The Paracast Newsletter
March 15, 2026
www.theparacast.com
Yes, The Paracast -- the gold standard of paranormal radio -- is back with an entertaining pop culture episode featuring the irrepressible Brian Young.
The Paracast is released every Sunday and available from our site, https://www.theparacast.com, your favorite podcast app, and the IRN Internet Radio Network. All episodes from 2022 and later now feature better audio and fewer ads. We are also re-releasing some of our most popular classic episodes.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU HAVEN'T SIGNED UP FOR THE PARACAST+ YET? PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE PARACAST+ SO YOU CAN 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 bonus podcast, After The Paracast, plus a special version of The Paracast with all the ads removed, when you join The Paracast+. We also offer a special RSS feed for easy updates of the latest episodes on your device. Episodes for subscribers to The Paracast+ are now released 24 hours earlier. Flash! Now includes over 100 classic episodes, so take advantage of our lowest rates ever! Act now! It's easier than ever to susbcribe! For the easiest signup ever, please visit: https://www.theparacast.plus
Latest Weekly Episode — We’re Back! (March 15, 2026): Gene and cohost Tim Swartz present one of our favorites, Brian Young, here to talk abut his favorite and not-so-favorite B movies, including perhaps the worst of the lot, Robot Monster. He is the host of the show Transatlantic History Ramblings, where he brings some of those ramblings directly to The Paracast, where he talks — or rambles — about all sorts of subjects that range from the paranormal to show business, to professional wrestling. Brian also an historian, cigar connoisseur, writer and researcher who, in addition to his paranormal studies, covers boxing and boxing history. He also co-hosts the Transatlantic History Ramblings podcast along with Lauren Davies, heard on Spotify and other streaming platforms. His book is “The Wrestlers’ Wrestlers: The Masters of the Craft of Professional Wrestling.”
After The Paracast — Available exclusively to Paracast+ subscribers: The irrepressible Brian Young returns to talk shop with Gene and cohost Tim Swartz about all sorts of pop culture topics that include over-the-top musical, political and paranormal conspiracies. And there’s even a touch of AI. In his other life, Brian is the host of the show Transatlantic History Ramblings, where he brings some of those ramblings directly to The Paracast, where he talks — or rambles — about all sorts of subjects that range from the paranormal to show business, to professional wrestling. Brian also an historian, cigar connoisseur, writer and researcher who, in addition to his paranormal studies, covers boxing and boxing history. He also co-hosts the Transatlantic History Ramblings podcast along with Lauren Davies, heard on Spotify and other streaming platforms. His book is “The Wrestlers’ Wrestlers: The Masters of the Craft of Professional Wrestling.”
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. And look for @theparacast on Bluesky Social, Facebook, Threads and X.
UFOs Over Indiana
Tim R. Swartz
UFOs have enjoyed a long and often tumultuous relationship with Indiana over the years. In fact, UFOs have been reported over the skies of Indiana long before the so-called “modern era of UFOs” which began in 1947. The Hoosier state, like the rest of the country was caught up in sightings of the Great Airship that was supposedly making its way eastward from California starting in 1896.
In 1897 reports started to trickle in from the northern counties with sightings in Hammond, Gary and South Bend. Soon, however, local newspapers all across the state started reporting Airship sightings in the skies above their communities. On the night of Friday, April 16, residents of Vincennes twice sighted a mysterious airship that passed slowly over the city.
According to the Vincennes Morning Commercial, the airship first appeared about nine o'clock, traveling along the extreme eastern portion of the horizon. A sphere of golden light was first seen in the vicinity of the Union Depot, from down in the city. Those near the ship claimed they could clearly see the dark lines of its car, although no passengers were observed.
According to newspaper reports, many reputable citizens in Vincennes witnessed the flight. From his home on Burnett's Heights, Sam Judah said he could plainly see the ship with its fluttering wings, its movements resembling a side wheeler steam-boat, sailing through the air with incredible velocity.
From his doorway, where he had gone to look at his thermometer, Col. Ewing saw the light, which he at first thought was a falling star, but as it moved so slowly, soon became convinced that it was the inevitable airship. Ewing watched it for about four minutes. Anton Simon noticed a ball of fire, moving in a northwesterly to southeasterly course, which he later realized was an airship.
Victor Schonfeld, who said that he was somewhat of an expert observer, having made airships and balloons a lifelong study, testified that this was a genuine airship. Among many others who saw the airship were Col. M.P. Ghee, Thomas Eastham, Judge DeWolf, Will Mason, Scott Emison, Jesse Foulks, all highly reputable people in their community.
The airship first passed rapidly overhead in a southwesterly direction. An hour and a half later, it was seen again, passing over the northern portion of the city, traveling in a northwesterly direction. During its last appearance, the airship seemed to slow down as it passed directly over the fairgrounds (present-day Gregg Park).
The Vincennes encounter was only one of some 200 sightings made by thousands of people in 19 states, during the Great Airship flap of 1896-1897.
UFO Occupants Seen in 1923
A young boy by the name of Norman Massie was leading a team of horses into a pastures near his rural, south-western Indiana home, when he happened to look up and saw what he now thinks was a spaceship.
“You can call me anything you want, but I know in my heart and in my mind what I saw that evening, and it was some kind of spaceship,” Massie said.
Massie, who passed away in 2004 at the age of 91, was ten-years old when he encountered the object. The retired high school math teacher and coach said he kept quiet about the incident until 1990 because his father told him never to breathe a word about what he saw because “people would talk.” Massie's UFO sighting happened in June 1923 on the family farm.
“I opened the gate to let the horses into the pasture. I let them through, and as I was closing the gate I looked back down the field and there was an object with lights all around it,” Massie said. “I kept walking closer to the object until I got about 50 feet away. I stood there and watched the five men who were on board.”
Massie described the men as being about four feet tall with blond hair. “I got close enough that I could hear them talk,” Massie said. “One guy sat in a chair and the others called him the commander. Four others made trips back and forth in the ship. I didn't know what was going on until the end.”
Massie claims he heard one of the crew members tell his commander that “the repairs had been made.”
“The machine was metallic and stood on three legs. The top was a dome with holes in it, and the best way I could describe the top was it looked like melted glass,” Massie said.
According to Massie, the encounter lasted only about five minutes.
“In a minute, it came to a hovering position. The tripod legs telescoped up into the belly of the thing, and it went straight up about 200 feet and whizzed off to the west like a bullet,” he said. Startled by what he saw, Massie says he ran home and told his parents, Grover and Laura Massie, and his 8-year-old brother, Lyveere.
“Mom and Dad tried to convince me that I really hadn't seen anything, and was making up the whole thing,” he said.
He says his dad announced he wanted no member of his family mentioning the incident to anyone because they might think Norman was “crazy in the head, or an idiot.”
Massie broke his silence on the matter in 1990 when he told his son, Jerry, who was a colonel in the Air Force at the time.
“When I got done telling him the whole story he told me there was nothing wrong with me, that the Air Force files are full of pictures of UFOs. He accepted my story as the truth.”
Massie says he's convinced the object had to come from somewhere other than Earth.
“It doesn't bother me one bit that people might think I'm a crazy old man. In my own mind and my own heart, it existed and I saw it with my own two eyes.”
Strange stories, unnatural creatures, mysterious occurrences – the supply of fascinating information about Indiana is inexhaustible. Hoosiers, however, take these stories in stride. Tall tales and folklore, entertainment since the early pioneer days, have never lost their charm to Hoosiers. An expression used since the early days of Indiana best describes the wondrous stories and events that make Indiana's unnatural history so compelling: “will wonders never cease?”
Let's hope that they don't.
Tim R. Swartz is an Indiana native and Emmy-Award winning television producer/videographer, and is the author of a number of popular books including The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla, Gef the Talking Mongoose. His most recent books, along with author Sean Casteel, are Weird Time – Exploring the Mysteries of Time and Space, and Mimics - The Others Among Us.
As a photojournalist, Tim Swartz has traveled extensively and investigated paranormal phenomena and other unusual mysteries in such diverse locations as the Great Pyramid in Egypt to the Great Wall in China. He has worked with major television networks both national and international.
Tim has appeared on the documentary “The Myth of Tesla,” as well as The History Channels programs “Ancient Aliens”, “Evidence”, “Ancient Aliens: Declassified”, “The UnXplained”, and the History Channel Latin America series “Contacto Extraterrestre”.
His articles have been published in magazines such as Mysteries, FATE, Strange, Atlantis Rising, UFO Universe, Flying Saucer Review, Renaissance, and Unsolved UFO Reports.
Tim is also the co-host of The Paracast with Gene Steinberg at www.theparacast.com
His website is: www.weirdtimebook.com
Copyright 1999-2026 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!
March 15, 2026
www.theparacast.com
Yes, The Paracast -- the gold standard of paranormal radio -- is back with an entertaining pop culture episode featuring the irrepressible Brian Young.
The Paracast is released every Sunday and available from our site, https://www.theparacast.com, your favorite podcast app, and the IRN Internet Radio Network. All episodes from 2022 and later now feature better audio and fewer ads. We are also re-releasing some of our most popular classic episodes.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU HAVEN'T SIGNED UP FOR THE PARACAST+ YET? PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE PARACAST+ SO YOU CAN 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 bonus podcast, After The Paracast, plus a special version of The Paracast with all the ads removed, when you join The Paracast+. We also offer a special RSS feed for easy updates of the latest episodes on your device. Episodes for subscribers to The Paracast+ are now released 24 hours earlier. Flash! Now includes over 100 classic episodes, so take advantage of our lowest rates ever! Act now! It's easier than ever to susbcribe! For the easiest signup ever, please visit: https://www.theparacast.plus
Latest Weekly Episode — We’re Back! (March 15, 2026): Gene and cohost Tim Swartz present one of our favorites, Brian Young, here to talk abut his favorite and not-so-favorite B movies, including perhaps the worst of the lot, Robot Monster. He is the host of the show Transatlantic History Ramblings, where he brings some of those ramblings directly to The Paracast, where he talks — or rambles — about all sorts of subjects that range from the paranormal to show business, to professional wrestling. Brian also an historian, cigar connoisseur, writer and researcher who, in addition to his paranormal studies, covers boxing and boxing history. He also co-hosts the Transatlantic History Ramblings podcast along with Lauren Davies, heard on Spotify and other streaming platforms. His book is “The Wrestlers’ Wrestlers: The Masters of the Craft of Professional Wrestling.”
After The Paracast — Available exclusively to Paracast+ subscribers: The irrepressible Brian Young returns to talk shop with Gene and cohost Tim Swartz about all sorts of pop culture topics that include over-the-top musical, political and paranormal conspiracies. And there’s even a touch of AI. In his other life, Brian is the host of the show Transatlantic History Ramblings, where he brings some of those ramblings directly to The Paracast, where he talks — or rambles — about all sorts of subjects that range from the paranormal to show business, to professional wrestling. Brian also an historian, cigar connoisseur, writer and researcher who, in addition to his paranormal studies, covers boxing and boxing history. He also co-hosts the Transatlantic History Ramblings podcast along with Lauren Davies, heard on Spotify and other streaming platforms. His book is “The Wrestlers’ Wrestlers: The Masters of the Craft of Professional Wrestling.”
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. And look for @theparacast on Bluesky Social, Facebook, Threads and X.
UFOs Over Indiana
Tim R. Swartz
UFOs have enjoyed a long and often tumultuous relationship with Indiana over the years. In fact, UFOs have been reported over the skies of Indiana long before the so-called “modern era of UFOs” which began in 1947. The Hoosier state, like the rest of the country was caught up in sightings of the Great Airship that was supposedly making its way eastward from California starting in 1896.
In 1897 reports started to trickle in from the northern counties with sightings in Hammond, Gary and South Bend. Soon, however, local newspapers all across the state started reporting Airship sightings in the skies above their communities. On the night of Friday, April 16, residents of Vincennes twice sighted a mysterious airship that passed slowly over the city.
According to the Vincennes Morning Commercial, the airship first appeared about nine o'clock, traveling along the extreme eastern portion of the horizon. A sphere of golden light was first seen in the vicinity of the Union Depot, from down in the city. Those near the ship claimed they could clearly see the dark lines of its car, although no passengers were observed.
According to newspaper reports, many reputable citizens in Vincennes witnessed the flight. From his home on Burnett's Heights, Sam Judah said he could plainly see the ship with its fluttering wings, its movements resembling a side wheeler steam-boat, sailing through the air with incredible velocity.
From his doorway, where he had gone to look at his thermometer, Col. Ewing saw the light, which he at first thought was a falling star, but as it moved so slowly, soon became convinced that it was the inevitable airship. Ewing watched it for about four minutes. Anton Simon noticed a ball of fire, moving in a northwesterly to southeasterly course, which he later realized was an airship.
Victor Schonfeld, who said that he was somewhat of an expert observer, having made airships and balloons a lifelong study, testified that this was a genuine airship. Among many others who saw the airship were Col. M.P. Ghee, Thomas Eastham, Judge DeWolf, Will Mason, Scott Emison, Jesse Foulks, all highly reputable people in their community.
The airship first passed rapidly overhead in a southwesterly direction. An hour and a half later, it was seen again, passing over the northern portion of the city, traveling in a northwesterly direction. During its last appearance, the airship seemed to slow down as it passed directly over the fairgrounds (present-day Gregg Park).
The Vincennes encounter was only one of some 200 sightings made by thousands of people in 19 states, during the Great Airship flap of 1896-1897.
UFO Occupants Seen in 1923
A young boy by the name of Norman Massie was leading a team of horses into a pastures near his rural, south-western Indiana home, when he happened to look up and saw what he now thinks was a spaceship.
“You can call me anything you want, but I know in my heart and in my mind what I saw that evening, and it was some kind of spaceship,” Massie said.
Massie, who passed away in 2004 at the age of 91, was ten-years old when he encountered the object. The retired high school math teacher and coach said he kept quiet about the incident until 1990 because his father told him never to breathe a word about what he saw because “people would talk.” Massie's UFO sighting happened in June 1923 on the family farm.
“I opened the gate to let the horses into the pasture. I let them through, and as I was closing the gate I looked back down the field and there was an object with lights all around it,” Massie said. “I kept walking closer to the object until I got about 50 feet away. I stood there and watched the five men who were on board.”
Massie described the men as being about four feet tall with blond hair. “I got close enough that I could hear them talk,” Massie said. “One guy sat in a chair and the others called him the commander. Four others made trips back and forth in the ship. I didn't know what was going on until the end.”
Massie claims he heard one of the crew members tell his commander that “the repairs had been made.”
“The machine was metallic and stood on three legs. The top was a dome with holes in it, and the best way I could describe the top was it looked like melted glass,” Massie said.
According to Massie, the encounter lasted only about five minutes.
“In a minute, it came to a hovering position. The tripod legs telescoped up into the belly of the thing, and it went straight up about 200 feet and whizzed off to the west like a bullet,” he said. Startled by what he saw, Massie says he ran home and told his parents, Grover and Laura Massie, and his 8-year-old brother, Lyveere.
“Mom and Dad tried to convince me that I really hadn't seen anything, and was making up the whole thing,” he said.
He says his dad announced he wanted no member of his family mentioning the incident to anyone because they might think Norman was “crazy in the head, or an idiot.”
Massie broke his silence on the matter in 1990 when he told his son, Jerry, who was a colonel in the Air Force at the time.
“When I got done telling him the whole story he told me there was nothing wrong with me, that the Air Force files are full of pictures of UFOs. He accepted my story as the truth.”
Massie says he's convinced the object had to come from somewhere other than Earth.
“It doesn't bother me one bit that people might think I'm a crazy old man. In my own mind and my own heart, it existed and I saw it with my own two eyes.”
Strange stories, unnatural creatures, mysterious occurrences – the supply of fascinating information about Indiana is inexhaustible. Hoosiers, however, take these stories in stride. Tall tales and folklore, entertainment since the early pioneer days, have never lost their charm to Hoosiers. An expression used since the early days of Indiana best describes the wondrous stories and events that make Indiana's unnatural history so compelling: “will wonders never cease?”
Let's hope that they don't.
• • •
Tim R. Swartz is an Indiana native and Emmy-Award winning television producer/videographer, and is the author of a number of popular books including The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla, Gef the Talking Mongoose. His most recent books, along with author Sean Casteel, are Weird Time – Exploring the Mysteries of Time and Space, and Mimics - The Others Among Us.
As a photojournalist, Tim Swartz has traveled extensively and investigated paranormal phenomena and other unusual mysteries in such diverse locations as the Great Pyramid in Egypt to the Great Wall in China. He has worked with major television networks both national and international.
Tim has appeared on the documentary “The Myth of Tesla,” as well as The History Channels programs “Ancient Aliens”, “Evidence”, “Ancient Aliens: Declassified”, “The UnXplained”, and the History Channel Latin America series “Contacto Extraterrestre”.
His articles have been published in magazines such as Mysteries, FATE, Strange, Atlantis Rising, UFO Universe, Flying Saucer Review, Renaissance, and Unsolved UFO Reports.
Tim is also the co-host of The Paracast with Gene Steinberg at www.theparacast.com
His website is: www.weirdtimebook.com
Copyright 1999-2026 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!
