THE PARACAST NEWSLETTERJune 18, 2011
Discover the "Real" Men in Black 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. 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.
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. Now we want your help to add more 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, 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, June 19, 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: Gene and Chris explore the incredible mystery of the Men In Black with Nicholas Redfern, author of "€œThe Real Men In Black: Evidence, Famous Cases, and True Stories of These Mysterious Men and their Connection to UFO Phenomena." Real, fake, jokesters, government agents, or evidence of frightening paranormal encounters?
Christopher O'Brien's Site: http://www.ourstrangeplanet.com/
Nick Redfern's Site: http://eventsfinal.blogspot.com/
Coming June 26: Gene and Chris revisit the mystery of crystal skulls with archeologist Stephen Mehler. This has been one of the most controversial topics on our forums in recent weeks. You’ll hear fascinating discussions about mysterious objects, ancient mysteries, the Rosicrucian Order, and other topics.
Christopher O'Brien's Site: http://www.ourstrangeplanet.com/
Stephen Mehler's Site: http://www.gizapyramid.com/BIO-Mehler.htm
Reminder: Reminder: 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/.
So What About NICAP?
By Gene Steinberg
In the late 1950s and most of the 1960s, one of the major UFO investigative bodies was NICAP, the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena. What made it so special when compared to a thousand and one other UFO study groups was, first and foremost, the director, best-selling author Major Donald E. Keyhoe.
In 1957, Keyhoe and his board, heavily laden with former military officials, including an ex-head of the CIA, took over this failing organization from T. Townsend Brown, a “free energy” advocate. But it wasn’t such a smooth ride.
For one thing, the board’s military orientation didn’t sit well with many people in the UFO field, who concluded – and perhaps they felt there was good reason, although it was never proven – that NICAP was nothing more than a government front group. Rather than try to determine the truth about the flying saucers, and get congressional hearings, there were far more sinister purposes in mind.
Keyhoe’s decision to select such a board was quite practical, actually. As a former military officer himself, he was friends with these board members, and some of them, despite their previous employment, were four square in favor of ending alleged UFO secrecy and getting to the bottom of the mystery.
All well and good, but Keyhoe, despite his prestige as one of the first serious people of stature to advocate UFO reality, was evidently a poor manager. He seldom ventured forth from his Virginia home to visit the office, and in large part delegated much of the day-to-day affairs of NICAP to others, the most controversial of which was probably Richard Hall, who later redeemed himself as a serious, highly respected UFO investigator.
Now I had my run-ins with NICAP. On one occasion, after a pleasant visit with Major Keyhoe near his home, a contingent of UFO researchers that included myself, Allen Greenfield, and Rick Hilberg, attempted to pay a visit to NICAP headquarters. Upon seeing me, Hall pointed his shaking finger at me and announced, “You’re not welcome here!” So we left.
While Hall never precisely stated why he felt such hostility towards me, I should also point out that I was, at the time, a paid Managing Editor for Moseley’s original Saucer News. Hall and Moseley didn’t get along, and my status as a friend and co-worker of Moseley’s was sufficient to make me persona non grata with the irascible Hall.
In the wake of this sorry episode, we all began a movement to urge NICAP to fire Hall, who did leave somewhat later, but most likely not because of anything we said or wrote. Regardless, NICAP had its troubles. Keyhoe not only failed to keep proper tabs on the organization, but finances were a mess. In a last-ditch bid to save the organization, the board finally ousted Keyhoe in 1969.
However, other developments conspired to essentially end NICAP’s day in the sun. They got their congressional hearings in the 1960s, but the follow-up, the Condon Committee, came up with conclusions that pretty much rejected any and all possibilities that UFOs were anything more than misidentified conventional objects. The Air Force’s troubled Project Blue Book UFO investigation agency was shuttered, and, for a few years, interest in the subject reached a low ebb.
After Keyhoe’s enforced departure, the organization hung on in crippled form until 1980, although it never attained the heights, or at least the prestige, established by the former leadership.
In the mid-1970s, I actually ran into Hall at a UFO convention in Arkansas. He had clearly calmed down considerably, and took a more philosophical view of the craziness at NICAP. We shook hands, and let bygones be bygones. Indeed, when I helped create The Paracast years later, I actually made a pitch for Hall to come on the show. At this point, however, he was quite ill, frustrated, and not willing to make any more public appearances.
As to NICAP, you can do an online search and find a decent amount of material about the organization and its history. Perhaps the best legacy of all, however, is “The UFO Evidence,” a book authored by Hall, and published by NICAP in a bid not just to raise public awareness of the subject, but to bring much needed cash to the organization. Indeed, on one occasion when I actually volunteered to help out at NICAP headquarters – and this was prior to Hall’s decision to prevent me from entering their offices – I spent a few hours typing summaries of newspaper reports of UFO sightings. One or two of those summaries evidently found their way into Hall’s book.
If you want to read yet another history of NICAP, I refer you to a recent issue of Jim Moseley’s outspoken newsletter, Saucer Smear (a successor in part to the original Saucer News). Based on research from UFO research veteran Jerome Clark and others, Jim offers additional details about NICAP’s rocky history.
But from this 21st century vantage point, you wonder whether the work of NICAP made much if any change in discoveirng the answer to the presence of UFOs. Although some of their work, such as “The UFO Evidence,” stands the test of time as credible documents detailing the evidence, I can’t say that we really know much more about the subject now than we did then.
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!
Discover the "Real" Men in Black 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. 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.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. Now we want your help to add more 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, 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, June 19, 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: Gene and Chris explore the incredible mystery of the Men In Black with Nicholas Redfern, author of "€œThe Real Men In Black: Evidence, Famous Cases, and True Stories of These Mysterious Men and their Connection to UFO Phenomena." Real, fake, jokesters, government agents, or evidence of frightening paranormal encounters?
Christopher O'Brien's Site: http://www.ourstrangeplanet.com/
Nick Redfern's Site: http://eventsfinal.blogspot.com/
Coming June 26: Gene and Chris revisit the mystery of crystal skulls with archeologist Stephen Mehler. This has been one of the most controversial topics on our forums in recent weeks. You’ll hear fascinating discussions about mysterious objects, ancient mysteries, the Rosicrucian Order, and other topics.
Christopher O'Brien's Site: http://www.ourstrangeplanet.com/
Stephen Mehler's Site: http://www.gizapyramid.com/BIO-Mehler.htm
Reminder: Reminder: 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/.
So What About NICAP?
By Gene Steinberg
In the late 1950s and most of the 1960s, one of the major UFO investigative bodies was NICAP, the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena. What made it so special when compared to a thousand and one other UFO study groups was, first and foremost, the director, best-selling author Major Donald E. Keyhoe.
In 1957, Keyhoe and his board, heavily laden with former military officials, including an ex-head of the CIA, took over this failing organization from T. Townsend Brown, a “free energy” advocate. But it wasn’t such a smooth ride.
For one thing, the board’s military orientation didn’t sit well with many people in the UFO field, who concluded – and perhaps they felt there was good reason, although it was never proven – that NICAP was nothing more than a government front group. Rather than try to determine the truth about the flying saucers, and get congressional hearings, there were far more sinister purposes in mind.
Keyhoe’s decision to select such a board was quite practical, actually. As a former military officer himself, he was friends with these board members, and some of them, despite their previous employment, were four square in favor of ending alleged UFO secrecy and getting to the bottom of the mystery.
All well and good, but Keyhoe, despite his prestige as one of the first serious people of stature to advocate UFO reality, was evidently a poor manager. He seldom ventured forth from his Virginia home to visit the office, and in large part delegated much of the day-to-day affairs of NICAP to others, the most controversial of which was probably Richard Hall, who later redeemed himself as a serious, highly respected UFO investigator.
Now I had my run-ins with NICAP. On one occasion, after a pleasant visit with Major Keyhoe near his home, a contingent of UFO researchers that included myself, Allen Greenfield, and Rick Hilberg, attempted to pay a visit to NICAP headquarters. Upon seeing me, Hall pointed his shaking finger at me and announced, “You’re not welcome here!” So we left.
While Hall never precisely stated why he felt such hostility towards me, I should also point out that I was, at the time, a paid Managing Editor for Moseley’s original Saucer News. Hall and Moseley didn’t get along, and my status as a friend and co-worker of Moseley’s was sufficient to make me persona non grata with the irascible Hall.
In the wake of this sorry episode, we all began a movement to urge NICAP to fire Hall, who did leave somewhat later, but most likely not because of anything we said or wrote. Regardless, NICAP had its troubles. Keyhoe not only failed to keep proper tabs on the organization, but finances were a mess. In a last-ditch bid to save the organization, the board finally ousted Keyhoe in 1969.
However, other developments conspired to essentially end NICAP’s day in the sun. They got their congressional hearings in the 1960s, but the follow-up, the Condon Committee, came up with conclusions that pretty much rejected any and all possibilities that UFOs were anything more than misidentified conventional objects. The Air Force’s troubled Project Blue Book UFO investigation agency was shuttered, and, for a few years, interest in the subject reached a low ebb.
After Keyhoe’s enforced departure, the organization hung on in crippled form until 1980, although it never attained the heights, or at least the prestige, established by the former leadership.
In the mid-1970s, I actually ran into Hall at a UFO convention in Arkansas. He had clearly calmed down considerably, and took a more philosophical view of the craziness at NICAP. We shook hands, and let bygones be bygones. Indeed, when I helped create The Paracast years later, I actually made a pitch for Hall to come on the show. At this point, however, he was quite ill, frustrated, and not willing to make any more public appearances.
As to NICAP, you can do an online search and find a decent amount of material about the organization and its history. Perhaps the best legacy of all, however, is “The UFO Evidence,” a book authored by Hall, and published by NICAP in a bid not just to raise public awareness of the subject, but to bring much needed cash to the organization. Indeed, on one occasion when I actually volunteered to help out at NICAP headquarters – and this was prior to Hall’s decision to prevent me from entering their offices – I spent a few hours typing summaries of newspaper reports of UFO sightings. One or two of those summaries evidently found their way into Hall’s book.
If you want to read yet another history of NICAP, I refer you to a recent issue of Jim Moseley’s outspoken newsletter, Saucer Smear (a successor in part to the original Saucer News). Based on research from UFO research veteran Jerome Clark and others, Jim offers additional details about NICAP’s rocky history.
But from this 21st century vantage point, you wonder whether the work of NICAP made much if any change in discoveirng the answer to the presence of UFOs. Although some of their work, such as “The UFO Evidence,” stands the test of time as credible documents detailing the evidence, I can’t say that we really know much more about the subject now than we did then.
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!