The Paracast Newsletter
December 19, 2021
www.theparacast.com
UFO Researchers Curt Collins and Tim Swartz Headline a Special Guest Cohost Roundtable on The Paracast!
The Paracast is heard Sundays from 3:00 AM until 6:00 AM Central Time on the GCN Radio Network and affiliates around the USA, the Boost Radio Network, the IRN Internet Radio Network, and online across the globe via download and on-demand streaming.
SUPPORT THE SHOW AND ENJOY THE ULTIMATE PARACAST EXPERIENCE AT A SPECIAL LOW PRICE! We have another radio show and we’d love for you listen to it. So for a low subscription fee, you will receive access to an exclusive podcast, After The Paracast, plus an enhanced version of The Paracast with the network ads removed, when you join The Paracast+. We also offer a special RSS feed for easy updates of the latest episodes on your device. Flash! Use the coupon code ufo20 to receive a 20% discount on five-year or lifetime subscriptions. And PayPal now accepts cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, in payment, so act now! For the easiest signup ever, please visit: https://www.theparacast.plus
This Week's Episode: By special request, we present a fearless guest cohost roundtable, featuring Curt Collins and Tim Swartz. Curt is the author behind Blue Blurry Lines, the website focused on the UFO mystery, as well as its legends and hoaxes. After a career in retail management Curt began writing about UFOs, with a special interest in re-investigating the paradoxical 1980 Texas Cash-Landrum case. In 2015 Curt was on the investigative team, the Roswell Slides Research Group, that exposed the BeWitness alien photo fiasco. More recently, he launched The Saucers That Time Forgot with Claude Falkstrom, focused on unearthing “tales that UFO history has overlooked, or would rather forget.” Tim is an Indiana native and Emmy-Award winning television producer/videographer. He is also the author of a number of popular books including "The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla," "America's Strange and Supernatural History," and "Time Travel: Fact Not Fiction!" And he is the writer and editor of the online newsletter Conspiracy Journal; a free, weekly e-mail newsletter, considered essential reading by paranormal researchers worldwide.
After The Paracast — Available exclusively for Paracast+ subscribers on December 19: Gene continues the special fearless guest cohost roundtable with Curt Collins and Tim Swartz The discussion turns to paranormal and sci-fi pop culture, with an emphasis on the strange case of Richard S. Shaver, who claimed that races of abandoned beings exist in caverns around the world, the worst of whom are known as the dero. Gene recalls his friendship with Shaver, who died in 1975. Other topics include the strange case of Fred Lee Crisman, someone who wrote about Shaver’s deros, was a key figure in the controversial Maury Island UFO case in 1947, and was later mentioned in connection with probes into the JFK assassination. Curt is the author behind Blue Blurry Lines, the website focused on the UFO mystery, and The Saucers That Time Forgot, which he runs with Claude Falkstrom. Tim is an Emmy-Award winning television producer/videographer, and is also the author of a number of popular books on the paranormal.
Reminder: Please don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: https://www.theparacast.com/forum/. Visit our new online shop for great branded merchandise at: https://www.theparacast.shop/, and check out our new YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheOfficialParacastChannel
A UFO Disclosure Fable
By Gene Steinberg
When I read my first UFO books in the late 1950s, I didn’t really think we’d be repeating some of the same things I learned about several decades later. A number of the top authors of the day, such as Major Donald E. Keyhoe, claimed that we’d soon learn the answer, which to him meant visitors from other planets had arrived.
To Keyhoe, it was so very obvious; he believed the U.S. government knew the truth about ET and that we could persuade them to tell us. Maybe Congress could get the ball rolling by holding hearings. He made it clear in his books that they wouldn’t put up with secrecy.
When I think about it now, it did seem he was very naive about the ways of politics. So it would take plenty of public pressure to get them to act. Indeed, it was a major UFO sighting in Michigan that spurred Congressman Gerald R. Ford (who later became an “accidental” President), then representing Michigan’s 5th District, to call for an inquiry into the situation.
So when you read recent stories about members of Congress and the Senate looking into UFOs, it’s clearly nothing new.
Nor is setting up a project to investigate the phenomenon.
Then, it was the Condon Committee, which basically was designed to conclude that there was nothing to indicate the UFOs represented something that required further study. It was enough to give the Air Force the excuse they wanted to shut down Project Blue Book.
It also damaged Major Keyhoe’s group, NICAP, which had set itself up as a lobbying organization to convince the government to take UFOs seriously and reveal what it really knew. Keyhoe believed they knew the truth that Earth was being visited by spaceships from somewhere out there, but this is a conclusion he could never prove.
In retrospect, Keyhoe seemed nice enough the few times I met him. But he caused his own problems with NICAP, and he was eventually ousted due to sloppy financial management and other issues. The organization slowly faded into oblivion after that shakeup, although a NICAP web site still exists that has posted some of their material and other UFO articles.
That takes us to disclosure.
One of the more high-profile efforts to persuade the government to reveal its alleged secrets about UFO was established by a now-retired emergency room physician, Steven M. Greer. In 1993, he set up something called the Disclosure Project, meant to convince government officials to somehow reveal the alleged truth about UFOs, even if it meant breaking their security oaths.
Not that I actually expected anyone to risk prosecution by doing any such thing, or that Greer had any authority to protect them.
In any case, these days we mostly hear about Stephen Bassett, who set himself as a lobbyist for UFO disclosure in 1996 when he established the Paradigm Research Group. Bassett contends that there is a government truth embargo designed to conceal the truth about the phenomenon, which he also believes is extraterrestrial in origin.
That takes us to the actual government programs to investigate UFOs, which they have referred to as UAP, perhaps because the former acronym has some less-savory aspects to it. It sort of reminds me of the reason UFO was coined in the first place, to escape from the endless derision and sarcasm the flying saucers label caused.
So if UAP doesn’t make it, perhaps a few years from now we’ll call it something else. Back in the 1950s, one of the larger UFO groups, APRO, referred to them as UAO (Unidentified Aerial Objects), which may be a bit much since they are, as with UFO, being defined as objects instead of phenomena.
Indeed, the acronym AO now has several other meanings, including Unidentified Aquatic Object.
In any case, the real rush in recent years to learn more about UFOs no doubt started with that New York Times article published on December 16, 2017, “Glowing Auras and ‘Black Money’: The Pentagon’s Mysterious U.F.O. Program.”
It was written by Helene Cooper, the newspaper’s chief Pentagon reporter, Ralph Blumenthal, and someone closely identified with the UFO field, Leslie Kean.
That and subsequent articles revealed a $22 million dollar program to look into UAPs. But based on what Colm Kelleher, a scientist who has worked on various paranormal research probes established by billionaire hotel magnate Robert Bigelow, told us in his recent appearance on The Paracast, the truth was rather more complicated than originally portrayed in the Times.
Evidently that $22 million went entirely to Bigelow’s organization to perform the research.
Even more interesting was the fact of MUFON’s participation. You see, the organization was contracted by Bigelow to help with investigations and material.
And, as we now realize, the money used to pay MUFON originally came from the U.S. government. That is something the organization had not previously revealed when I talked to their various officials on the topic. Maybe that wasn’t part of the discussion, but still.
In any case, the deal went sour, evidently because Bigelow wanted to exert too much control, or at least that’s the impression we had when former MUFON Director James Carrion talked about it on the show. When I asked Kelleher about any problems, he basically downplayed any issues. Or maybe he was just being politically correct.
Now there’s nothing wrong with a private non-profit organization getting government money to engage in some sort of research project. No doubt Bigelow’s people expected MUFON, as a major UFO group, to have a lot of useful information to offer.
But the agreement that resulted in MUFON somehow becoming part of a government UAP research project is curious. When it comes to the UFO field, isn’t the government supposed to be the enemy?
In any case, the agreement with Bigelow wasn’t renewed.
But that doesn’t mean the government has given up looking into UFOs. They are still spending money and have, in fact, included a UAP amendment in the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, which was recently approved by Congress by — surprise, surprise — overwhelming margins. It seems they always have enough money to fight wars.
In any case, Senators Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, and Congressman Ruben Gallego, an Arizona Democrat, touted approval of the amendment with the usual politic-speak in a recent press release.
So Sen. Gillibrand said, “Our national security efforts rely on aerial supremacy and these phenomena present a challenge to our dominance over the air. Staying ahead of UAP sightings is critical to keeping our strategic edge and keeping our nation safe.”
It also gives them an out, perhaps concluding that the phenomenon doesn’t present a threat to national security if it comes to having to release a final report. Then again, the newest UAP probe also includes the examination of possible human effects, something too often ignored by researchers. So maybe there has been a little progress after all.
Copyright 1999-2021 The Paracast Company. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy: Your personal information is safe with us. We will positively never give out your name and/or e-mail address to anybody else, and that's a promise!
December 19, 2021
www.theparacast.com
UFO Researchers Curt Collins and Tim Swartz Headline a Special Guest Cohost Roundtable on The Paracast!
The Paracast is heard Sundays from 3:00 AM until 6:00 AM Central Time on the GCN Radio Network and affiliates around the USA, the Boost Radio Network, the IRN Internet Radio Network, and online across the globe via download and on-demand streaming.
SUPPORT THE SHOW AND ENJOY THE ULTIMATE PARACAST EXPERIENCE AT A SPECIAL LOW PRICE! We have another radio show and we’d love for you listen to it. So for a low subscription fee, you will receive access to an exclusive podcast, After The Paracast, plus an enhanced version of The Paracast with the network ads removed, when you join The Paracast+. We also offer a special RSS feed for easy updates of the latest episodes on your device. Flash! Use the coupon code ufo20 to receive a 20% discount on five-year or lifetime subscriptions. And PayPal now accepts cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, in payment, so act now! For the easiest signup ever, please visit: https://www.theparacast.plus
This Week's Episode: By special request, we present a fearless guest cohost roundtable, featuring Curt Collins and Tim Swartz. Curt is the author behind Blue Blurry Lines, the website focused on the UFO mystery, as well as its legends and hoaxes. After a career in retail management Curt began writing about UFOs, with a special interest in re-investigating the paradoxical 1980 Texas Cash-Landrum case. In 2015 Curt was on the investigative team, the Roswell Slides Research Group, that exposed the BeWitness alien photo fiasco. More recently, he launched The Saucers That Time Forgot with Claude Falkstrom, focused on unearthing “tales that UFO history has overlooked, or would rather forget.” Tim is an Indiana native and Emmy-Award winning television producer/videographer. He is also the author of a number of popular books including "The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla," "America's Strange and Supernatural History," and "Time Travel: Fact Not Fiction!" And he is the writer and editor of the online newsletter Conspiracy Journal; a free, weekly e-mail newsletter, considered essential reading by paranormal researchers worldwide.
After The Paracast — Available exclusively for Paracast+ subscribers on December 19: Gene continues the special fearless guest cohost roundtable with Curt Collins and Tim Swartz The discussion turns to paranormal and sci-fi pop culture, with an emphasis on the strange case of Richard S. Shaver, who claimed that races of abandoned beings exist in caverns around the world, the worst of whom are known as the dero. Gene recalls his friendship with Shaver, who died in 1975. Other topics include the strange case of Fred Lee Crisman, someone who wrote about Shaver’s deros, was a key figure in the controversial Maury Island UFO case in 1947, and was later mentioned in connection with probes into the JFK assassination. Curt is the author behind Blue Blurry Lines, the website focused on the UFO mystery, and The Saucers That Time Forgot, which he runs with Claude Falkstrom. Tim is an Emmy-Award winning television producer/videographer, and is also the author of a number of popular books on the paranormal.
Reminder: Please don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: https://www.theparacast.com/forum/. Visit our new online shop for great branded merchandise at: https://www.theparacast.shop/, and check out our new YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheOfficialParacastChannel
A UFO Disclosure Fable
By Gene Steinberg
When I read my first UFO books in the late 1950s, I didn’t really think we’d be repeating some of the same things I learned about several decades later. A number of the top authors of the day, such as Major Donald E. Keyhoe, claimed that we’d soon learn the answer, which to him meant visitors from other planets had arrived.
To Keyhoe, it was so very obvious; he believed the U.S. government knew the truth about ET and that we could persuade them to tell us. Maybe Congress could get the ball rolling by holding hearings. He made it clear in his books that they wouldn’t put up with secrecy.
When I think about it now, it did seem he was very naive about the ways of politics. So it would take plenty of public pressure to get them to act. Indeed, it was a major UFO sighting in Michigan that spurred Congressman Gerald R. Ford (who later became an “accidental” President), then representing Michigan’s 5th District, to call for an inquiry into the situation.
So when you read recent stories about members of Congress and the Senate looking into UFOs, it’s clearly nothing new.
Nor is setting up a project to investigate the phenomenon.
Then, it was the Condon Committee, which basically was designed to conclude that there was nothing to indicate the UFOs represented something that required further study. It was enough to give the Air Force the excuse they wanted to shut down Project Blue Book.
It also damaged Major Keyhoe’s group, NICAP, which had set itself up as a lobbying organization to convince the government to take UFOs seriously and reveal what it really knew. Keyhoe believed they knew the truth that Earth was being visited by spaceships from somewhere out there, but this is a conclusion he could never prove.
In retrospect, Keyhoe seemed nice enough the few times I met him. But he caused his own problems with NICAP, and he was eventually ousted due to sloppy financial management and other issues. The organization slowly faded into oblivion after that shakeup, although a NICAP web site still exists that has posted some of their material and other UFO articles.
That takes us to disclosure.
One of the more high-profile efforts to persuade the government to reveal its alleged secrets about UFO was established by a now-retired emergency room physician, Steven M. Greer. In 1993, he set up something called the Disclosure Project, meant to convince government officials to somehow reveal the alleged truth about UFOs, even if it meant breaking their security oaths.
Not that I actually expected anyone to risk prosecution by doing any such thing, or that Greer had any authority to protect them.
In any case, these days we mostly hear about Stephen Bassett, who set himself as a lobbyist for UFO disclosure in 1996 when he established the Paradigm Research Group. Bassett contends that there is a government truth embargo designed to conceal the truth about the phenomenon, which he also believes is extraterrestrial in origin.
That takes us to the actual government programs to investigate UFOs, which they have referred to as UAP, perhaps because the former acronym has some less-savory aspects to it. It sort of reminds me of the reason UFO was coined in the first place, to escape from the endless derision and sarcasm the flying saucers label caused.
So if UAP doesn’t make it, perhaps a few years from now we’ll call it something else. Back in the 1950s, one of the larger UFO groups, APRO, referred to them as UAO (Unidentified Aerial Objects), which may be a bit much since they are, as with UFO, being defined as objects instead of phenomena.
Indeed, the acronym AO now has several other meanings, including Unidentified Aquatic Object.
In any case, the real rush in recent years to learn more about UFOs no doubt started with that New York Times article published on December 16, 2017, “Glowing Auras and ‘Black Money’: The Pentagon’s Mysterious U.F.O. Program.”
It was written by Helene Cooper, the newspaper’s chief Pentagon reporter, Ralph Blumenthal, and someone closely identified with the UFO field, Leslie Kean.
That and subsequent articles revealed a $22 million dollar program to look into UAPs. But based on what Colm Kelleher, a scientist who has worked on various paranormal research probes established by billionaire hotel magnate Robert Bigelow, told us in his recent appearance on The Paracast, the truth was rather more complicated than originally portrayed in the Times.
Evidently that $22 million went entirely to Bigelow’s organization to perform the research.
Even more interesting was the fact of MUFON’s participation. You see, the organization was contracted by Bigelow to help with investigations and material.
And, as we now realize, the money used to pay MUFON originally came from the U.S. government. That is something the organization had not previously revealed when I talked to their various officials on the topic. Maybe that wasn’t part of the discussion, but still.
In any case, the deal went sour, evidently because Bigelow wanted to exert too much control, or at least that’s the impression we had when former MUFON Director James Carrion talked about it on the show. When I asked Kelleher about any problems, he basically downplayed any issues. Or maybe he was just being politically correct.
Now there’s nothing wrong with a private non-profit organization getting government money to engage in some sort of research project. No doubt Bigelow’s people expected MUFON, as a major UFO group, to have a lot of useful information to offer.
But the agreement that resulted in MUFON somehow becoming part of a government UAP research project is curious. When it comes to the UFO field, isn’t the government supposed to be the enemy?
In any case, the agreement with Bigelow wasn’t renewed.
But that doesn’t mean the government has given up looking into UFOs. They are still spending money and have, in fact, included a UAP amendment in the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, which was recently approved by Congress by — surprise, surprise — overwhelming margins. It seems they always have enough money to fight wars.
In any case, Senators Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, and Congressman Ruben Gallego, an Arizona Democrat, touted approval of the amendment with the usual politic-speak in a recent press release.
So Sen. Gillibrand said, “Our national security efforts rely on aerial supremacy and these phenomena present a challenge to our dominance over the air. Staying ahead of UAP sightings is critical to keeping our strategic edge and keeping our nation safe.”
It also gives them an out, perhaps concluding that the phenomenon doesn’t present a threat to national security if it comes to having to release a final report. Then again, the newest UAP probe also includes the examination of possible human effects, something too often ignored by researchers. So maybe there has been a little progress after all.
Copyright 1999-2021 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!