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Your Paracast Newsletter — January 8, 2011


Gene Steinberg

Forum Super Hero
Staff member
THE PARACAST NEWSLETTER
January 8, 2011


Long-Time UFO Researcher Stanton T. Friedman 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.

The Paracast Humbly Requests Your Donations: Although ads help cover a small part of our expenses, the income they produce is never enough, and we don't want to overwhelm the show with them, so we hope you'll be willing 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.

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, just pay a visit to our new online store at Welcome to The Official Paracast Store to select your size and place your order. We now also offer a lineup of other premium merchandise featuring The Paracast logo.

Sunday, January 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 hosts interview long-time researchers in the field, to shed light on the mysteries and complexities of our Universe and the secrets that surround us in our everyday lives.

Join us as we explore the realms of the known and unknown, and hear great stories of the history of the paranormal field in the 20th and 21st centuries.

This Week's Episode: Co-host Christopher O'€™Brien joins Gene to present the return of nuclear physicist and UFO authority Stanton T. Friedman, who will cover not just the history of research into the enigma, but the possibilities that, at long last, we might be finding the evidence needed to convince mainstream science that they are real.

Christopher O'Brien's Site: Home - Our Strange Planet

Stanton T. Friedman's Site: Stanton Friedman - Home

Coming January 16: Co-host Christopher O’Brien joins Gene to present UFO historian Jerome Clark, author of such works as “The Encyclopedia of UFOs” and “Hidden Realms, Lost Civilizations, and Beings from Other Worlds,” delivers a fascinating overview of UFO research and some of the related mysteries.

Christopher O'Brien's Site: Home - Our Strange Planet

Reminder: Don't forget to visit our always-active Discussion Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal (and note our new Internet address): The Paracast Community Forums.

An Open Mind or a Hole in the Head?
By Gene Steinberg

We received an email from a listener the other day suggesting that he was ready to ditch The Paracast because we’re not fair and balanced. He said he was offended any time we treat a matter skeptically, or when we use such words as “alleged” attached to someone’s claims.

Of course, long time listeners realize that our approach has always been skeptical. We’ve been known to expose a few fakers along the way, and there are many so-called paranormal experts or experiencers that will never appear on the show. An example is a medium, or one of those professional psychics. In fact, we get very few request to come on The Paracast from people who fit into such categories; they know our reputation.

If they did show up, it would be a blood bath, figuratively speaking, because we’d ask the hard questions that would demonstrate the foolishness of their statements. Sure, we’d be attacked as lacking open minds, the inability to accept the simple truth behind their statements and experiences, but we’re just trying to separate facts from fantasy.

To be perfectly honest, we haven’t always handled such guests in the best way possible. We’d ask somewhat tough questions, listen carefully, but reserve our reactions to the “Monday morning quarterback” session at the end of the interview. While I have nothing against wrap-up sessions, it’s just as easy to let the episode speak for itself. Our questions and the potentially deceptive answers from a guest will quickly reveal who the charlatans really are.

This doesn’t mean there’s no room for honest disagreement. Take an episode last year that featured two well-known UFO abduction researchers, Budd Hopkins and Dr. David Jacobs, along with long-time UFO researcher Dr. Kevin Randle. Now both Hopkins and Jacobs use hypnotic regression in an effort to unearth supposedly hidden memories of alien encounters. Randle disagrees with the value of such sessions, and that goes doubly for people who aren’t trained as therapists.

There were no fireworks. The guests were civil, even somewhat laid back, in their approaches to these issues. We only touched briefly upon that lurid controversy, involving a UFO abductee known by the pseudonym of “Emma Woods” who claims she was mistreated by Jacobs, because we feel that’s nothing more than a sideshow. It may or may not demonstrate problems in the way Jacobs handles the cases he investigates, or only that one in particular. But it’s also very much a he said/she said dispute that doesn’t really provide much in the way of illumination as to what the abduction scenario is really all about.

As for the future, the addition of new co-hosts in the past year has expanded the dynamic of The Paracast. Some suggest there’s actually been a format change, but for the most part, that’s just not true. It’s still two or more hosts interviewing one or more guests who have knowledge and/or experiences involving possible paranormal events. We cover UFOs more heavily than other subjects, largely because of the people I know and the years I’ve spent as a student of the UFO phenomenon.

But that doesn’t mean we don’t pursue other subjects, and certainly the interview with reporter Jason Offutt, covering paranormal events that might occur within 100 miles of your own home, was only peripherally connected with UFOs.

As far as the future is concerned, certainly our fate lies in your lands. We’ve made it a regular part of most episodes to include questions from our forum members. There is also the possibility that we might, some day, broadcast The Paracast live, meaning we’ll be able to take your phone calls during an episode.

As always, the direction of The Paracast is based, in large part, on your reaction to our show and your requests for future guests. We’ve got a lot more great interviews planned, so stay tuned.

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