The Paracast Newsletter
February 5, 2023
www.theparacast.com
Author/Editor/Researcher Brian Allan Reveals Amazing Personal Paranormal Encounters on The Paracast!
The Paracast is heard Sundays from 3:00 AM until 6:00 AM Central Time on the GCN Radio Network and affiliates around the USA, the Boost Radio Network, the IRN Internet Radio Network, and online across the globe via download and on-demand streaming.
THIS IS IMPORTANT! DON'T MISS OUT! YOU CAN SUPPORT THE PARACAST AND ENJOY THE ULTIMATE PARACAST EXPERIENCE AT A SPECIAL LOW PRICE! We have another radio show and we’d love for you listen to it. So for a low subscription fee, you will receive access to an exclusive podcast, After The Paracast, plus an enhanced version of The Paracast with the network ads removed, when you join The Paracast+. We also offer a special RSS feed for easy updates of the latest episodes on your device. Flash! Use the coupon code ufo20 to receive a 20% discount on five-year or lifetime subscriptions. And PayPal now accepts cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, in payment. And if you don't want to use PayPal, we now also offer a second payment option, from Stripe, which accepts major credit or debit cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay. For "qualified users," you can also take advantage of Pay Later options, so act now! For the easiest signup ever, please visit: Choose Your Membership Upgrade
This Week's Episode: Gene and cohost Tim Swartz present Brian Allan, who became involved in paranormal research as a result of a very early close encounter with the otherworld. So far he has written twelve books, all dealing with various aspects of paranormal in one way or another, and he is currently the editor-in-chief of the well-known international online publication, Phenomena Magazine. Some of his books include: "Heretics: Past and Present: Can We Now Explain the Unexplainable?," "Strange Skies: Strange Eyes: The Paranormal, Ufology and Everyday Magick" and "Project Phenomena: Evaluating the Paranormal." During this interview, he will reveal personal paranormal encounters that date back to his childhood, and discuss key portions of his recent book, "Book of Secrets: Aliens, Ghosts and Ancient Mysteries," published by Flying Disk Press.
After The Paracast — Available exclusively for Paracast+ subscribers on February 5: Paranormal author/editor/researcher Brian Allan returns to talk with Gene and cohost Tim Swartz about a lifetime of personal encounters, the secret Vatican Apostolic Archive, also known as the Vatican Archives, and what might be found there, the possibility of life on Mars, and so-called "plague ghosts." Allan is editor-in-chief of the international online publication, Phenomena Magazine. As of this episode, he has written twelve books, all dealing with various aspects of paranormal in one way or another. His current title is: "Book of Secrets: Aliens, Ghosts and Ancient Mysteries," published by Flying Disk Press. Allan has also been privileged to receive Strange Phenomena Investigations prestigious Tartan Skull award for services to Ufology and the paranormal in Scotland.
Reminder: Please don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: The Paracast Community Forums. Visit our new online shop for great branded merchandise at: The Official Paracast Shop, and check out our new YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheOfficialParacastChannel.
Have 66 Years Come to This?
By Gene Steinberg
Regular listeners to The Paracast know that I’ve been chasing after this phenomenon since I was age 11.
Well, actually, it’s very possible that some things occurred to me at an earlier age. In those years, my parents, me and my brother lived in a two-bedroom apartment inside a brownstone in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY. I shared the bedroom with my brother, Wally, who later moved on to his first marriage at age 21.
So I used to have nightmares of a peculiar nature. I would see a large black form, cloud-shaped, that would come soaring my way until I awoke in a cold sweat. The nightmares persisted for a while, and they stopped. I was able to sleep comfortably again.
At around the same time, as I walked around the neighborhood, I sensed a foul odor, one I interpreted, years later, as that of burnt sulfur after reading about such symptoms in some UFO books, particularly those from John Keel.
After a few months, the nasty dreams and the nasty odors went away.
One day, mom and I visited Wally at his home, about a 20 minute talk from our apartment. His wife, Rose, was there, but he hadn’t returned home from work yet. But my eyes quickly focused on a book on his coffee table, “Flying Saucers From Outer Space,” by Major Donald E. Keyhoe.
While I was a fan of children’s sci-fi shows on TV, such as “Captain Video” and “Space Patrol,” I wasn’t much of a book reader, except for comic books of course. Even then, my main diet consisted of super heroes, with the emphasis on Batman and Superman.
In any case, I picked up the book and began to read it. Keyhoe wrote in an accessible breezy style, not dissimilar to that of a mystery writer. He did, after all, write pulp fiction with a focus on sci-fi and weird fantasy, and he adapted that style to a fact book.
I was hooked, so I asked Rose if I could borrow it. To my delight, she said yes, with the condition that I return it to the library from which Wally borrowed it.
That, my friends, is where my interest in UFOs began. I did bring the book back to the library, and found more titles on my favorite subject. As a teen, I would visit the famous Samuel Weiser book store in Manhattan.
My favorite spot was the store’s basement, where closeout books were featured. These were the titles that didn’t sell so well at full price, so the remainders were marked down, usually to around $1.00 or so. That would be roughly the equivalent of $10 nowadays, but my allowance was sufficient to acquire a book or two on each weekly visit.
My focus was on books that featured what was regarded as scientific Ufology, the ones that emphasized sightings of mysterious aircraft and not frequent contacts with alleged humanoid aliens. It was only later that I discovered the likes of George Adamski and all the rest, but not with any enthusiasm. I considered myself a realist.
Early on, I accepted the flying saucers as extraterrestrial visitors. Going with the common meme, which persists today, I considered the possibility of beings from Mars and Venus landing here some day. The sci-fi shows I watched mostly focused on similar locales, at least until astronomers informed us that the nearby planets were inimical to life as we know it.
Something nagged at me, however, and as I grew older and became more involved in chasing the flying saucers, I began to consider other solutions.
That takes us to a certain New Year’s Eve in the early 1960s. My close friend, long-time UFO researcher and occultist Allen Greenfield, would visit the Big Apple from his Atlanta home almost every year. As his parents went off to celebrate, we sat in his hotel room, soft drinks on the table, and talked about the saucers.
One year, Allen brought along a tattered fantasy book, “The Incomplete Enchanter,” from L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt. The book contained stories about one Harold Shea who visited parallel worlds where magic existed.
For a number of reasons, such as the ability of the saucers to wink in and out of visibility, Allen suggested they might just be coming and going from an alternate reality. Whether magic was in force in that reality was not the point, merely that it existed and would explain the incredible maneuverability of our visitors without stretching the laws of physics very much.
At the time, we weren’t considering exotic ideas about interstellar travel, such as Star Trek’s warp drive. That came a few years later.
Now inter-dimensional transport theories are not uncommon nowadays. I wouldn’t suggest that Allen and I invented such a theory, although he did, for a time, edit and publish a newsletter about the concept, “Alternate Horizons Newsletter.”
Over the years, Allen focused on a wide variety of theories about our paranormal world. He was also the winner of two "Ufologist of the Year” awards from the National UFO Conference of which, by the way, he was a co-founder.
But he deserved those awards and more for his original thinking. We remain friends, and he does make an occasional appearance on The Paracast. As I write this, Allen is booked for our February 12th episode.
So here I am, over 66 years after my flying saucer eureka moment at Wally’s apartment. But I never understood why he borrowed that book since he never seemed to evince any interest in the subject. Alas, he is no longer around to talk it over.
So I always felt that the book was placed there deliberately for my benefit. Indeed, I didn’t always ask my mother or father to visit Wally’s home. But it was very important for me to go there that day, and I made a fuss about it at the time.
Some of you may suggest that it was important for the direction of my life to read that book. Had I gone to Wally’s apartment a few days or a few weeks later, it probably would have already been returned to the library. My future as a Ufologist may not have been realized; my life might have taken a very different direction. Or maybe I’d encounter someone else’s flying saucer title and still continue on the existing course.
Regardless, I’m surprised that we’re still here talking about UFOs, UAPs, or whatever you choose to call them. I believed the mystery would have been solved not long after I read that first book from Keyhoe. Instead, it doesn’t seem as if we’ve gone anywhere in particular to resolve the dilemma.
People are still talking about visitors from other planets in our midst, some still suggest they are from other dimensions, another time, or perhaps representations of our collective unconscious.
When I read about the Pentagon’s various versions of a UAP study, it often seems as if I’ve been there before, and perhaps we’ll go no further in the foreseeable future.
Maybe the UFO mystery will persist for decades, centuries, though our perceptions of it will alter as cultural memes alter. At least that’s where it seems to stand.
Copyright 1999-2022 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!
February 5, 2023
www.theparacast.com
Author/Editor/Researcher Brian Allan Reveals Amazing Personal Paranormal Encounters on The Paracast!
The Paracast is heard Sundays from 3:00 AM until 6:00 AM Central Time on the GCN Radio Network and affiliates around the USA, the Boost Radio Network, the IRN Internet Radio Network, and online across the globe via download and on-demand streaming.
THIS IS IMPORTANT! DON'T MISS OUT! YOU CAN SUPPORT THE PARACAST AND ENJOY THE ULTIMATE PARACAST EXPERIENCE AT A SPECIAL LOW PRICE! We have another radio show and we’d love for you listen to it. So for a low subscription fee, you will receive access to an exclusive podcast, After The Paracast, plus an enhanced version of The Paracast with the network ads removed, when you join The Paracast+. We also offer a special RSS feed for easy updates of the latest episodes on your device. Flash! Use the coupon code ufo20 to receive a 20% discount on five-year or lifetime subscriptions. And PayPal now accepts cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, in payment. And if you don't want to use PayPal, we now also offer a second payment option, from Stripe, which accepts major credit or debit cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay. For "qualified users," you can also take advantage of Pay Later options, so act now! For the easiest signup ever, please visit: Choose Your Membership Upgrade
This Week's Episode: Gene and cohost Tim Swartz present Brian Allan, who became involved in paranormal research as a result of a very early close encounter with the otherworld. So far he has written twelve books, all dealing with various aspects of paranormal in one way or another, and he is currently the editor-in-chief of the well-known international online publication, Phenomena Magazine. Some of his books include: "Heretics: Past and Present: Can We Now Explain the Unexplainable?," "Strange Skies: Strange Eyes: The Paranormal, Ufology and Everyday Magick" and "Project Phenomena: Evaluating the Paranormal." During this interview, he will reveal personal paranormal encounters that date back to his childhood, and discuss key portions of his recent book, "Book of Secrets: Aliens, Ghosts and Ancient Mysteries," published by Flying Disk Press.
After The Paracast — Available exclusively for Paracast+ subscribers on February 5: Paranormal author/editor/researcher Brian Allan returns to talk with Gene and cohost Tim Swartz about a lifetime of personal encounters, the secret Vatican Apostolic Archive, also known as the Vatican Archives, and what might be found there, the possibility of life on Mars, and so-called "plague ghosts." Allan is editor-in-chief of the international online publication, Phenomena Magazine. As of this episode, he has written twelve books, all dealing with various aspects of paranormal in one way or another. His current title is: "Book of Secrets: Aliens, Ghosts and Ancient Mysteries," published by Flying Disk Press. Allan has also been privileged to receive Strange Phenomena Investigations prestigious Tartan Skull award for services to Ufology and the paranormal in Scotland.
Reminder: Please don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: The Paracast Community Forums. Visit our new online shop for great branded merchandise at: The Official Paracast Shop, and check out our new YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheOfficialParacastChannel.
Have 66 Years Come to This?
By Gene Steinberg
Regular listeners to The Paracast know that I’ve been chasing after this phenomenon since I was age 11.
Well, actually, it’s very possible that some things occurred to me at an earlier age. In those years, my parents, me and my brother lived in a two-bedroom apartment inside a brownstone in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY. I shared the bedroom with my brother, Wally, who later moved on to his first marriage at age 21.
So I used to have nightmares of a peculiar nature. I would see a large black form, cloud-shaped, that would come soaring my way until I awoke in a cold sweat. The nightmares persisted for a while, and they stopped. I was able to sleep comfortably again.
At around the same time, as I walked around the neighborhood, I sensed a foul odor, one I interpreted, years later, as that of burnt sulfur after reading about such symptoms in some UFO books, particularly those from John Keel.
After a few months, the nasty dreams and the nasty odors went away.
One day, mom and I visited Wally at his home, about a 20 minute talk from our apartment. His wife, Rose, was there, but he hadn’t returned home from work yet. But my eyes quickly focused on a book on his coffee table, “Flying Saucers From Outer Space,” by Major Donald E. Keyhoe.
While I was a fan of children’s sci-fi shows on TV, such as “Captain Video” and “Space Patrol,” I wasn’t much of a book reader, except for comic books of course. Even then, my main diet consisted of super heroes, with the emphasis on Batman and Superman.
In any case, I picked up the book and began to read it. Keyhoe wrote in an accessible breezy style, not dissimilar to that of a mystery writer. He did, after all, write pulp fiction with a focus on sci-fi and weird fantasy, and he adapted that style to a fact book.
I was hooked, so I asked Rose if I could borrow it. To my delight, she said yes, with the condition that I return it to the library from which Wally borrowed it.
That, my friends, is where my interest in UFOs began. I did bring the book back to the library, and found more titles on my favorite subject. As a teen, I would visit the famous Samuel Weiser book store in Manhattan.
My favorite spot was the store’s basement, where closeout books were featured. These were the titles that didn’t sell so well at full price, so the remainders were marked down, usually to around $1.00 or so. That would be roughly the equivalent of $10 nowadays, but my allowance was sufficient to acquire a book or two on each weekly visit.
My focus was on books that featured what was regarded as scientific Ufology, the ones that emphasized sightings of mysterious aircraft and not frequent contacts with alleged humanoid aliens. It was only later that I discovered the likes of George Adamski and all the rest, but not with any enthusiasm. I considered myself a realist.
Early on, I accepted the flying saucers as extraterrestrial visitors. Going with the common meme, which persists today, I considered the possibility of beings from Mars and Venus landing here some day. The sci-fi shows I watched mostly focused on similar locales, at least until astronomers informed us that the nearby planets were inimical to life as we know it.
Something nagged at me, however, and as I grew older and became more involved in chasing the flying saucers, I began to consider other solutions.
That takes us to a certain New Year’s Eve in the early 1960s. My close friend, long-time UFO researcher and occultist Allen Greenfield, would visit the Big Apple from his Atlanta home almost every year. As his parents went off to celebrate, we sat in his hotel room, soft drinks on the table, and talked about the saucers.
One year, Allen brought along a tattered fantasy book, “The Incomplete Enchanter,” from L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt. The book contained stories about one Harold Shea who visited parallel worlds where magic existed.
For a number of reasons, such as the ability of the saucers to wink in and out of visibility, Allen suggested they might just be coming and going from an alternate reality. Whether magic was in force in that reality was not the point, merely that it existed and would explain the incredible maneuverability of our visitors without stretching the laws of physics very much.
At the time, we weren’t considering exotic ideas about interstellar travel, such as Star Trek’s warp drive. That came a few years later.
Now inter-dimensional transport theories are not uncommon nowadays. I wouldn’t suggest that Allen and I invented such a theory, although he did, for a time, edit and publish a newsletter about the concept, “Alternate Horizons Newsletter.”
Over the years, Allen focused on a wide variety of theories about our paranormal world. He was also the winner of two "Ufologist of the Year” awards from the National UFO Conference of which, by the way, he was a co-founder.
But he deserved those awards and more for his original thinking. We remain friends, and he does make an occasional appearance on The Paracast. As I write this, Allen is booked for our February 12th episode.
So here I am, over 66 years after my flying saucer eureka moment at Wally’s apartment. But I never understood why he borrowed that book since he never seemed to evince any interest in the subject. Alas, he is no longer around to talk it over.
So I always felt that the book was placed there deliberately for my benefit. Indeed, I didn’t always ask my mother or father to visit Wally’s home. But it was very important for me to go there that day, and I made a fuss about it at the time.
Some of you may suggest that it was important for the direction of my life to read that book. Had I gone to Wally’s apartment a few days or a few weeks later, it probably would have already been returned to the library. My future as a Ufologist may not have been realized; my life might have taken a very different direction. Or maybe I’d encounter someone else’s flying saucer title and still continue on the existing course.
Regardless, I’m surprised that we’re still here talking about UFOs, UAPs, or whatever you choose to call them. I believed the mystery would have been solved not long after I read that first book from Keyhoe. Instead, it doesn’t seem as if we’ve gone anywhere in particular to resolve the dilemma.
People are still talking about visitors from other planets in our midst, some still suggest they are from other dimensions, another time, or perhaps representations of our collective unconscious.
When I read about the Pentagon’s various versions of a UAP study, it often seems as if I’ve been there before, and perhaps we’ll go no further in the foreseeable future.
Maybe the UFO mystery will persist for decades, centuries, though our perceptions of it will alter as cultural memes alter. At least that’s where it seems to stand.
Copyright 1999-2022 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!