THE PARACAST NEWSLETTER
March 15, 2015
www.theparacast.com
Incredible Monsters in America Explored 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.
Announcing The Paracast+: You asked for it! For a low monthly or annual subscription fee, you will receive access to a higher-quality ad-free version of The Paracast, chat rooms, and don’t miss our exclusive After The Paracast podcast, featuring politically incorrect color commentary, and other exclusive content. NEW! We’ve added an RSS feed for fast updates of the latest episodes, and The Paracast+ video channel is coming soon. For more information about our premium package, please visit: Introducing The Paracast+ | The Paracast — The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio.
Attention U.S. Listeners: Help Us Bring The Paracast to Your City! In the summer of 2010, The Paracast joined the GCN radio network. This represented a huge step in bringing our show to a larger, mainstream audience. But we need your help to add additional 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!
Please Visit Our Online Store: You asked, and we answered. We are now taking orders for The Official Paracast T-Shirt and an expanded collection of other specially customized merchandise. To get your T-Shirt now featuring our brand new logo, just pay a visit to our online store at The Official Paracast Store to select your size and place your order. We also offer a complete lineup of other premium merchandise for your family, your friends and your business contacts.
About The Paracast: 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 is a paranormal radio show that takes you on a journey to a world beyond science, where UFOs, poltergeists and strange phenomena of all kinds have been reported by millions. The Paracast seeks to shed light on the mysteries and complexities of our Universe and the secrets that surround us in our everyday lives.
Join long-time paranormal researcher Gene Steinberg, co-host and acclaimed field investigator Christopher O'Brien, and a panel of special guest experts and experiencers, as they explore the realms of the known and unknown. Listen each week to the great stories of the history of the paranormal field in the 20th and 21st centuries.
This Week's Episode: For a change of pace, we present Linda Godfrey, author of a recent new book,“American Monsters: A History of Monster Lore, Legends, and Sightings in America.” According to the publisher, “From pre-Columbian legends to modern-day eyewitness accounts, this comprehensive guide covers the history, sightings and lore surrounding the most mysterious monsters in America — including Bigfoot, the Jersey Devil, and more.” As with our previous session with Linda, this episode will focus more on amazing and sometimes frightening case histories than just about theorizing.
Chris O’Brien’s Site: Our Strange Planet
Linda Godfrey’s Site: Lindagodfrey's Blog | Author & Investigator of Strange Creatures
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.
Do We Have Enough Case Histories Yet?
By Gene Steinberg
Years ago, when I was working at my first full-time job, as Managing Editor of Jim Moseley’s Saucer News, I often heard Jim remark that he’d grown real tired of publishing UFO sighting reports. No, he hadn’t become disinterested in UFOs, or their possible reality. He was just bored with writing up reports that were similar to other reports.
How many UFO sightings did it take to provide a reasonable amount of evidence that something awfully strange was going on?
Now these discussions happened in the 1960s, and since then there have been tens and tens of thousands of case histories reported, accumulated and published. Some of them have reached the mainstream media, cable TV news, and reality shows. UFO groups such as MUFON have amassed huge collections of sighting data.
Sure, many of those sightings – the vast majority – are conventional objects or phenomena. That’s the way it’s always been. But it’s that thin residue, the five or ten percent, which forms the core of the UFO mystery. These are the sightings that can’t be attributed to conventional objects or phenomena. After you dismiss airplanes, planets, mirages, what-have-you, you have loads of data for which there is no solution.
Now in the days of Project Blue Book, the U.S. Air Force would attempt to apply a conventional explanation to all sightings, even if they had to stretch the facts, or ignore critical evidence. After all was said and done, there was yet another excuse sometimes bandied about, that there was insufficient information to reach a conclusion. Only that category was usually separate from unknowns, which appeared to have enough information to dismiss the conventional answers.
Those Project Blue Book case histories have been online for some years. An aborted effort by The Black Vault’s John Greenewald to make hay of it and claim he had access to something exclusive fell apart. All that material has been taken down, but you can still Google Project Blue Book’s evidence and be rewarded with loads of compelling sighting reports.
You can also locate thousands upon thousands of more recent sightings along with reports that never made it into Blue Book’s files. Some have visual evidence, but you can dismiss many of those photos and videos of lights in the sky as something conventional. Most of the ones that appear to have clear images are likely fakes. Many sightings are hardly much better, and beyond lights in the sky, there usually isn’t a lot of detail. Single witness cases also tend to be suspect, unless there’s other evidence at hand, such as compelling photos that can’t be explained as hoaxes, or other factors that may indicate something really strange is going on.
All well and good.
You can look into any paranormal phenomenon, including sightings of strange creatures, and amass loads of amazing stories. Some are essentially campfire tales, because they consist of little more than people seeing unusual animals, birds or aquatic creatures that are not easy to explain.
When it comes to hard evidence, the situation gets murkier. Traditional scientists will want DNA evidence, the remains of the dead or other trace evidence that would point to some sort of unknown species.
Quite often, however, research in these fields is confined to collecting stories that can titillate or frighten. You can catalog those reports any way you want to try to get a sense of which locales appear to be possible hotspots of unusual activity. Even here, however, it’s hit or miss. There are many parts of the world that are not well populated, and are seldom visited. So things can be happening in such places that are simply never reported.
Or maybe UFOs and other phenomena don’t exist unless there’s someone around to see them. How can we possibly now?
Regardless, how many sightings does it take to declare a mystery that remains unsolved. Maybe it just takes a few UFO cases that have all the elements that make a good sighting, such as simultaneous radar/visual observations, multiple witnesses, a flying craft that’s large enough to pick up details, not to mention pinpoint maneuvers that appear to exceed the capability of Earthly aircraft. Isn’t that sufficient for investigators to make a more determined effort to figure out what’s really going on?
If the Roswell UFO crash was the only case on record, and we had some more solid evidence of what happened in the New Mexico desert in 1947, perhaps that would do the trick, but it’s also old enough to make it almost impossible to find a smoking gun.
Notice that I am not suggesting those alleged Roswell Slides, depicting a possible alien being, represent the evidence we need. There is far too much hype and far too many questions that cry out for answers. Maybe the promised May event in Mexico City to present such evidence will deliver the answers, though it seems a curious way to deliver supposed evidence of alien visitations. With all the claims and counterclaims, it comes across more as a sideshow, which isn’t very helpful to the cause.
But instead of focusing so much on collecting and retelling case after case, what about redoubling efforts to figure out what all this evidence actually means. Are we really being visited by extraterrestrials? Do some UFO cases represent military tests of some sort, or even indulgences in psychological warfare?
What about the curious side issues that seem to rear their ugly heads, such as reports of possible Men In Black or interventions by possible government agents? Is it even possible our governments might want to make us believe in spaceships to hide other agendas?
I’m not saying it’s so, but consider the possibility that some government agents may be engaging in smoke and mirrors to hide real truths that may, in part, include visits by unknown aircraft from elsewhere.
Why are Bigfoot types and other strange creatures seen in the vicinity of UFO sightings? A connection, or just two separate mysteries to confront? Does our human consciousness at all play a role, any role, in what we think we experience in connection with paranormal phenomena?
After all these years, isn’t it time to set aside the cataloging of case histories and figure out what it all means?
Copyright 1999-2015 The Paracast LLC. 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!
March 15, 2015
www.theparacast.com
Incredible Monsters in America Explored 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.
Announcing The Paracast+: You asked for it! For a low monthly or annual subscription fee, you will receive access to a higher-quality ad-free version of The Paracast, chat rooms, and don’t miss our exclusive After The Paracast podcast, featuring politically incorrect color commentary, and other exclusive content. NEW! We’ve added an RSS feed for fast updates of the latest episodes, and The Paracast+ video channel is coming soon. For more information about our premium package, please visit: Introducing The Paracast+ | The Paracast — The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio.
Attention U.S. Listeners: Help Us Bring The Paracast to Your City! In the summer of 2010, The Paracast joined the GCN radio network. This represented a huge step in bringing our show to a larger, mainstream audience. But we need your help to add additional 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!
Please Visit Our Online Store: You asked, and we answered. We are now taking orders for The Official Paracast T-Shirt and an expanded collection of other specially customized merchandise. To get your T-Shirt now featuring our brand new logo, just pay a visit to our online store at The Official Paracast Store to select your size and place your order. We also offer a complete lineup of other premium merchandise for your family, your friends and your business contacts.
About The Paracast: 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 is a paranormal radio show that takes you on a journey to a world beyond science, where UFOs, poltergeists and strange phenomena of all kinds have been reported by millions. The Paracast seeks to shed light on the mysteries and complexities of our Universe and the secrets that surround us in our everyday lives.
Join long-time paranormal researcher Gene Steinberg, co-host and acclaimed field investigator Christopher O'Brien, and a panel of special guest experts and experiencers, as they explore the realms of the known and unknown. Listen each week to the great stories of the history of the paranormal field in the 20th and 21st centuries.
This Week's Episode: For a change of pace, we present Linda Godfrey, author of a recent new book,“American Monsters: A History of Monster Lore, Legends, and Sightings in America.” According to the publisher, “From pre-Columbian legends to modern-day eyewitness accounts, this comprehensive guide covers the history, sightings and lore surrounding the most mysterious monsters in America — including Bigfoot, the Jersey Devil, and more.” As with our previous session with Linda, this episode will focus more on amazing and sometimes frightening case histories than just about theorizing.
Chris O’Brien’s Site: Our Strange Planet
Linda Godfrey’s Site: Lindagodfrey's Blog | Author & Investigator of Strange Creatures
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.
Do We Have Enough Case Histories Yet?
By Gene Steinberg
Years ago, when I was working at my first full-time job, as Managing Editor of Jim Moseley’s Saucer News, I often heard Jim remark that he’d grown real tired of publishing UFO sighting reports. No, he hadn’t become disinterested in UFOs, or their possible reality. He was just bored with writing up reports that were similar to other reports.
How many UFO sightings did it take to provide a reasonable amount of evidence that something awfully strange was going on?
Now these discussions happened in the 1960s, and since then there have been tens and tens of thousands of case histories reported, accumulated and published. Some of them have reached the mainstream media, cable TV news, and reality shows. UFO groups such as MUFON have amassed huge collections of sighting data.
Sure, many of those sightings – the vast majority – are conventional objects or phenomena. That’s the way it’s always been. But it’s that thin residue, the five or ten percent, which forms the core of the UFO mystery. These are the sightings that can’t be attributed to conventional objects or phenomena. After you dismiss airplanes, planets, mirages, what-have-you, you have loads of data for which there is no solution.
Now in the days of Project Blue Book, the U.S. Air Force would attempt to apply a conventional explanation to all sightings, even if they had to stretch the facts, or ignore critical evidence. After all was said and done, there was yet another excuse sometimes bandied about, that there was insufficient information to reach a conclusion. Only that category was usually separate from unknowns, which appeared to have enough information to dismiss the conventional answers.
Those Project Blue Book case histories have been online for some years. An aborted effort by The Black Vault’s John Greenewald to make hay of it and claim he had access to something exclusive fell apart. All that material has been taken down, but you can still Google Project Blue Book’s evidence and be rewarded with loads of compelling sighting reports.
You can also locate thousands upon thousands of more recent sightings along with reports that never made it into Blue Book’s files. Some have visual evidence, but you can dismiss many of those photos and videos of lights in the sky as something conventional. Most of the ones that appear to have clear images are likely fakes. Many sightings are hardly much better, and beyond lights in the sky, there usually isn’t a lot of detail. Single witness cases also tend to be suspect, unless there’s other evidence at hand, such as compelling photos that can’t be explained as hoaxes, or other factors that may indicate something really strange is going on.
All well and good.
You can look into any paranormal phenomenon, including sightings of strange creatures, and amass loads of amazing stories. Some are essentially campfire tales, because they consist of little more than people seeing unusual animals, birds or aquatic creatures that are not easy to explain.
When it comes to hard evidence, the situation gets murkier. Traditional scientists will want DNA evidence, the remains of the dead or other trace evidence that would point to some sort of unknown species.
Quite often, however, research in these fields is confined to collecting stories that can titillate or frighten. You can catalog those reports any way you want to try to get a sense of which locales appear to be possible hotspots of unusual activity. Even here, however, it’s hit or miss. There are many parts of the world that are not well populated, and are seldom visited. So things can be happening in such places that are simply never reported.
Or maybe UFOs and other phenomena don’t exist unless there’s someone around to see them. How can we possibly now?
Regardless, how many sightings does it take to declare a mystery that remains unsolved. Maybe it just takes a few UFO cases that have all the elements that make a good sighting, such as simultaneous radar/visual observations, multiple witnesses, a flying craft that’s large enough to pick up details, not to mention pinpoint maneuvers that appear to exceed the capability of Earthly aircraft. Isn’t that sufficient for investigators to make a more determined effort to figure out what’s really going on?
If the Roswell UFO crash was the only case on record, and we had some more solid evidence of what happened in the New Mexico desert in 1947, perhaps that would do the trick, but it’s also old enough to make it almost impossible to find a smoking gun.
Notice that I am not suggesting those alleged Roswell Slides, depicting a possible alien being, represent the evidence we need. There is far too much hype and far too many questions that cry out for answers. Maybe the promised May event in Mexico City to present such evidence will deliver the answers, though it seems a curious way to deliver supposed evidence of alien visitations. With all the claims and counterclaims, it comes across more as a sideshow, which isn’t very helpful to the cause.
But instead of focusing so much on collecting and retelling case after case, what about redoubling efforts to figure out what all this evidence actually means. Are we really being visited by extraterrestrials? Do some UFO cases represent military tests of some sort, or even indulgences in psychological warfare?
What about the curious side issues that seem to rear their ugly heads, such as reports of possible Men In Black or interventions by possible government agents? Is it even possible our governments might want to make us believe in spaceships to hide other agendas?
I’m not saying it’s so, but consider the possibility that some government agents may be engaging in smoke and mirrors to hide real truths that may, in part, include visits by unknown aircraft from elsewhere.
Why are Bigfoot types and other strange creatures seen in the vicinity of UFO sightings? A connection, or just two separate mysteries to confront? Does our human consciousness at all play a role, any role, in what we think we experience in connection with paranormal phenomena?
After all these years, isn’t it time to set aside the cataloging of case histories and figure out what it all means?
Copyright 1999-2015 The Paracast LLC. 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!
