting your government leaders to act, lots of other considerations may come into play. It’s not just kowtowing to vested interests, and in the U.S. it may be large donors to a campaign, but somehow making a complex government move in what is perceived to be the right direction. As you’ve seen the economic mess play out around the world, you can see how finding the means for genuine progress can seem downright impossible. Now when it comes to our paranormal c orner of the world, there have been attempts over the years to persuade government officials to reveal what they really know about UFOs. Of course, that assumes they actually know something, which may be debatable. Just recently, an organization of disclosure activists sent a petition to President Obama that, more or less, demanded that the president admit that UFOs are extraterrestrial. I suppose you could consider the effort somewhat successful, inasmuch as over 12,000 signatures were gathered. Then again, I suppose you could get 12,000 signatures for just about any movement these days, and that it brought any response at all might be regarded as a near-miracle. Of course, the response didn’t come from Obama. It was delivered by one Phil Larson, a space policy bureaucrat, and the answer is essentially the one the U.S. has offered ever since the first demands for disclosure were made in the 1950s. “The U.S. government has no evidence that any life exists outside our planet, or that an extraterrestrial presence has contacted or engaged any member of the human race. In addition, there is no credible information to suggest that any evidence is being hidden from the public’s eye. “However, that doesn’t mean the subject of life outside our planet isn’t being discussed or explored. In fact, there are a number of projects working toward the goal of understanding if life can or does exist off Earth.” Now I’m not at all surprised at a statement of this sort. It would be absurd to expect the President or any of his staff to all of a sudden admit that the government has been lying to the American people for six decades, and they are now turning over a new leaf. Consider the negative consequences to any administration that, with an election a year away, would admit to hiding critical information about anything. It’s not going to happen unless some event beyond their control forces a policy change. Besides, it hasn’t actually proven that the authorities have guilty knowledge about the reality of UFOs. Sure, they no doubt continue to investigate reports behind the scenes, but that doesn’t mean they know anything more than we do. Sure, from time to time, you hear claims from so-called whistleblowers about alleged contact between the U.S. government and alien beings. It makes for good science fiction, I suppose, but it doesn’t pass muster from a factual standpoin t. But is it really possible that something so important to our civilization can be kept secret for all these years? Sure, we have those late-in-life “memories” of what happened near Roswell, NM in 1947, but it’s not as if there’s any hard evidence. No stolen examples of alien technology, only tantalizing tidbits of information that fuel the speculation train. On the other hand, even if the American authorities knew such a truth about UFOs, would the President even have the proper need to know? Elected officials come and go, but it’s the bureaucrats, particularly those in the military, who remain on the job. Then there’s that curious statement made by former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at a press conference held the day before the 9/11 tragedy occurred: “According to some estimates we cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions.” Forgetting all the 9/11 conspiracy theories, supposedly the missing funds could be accounted by reconciling the proper paper trail, though it’s not at all clear if that process was ever completed. So it’s easy to imagine all sorts of “black projects” being conducted without accountability. Is some of that supposedly missing money being used to engage in UFO research, or reverse engineer recovered alien technology? We have no idea, and it’s not as if a simple petition is going to persuade anyone to admit to such a thing. The Paracast Copyright 1999-2011 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! Go back to <a href="http://www.theparacast.com"> The Paracast — The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio </a> </div> </div>

Your Paracast Newsletter -- November 5, 2011

Sat, 05 Nov 2011 20:58:00 GMT

<div id="PageWrapper"> <div id="Header" onclick="location.href='http://www.theparacast.com/newsletters/mail.cgi';" style="cursor:pointer;"> Your Paracast Newsletter -- November 5, 2011 <div class="floatclear"></div> </div> <div id="Content"> <h3>THE PARACAST NEWSLETTER November 5, 2011</h3> Legends and Evidence of Ancient Astronauts 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. Here's How You Can Help The Paracast: Although ads help cover a small part of our expenses, the income they produce is never enough. Also, we do not receive any revenue from the ads placed on the show by our network or local stations. So we hope you're able 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. Attention U.S. Listeners: Help Us Bring The Paracast to Your City! Last summer, The Paracast joined the GCN radio network. This represented a huge step in bringing our show to a larger, mainstream audience. But we need your help to add additional affiliates to our growing network. Please ask one of your local talk stations if they are interested in carrying The Paracast. Feel free to contact us directly with the names of programming people we might be able to contact on your behalf. We can't do this alone, and if you succeed in convincing your local station to carry the show, we'll reward you with one of our special T-shirts, and other goodies. With your help, The Paracast can grow into one of the most popular paranormal shows on the planet! 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 now featuring our brand new logo, just pay a visit to our 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, November 6, 2011: 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 is a paranormal radio show that takes you on a journey to a world beyond science, where UFOs, poltergeists and strange phenomena of all kinds have been reported by millions. The Paracast seeks to shed light on the mysteries and complexities of our Universe and the secrets that surround us in our everyday lives. Join long-time paranormal researcher Gene Steinberg, co-host Christopher O'Brien, and a panel of special guest experts and experiencers, as they explore the realms of the known and unknown. Listen each week to the great stories of the history of the paranormal field in the 20th and 21st centuries. This Week's Episode: Gene and Chris explore the amazing legends of ancient astronauts with Philip Coppens, author of "The Ancient Alien Question: A New Inquiry Into the Existence, Evidence, and Influence of Ancient Visitors." Did extraterrestrials visit Earth in our early history, and perhaps influence the development of human civilizations? Christopher O'Brien's Site: http://www.ourstrangeplanet.com/ Philip Coppens Site: http://www.philipcoppens.com/ Coming November 13: Gene and Chris present long-time paranormal author and researcher Jeff Danelek, author of a number of books that include "The Great Airship of 1897: A Provocative Look at the Most Mysterious Aviation Event in History (Popular Beliefs Controversial)." Were those early UFO reports the result of balloons, dirigibles, or something totally unknown? Christopher O'Brien's Site: http://www.ourstrangeplanet.com/ Reminder: Reminder: Don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: http://www.theparacast.com/forum/. And stay tuned for a major, social network friendly, forum update, coming real soon now. ET or Advanced Civilizations By Gene Steinberg When the talk turns to ET as the source behind the UFO mystery, the next logical question is how long they’ve been here, and that requires that you make a number of assumptions beyond the basic theory that they are here at all. If you assume that UFOs were first observed during or after World War II, perhaps in 1947, then the alien visitation is recent. But there are reports that indicate the presence of strange objects in our sky over a period of centuries, perhaps dating back to the dawn of history. Some are willing to attribute the strange celestial events in the Bible to early encounters by humans with extraterrestrials. Now there have been a number of books that attempt to demonstrate the presence of aliens, so-called “ancient astronauts,” that made a major impact in our early history. Most of you have heard or read about those popular books from author Eric Von Daniken, but he is a latecomer to such lore. In the early 1950s, author Desmond Leslie was making similar claims, but much of what he wrote was ignored, mostly because the second part of the book he co-authored, “Flying Saucers Have Landed,” contained claims from the other author, George Adamski, of meeting ET in the California desert. Leslie’s successors, such as Brinsley Le Poer Trench (a British Earl) and, later, Von Daniken, continued to explore the possibilities, using ancient lore, relics and the mysteries of the construction of the Great Pyramid as examples of the presence of advanced beings. An interesting variant of ancient astronaut came in a series of articles, first published in Jim Moseley’s original Saucer News, entitled “Extraterrestrialism as an Historical Doctrine,” from Y.N. Ibn A’haron. Later identified as Yonah Fortner, a linguist and scholar, these articles were distinguished by their dense prose, making for a difficult read. But it’s clear Fortner was one of the early researchers of such lore, one who largely dismissed the better known authors as being ignorant of the facts, or failing to do proper research. One assumption made in such theories is that any evidence of a possible advanced technology must indicate ET’s presence, that humans in ancient times could not have possibly have been more advanced than we are. But what if there were one or more advanced civilizations that no longer exist? What about 10,000 or 20,000 years ago? Was Plato’s description of Atlantis fanciful, as some claim, or a historical record describing an island where lived humans who made huge advancements in their culture and technology. But, “in a single day and night of misfortune,” Atlantis sank into the ocean, becoming the stuff of legend. Although efforts have been made to locate remnants of this “historical Atlantis,” success has been elusive. As much as some people might claim that such evidence exists, the smoking gun has yet to be discovered. Now imagine if our present-day civilization was somehow destroyed as the result of some world wide cataclysm, perhaps the result of the crash of an asteroid. Consider that a small number of humans, mostly residing in a few isolated islands, survive this Armageddon, struggling to eke out a primitive existence without the accouterments of modern civilization. There are no personal computers, iPhones or iPads, or other electronic gadgets with which to record documents describing the catastrophe, human history, and the daily trials and tribulations just to stay alive. Ten thousand years pass. Beyond oral or possibly written retellings of our heritage, what evidence might exist of 21st century humankind? How much of our technology would still exist? Would it be buried beneath the surface, or just lost in the ravages of time? And what of the legends of our existence, that of an advanced civilization that vanished as the result of a global disaster? How would our descendants treat such claims, or would they simply dismiss them as being tall tales, without a shred of evidence? More to the point, if there is evidence of technology that is “out of time” in our past, must we assume that ET brought that technology here? No, I do not pretend to have any answers. Either way, we have tantalizing bits of evidence. We have the writings of our forebears who talked of amazing beings performing amazing things. But who or what they were may remain claims without evidence. And, no, such claims do not necessarily reflect on the validity of our religious beliefs. I’m restricting this commentary to stories of physical beings, who either came from here, or from elsewhere. The Paracast Copyright 1999-2011 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! Go back to <a href="http://www.theparacast.com"> The Paracast — The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio </a> </div> </div>

Your Paracast Newsletter -- October 29, 2011

Sat, 29 Oct 2011 23:01:00 GMT

<div id="PageWrapper"> <div id="Header" onclick="location.href='http://www.theparacast.com/newsletters/mail.cgi';" style="cursor:pointer;"> Your Paracast Newsletter -- October 29, 2011 <div class="floatclear"></div> </div> <div id="Content"> <h3>THE PARACAST NEWSLETTER October 29, 2011</h3> Secret Bases 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. Here's How You Can Help The Paracast: Although ads help cover a small part of our expenses, the income they produce is never enough. Also, we do not receive any revenue from the ads placed on the show by our network or local stations. So we hope you're able 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. Attention U.S. Listeners: Help Us Bring The Paracast to Your City! Last summer, The Paracast joined the GCN radio network. This represented a huge step in bringing our show to a larger, mainstream audience. But we need your help to add additional affiliates to our growing network. Please ask one of your local talk stations if they are interested in carrying The Paracast. Feel free to contact us directly with the names of programming people we might be able to contact on your behalf. We can't do this alone, and if you succeed in convincing your local station to carry the show, we'll reward you with one of our special T-shirts, and other goodies. With your help, The Paracast can grow into one of the most popular paranormal shows on the planet! 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 now featuring our brand new logo, just pay a visit to our 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, October 30, 2011: 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 is a paranormal radio show that takes you on a journey to a world beyond science, where UFOs, poltergeists and strange phenomena of all kinds have been reported by millions. The Paracast seeks to shed light on the mysteries and complexities of our Universe and the secrets that surround us in our everyday lives. Join long-time paranormal researcher Gene Steinberg, co-host Christopher O'Brien, and a panel of special guest experts and experiencers, as they explore the realms of the known and unknown. Listen each week to the great stories of the history of the paranormal field in the 20th and 21st centuries. This Week's Episode: Gene and Chris present long-time UFO researcher Norio Hayakawa, who has devoted many years towards unearthing the mysteries behind the alleged base at Dulce, New Mexico and Area 51. Is it all about secret weapons, or is there a UFO related element to all this? Christopher O'Brien's Site: http://www.ourstrangeplanet.com/ Norio Hayakawa's Blog: http://noriohayakawa2012.blogspot.com/ Reminder: Reminder: Don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: http://www.theparacast.com/forum/. Getting From Here to There and Back Again By Gene Steinberg If UFOs are, as many suspect, from other planets in other star systems, just what obstacles would their pilots have to confront to make the trip to our tiny corner of the universe? Now some suggest they travel in a gigantic mother ship, or a fleet of such vessels, containing all the amenities of their civilization so as to provide reasonable comfort for a voyage that might take many years to complete. Perhaps the beings themselves are placed in some sort of stasis, only to be awakened as they approach their destination. But in the world of science fiction, smart tricks have been devised as a means to shorten such a trip, such as warp drive, where the ship can somehow exceed the speed of light. In some stories, engaging warp drive, or “slipstream,” or whatever they choose to call it, will allow the vessel to bend the fabric of space, thus allowing them to travel between to locations separated by many light years within a few hours or days. In the cult TV series “Farscape,” the hero, an astronaut from Earth, flies in an experimental craft that suddenly finds itself trapped in a wormhole, thus transporting our intrepid hero to the other end of the universe. Consider “Star Trek,” the legendary TV shows and movies that made the concept of warp drive popular. Imagine how boring it would have been if each if the starship Enterprise was forced to travel for years between Federation planets, and don’t get me started about the “neutral zone.” Then there’s the transporter. This gimmick of beaming down to a nearby planet was devised by creator Gene Roddenberry to save on the costs of special effects. They didn’t need to shoot film of a shuttle craft making the trip from space when the ship’s crew could simply activate the transporter, disintegrate themselves into the raw molecules at one end and reassemble themselves at the other? Sure, some episodes did depict shuttle craft for special needs where the transporter wasn’t suitable, but not very often. You have to wonder what might happen if some unsuspecting creature, such as a regular house fly, somehow managed to enter the transporter or teleportation beam at the wrong time, thus complicating the process of reintegrating the molecules at the receiving location. That, of course, formed the premise of several popular science fiction movies, where such an accident produced a man with a fly’s head and a fly with a man’s head. I suppose in the “Star Trek” universe, the transporter is programmed to be free of such defects via a form of error checking. Now warp drive systems don’t hold a candle to the concept of the “Stargate,” a device shaped like a giant ring that generates a wormhole, thus allowing you to travel between two such devices even if they are, literally, located galaxies apart. The 1994 movie of the same name told of the discovery of an Earth-based stargate during an archaeological dig. The devices was placed here by highly advanced extraterrestrials thousands of years ago. Reassembled, the device is employed by Earthly explorers to travel through the stars. When it comes to special effects, the stargate is really neat. All you need to reproduce is the blue seas effect emerging from the center of the ring when the device is activated, plus scenes depicting the rapid transition process as someone makes the trip between stargates. Indeed, the original optical effect was repeated over and over again through the various “Stargate” TV spinoffs for a total of 17 years. I suppose if I had the chance to visit another planet, I would prefer the stargate method. It would be quick, and, I presume, relatively painless. But you have to wonder what might happen if the connection is somehow interrupted, and that’s something the producers of the “Stargate” TV shows had to deal with from time to time. Now as far as the supposed real ETs are concerned, we can only speculate as to where they are from and their propulsion systems. Perhaps the first scenario, a trip involving a voyage taking years or decades, is correct. Indeed, if ET is here, maybe they are the descendants of the original travelers. It’s also possible that a mothership of this sort would be designed never to return to the home world. The passengers would be tasked with somehow surviving in an alien environment, for better or worse. Of course, there are also theories that UFOs have bases on the Moon, Mars, or even on Earth, perhaps under the sea or in caverns beneath the surface. As to romantic ideals about space travel, I’d rather believe in warp drive and stargates as the best transport systems. I get anxious on a long plane trips, so I’d be a poor candidate for interstellar travel unless it could be accomplished in a fast, convenient fashion. But that’s not a choice I ever expect to have to make. The Paracast Copyright 1999-2011 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! Go back to <a href="http://www.theparacast.com"> The Paracast — The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio </a> </div> </div>

Your Paracast Newsletter -- October 22, 2011

Sat, 22 Oct 2011 20:12:00 GMT

<div id="PageWrapper"> <div id="Header" onclick="location.href='http://www.theparacast.com/newsletters/mail.cgi';" style="cursor:pointer;"> Your Paracast Newsletter -- October 22, 2011 <div class="floatclear"></div> </div> <div id="Content"> <h3>THE PARACAST NEWSLETTER October 22, 2011</h3> UFOs in South America 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. Here's How You Can Help The Paracast: Although ads help cover a small part of our expenses, the income they produce is never enough. Also, we do not receive any revenue from the ads placed on the show by our network or local stations. So we hope you're able 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. Attention U.S. Listeners: Help Us Bring The Paracast to Your City! Last summer, The Paracast joined the GCN radio network. This represented a huge step in bringing our show to a larger, mainstream audience. But we need your help to add additional affiliates to our growing network. Please ask one of your local talk stations if they are interested in carrying The Paracast. Feel free to contact us directly with the names of programming people we might be able to contact on your behalf. We can't do this alone, and if you succeed in convincing your local station to carry the show, we'll reward you with one of our special T-shirts, and other goodies. With your help, The Paracast can grow into one of the most popular paranormal shows on the planet! 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 now featuring our brand new logo, just pay a visit to our 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, October 23, 2011: 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 is a paranormal radio show that takes you on a journey to a world beyond science, where UFOs, poltergeists and strange phenomena of all kinds have been reported by millions. The Paracast seeks to shed light on the mysteries and complexities of our Universe and the secrets that surround us in our everyday lives. Join long-time paranormal researcher Gene Steinberg, co-host Christopher O'ÂBrien, and a panel of special guest experts and experiencers, as they explore the realms of the known and unknown. Listen each week to the great stories of the history of the paranormal field in the 20th and 21st centuries. This Week's Episode: Gene and Chris present noted Brazilian UFO expert A.J. Gevaerd, editor of the Brazilian UFO Magazine. He’ll be focusing on the ongoing disclosure of UFO documents by the Brazilian government and the key cases he’s investigated. Christopher O'Brien's Site: http://www.ourstrangeplanet.com/ Brazilian UFO Magazine: http://ufo.com.br/ Reminder: Reminder: Don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: http://www.theparacast.com/forum/. Confronting the Eccentrics by Gene Steinberg As you might imagine, there are loads of opinions in the world of the paranormal. With so many strange things happening to so many people, with precious few real answers available, it makes sense that there are so many different viewpoints to consider. Now one thing that distinguishes The Paracast from some other paranormal radio shows is the fact that we don’t just accept wacky claims and move on. I suppose there’s plenty of entertainment value in putting on people some regard as eccentric and allowing them to extol their outlandish claims without asking for a shred of evidence. It may even make for great ratings. But that’s not what we’re about, and it’s a sure thing that we get criticized for taking forthright positions. It’s as if some people just can’t handle the truth about such matters, whatever that truth might be. I know that, early on, we featured a guest who boasted of the value of what he called “extraterrestrial science.” He was someone who spent his time on the show reciting some incoherent jargon while trying to make us believe that any of it was significant. Of course, we exposed that guest for what he was, someone who wasn’t particularly knowledgeable about science, who still managed to get book deals and a certain degree of respect from people who didn’t pay close attention. More recently, we featured a guest who came on, in part, to tout his new book about top secret alien-related experiments at an alleged military base in Dulce, New Mexico. Again, we were confronted with an empty shirt who merely repeated some unconfirmed information he read in some books, and was never able to actually prove that he had access to real information on the subject. The aftermath of this curious episode is worth a few words. After we made the guest feel uncomfortable by asking sensible questions about his claims, he decided to leave the field of UFO research, and halt publication of the book. But only a few days later, he was back, and the book became available strictly as an ebook, an electronic version. But the author has ignored requests to send us a copy, so maybe we should let the matter rest. Now yet another example of someone presenting a set of outlandish and unproven claims came on our October 16th episode, where we featured someone new to the field, one Aaron Kaplan. Now I first became curious about Kaplan’s book, “Deep Analysis: Frightening Conclusion,” for very mundane reasons. We both attended the same high school, though evidently in different years. His last name is the same as my wife’s maiden name, though they aren’t related. But that just opened the door. Now retired, Kaplan worked in the aerospace industry as an engineer, and thus would seem to be well equipped to analyze evidence and reach sensible conclusions. Or at least, that would seem sensible, although it didn’t quite work out that way in practice. You see, the book is filled with all sorts of unproven rumors, culled from all sorts of sources, such as books, and even the Internet. It doesn’t seem as if Kaplan made any effort whatever to attempt to verify this material. He simply collected all this crazy stuff, mixed it into one huge pot, and claimed that he had solved the UFO mystery. As listeners to this episode came to realize soon enough, the emperor had no clothes. Starting with an apparently inaccurate memory of seeing a film showing UFOs crashing at Roswell in the 1960s, to fanciful tales of the late polar explorer, Admiral Richard Byrd, exploring crystalline cities within the hollow Earth, it was clear that Kaplan was in way over his head. But he treated us with respect from beginning to end and, after the episode was recorded, congratulated us for asking the hard questions. He even allowed us to post an ebook version of his book in our forums, though, truth to tell, the book is a tough read. Forum reaction was predictable. Most of our members agreed with our approach and conclusions. Some felt we shouldn’t have conducted an interview that would inevitably end up as a train wreck, though a few people actually felt that Kaplan was on to something. Well, I am not going to argue with anyone’s right to hold an opinion. No doubt there will be other guests who will also fail to demonstrate that there are facts and evidence behind their claims. But that won’t stop us in our search for the signal behind the noise. The Paracast Copyright 1999-2011 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! Go back to <a href="http://www.theparacast.com"> The Paracast — The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio </a> </div> </div>

Your Paracast Newsletter -- October 15, 2011

Sat, 15 Oct 2011 20:03:00 GMT

<div id="PageWrapper"> <div id="Header" onclick="location.href='http://www.theparacast.com/newsletters/mail.cgi';" style="cursor:pointer;"> Your Paracast Newsletter -- October 15, 2011 <div class="floatclear"></div> </div> <div id="Content"> <h3>THE PARACAST NEWSLETTER October 15, 2011</h3> The Paracast Explores Claims of "Frightening Conclusions to the UFO Mystery" 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. Here's How You Can Help The Paracast: Although ads help cover a small part of our expenses, the income they produce is never enough. Also, we do not receive any revenue from the ads placed on the show by our network or local stations. So we hope you're able 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. Attention U.S. Listeners: Help Us Bring The Paracast to Your City! Last summer, The Paracast joined the GCN radio network. This represented a huge step in bringing our show to a larger, mainstream audience. But we need your help to add additional affiliates to our growing network. Please ask one of your local talk stations if they are interested in carrying The Paracast. Feel free to contact us directly with the names of programming people we might be able to contact on your behalf. We can't do this alone, and if you succeed in convincing your local station to carry the show, we'll reward you with one of our special T-shirts, and other goodies. With your help, The Paracast can grow into one of the most popular paranormal shows on the planet! 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 now featuring our brand new logo, just pay a visit to our 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, October 16, 2011: 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 is a paranormal radio show that takes you on a journey to a world beyond science, where UFOs, poltergeists and strange phenomena of all kinds have been reported by millions. The Paracast seeks to shed light on the mysteries and complexities of our Universe and the secrets that surround us in our everyday lives. Join long-time paranormal researcher Gene Steinberg, co-host Christopher O'Brien, and a panel of special guest experts and experiencers, as they explore the realms of the known and unknown. Listen each week to the great stories of the history of the paranormal field in the 20th and 21st centuries. This Week's Episode: Gene and Chris present a very unusual episode, featuring Aaron Kaplan, author of “Deep Analysis: Frightening Conclusion,” which purports to link a number of historical events to create what he believes to be a compelling picture about humanity’s future. With the permission of the author, we have posted a copy for you to download in The Paracast Community Forums. Christopher O'Brien's Site: http://www.ourstrangeplanet.com/ Aaron Kaplan's Site: http://www.deepanalysisfrighteningconclusion.com/ Download a Copy From: http://www.theparacast.com/forum/threads/9298-Download-Deep-Analysis-Frightening-Conclusion-by-Aaron-Kaplan Reminder: Reminder: Don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: http://www.theparacast.com/forum/. About Alleged Alien Technology By Gene Steinberg If you can believe many of the people who are part of the so-called “Disclosure” movement, the President of the United States has guilty knowledge that ET is visiting Earth, that we are already experimenting with alien technology in secret labs around the country, and the final revelations are coming, well, any time now. Of course, most of you know that predictions about imminent disclosure rise and fall with the seasons. There have been hopes and dreams for decades that the truth will soon be revealed, only it never happens. Besides, it’s not at all certain just what our governments know about UFOs beyond the usual conclusion they do not seem to represent a threat to us. The other issue on the table is whether the U.S. government, or any government on this planet, has been attempting to reverse engineer alien technology retrieved from crashed UFOs that fell in Roswell, NM and elsewhere. That story has been repeated over and over again in articles and books, most particularly “The Day After Roswell,” a controversial work that claimed that some of that advanced technology was funneled to private industry. If you can believe that claim, it would mean that such inventions as night goggles, computer chips, and fiber optics weren’t fully developed by our scientists, but were inspired by ET. Now it’s also true that you can easily track the historical records of how such technology came to be, a direct line showing scientists and engineers being smart enough to invent these things on their own, without being inspired by a higher authority, or whatever you want to call them. I suppose one can say that the public record was tampered with, to present a false picture of what really happened; that is, if you want to believe claims about reverse engineering. At the same time, you have to wonder if everything stopped there. Is that all we have managed to decipher after working on those crashed vehicles all these years? Now it’s certainly true that we may not be able to understand many of the key elements of an advanced alien technology should it show up on our doorsteps. Consider somehow sending today’s hottest gadget, an iPhone 4S, back 200 years. How would the smartest scientists of 1811 react? Would they understand that this was a device used by people to talk to one another wirelessly over long distances? Would someone from the 19th century even be able to even turn the thing on, assuming the battery wasn’t spent? What about disassembling an iPhone, which requires tiny tools and lots and lots of patience? Even after they took it apart, no doubt with the implements used by, say, a watchmaker, would they be able to make heads or tales about what was inside? How would they be able to exploit that technology if they couldn’t even figure out how it worked or what it was used for? Certainly humans in the 21st century have a far greater understanding of advanced technology. We know how to make craft that can travel in space, and we have mastered advanced solid state technology to embed incredibly powerful components in a mobile device that weighs just a few ounces. But now consider where we might be in the 31st century, assuming our civilization doesn’t come crashing down upon us before then. If we somehow brought examples of that technology back to our own time, where would we start? It would, to paraphrase what a famous scientist once said, appear to us like magic. What would you expect? Night goggles indeed! The other side of the argument, however, has it that we have already begun to fathom some of the fundamentals of alien technology, and we are now incorporating them into secret aircraft and other military hardware. Of course, if that were the case, how would that explain the fact that we still use the same primitive technology in our military? Wouldn’t a weapon inspired by ET give us an edge, perhaps world dominance? Of course, none of this should be taken too seriously. There is no evidence that we have actually captured or otherwise acquired technology from an advanced civilization that originated on another planet. That doesn’t mean there are no UFOs. Clearly there is strong evidence that there are UFOs, and that they remain a regular presence in our skies. But that’s a far cry from bringing one down, and if we did, actually understanding what we got. The Paracast Copyright 1999-2011 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! Go back to <a href="http://www.theparacast.com"> The Paracast — The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio </a> </div> </div>

Your Paracast Newsletter -- October 8, 2011

Sat, 08 Oct 2011 20:09:00 GMT

<div id="PageWrapper"> <div id="Header" onclick="location.href='http://www.theparacast.com/newsletters/mail.cgi';" style="cursor:pointer;"> Your Paracast Newsletter -- October 8, 2011 <div class="floatclear"></div> </div> <div id="Content"> <h3>THE PARACAST NEWSLETTER October 8, 2011</h3> UFO Historian Jerome Clark Returns to The Paracast Special Announcement: The Paracast is heard Sundays from 6:00 PM until 9:00 PM (Central Time) on the GCN radio network. Here's How You Can Help The Paracast: Although ads help cover a small part of our expenses, the income they produce is never enough. Also, we do not receive any revenue from the ads placed on the show by our network or local stations. So we hope you're able 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. Attention U.S. Listeners: Help Us Bring The Paracast to Your City! Last summer, The Paracast joined the GCN radio network. This represented a huge step in bringing our show to a larger, mainstream audience. But we need your help to add additional affiliates to our growing network. Please ask one of your local talk stations if they are interested in carrying The Paracast. Feel free to contact us directly with the names of programming people we might be able to contact on your behalf. We can't do this alone, and if you succeed in convincing your local station to carry the show, we'll reward you with one of our special T-shirts, and other goodies. With your help, The Paracast can grow into one of the most popular paranormal shows on the planet! 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 now featuring our brand new logo, just pay a visit to our 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, October 9, 2011: 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 is a paranormal radio show that takes you on a journey to a world beyond science, where UFOs, poltergeists and strange phenomena of all kinds have been reported by millions. The Paracast seeks to shed light on the mysteries and complexities of our Universe and the secrets that surround us in our everyday lives. Join long-time paranormal researcher Gene Steinberg, co-host Christopher O'Brien, and a panel of special guest experts and experiencers, as they explore the realms of the known and unknown. Listen each week to the great stories of the history of the paranormal field in the 20th and 21st centuries. This Week's Episode: Gene and Chris present a return visit from UFO historian Jerome Clark, author of such works as “The UFO Encyclopedia” and “Hidden Realms, Lost Civilizations, and Beings from Other Worlds,” Christopher O'Brien's Site: http://www.ourstrangeplanet.com/ Reminder: Reminder: Don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: http://www.theparacast.com/forum/. Not in Our Lifetimes? By Gene Steinberg Ever since the UFO mystery reached the public consciousness in a major way, beginning in 1947, there was always the hope for resolution. Some day soon, ET, or whatever was piloting those strange craft, would land and ask to be taken to our leader. It was so inevitable. After all, humankind was extremely important to visitors from out there; we had to be taken seriously. Sure, there were some who claimed contact with ET, perhaps in the California desert, the local diner, or even on old country roads or in their own bedrooms. Even when the higher beings who appeared before mere mortals expressed their purposes for being here, there was no reason to believe them. It’s not as if any of their purported predictions about future events ever came true. Well, maybe ET’s prime directive is to mislead the local inhabitants, particularly those regarded as primitive, lest they become a threat. So if Earthlings are told by ET that they are here to help us clean our environment and halt tribal warfare, that may not reflect their true purpose. We may not even know what their purpose is, and it might indeed be to confuse and befuddle the locals for reasons best known to themselves. As I said, there’s no way to prove what they say is true. Some believe that the governments of this world are holding the truth about ET’s presence in our skies close to their vests, perhaps under deep cover. There might even be secret agencies that exist solely to understand the alien presence, and devise ways to deal with it. It may even be true that we are already in touch with ET, and we are doing their bidding, or at least we are engaged in some level of cooperation for the alleged benefit of both races. Unfortunately, there’s no actual evidence of that. Yes, we have those alleged MJ-12 documents, claiming the creation of a U.S. special working group designed to understand the impact of the Roswell UFO crash and other strange events of the 1940s and 1950s. Maybe it’s true, although there is a lot to be said on both sides of the argument. Even those who accept the possibility that MJ-12 existed at one time admit that many documents describing the group are fakes. But that’s enough on that issue. But none of this stops people from demanding disclosure, an end to alleged government secrecy. We want to know what they know. We are entitled to that information, regardless of the consequences. At the same time, you have to wonder how any government would deal with evidence that the UFOs are hostile. Would they risk a panicked population as they struggle to devise some sort of defense? And what if there is no defense to an alien invasion? What then? Yes, I realize many of those who claim contact with alien beings swear that they are here to help us, rather than to harm us. But how could they possibly know? Because ET told them that? Let’s get real here. As I said, there is no reason to assume that communications from purported higher beings represent the truth. If anything, they’d might have reason to hide their true motivations. As to the governments, it’s very possible their sole interest in the phenomenon is to determine if the UFO presence represents a threat to the security of a nation, or the entire planet. If they have no evidence of such a threat, they will simply set the matter aside. But they may continue to evaluate UFO sightings, though, in the U.S. at any rate, there is no public agency charged with investigating such sightings. After all these years, however, is there any evidence of an end game? Yes, the number of publicized UFO sightings seems to ebb and flow over time. But that may simply reflect the so-called “publicity flap,” where people look to the skies if cases get coverage. If not, they get on about their business. Now having followed the UFO mystery since I was quite young, I am apt to accept the lessons of history and assume that we won’t find a solution anytime soon. Yes, there’s been hope over the years, but every hope has been dashed. As much as I would prefer it to be otherwise, I am not at all confident that we’ll get the answers to the presence of UFOs anytime soon, if ever. At least if an answer comes, I do not expect to be around to learn about it. The Paracast Copyright 1999-2011 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! Go back to <a href="http://www.theparacast.com"> The Paracast — The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio </a> </div> </div>

Your Paracast Newsletter -- October 1, 2011

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 18:24:00 GMT

<div id="PageWrapper"> <div id="Header" onclick="location.href='http://www.theparacast.com/newsletters/mail.cgi';" style="cursor:pointer;"> Your Paracast Newsletter -- October 1, 2011 <div class="floatclear"></div> </div> <div id="Content">  Hello, sandynflip@earthlink.net [<a href="http://www.theparacast.com/newsletters/mail.cgi/profile/">Profile Home</a> | <a href="http://www.theparacast.com/newsletters/mail.cgi/profile_logout/">Logout</a>]  <div class="positive_greeting"> You are currently subscribed to, The Paracast Newsletter! </div> <h3>THE PARACAST NEWSLETTER October 1, 2011</h3> The Paracast Searches for Bigfoot and Other Strange Creatures Special Announcement: The Paracast is heard Sundays from 6:00 PM until 9:00 PM (Central Time) on the GCN radio network. Here's How You Can Help The Paracast: Although ads help cover a small part of our expenses, the income they produce is never enough. Also, we do not receive any revenue from the ads placed on the show by our network or local stations. So we hope you're able 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. Attention U.S. Listeners: Help Us Bring The Paracast to Your City! Last summer, The Paracast joined the GCN radio network. This represented a huge step in bringing our show to a larger, mainstream audience. But we need your help to add additional affiliates to our growing network. Please ask one of your local talk stations if they are interested in carrying The Paracast. Feel free to contact us directly with the names of programming people we might be able to contact on your behalf. We can't do this alone, and if you succeed in convincing your local station to carry the show, we'll reward you with one of our special T-shirts, and other goodies. With your help, The Paracast can grow into one of the most popular paranormal shows on the planet! 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 now featuring our brand new logo, just pay a visit to our 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, October 2, 2011: 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 is a paranormal radio show that takes you on a journey to a world beyond science, where UFOs, poltergeists and strange phenomena of all kinds have been reported by millions. The Paracast seeks to shed light on the mysteries and complexities of our Universe and the secrets that surround us in our everyday lives. Join long-time paranormal researcher Gene Steinberg, co-host Christopher O'Brien, and a panel of special guest experts and experiencers, as they explore the realms of the known and unknown. Listen each week to the great stories of the history of the paranormal field in the 20th and 21st centuries. This Week's Episode: Gene and Chris explore the amazing world of cryptozoology, as we discuss such amazing creatures as Bigfoot with long-time researchers Eric Altman and Dave Dragosin, from the Pennsylvnia Bigfoot Society. You’ll learn about what we’ve discovered about these beings and whether their reality can be proven. Christopher O'Brien's Site: http://www.ourstrangeplanet.com/ Pennsylvania Bigfoot Society: http://www.pabigfootsociety.com/ Reminder: Reminder: Don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: http://www.theparacast.com/forum/. So Have the UFOs Left Us? By Gene Steinberg Every few years, whenever there’s a lull in coverage of possible flying saucers, I hear the same story: UFOs have left us, the aliens phoned home and they aren’t coming back anytime soon. You fill in the blanks. I remember how it stood back in the 1970s. In the years after the Condon Report dismissed the reality of UFOs and the Air Force got out of the UFO investigation business -- at least officially -- it seemed that there just weren’t so many compelling sightings anymore. As editor of a small magazine that covered the paranormal, I found it more and more difficult to find any reports beyond the usual collection of lights in the sky. One morning, I arrived at my day job -- I was news director of a suburban Philadelphia radio station at the time -- and checked the wire service reports. One happened to catch my eye, about UFOs seen in the southeast portion of Pennsylvania, just a short drive from the station. No, I didn’t rush down to see what was going on; unfortunately the station manager expected me to attend a press conference that day, and I didn’t have the staff to push that assignment off to someone else. Well, I did read the story on my morning newscasts. The disk jockey on duty, who resented the presence of an hourly news block to interrupt the lame jokes he copied from a comedy service, merely presented his usual stare of disdain as I read the account of the presence UFOs almost in our neighborhoods. As some of you recall, the UFO flaps of the 1970s really brought interest in the subject back to a level that met or exceeded what was the norm in the 1950s. Although press coverage was usually dismissive, there were pockets of serious reports. Indeed, that station manager never complained when I gave extra coverage to the local UFO cases. He never mentioned them, probably because the local papers carried those stories too. In recent years, I’ve heard that same meme repeated, that the UFOs had upped and left Earth for parts unknown. The cases reported were just the usual misidentifications of conventional objects, such as planets, meteorites, and regular aircraft. But don’t forget the events at O’Hare Airport in Chicago, or the Stephenville, Texas case. More recently, the MUFON Journal has reported loads of interesting UFO sightings. While certainly an organization with a vested interest in the continuation of the mystery would want to advance the view that sightings continue, it does seem they are right on the mark. Now I don’t claim to have any special insights on the presence of UFOs or why the apparent frequency of sightings ebbs and flows. However, there is a common phenomenon known as the publicity flap. When one sighting gets a lot of attention, people will begin to look to the skies, hoping that they, too, will be lucky enough to see something strange in the sky. While most reports will still describe normal objects or phenomena, a small percentage will remain unknown, as always. But with loads of potential witnesses paying attention, you have to expect more strange encounters to be reported. In turn, news coverage will increase, not just to adhere to the duty of a journalist to report the news, but because heavy public interest means greater circulation, more hits, higher rates -- you get the picture. After a time, interest in the subject wanes. So skywatching doesn’t happen nearly as often, and thus there are fewer cases to talk about. At least that’s how it seems. Of course, there have been other reasons given for the periodic outbreak of UFO flaps. At one time, there was a seven year cycle, and UFO researchers even considered the possibility seriously, until the next flap broke the cycle. Now I suppose it is possible that every single UFO sighting in recent years could be explained by conventional means, that the UFOnauts themselves left us long ago, and we’re only seeing the noise. There’s no signal left to find. One thing is sure: Whenever we try to predict what’s really going on in the UFO field, such predictions will ultimately end up being wrong. This is the sort of guessing game that seldom seems to deliver success. Of course, I’d like to think the UFOs are still here. Yes, I have a vested interest too in seeing the mystery persist, but I won’t sacrifice my hard-won journalistic ethics to invent a story that doesn’t really exist. The Paracast Copyright 1999-2011 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! Go back to <a href="http://www.theparacast.com"> The Paracast — The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio </a> </div> </div>

Your Paracast Newsletter -- September 24, 2011

Sat, 24 Sep 2011 20:37:00 GMT

<div id="PageWrapper"> <div id="Header" onclick="location.href='http://www.theparacast.com/newsletters/mail.cgi';" style="cursor:pointer;"> Your Paracast Newsletter -- September 24, 2011 <div class="floatclear"></div> </div> <div id="Content">  [<a href="http://www.theparacast.com/newsletters/mail.cgi/profile_login/">Profile Register/Log In</a>] (<a href="http://www.theparacast.com/newsletters/mail.cgi/profile_help/">What's This?</a>)  <h3>THE PARACAST NEWSLETTER September 24, 2011</h3> UFO Secrecy Debated 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. Here's How You Can Help The Paracast: Although ads help cover a small part of our expenses, the income they produce is never enough. Also, we do not receive any revenue from the ads placed on the show by our network or local stations. So we hope you're able 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. Attention U.S. Listeners: Help Us Bring The Paracast to Your City! Last summer, The Paracast joined the GCN radio network. This represented a huge step in bringing our show to a larger, mainstream audience. But we need your help to add additional affiliates to our growing network. Please ask one of your local talk stations if they are interested in carrying The Paracast. Feel free to contact us directly with the names of programming people we might be able to contact on your behalf. We can't do this alone, and if you succeed in convincing your local station to carry the show, we'll reward you with one of our special T-shirts, and other goodies. With your help, The Paracast can grow into one of the most popular paranormal shows on the planet! 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 now featuring our brand new logo, just pay a visit to our 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 25, 2011: 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 is a paranormal radio show that takes you on a journey to a world beyond science, where UFOs, poltergeists and strange phenomena of all kinds have been reported by millions. The Paracast seeks to shed light on the mysteries and complexities of our Universe and the secrets that surround us in our everyday lives. Join long-time paranormal researcher Gene Steinberg, co-host Christopher O'Brien, and a panel of special guest experts and experiencers, as they explore the realms of the known and unknown. Listen each week to the great stories of the history of the paranormal field in the 20th and 21st centuries. This Week's Episode: Gene and Chris present a “Great Debate” on whether there is UFO secrecy with John B. Alexander, Ph.D, author of “UFOs: Myths, Conspiracies, and Realities” and nuclear physicist and UFO authority Stanton T. Friedman. We also ask the questions you posted in our forums. Christopher O'Brien's Site: http://www.ourstrangeplanet.com/ John B. Alexander's Site: http://johnbalexander.com/ Stanton T. Friedman's Site: http://www.stantonfriedman.com/ Reminder: Reminder: Don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: http://www.theparacast.com/forum/. So How Would ET Get Here? By Gene Steinberg If you accept the theory that some UFO sightings represent advanced aircraft from other worlds, you have to wonder just how they get here, and from where they might come. Early on, advocates of the ET theory suggested UFOs might originate on another planet in our solar system. As our rudimentary space program advanced towards sending spaceships into orbit, it seemed natural that we’d one day walk on the surfaces of those other worlds. Of course, how the space program fared in practice, after the initial successes, is another matter entirely. But our unmanned craft pretty much confirmed what we already knew from earthbound observations, that the conditions on these planets were far too hostile to support life as we know it. Forget about canals on Mars, for example, although the possibility of strange artificial artifacts on that planet and, in fact, the Moon, has been the subject of certain controversial claims. Regardless, even if, say, Mars had intelligent life at one time, it doesn’t now. But that doesn’t stop ET from having bases there, right? Yes, I realize water is to be found everywhere, it seems, but that doesn’t mean life would rise above the level of simple microbes. So the conventional wisdom among ET believers is that the aliens come from other star systems, but is that practical? I suppose if you could build a spaceship that travels near the speed of light, such a voyage would take years, depending on the distance. Perhaps the crew would lie in stasis, in a special chamber, to reduce consumption of the ship’s resources as the trip progresses. They would awaken as they neared their destination. In the sci-fi world, however, exceeding the speed of light, even though Einstein said it can’t be done, is commonplace. Whether warp drive, or using wormholes, such TV shows as “Star Trek” and “Farscape” use those buzzwords to describe end runs around light speed constraints, so starships can reach their destinations in hours or days, rather than years. But can this be done in the real world? That question is being raised yet again amid reports this week that a major physics lab clocked a subatomic particle as going faster than the speed of light. Obviously, scientists are scrambling to explain the phenomenon, or demonstrate that it’s just a mistake, but it may take weeks or months to figure out what’s going on, and its impact to the scientific world. This doesn’t mean that we will be able to develop a star drive propulsion system in our lifetimes, but it may simply indicate that our view of the universe must be widened to accommodate more possibilities. Perhaps a few decades from now, many of our cherished scientific hypotheses will be shown to be wrong, or at the very least incomplete. This doesn’t mean Einstein needs to begin rolling in his grave yet, just that there are aspects of the world of physics that we need to understand better. Remember that, at many points in our history, the scientists of the time believed they had figured out all of the fundamentals about how things work, and that only needed to refine things here and there. But they once also believed that rockets wouldn’t function in the vacuum of space, so there you go. And there’s more. As more and more astronomers discover evidence of planets orbiting other stars, it seems natural that some will fall within the “Goldielocks” zone, where the conditions favor life as we know it. Now imagine that intelligent creatures have older civilizations than we do. Maybe they are hundreds or thousands of years ahead of us, so their everyday achievements may seem to us akin to magic, just as we would astound even the most intelligent people who lived several hundreds of years ago; that is, assuming they don’t just try to burn us at the stake. While I would not presume this new possible faster-than-light speed discovery somehow violates our cherished theories. Maybe further tests will demonstrate that these new results are simply wrong. Or maybe it will be proven, and will thus force physicists to start looking in new directions to explain what’s going on, and, perhaps, to pave the way towards exploiting this knowledge in ways that may impact our ability to really explore the universe. The Paracast Copyright 1999-2011 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! Go back to <a href="http://www.theparacast.com"> The Paracast — The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio </a> </div> </div>

Your Paracast Newsletter

Sat, 17 Sep 2011 20:49:00 GMT

<div id="PageWrapper"> <div id="Header" onclick="location.href='http://www.theparacast.com/newsletters/mail.cgi';" style="cursor:pointer;"> Your Paracast Newsletter <div class="floatclear"></div> </div> <div id="Content">  [<a href="http://www.theparacast.com/newsletters/mail.cgi/profile_login/">Profile Register/Log In</a>] (<a href="http://www.theparacast.com/newsletters/mail.cgi/profile_help/">What's This?</a>)  <h3>THE PARACAST NEWSLETTER September 17, 2011</h3> UFO and Abduction Researcher Peter Robbins Returns to The Paracast Special Announcement: The Paracast is heard Sundays from 6:00 PM until 9:00 PM (Central Time) on the GCN radio network. Here's How You Can Help The Paracast: Although ads help cover a small part of our expenses, the income they produce is never enough. Also, we do not receive any revenue from the ads placed on the show by our network or local stations. So we hope you're able 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. Attention U.S. Listeners: Help Us Bring The Paracast to Your City! Last summer, The Paracast joined the GCN radio network. This represented a huge step in bringing our show to a larger, mainstream audience. But we need your help to add additional affiliates to our growing network. Please ask one of your local talk stations if they are interested in carrying The Paracast. Feel free to contact us directly with the names of programming people we might be able to contact on your behalf. We can't do this alone, and if you succeed in convincing your local station to carry the show, we'll reward you with one of our special T-shirts, and other goodies. With your help, The Paracast can grow into one of the most popular paranormal shows on the planet! 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 now featuring our brand new logo, just pay a visit to our 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 18, 2011: 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 is a paranormal radio show that takes you on a journey to a world beyond science, where UFOs, poltergeists and strange phenomena of all kinds have been reported by millions. The Paracast seeks to shed light on the mysteries and complexities of our Universe and the secrets that surround us in our everyday lives. Join long-time paranormal researcher Gene Steinberg, co-host Christopher O'ÃÂÃÂBrien, and a panel of special guest experts and experiencers, as they explore the realms of the known and unknown. Listen each week to the great stories of the history of the paranormal field in the 20th and 21st centuries. This Week's Episode: Gene and Chris present a return appearance from Peter Robbins, a founding member and Advisory Board member of Budd Hopkins' Intruders Foundation, and author of "Left at East Gate: A First-Hand Account of the Rendlesham Forest UFO Incident, Its Cover-up, and Investigation," which was co-authored by Larry Warren. Christopher O'Brien's Site: http://www.ourstrangeplanet.com/ Reminder: Reminder: Don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: http://www.theparacast.com/forum/. Close But No Cigar By Gene Steinberg I have been around people who have had paranormal encounters for most of my life, yet I can’t say that I’ve ever actually had any such experiences myself. Well, maybe I’ve come close, but I’ll let you decide. As I child, I had a frightening recurring dream. A large dark object would come flying towards me and, as I recall, I’d awake in a cold sweat. At the time, I was living in a small apartment in Brooklyn, New York, and I couldn’t have been more than seven or eight. But I also remember smelling the distinct odor of something akin to burnt sulfur for a period of time. After a year or two, the nightmares and the odors vanished. Only later did I read of the possible connection of the odor of burnt sulfur to the onset of a possible paranormal event. At the same time, I do not have any recollections of any other experiences beyond those dreams, so there you go. Now I suppose some of you might suggest there are some suppressed paranormal experiences that I ought to seek to recover, perhaps with hypnotic regression. At the same time, I think you know that I’m not enamored of the process, nor do I necessarily believe there are any significant memories of that sort to recall, even if the process works as advertised. It’s not that I’ve had ongoing nightmares spanning a number of years about alien craft or creatures. As to those odors, perhaps they can be chalked up to some sort of sinus condition. After all, we are talking about New York City and lots of air pollution. In my teens, I had what I first believed to be a UFO encounter. I saw a light in the sky from which emerged flashing lights. It seemed damned peculiar at the time, until I did a little quick research and realized I was seeing nothing more unusual than an airliner. Bear in mind, I didn’t live more than half an hour’s drive from one of the busier New York airports at the time. Segue to the 1970s, during my first marriage. For some reason, and I do not recall why, we were asleep on a mattress in the living room. Around 3:00 AM or thereabouts, I was awakened by my wife, who told me she’d just seen what she described as a “water elemental” in the dining room. Extremely groggy, I simply asked her to point out where she saw the apparition, as I struggled to focus my eyes. Understand that I am quite nearsighted, and require either contact lenses or glasses to get around. I had no time to reach for either, so all I can tell you is that I thought I might have seen something shadowy in the distance, in the direction to which I was directed. Or maybe not. The ongoing UFO flap of that era struck in Pennsylvania, not far from our home in Coatesville, once a thriving steel mill town. I worked as news director for a regional radio station that covered the countries around Philadelphia, and even ran occasional reports about those UFOs. Management indulged me, or simply didn’t notice. I was also publishing a UFO-oriented magazine, carrying frequent reports from such budding researchers as Curt Sutherly, who has appeared on The Paracast in recent years. But still I never saw anything strange. In 1976, I was sponsor to a UFO convention in the Philadelphia suburbs. Well a friend reported seeing a UFO after the conference’s main session. Of course, I was inside, watching the lecturers, and playing host to the proceedings. As usual, I saw nothing. I moved to the Phoenix area in 1993, after vowing never to get involved in anything related to UFOs ever again. I kept true to that promise for another 13 years. In the meantime, the UFOs kept on coming. In 1997, while the Phoenix lights flew overhead, I was seated in front of the family TV. I did see some of the news stories, and thought, in passing, that perhaps I should have made some effort at skywatching on that fateful evening. So, while I have been close to UFO events from time to time, I’ve never had the honor of seeing one. I’m not even sure how I’d treat the experience. I’d probably end up running in the other direction. The Paracast Copyright 1999-2011 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! Go back to <a href="http://www.theparacast.com"> The Paracast — The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio </a> </div> </div>