The Paracast Newsletter
May 14, 2023
www.theparacast.com
Paranormal Explorer Maxim W. Furek Reveals Incredible Mysteries from the Pit, Possible Alien Encounters, the Philadelphia Experiment and More 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.
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 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 are joined by Maxim W. Furek on a fascinating pop culture and paranormal journey. He considers himself a student of the paranormal and has explored and published numerous articles on what some have called “The Coal Region Hoodoo.” With "Coal Region Hoodoo: Paranormal Tales from Inside the Pit," Furek continues his sociological exploration of high strangeness inside the Pennsylvania wormhole that gave birth to "The Night of the Living Dead," "The Blob," and "The Philadelphia Experiment." His book takes us beyond the netherworlds of Centralia, Sheppton, Chestnut Ridge, and The Pennhurst Asylum. It looks into the eyes of demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren and the twisted souls of serial killer Gary Heidnik and controversial artist and experiencer Richard S. Shaver, while exploring the preternatural secrets of Bigfoot, cryptids, Kecksburg and other strange events.
After The Paracast — Available exclusively for Paracast+ subscribers on May 14: A student of the paranormal, Maxim W. Furek, returns to talk with Gene and cohost Tim Swartz about the possibilities for ancient astronauts, UFOs, Roswell, whether famous inventors have been influenced by ET. Controversial artist and experiencer Richard S. Shaver is also on the agenda. His books include “Coal Region Hoodoo: Paranormal Tales from Inside the Pit.” Miners claim that being trapped in the bottom of a coal mine is as close as one can ever get to being in Hell. “Coal Region Hoodoo” takes us even closer inside that forbidden, paranormal pit. Furek’s other books include: “Sheppton-The Myth, Miracle & Music,” “Somebody Else’s Dream: Dakota, The Buoys,” “Timothy,” and “The Death Proclamation of Generation X.” He has a master’s degree in Communications from Bloomsburg University and a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Aquinas College.
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.
You Can’t Keep a Flying Saucer Hoax Down
By Gene Steinberg
As regular readers know, I often cite my past experiences when commenting or reporting about one paranormal topic or another. It’s not so much that I’m just living in the past. It’s more about using that long history to guide my current views.
At the same time, it’s troubling to see so many examples of where people who follow UFO lore seldom pay much attention to history, and thus do not learn from it.
Take those infamous flying saucer contactees. It’s a troubling subject because there were so many fake claims, particularly in the early days. In most cases, such experiencers claimed to have met up with physical human-like beings who were allegedly from other nearby planets.
In those days, it was mostly about Venus and Mars. Certainly these locales were often used as locations in early sci-fi novels, including those from Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs. Indeed, his very first novel, “A Princess of Mars,” from 1912, was all about the adventures of an Earthman, John Carter, who falls asleep in a cave and is somehow transported to Mars.
Now as much as the character gained traction in action magazines and books, it didn’t fare so well in the movies. Disney’s 2012 film, “John Carter,” was quite a faithful adaptation of the first few novels in the series, although they attributed his trip to the red planet to some sort of technological gadget rather than astral projection.
The film failed big time, perhaps because the PR people at the studio couldn’t figure out what to do with it, and perhaps because most reviewers weren’t familiar with original source material.
Regardless, travel to Mars infused such stories. Burroughs also wrote a series about Venus and the adventures of one Carson Napier. In those books, we were led to believe that the planet’s perpetual cloud cover shielded a perfectly livable environment.
In the 1950s, sci-fi TV shows oriented towards a youthful audience also focused on trips to these planets, generally encountering livable conditions.
So it made sense, then, for contactees to talk of meeting advanced Nordics from these worlds. As science learned more and more about our nearby galactic neighborhood, though, it became clear that there was no evidence that Venus and Mars could possibly harbor life as we know it.
But the original contactees, particularly George Adamski, didn’t consider such niceties of logic and reason. In fact, you could find some of the source material for such claims in a classic sci-fi film from 1951, “The Day the Earth Stood Still.” Let’s forget the confusing 2008 remake. In the original, an advanced being, Klaatu, who appears perfectly human, lands his circular flying saucer in a park.
The authorities quickly appear and surround the ship with weapons in readiness. When Klaatu’s robotic protector, Gort, appears, it strikes an atmosphere of fear. Klaatu reaches into his silvery uniform to take out something when a nervous soldier shoots him. In turn, Gort uses his advanced weaponry to disintegrate the vehicle in which the assailant and his companions are riding. But not before they escape unharmed.
The film is very loosely based on a short story, “Farewell to the Master,” by Harry Bates, first published in 1940. But Klaatu’s message to Earth, and his demeanor, were loosely regarded as a Christ parable. So when he puts on a suit he steals from the hospital in which he’s recovering from his wound, the name on the label is Carpenter.
Klaatu’s message of peace and brotherhood was readily adopted by Adamski, who claims he met up with a long-haired spaceman, Orthon, who wore a silvery uniform that seemed similar to the one Klaatu wore. The encounter was said to have occurred in 1952 in the California desert.
So the “space brothers,” he said, were here to alert humans of the folly of our endless tribal wars and the ongoing development of nuclear weapons.
Forgotten or ignored by the contactees was the stick in Klaatu’s carrot. If the Earth didn’t get its act together and join the space federation that he represented, they’d use their powerful weaponry to take us out.
It was not politically correct and did not become a factor in the ongoing communications said to come from ET or other “higher beings.”
Now Adamski’s fakery was exposed early on. His photos of alleged flying saucers with three round feet were readily duplicated with such common items as a hub cap or a surgical light. So much for Adamski’s special effects skills.
He also claimed there were several witnesses to his initial close encounter. But as researchers interviewed the witnesses, it was clear their testimony wasn’t so crystal clear about what really happened. Indeed, it appeared they may have been too far away from the location of the initial encounter to have a clear view of what was really going on.
So perhaps Adamski merely hired an actor to portray Orthon, and maybe used fireworks or other low-end materials to create the illusion of a flying spaceship.
Over the years, Adamski’s followers have remained undeterred. Not so many years ago, in fact, I received an email from one of them, who wanted to get on The Paracast.
When I sent a link to a scan of a 1957 issue of Jim Moseley’s Saucer News magazine, which exposed Adamski in exquisite detail, I never heard from them again. I gather, though, that they appear to still be around spreading their nonsense.
Note: The site on which Moseley’s magazines were posted isn’t working so well, so I’m not including a direct link. But if you visit a site I’m running with Curt Collins, www.jimmoseley.com, you’ll find some information about it.
To continue: On an episode of The Paracast last year, one guest touted a book in which various authors contributed, where one of the chapters presented a favorable viewpoint on Adamski. There was even the false claim that his saucer photos couldn’t be duplicated, that “it would be impossible without the expenditure of a large sum of money, and doubtfully even then, to make any model resemble the strange craft.”
I simply reminded the guest, who didn’t write that particular chapter, of the facts about the photos and other claims. I pointed out how easily they were duplicated decades earlier without any large expense, and we moved on.
In case you’re wondering, the book is “UFO Encounters: Up Close and Personal,” published in 2022 and edited by Jason Gleaves. There are enough useful chapters so that this one lapse in judgment can be overlooked. It’s not that Gleaves asserted his support for all of the claims made by his contributors, some of whom are well respected in Ufology.
Here’s a link to the episode: September 25, 2022 — Jason Gleaves with Tim Swartz — The Paracast — The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio
All this demonstrates, though, is that exposing UFO fraud may seem easy, but such claims may be resurrected over and over again over the years. It’s fair to wonder “why bother?” but it’s still important to separate the wheat from the chaff as much as we can.
Copyright 1999-2023 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!
May 14, 2023
www.theparacast.com
Paranormal Explorer Maxim W. Furek Reveals Incredible Mysteries from the Pit, Possible Alien Encounters, the Philadelphia Experiment and More 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.
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 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 are joined by Maxim W. Furek on a fascinating pop culture and paranormal journey. He considers himself a student of the paranormal and has explored and published numerous articles on what some have called “The Coal Region Hoodoo.” With "Coal Region Hoodoo: Paranormal Tales from Inside the Pit," Furek continues his sociological exploration of high strangeness inside the Pennsylvania wormhole that gave birth to "The Night of the Living Dead," "The Blob," and "The Philadelphia Experiment." His book takes us beyond the netherworlds of Centralia, Sheppton, Chestnut Ridge, and The Pennhurst Asylum. It looks into the eyes of demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren and the twisted souls of serial killer Gary Heidnik and controversial artist and experiencer Richard S. Shaver, while exploring the preternatural secrets of Bigfoot, cryptids, Kecksburg and other strange events.
After The Paracast — Available exclusively for Paracast+ subscribers on May 14: A student of the paranormal, Maxim W. Furek, returns to talk with Gene and cohost Tim Swartz about the possibilities for ancient astronauts, UFOs, Roswell, whether famous inventors have been influenced by ET. Controversial artist and experiencer Richard S. Shaver is also on the agenda. His books include “Coal Region Hoodoo: Paranormal Tales from Inside the Pit.” Miners claim that being trapped in the bottom of a coal mine is as close as one can ever get to being in Hell. “Coal Region Hoodoo” takes us even closer inside that forbidden, paranormal pit. Furek’s other books include: “Sheppton-The Myth, Miracle & Music,” “Somebody Else’s Dream: Dakota, The Buoys,” “Timothy,” and “The Death Proclamation of Generation X.” He has a master’s degree in Communications from Bloomsburg University and a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Aquinas College.
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.
You Can’t Keep a Flying Saucer Hoax Down
By Gene Steinberg
As regular readers know, I often cite my past experiences when commenting or reporting about one paranormal topic or another. It’s not so much that I’m just living in the past. It’s more about using that long history to guide my current views.
At the same time, it’s troubling to see so many examples of where people who follow UFO lore seldom pay much attention to history, and thus do not learn from it.
Take those infamous flying saucer contactees. It’s a troubling subject because there were so many fake claims, particularly in the early days. In most cases, such experiencers claimed to have met up with physical human-like beings who were allegedly from other nearby planets.
In those days, it was mostly about Venus and Mars. Certainly these locales were often used as locations in early sci-fi novels, including those from Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs. Indeed, his very first novel, “A Princess of Mars,” from 1912, was all about the adventures of an Earthman, John Carter, who falls asleep in a cave and is somehow transported to Mars.
Now as much as the character gained traction in action magazines and books, it didn’t fare so well in the movies. Disney’s 2012 film, “John Carter,” was quite a faithful adaptation of the first few novels in the series, although they attributed his trip to the red planet to some sort of technological gadget rather than astral projection.
The film failed big time, perhaps because the PR people at the studio couldn’t figure out what to do with it, and perhaps because most reviewers weren’t familiar with original source material.
Regardless, travel to Mars infused such stories. Burroughs also wrote a series about Venus and the adventures of one Carson Napier. In those books, we were led to believe that the planet’s perpetual cloud cover shielded a perfectly livable environment.
In the 1950s, sci-fi TV shows oriented towards a youthful audience also focused on trips to these planets, generally encountering livable conditions.
So it made sense, then, for contactees to talk of meeting advanced Nordics from these worlds. As science learned more and more about our nearby galactic neighborhood, though, it became clear that there was no evidence that Venus and Mars could possibly harbor life as we know it.
But the original contactees, particularly George Adamski, didn’t consider such niceties of logic and reason. In fact, you could find some of the source material for such claims in a classic sci-fi film from 1951, “The Day the Earth Stood Still.” Let’s forget the confusing 2008 remake. In the original, an advanced being, Klaatu, who appears perfectly human, lands his circular flying saucer in a park.
The authorities quickly appear and surround the ship with weapons in readiness. When Klaatu’s robotic protector, Gort, appears, it strikes an atmosphere of fear. Klaatu reaches into his silvery uniform to take out something when a nervous soldier shoots him. In turn, Gort uses his advanced weaponry to disintegrate the vehicle in which the assailant and his companions are riding. But not before they escape unharmed.
The film is very loosely based on a short story, “Farewell to the Master,” by Harry Bates, first published in 1940. But Klaatu’s message to Earth, and his demeanor, were loosely regarded as a Christ parable. So when he puts on a suit he steals from the hospital in which he’s recovering from his wound, the name on the label is Carpenter.
Klaatu’s message of peace and brotherhood was readily adopted by Adamski, who claims he met up with a long-haired spaceman, Orthon, who wore a silvery uniform that seemed similar to the one Klaatu wore. The encounter was said to have occurred in 1952 in the California desert.
So the “space brothers,” he said, were here to alert humans of the folly of our endless tribal wars and the ongoing development of nuclear weapons.
Forgotten or ignored by the contactees was the stick in Klaatu’s carrot. If the Earth didn’t get its act together and join the space federation that he represented, they’d use their powerful weaponry to take us out.
It was not politically correct and did not become a factor in the ongoing communications said to come from ET or other “higher beings.”
Now Adamski’s fakery was exposed early on. His photos of alleged flying saucers with three round feet were readily duplicated with such common items as a hub cap or a surgical light. So much for Adamski’s special effects skills.
He also claimed there were several witnesses to his initial close encounter. But as researchers interviewed the witnesses, it was clear their testimony wasn’t so crystal clear about what really happened. Indeed, it appeared they may have been too far away from the location of the initial encounter to have a clear view of what was really going on.
So perhaps Adamski merely hired an actor to portray Orthon, and maybe used fireworks or other low-end materials to create the illusion of a flying spaceship.
Over the years, Adamski’s followers have remained undeterred. Not so many years ago, in fact, I received an email from one of them, who wanted to get on The Paracast.
When I sent a link to a scan of a 1957 issue of Jim Moseley’s Saucer News magazine, which exposed Adamski in exquisite detail, I never heard from them again. I gather, though, that they appear to still be around spreading their nonsense.
Note: The site on which Moseley’s magazines were posted isn’t working so well, so I’m not including a direct link. But if you visit a site I’m running with Curt Collins, www.jimmoseley.com, you’ll find some information about it.
To continue: On an episode of The Paracast last year, one guest touted a book in which various authors contributed, where one of the chapters presented a favorable viewpoint on Adamski. There was even the false claim that his saucer photos couldn’t be duplicated, that “it would be impossible without the expenditure of a large sum of money, and doubtfully even then, to make any model resemble the strange craft.”
I simply reminded the guest, who didn’t write that particular chapter, of the facts about the photos and other claims. I pointed out how easily they were duplicated decades earlier without any large expense, and we moved on.
In case you’re wondering, the book is “UFO Encounters: Up Close and Personal,” published in 2022 and edited by Jason Gleaves. There are enough useful chapters so that this one lapse in judgment can be overlooked. It’s not that Gleaves asserted his support for all of the claims made by his contributors, some of whom are well respected in Ufology.
Here’s a link to the episode: September 25, 2022 — Jason Gleaves with Tim Swartz — The Paracast — The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio
All this demonstrates, though, is that exposing UFO fraud may seem easy, but such claims may be resurrected over and over again over the years. It’s fair to wonder “why bother?” but it’s still important to separate the wheat from the chaff as much as we can.
Copyright 1999-2023 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!