The Paracast Newsletter
August 18, 2024
www.theparacast.com
Our Resident Skeptic Brian Young Rambling on Such Topics as UFOs, Sci-Fi Movies, Famous Musicians and More on The Paracast!
The Paracast is released every Sunday and available from our site, https://www.theparacast.com, your favorite podcast app, and the IRN Internet Radio Network. All episodes from 2022, 2023 and 2024 now feature better audio and fewer ads. We are also re-releasing some of our most popular classic episodes.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU HAVEN'T SIGNED UP FOR THE PARACAST+ YET? PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE PARACAST+ SO YOU CAN SUPPORT THE SHOW AND ENJOY THE ULTIMATE PARACAST EXPERIENCE AT A SPECIAL LOW PRICE! We have another radio show and we’d love for you listen to it. So for a low subscription fee, you will receive access to an exclusive bonus podcast, After The Paracast, plus a special version of The Paracast with all the ads removed, when you join The Paracast+. We also offer a special RSS feed for easy updates of the latest episodes on your device, and those episodes are now released 12-24 hours earlier. Flash! Take advantage of our lowest rates ever! Act now! It's easier than ever to susbcribe! For the easiest signup ever, please visit: https://www.theparacast.plus
This Week's Episode: More entertaining ramblings from our resident skeptic Brian Young. He talks — or rambles — with Gene and cohost Tim Swartz about such varied topics as the Paris Olympics, some shock jock musings in the spirit of Howard Stern, Borscht Belt comedians such as the late Jackie Mason, someone Gene met decades ago at a New York City deli, the trio's favorite sci-fi films across recent decades and even those infamous Hollywood accounting practices. Brian is also a writer, researcher, historian, cigar connoisseur, and has a special interest in history and wrestling. He hosts his podcast along with Lauren Davies, heard on Spotify and other streaming platforms. His book is "The Wrestlers’ Wrestlers: The Masters of the Craft of Professional Wrestling."
After The Paracast — Available exclusively for Paracast+ subscribers on August 18: More entertaining ramblings from our resident skeptic Brian Young. He talks — or rambles — with Gene and cohost Tim Swartz about such varied topics as the Paris Olympics, some shock jock musings in the spirit of Howard Stern, Borscht Belt comedians such as the late Jackie Mason, someone Gene met decades ago at a New York City deli, the trio's favorite sci-fi films across recent decades and even those infamous Hollywood accounting practices. Brian is also a writer, researcher, historian, cigar connoisseur, and has a special interest in history and wrestling. He hosts his podcast along with Lauren Davies, heard on Spotify and other streaming platforms. His book is "The Wrestlers’ Wrestlers: The Masters of the Craft of Professional Wrestling."
Reminder: Please don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: The Paracast Community Forums.
Calling Down the Alien Spirits
By Tim R. Swartz
The modern UFO phenomenon is both strange and puzzling. Pop culture sees UFOs as interplanetary spacecraft piloted by humanoid creatures that are hell-bent on shoving bizarre devices up the rectums of unfortunate abductees. However, if one were to conduct even a little research beyond exploitative "reality" TV shows, it becomes quickly apparent that there is an entire universe of weird stuff that surrounds UFOs. In one way or another, practically everything that is associated with the supernatural, or paranormal, can also be connected to UFOs. Because of this, the "simple" explanation that UFOs are physical spaceships from other planets needs to be given a more thorough examination.
Beginning in the early 1950's, individuals such as George Adamski, Truman Bethurum and Orfeo Angelucci, came forward with claims that they had actually met with extraterrestrials. These friendly beings from other worlds were coming to planet Earth because of their concern with our recent development of atomic weapons. The contactees were told that not only would atomic bombs make a mess of our world, but they also would also somehow affect the entire cosmos. For many, this was the proof that they had been seeking about the authenticity of UFOs. Not only were UFOs real, but they were piloted by people from other planets.
The implications were both startling and revolutionary. We were not alone in this vast universe. There were other intelligent creatures out there that took an interest in humanity and seemed genuinely concerned with our ultimate physical and spiritual wellbeing. Even though, for the most part, the UFO contactee movement was met with ridicule, it did manage to plant a seed on the possibility that there was life elsewhere in the universe. As the years went by, this seed sprouted into a conviction that is generally accepted today as a reality.
Contact with "extraterrestrial intelligences" is nothing new however. Long before people became convinced that UFOs were interplanetary spaceships, there were religious visionaries, spiritual mediums and psychic channelers who claimed that they were receiving messages from alleged non-earthly sources.
Emanuel Swedenborg
Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) was a Swedish philosopher and scientist who began his career as an engineer and was publisher of Sweden's first scientific journal, Daedalus Hyperboreus. He devoted himself to geometry, chemistry and metallurgy, as well as studies of anatomy and physiology.
In 1744, at the age of 56, Swedenborg began to have a series of strange dreams and visions. Even though he had a lifelong interest in philosophy and theology, he found some of his visions to be highly disturbing. According to Swedenborg’s writings, his spiritual awakening opened his eyes so that he could freely visit heaven and hell, and talk with angels, demons and other spirits.
In his book, Life On Other Planets, Swedenborg states that he was visited by spirits of beings who lived on other planets in our solar system. He wrote that all the life forms he visited in this solar system and beyond were humanoid in appearance, but they are not having a carbon based physical experience in a three-dimensional world in the way that we are. They have social and family structures, and they are all well aware of the reality that there is only one God. Moreover they know that they will live on after their present “bodies” perish. Swedenborg said that every planet and every moon has a spiritual life form on it. The reason for this, he said, is that the universe is the seminary of Heaven. Every planet and moon is a place of learning and growth for the entire spiritual community at large.
Swedenborg cautioned that he could not see the actual planet to determine if it was inhabited or not, he was only aware of spirits that were associated with that planet.
Spaceman of the Ouija
Depending on whom you talk to, the Ouija board is considered either an entertaining toy or a portal into the fiery depths of Hell. The Ouija board is often used in an attempt to contact those who have left the physical world behind and now, hopefully, continue to live on in the reality of spirit. At times, however, it is not one's great Aunt Maude that comes a calling through the board, but something even more bizarre.
From the website about.paranormal.com, author Stephen Wagner relates the story of Peter S., who was living in Saint Thomas' Mount in India. In 1964, Peter's visiting Aunt and Uncle Theo were operating the Ouija board when a "spirit" who called itself "Ithan" came onto the board. Ithan claimed to be from the planet Venus and informed the group that the popular singer Jim Reeves had just died in a plane crash. Ithan went on to say that the plane wreckage had not yet been found and it would be a couple of days before the news was made public.
Five months later, in December, 1964, Theo's brother-in-law Oscar from Calcutta came for a visit. While they were chatting about family matters, the story about the Venusian named Ithan came up. Oscar told his relatives that a few months back his family had also been fooling around with a Ouija board when it was taken over by a spirit that claimed to be from Venus. During the communication, they were also told that Jim Reeves had just died in a plane crash.
Equally shocking for everyone involved, this spirit also said its name was Ithan.
Peter S. ended his story in 1973 after his family had moved to Melbourne, Australia. As they were watching the TV show A Current Affair, the announcer interviewed a Sydney clairvoyant, who claimed to be in regular psychic contact with a being from Venus, whose name was — Ithanus!
Beyond the Human Mind and Spirit
The reactions that some people have after a UFO encounter indicate a connection between the eyewitness and the phenomena that may go beyond the physical, and into the realms of the mind and even the spirit. The question we have to ask is: why would visitors from other planets induce paranormal or mystic responses from human observers? Perhaps we are making some broad assumptions about the true nature of UFOs. Or maybe we are asking the wrong questions altogether.
Author Regan Lee says that the psychic aspect of UFOs seems to be too often ignored or dismissed by many researchers who perceive it as a "New Agey" element that is an embarrassment to "serious" UFO researchers. However, Lee suggests that there is a psychic thread within the UFO experience, and it is dishonest to ignore it since UFO lore is full of stories of people who have had psychic or telepathic experiences in context of their UFO encounter.
Gail Mangas of Toledo, Ohio had no interest in UFOs or the paranormal. She was a divorced mother of two children and a waitress for a local restaurant, with little time to do anything else except care for her family — that is until she had a rendezvous with the unknown.
One night, as she drove home from work, Gail noticed a strange light in the sky that seemed to be following her car. The light was reddish in color and about the size of a half-dollar held at arm's length. When Gail was about a mile from her home, along a particularly deserted stretch of road, the light suddenly zoomed out of the sky and positioned itself directly in front of the car.
"I was absolutely terrified," she remembered. "The object blocked the road so I had to stop or risk running into it. Its light was so bright that I had to shield my eyes with my hand."
Before Gail had a chance to react, the weird light disappeared just as suddenly as it had appeared. Shaken, Gail drove the rest of the way home without further incident. She might have forgotten about her unusual experience if it wasn't for what occurred to her afterwards.
"That was the point where my life changed completely," she said. "I became interested in science and math and read everything I could get my hands on. This was so unlike me, I had barely graduated from high school and now I was reading books that were written for scientists. And the really weird thing was that I understood them."
Gail also noticed that along with her increased intelligence she had also developed the power to heal and to tell what others were thinking.
"It was as if the UFO awakened some part of me that had laid dormant all of my life," she said. "I can't explain it, but I know deep inside that I have been chosen somehow."
Gail also said that she has the feeling that some other intelligence is guiding her to develop both mentally and spiritually. She feels that she has some mission to fulfill for mankind in the future.
"I don't know what my mission will be — I only know that I am not the only one to be contacted this way. There are thousands, maybe millions of others on this planet that are being prepared for something truly great in the future."
Enhanced Evolution
Gail Mangas's experience is not unique. Throughout history there have been others who have touched the unknown and returned changed somehow. Perhaps we are experiencing a sort of enhanced evolution, intended to carry humankind quickly beyond this point in our development when our passions often outweigh our intelligence. Could there be an intelligence that can see our potential as an enlightened species and has made it their mission to see us through these difficult times by awakening our hidden, spiritual capabilities? We may have an important role to play on the universal stage. Maybe UFOs and the forces behind them are here to show us the hidden meaning between the lines of our lives.
Or maybe not.
• • •
Tim R. Swartz is an Indiana native and Emmy-Award winning television producer/videographer, and is the author of a number of popular books including The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla, Mimics — The Others Among Us, America's Strange and Supernatural History, Time Travel: Fact Not Fiction!, and is a contributing writer for the books, Brad Steiger's Real Monsters, Gruesome Critters, and Beasts from the Darkside, and Real Ghosts, Restless Spirits and Haunted Places.
As a photojournalist, Tim Swartz has traveled extensively and investigated paranormal phenomena and other unusual mysteries from such diverse locations as the Great Pyramid in Egypt to the Great Wall in China. He has worked with television networks such as PBS, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, ESPN, Thames-TV and the BBC. He has also appeared on the History Channels programs "Ancient Aliens,” “Evidence,” “Ancient Aliens: Declassified,” The UnXplained, and the History Channel Latin America series "Contacto Extraterrestre.
His articles have been published in magazines such as Mysteries, FATE, Strange, Atlantis Rising, UFO Universe, Renaissance, and Unsolved UFO Reports. He is also the writer and editor of the online newsletter Conspiracy Journal; a free, weekly email newsletter, considered essential reading by paranormal researchers worldwide.
Tim is also cohost on The Paracast, The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio, with host Gene Steinberg.
His website is: conspiracyjournal.com
Copyright 1999-2024 The Paracast Company. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy: Your personal information is safe with us. We will positively never give out your name and/or e-mail address to anybody else, and that's a promise!
August 18, 2024
www.theparacast.com
Our Resident Skeptic Brian Young Rambling on Such Topics as UFOs, Sci-Fi Movies, Famous Musicians and More on The Paracast!
The Paracast is released every Sunday and available from our site, https://www.theparacast.com, your favorite podcast app, and the IRN Internet Radio Network. All episodes from 2022, 2023 and 2024 now feature better audio and fewer ads. We are also re-releasing some of our most popular classic episodes.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU HAVEN'T SIGNED UP FOR THE PARACAST+ YET? PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE PARACAST+ SO YOU CAN SUPPORT THE SHOW AND ENJOY THE ULTIMATE PARACAST EXPERIENCE AT A SPECIAL LOW PRICE! We have another radio show and we’d love for you listen to it. So for a low subscription fee, you will receive access to an exclusive bonus podcast, After The Paracast, plus a special version of The Paracast with all the ads removed, when you join The Paracast+. We also offer a special RSS feed for easy updates of the latest episodes on your device, and those episodes are now released 12-24 hours earlier. Flash! Take advantage of our lowest rates ever! Act now! It's easier than ever to susbcribe! For the easiest signup ever, please visit: https://www.theparacast.plus
This Week's Episode: More entertaining ramblings from our resident skeptic Brian Young. He talks — or rambles — with Gene and cohost Tim Swartz about such varied topics as the Paris Olympics, some shock jock musings in the spirit of Howard Stern, Borscht Belt comedians such as the late Jackie Mason, someone Gene met decades ago at a New York City deli, the trio's favorite sci-fi films across recent decades and even those infamous Hollywood accounting practices. Brian is also a writer, researcher, historian, cigar connoisseur, and has a special interest in history and wrestling. He hosts his podcast along with Lauren Davies, heard on Spotify and other streaming platforms. His book is "The Wrestlers’ Wrestlers: The Masters of the Craft of Professional Wrestling."
After The Paracast — Available exclusively for Paracast+ subscribers on August 18: More entertaining ramblings from our resident skeptic Brian Young. He talks — or rambles — with Gene and cohost Tim Swartz about such varied topics as the Paris Olympics, some shock jock musings in the spirit of Howard Stern, Borscht Belt comedians such as the late Jackie Mason, someone Gene met decades ago at a New York City deli, the trio's favorite sci-fi films across recent decades and even those infamous Hollywood accounting practices. Brian is also a writer, researcher, historian, cigar connoisseur, and has a special interest in history and wrestling. He hosts his podcast along with Lauren Davies, heard on Spotify and other streaming platforms. His book is "The Wrestlers’ Wrestlers: The Masters of the Craft of Professional Wrestling."
Reminder: Please don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: The Paracast Community Forums.
Calling Down the Alien Spirits
By Tim R. Swartz
The modern UFO phenomenon is both strange and puzzling. Pop culture sees UFOs as interplanetary spacecraft piloted by humanoid creatures that are hell-bent on shoving bizarre devices up the rectums of unfortunate abductees. However, if one were to conduct even a little research beyond exploitative "reality" TV shows, it becomes quickly apparent that there is an entire universe of weird stuff that surrounds UFOs. In one way or another, practically everything that is associated with the supernatural, or paranormal, can also be connected to UFOs. Because of this, the "simple" explanation that UFOs are physical spaceships from other planets needs to be given a more thorough examination.
Beginning in the early 1950's, individuals such as George Adamski, Truman Bethurum and Orfeo Angelucci, came forward with claims that they had actually met with extraterrestrials. These friendly beings from other worlds were coming to planet Earth because of their concern with our recent development of atomic weapons. The contactees were told that not only would atomic bombs make a mess of our world, but they also would also somehow affect the entire cosmos. For many, this was the proof that they had been seeking about the authenticity of UFOs. Not only were UFOs real, but they were piloted by people from other planets.
The implications were both startling and revolutionary. We were not alone in this vast universe. There were other intelligent creatures out there that took an interest in humanity and seemed genuinely concerned with our ultimate physical and spiritual wellbeing. Even though, for the most part, the UFO contactee movement was met with ridicule, it did manage to plant a seed on the possibility that there was life elsewhere in the universe. As the years went by, this seed sprouted into a conviction that is generally accepted today as a reality.
Contact with "extraterrestrial intelligences" is nothing new however. Long before people became convinced that UFOs were interplanetary spaceships, there were religious visionaries, spiritual mediums and psychic channelers who claimed that they were receiving messages from alleged non-earthly sources.
Emanuel Swedenborg
Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) was a Swedish philosopher and scientist who began his career as an engineer and was publisher of Sweden's first scientific journal, Daedalus Hyperboreus. He devoted himself to geometry, chemistry and metallurgy, as well as studies of anatomy and physiology.
In 1744, at the age of 56, Swedenborg began to have a series of strange dreams and visions. Even though he had a lifelong interest in philosophy and theology, he found some of his visions to be highly disturbing. According to Swedenborg’s writings, his spiritual awakening opened his eyes so that he could freely visit heaven and hell, and talk with angels, demons and other spirits.
In his book, Life On Other Planets, Swedenborg states that he was visited by spirits of beings who lived on other planets in our solar system. He wrote that all the life forms he visited in this solar system and beyond were humanoid in appearance, but they are not having a carbon based physical experience in a three-dimensional world in the way that we are. They have social and family structures, and they are all well aware of the reality that there is only one God. Moreover they know that they will live on after their present “bodies” perish. Swedenborg said that every planet and every moon has a spiritual life form on it. The reason for this, he said, is that the universe is the seminary of Heaven. Every planet and moon is a place of learning and growth for the entire spiritual community at large.
Swedenborg cautioned that he could not see the actual planet to determine if it was inhabited or not, he was only aware of spirits that were associated with that planet.
Spaceman of the Ouija
Depending on whom you talk to, the Ouija board is considered either an entertaining toy or a portal into the fiery depths of Hell. The Ouija board is often used in an attempt to contact those who have left the physical world behind and now, hopefully, continue to live on in the reality of spirit. At times, however, it is not one's great Aunt Maude that comes a calling through the board, but something even more bizarre.
From the website about.paranormal.com, author Stephen Wagner relates the story of Peter S., who was living in Saint Thomas' Mount in India. In 1964, Peter's visiting Aunt and Uncle Theo were operating the Ouija board when a "spirit" who called itself "Ithan" came onto the board. Ithan claimed to be from the planet Venus and informed the group that the popular singer Jim Reeves had just died in a plane crash. Ithan went on to say that the plane wreckage had not yet been found and it would be a couple of days before the news was made public.
Five months later, in December, 1964, Theo's brother-in-law Oscar from Calcutta came for a visit. While they were chatting about family matters, the story about the Venusian named Ithan came up. Oscar told his relatives that a few months back his family had also been fooling around with a Ouija board when it was taken over by a spirit that claimed to be from Venus. During the communication, they were also told that Jim Reeves had just died in a plane crash.
Equally shocking for everyone involved, this spirit also said its name was Ithan.
Peter S. ended his story in 1973 after his family had moved to Melbourne, Australia. As they were watching the TV show A Current Affair, the announcer interviewed a Sydney clairvoyant, who claimed to be in regular psychic contact with a being from Venus, whose name was — Ithanus!
Beyond the Human Mind and Spirit
The reactions that some people have after a UFO encounter indicate a connection between the eyewitness and the phenomena that may go beyond the physical, and into the realms of the mind and even the spirit. The question we have to ask is: why would visitors from other planets induce paranormal or mystic responses from human observers? Perhaps we are making some broad assumptions about the true nature of UFOs. Or maybe we are asking the wrong questions altogether.
Author Regan Lee says that the psychic aspect of UFOs seems to be too often ignored or dismissed by many researchers who perceive it as a "New Agey" element that is an embarrassment to "serious" UFO researchers. However, Lee suggests that there is a psychic thread within the UFO experience, and it is dishonest to ignore it since UFO lore is full of stories of people who have had psychic or telepathic experiences in context of their UFO encounter.
Gail Mangas of Toledo, Ohio had no interest in UFOs or the paranormal. She was a divorced mother of two children and a waitress for a local restaurant, with little time to do anything else except care for her family — that is until she had a rendezvous with the unknown.
One night, as she drove home from work, Gail noticed a strange light in the sky that seemed to be following her car. The light was reddish in color and about the size of a half-dollar held at arm's length. When Gail was about a mile from her home, along a particularly deserted stretch of road, the light suddenly zoomed out of the sky and positioned itself directly in front of the car.
"I was absolutely terrified," she remembered. "The object blocked the road so I had to stop or risk running into it. Its light was so bright that I had to shield my eyes with my hand."
Before Gail had a chance to react, the weird light disappeared just as suddenly as it had appeared. Shaken, Gail drove the rest of the way home without further incident. She might have forgotten about her unusual experience if it wasn't for what occurred to her afterwards.
"That was the point where my life changed completely," she said. "I became interested in science and math and read everything I could get my hands on. This was so unlike me, I had barely graduated from high school and now I was reading books that were written for scientists. And the really weird thing was that I understood them."
Gail also noticed that along with her increased intelligence she had also developed the power to heal and to tell what others were thinking.
"It was as if the UFO awakened some part of me that had laid dormant all of my life," she said. "I can't explain it, but I know deep inside that I have been chosen somehow."
Gail also said that she has the feeling that some other intelligence is guiding her to develop both mentally and spiritually. She feels that she has some mission to fulfill for mankind in the future.
"I don't know what my mission will be — I only know that I am not the only one to be contacted this way. There are thousands, maybe millions of others on this planet that are being prepared for something truly great in the future."
Enhanced Evolution
Gail Mangas's experience is not unique. Throughout history there have been others who have touched the unknown and returned changed somehow. Perhaps we are experiencing a sort of enhanced evolution, intended to carry humankind quickly beyond this point in our development when our passions often outweigh our intelligence. Could there be an intelligence that can see our potential as an enlightened species and has made it their mission to see us through these difficult times by awakening our hidden, spiritual capabilities? We may have an important role to play on the universal stage. Maybe UFOs and the forces behind them are here to show us the hidden meaning between the lines of our lives.
Or maybe not.
• • •
Tim R. Swartz is an Indiana native and Emmy-Award winning television producer/videographer, and is the author of a number of popular books including The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla, Mimics — The Others Among Us, America's Strange and Supernatural History, Time Travel: Fact Not Fiction!, and is a contributing writer for the books, Brad Steiger's Real Monsters, Gruesome Critters, and Beasts from the Darkside, and Real Ghosts, Restless Spirits and Haunted Places.
As a photojournalist, Tim Swartz has traveled extensively and investigated paranormal phenomena and other unusual mysteries from such diverse locations as the Great Pyramid in Egypt to the Great Wall in China. He has worked with television networks such as PBS, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, ESPN, Thames-TV and the BBC. He has also appeared on the History Channels programs "Ancient Aliens,” “Evidence,” “Ancient Aliens: Declassified,” The UnXplained, and the History Channel Latin America series "Contacto Extraterrestre.
His articles have been published in magazines such as Mysteries, FATE, Strange, Atlantis Rising, UFO Universe, Renaissance, and Unsolved UFO Reports. He is also the writer and editor of the online newsletter Conspiracy Journal; a free, weekly email newsletter, considered essential reading by paranormal researchers worldwide.
Tim is also cohost on The Paracast, The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio, with host Gene Steinberg.
His website is: conspiracyjournal.com
Copyright 1999-2024 The Paracast Company. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy: Your personal information is safe with us. We will positively never give out your name and/or e-mail address to anybody else, and that's a promise!