THE PARACAST NEWSLETTER
November 3, 2019
www.theparacast.com
Explaining Esoterica's Kelly Farmer Talks About the Paranormal 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.
SUPPORT THE SHOW AND ENJOY A PREMIUM 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 sign up for The Paracast+. We also offer a special RSS feed for easy updates of the latest episodes, the Paracast+ Video Channel, episode transcripts, Special Features, Classic Episodes and there’s more to come! So act now! Check out Introducing The Paracast+ — Five Years and Growing! | The Paracast — The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio for more details about The Paracast+.
This Week's Episode: Gene and Randall introduce Kelly Farmer, host of the Explaining Esoterica podcast. On her show, Kelly explores the ideas and theories of researchers in the areas of Ufology, mythology, consciousness, and ancient civilizations. Her goal is to bring these concepts and research to the greater population, especially to those who may not have had much exposure to the various subjects covered. She interviews members of the community to discuss these deeper subjects and showcase their research in a visual and easily digestible format. By discussing it from an analytical point of view, she helps her audience gain a better understanding of the hard work these researchers do.
J. Randall Murphy's Ufology Society International: Ufology Society International (USI) - Explore the UFO Phenomenon
William Puckett's Blog: UFO Reporting Center, Latest UFO Sightings & News.
Explaining Esoterica: Explaining Esoterica - Showcasing Research in Ufology, mythology, consciousness, and ancient civilizations
After The Paracast -- Available exclusively for Paracast+ subscribers on November 3: Special Correspondent William Puckett delivers reports on four sightings. They include a report from March 7, 2018 in Coolidge, GA involving a silver disk-shaped UFO, reports from October 27, 2019 involving UFOs seen in Liberty, TN and Plantation, FL, and the report of an orange orb pacing a car on August 11, 2019 in Newburg, MO. Kelly Farmer, from the Explaining Esoterica podcast, continues the discussion begun on the November 7, 2019 episode of The Paracast. Kelly and Randall cover issues involving esotericism and the paranormal conferences she has attended. There is also a discussion about the so-called “Mandela Effect,” in which people remember events completely different from what actually occurred.
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. Check out our new YouTube channel at: The Official Paracast Channel
False Memories Revisited
By Gene Steinberg
Human memory is a fragile thing. Forgetting the impact of a traumatic brain injury, a lifetime of experiences, and a rapidly changing culture, may combine to seriously lter one’s memories. There is also the natural tendency to want to embellish an event to make one feel more important; this can happen, too, over the years as the story keeps getting better and better.
I am not saying that humans have a natural tendency to lie. I think most people try to be honest; well, except, for example, those little white lies one tells to avoid hurting someone’s feelings or to be what is called “politically correct.”
But there is little doubt that people remember things differently, quite differently. There is that famous joke test, which I first saw on one of Steve Allen’s nightly outings years ago on what we then called “the tube.” He’d assemble a group of people from the audience, maybe five or 10, and whisper a joke into the ear of the first person. In turn, that person would whisper the joke to the next person — and so it went.
By the time the last individual was asked to recite the joke, it only had a passing resemblance to the original. And that’s maybe 15-30 seconds of conversation to someone who was prepped to expect it.
Now if something unexpected occurs, such as an auto accident, there will be different versions. No, not just because one party wants to blame the other — regardless of the facts. Again, it’s also about imperfect memories.
This also plays out when police interview possible witnesses to a crime; witness descriptions of a suspect may vary. You may see it depicted on one of those TV police procedurals, but it is based on reality. Putting together an accurate picture of what actually occurred is obviously not easy, and evidence retrieved from the scene may be used to expand on the verbal descriptions of the event.
So it would make perfect sense to have differing descriptions of a UFO sighting or other paranormal event. Consider it’s unexpected, and involves something that might be quite alien to our senses. So it will be interpreted through the filters of one’s life experience.
This explains why what might be similar events might be regarded differently, from possible deities in ancient times, to leprechauns and other strange beings to, beginning in the 20th century, possible visitors from other planets.
All right, there were those airship reports of the late 19th century, occurring during the early days of experimentation with heavier-than-air craft.
Can we assume, then, that the arrival of the UFOs presaged our halting efforts to explore outer space? Did “they” show the way?
In any case, flawed memories have seriously colored the evidence of UFO sightings, particularly after years have gone by. As I said, a lifetime of experiences just get in the way. Some people will even insert themselves into the action, even though they may have just been a peripheral participant. Or maybe they weren’t involved at all.
The 1947 Roswell event is a key example. After the initial report of a crashed disk was altered to reflect a downed high-altitude balloon, the story more or less laid dormant.
In the late 1970s, UFO researcher Stanton T. Friedman was led to speak to someone who recalled a UFO crash, and from there emerged the story of a possible crashed saucer at Roswell. If true, it would mean that the balloon explanation was hurriedly used as a means to hide the truth.
Over time, Friedman and other UFO investigators, including William Moore, Thomas Carey, Donald Schmitt, Kevin D. Randle and others, managed to unearth an elaborate tale involving the wreckage of a crashed spaceship, possible dead or dying aliens, and a massive cover-up.
Roswell is indeed the stuff of legend, and it is likely the most famous UFO event of all time. Ask most anyone about UFOs. They don’t usually refer to the Washington, D.C. UFO flap of 1952, the Socorro, NM sighting of 1964, or even the Rendlesham Forest affair in 1980. It’s all about Roswell and little gray aliens.
At least when debunkers aren’t relying on that silly little green men trope.
Even if an alien spacecraft truly crashed at Roswell, piecing together a reasonably accurate story after decades has not been easy. In addition to faulty memories of an event of long ago, some people apparently told tall tales to, as I said, insert themselves into the case.
In his 2016 book, “Roswell in the 21st Century,” author Kevin D. Randle approached this legendary event as a cold case. He went through much of the information he and others gathered over the years.
Randle came away with the conclusion that some elements of the Roswell legend, such as the presence of alien beings, couldn’t be confirmed. It’s not that people might have lied, though some of the tales were not very credible. But, again, the initial evidence was collected many years after the fact, when the recollections of the witnesses were no longer fresh.
So at the end of the day, Randle concluded that something evidently did happen there, but exactly what remains a mystery.
One possible remedy used to unearth forgotten memories is hypnotic regression. It has been frequently employed with UFO abductions, where someone might have had an episode of missing time, or disturbing dreams, and wants to find out what really happened.
But when amateurs attempt to become hypnotists — even those who might have taken brief courses in the practice — the subject may be led to remember things falsely.
Saying the wrong thing during one of these sessions may plant tidbits of information that will distort one’s memories of what really happened. Asking such leading questions as what the aliens looked like, for example, before the eyewitness even mentions seeing any beings, might indeed bring forth details that just aren’t true.
I don’t pretend to be an expert on hypnosis, although I did dabble in it in my late teens. But I did see how easy it was to plant a suggestion in one’s mind.
One of my subjects — or “victims” — of my efforts to hypnotize someone involved a teen with a smoking habit. So I gave him the suggestion that cigarettes would have a very bitter taste, so as to discourage him.
Indeed, it worked for a while, really. He temporarily quit smoking, but his friends kept egging him on. Eventually he resumed the habit. It may be, however, that he would have started smoking again anyway.
Now consider this: It’s hard enough for people to recall unexpected events. Now imagine an outside party — or force — that can make you see and hear things that aren’t really there, or color what you do see so you interpret it differently.
What looks like spaceships in the air may indeed be something else, but we are easily fooled by “them.”
Just a thought!
Copyright 1999-2019 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!
November 3, 2019
www.theparacast.com
Explaining Esoterica's Kelly Farmer Talks About the Paranormal 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.
SUPPORT THE SHOW AND ENJOY A PREMIUM 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 sign up for The Paracast+. We also offer a special RSS feed for easy updates of the latest episodes, the Paracast+ Video Channel, episode transcripts, Special Features, Classic Episodes and there’s more to come! So act now! Check out Introducing The Paracast+ — Five Years and Growing! | The Paracast — The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio for more details about The Paracast+.
This Week's Episode: Gene and Randall introduce Kelly Farmer, host of the Explaining Esoterica podcast. On her show, Kelly explores the ideas and theories of researchers in the areas of Ufology, mythology, consciousness, and ancient civilizations. Her goal is to bring these concepts and research to the greater population, especially to those who may not have had much exposure to the various subjects covered. She interviews members of the community to discuss these deeper subjects and showcase their research in a visual and easily digestible format. By discussing it from an analytical point of view, she helps her audience gain a better understanding of the hard work these researchers do.
J. Randall Murphy's Ufology Society International: Ufology Society International (USI) - Explore the UFO Phenomenon
William Puckett's Blog: UFO Reporting Center, Latest UFO Sightings & News.
Explaining Esoterica: Explaining Esoterica - Showcasing Research in Ufology, mythology, consciousness, and ancient civilizations
After The Paracast -- Available exclusively for Paracast+ subscribers on November 3: Special Correspondent William Puckett delivers reports on four sightings. They include a report from March 7, 2018 in Coolidge, GA involving a silver disk-shaped UFO, reports from October 27, 2019 involving UFOs seen in Liberty, TN and Plantation, FL, and the report of an orange orb pacing a car on August 11, 2019 in Newburg, MO. Kelly Farmer, from the Explaining Esoterica podcast, continues the discussion begun on the November 7, 2019 episode of The Paracast. Kelly and Randall cover issues involving esotericism and the paranormal conferences she has attended. There is also a discussion about the so-called “Mandela Effect,” in which people remember events completely different from what actually occurred.
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. Check out our new YouTube channel at: The Official Paracast Channel
False Memories Revisited
By Gene Steinberg
Human memory is a fragile thing. Forgetting the impact of a traumatic brain injury, a lifetime of experiences, and a rapidly changing culture, may combine to seriously lter one’s memories. There is also the natural tendency to want to embellish an event to make one feel more important; this can happen, too, over the years as the story keeps getting better and better.
I am not saying that humans have a natural tendency to lie. I think most people try to be honest; well, except, for example, those little white lies one tells to avoid hurting someone’s feelings or to be what is called “politically correct.”
But there is little doubt that people remember things differently, quite differently. There is that famous joke test, which I first saw on one of Steve Allen’s nightly outings years ago on what we then called “the tube.” He’d assemble a group of people from the audience, maybe five or 10, and whisper a joke into the ear of the first person. In turn, that person would whisper the joke to the next person — and so it went.
By the time the last individual was asked to recite the joke, it only had a passing resemblance to the original. And that’s maybe 15-30 seconds of conversation to someone who was prepped to expect it.
Now if something unexpected occurs, such as an auto accident, there will be different versions. No, not just because one party wants to blame the other — regardless of the facts. Again, it’s also about imperfect memories.
This also plays out when police interview possible witnesses to a crime; witness descriptions of a suspect may vary. You may see it depicted on one of those TV police procedurals, but it is based on reality. Putting together an accurate picture of what actually occurred is obviously not easy, and evidence retrieved from the scene may be used to expand on the verbal descriptions of the event.
So it would make perfect sense to have differing descriptions of a UFO sighting or other paranormal event. Consider it’s unexpected, and involves something that might be quite alien to our senses. So it will be interpreted through the filters of one’s life experience.
This explains why what might be similar events might be regarded differently, from possible deities in ancient times, to leprechauns and other strange beings to, beginning in the 20th century, possible visitors from other planets.
All right, there were those airship reports of the late 19th century, occurring during the early days of experimentation with heavier-than-air craft.
Can we assume, then, that the arrival of the UFOs presaged our halting efforts to explore outer space? Did “they” show the way?
In any case, flawed memories have seriously colored the evidence of UFO sightings, particularly after years have gone by. As I said, a lifetime of experiences just get in the way. Some people will even insert themselves into the action, even though they may have just been a peripheral participant. Or maybe they weren’t involved at all.
The 1947 Roswell event is a key example. After the initial report of a crashed disk was altered to reflect a downed high-altitude balloon, the story more or less laid dormant.
In the late 1970s, UFO researcher Stanton T. Friedman was led to speak to someone who recalled a UFO crash, and from there emerged the story of a possible crashed saucer at Roswell. If true, it would mean that the balloon explanation was hurriedly used as a means to hide the truth.
Over time, Friedman and other UFO investigators, including William Moore, Thomas Carey, Donald Schmitt, Kevin D. Randle and others, managed to unearth an elaborate tale involving the wreckage of a crashed spaceship, possible dead or dying aliens, and a massive cover-up.
Roswell is indeed the stuff of legend, and it is likely the most famous UFO event of all time. Ask most anyone about UFOs. They don’t usually refer to the Washington, D.C. UFO flap of 1952, the Socorro, NM sighting of 1964, or even the Rendlesham Forest affair in 1980. It’s all about Roswell and little gray aliens.
At least when debunkers aren’t relying on that silly little green men trope.
Even if an alien spacecraft truly crashed at Roswell, piecing together a reasonably accurate story after decades has not been easy. In addition to faulty memories of an event of long ago, some people apparently told tall tales to, as I said, insert themselves into the case.
In his 2016 book, “Roswell in the 21st Century,” author Kevin D. Randle approached this legendary event as a cold case. He went through much of the information he and others gathered over the years.
Randle came away with the conclusion that some elements of the Roswell legend, such as the presence of alien beings, couldn’t be confirmed. It’s not that people might have lied, though some of the tales were not very credible. But, again, the initial evidence was collected many years after the fact, when the recollections of the witnesses were no longer fresh.
So at the end of the day, Randle concluded that something evidently did happen there, but exactly what remains a mystery.
One possible remedy used to unearth forgotten memories is hypnotic regression. It has been frequently employed with UFO abductions, where someone might have had an episode of missing time, or disturbing dreams, and wants to find out what really happened.
But when amateurs attempt to become hypnotists — even those who might have taken brief courses in the practice — the subject may be led to remember things falsely.
Saying the wrong thing during one of these sessions may plant tidbits of information that will distort one’s memories of what really happened. Asking such leading questions as what the aliens looked like, for example, before the eyewitness even mentions seeing any beings, might indeed bring forth details that just aren’t true.
I don’t pretend to be an expert on hypnosis, although I did dabble in it in my late teens. But I did see how easy it was to plant a suggestion in one’s mind.
One of my subjects — or “victims” — of my efforts to hypnotize someone involved a teen with a smoking habit. So I gave him the suggestion that cigarettes would have a very bitter taste, so as to discourage him.
Indeed, it worked for a while, really. He temporarily quit smoking, but his friends kept egging him on. Eventually he resumed the habit. It may be, however, that he would have started smoking again anyway.
Now consider this: It’s hard enough for people to recall unexpected events. Now imagine an outside party — or force — that can make you see and hear things that aren’t really there, or color what you do see so you interpret it differently.
What looks like spaceships in the air may indeed be something else, but we are easily fooled by “them.”
Just a thought!
Copyright 1999-2019 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!