The Paracast Newsletter
November 6, 2022
www.theparacast.com
Explore Ancient Mysteries, Such as Whether Anti-Gravity Was Used by the Ancients to Build the Pyramids and Other Immense Structures with Nick Redfern 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.
THIS IS IMPORTANT! DON'T MISS OUT! YOU CAN SUPPORT THE PARACAST 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 present very prolific author Nick Redfern, who will discuss his recent book, "How Antigravity Built the Pyramids: The Mysterious Technology of Ancient Superstructures." Throughout history, folklore, and mystery, tales have circulated of massive stones being moved through the air effortlessly by sound. Bizarre? Well, yes, it is. That doesn’t take away the fact that sound was, and still remains, the key to the construction of the pyramids of Egypt, Stonehenge, the stone figures of Easter Island, and the massive stones at Baalbek, Lebanon. Were they the work of ancient humans or of equally ancient extraterrestrials? Nick is a full-time author and journalist specializing in a wide range of unsolved mysteries.
After The Paracast — Available exclusively for Paracast+ subscribers November 6: Very prolific author Nick Redfern is back to talk with Gene and cohost Tim Swartz about his book, "Diary of Secrets: UFO Conspiracies & the Mysterious Death of Marilyn Monroe." Was the death of the famous actress in 1964 due to something other than suicide? What about the death of gossip columnist Dorothy Kilgallen, who explored both the JFK assassination and UFOs? There's also an extended discussion about flying saucers and disinformation, and whether such significant sightings as the 1980 Rendlesham Forest case in the UK have conventional explanations. Among his many exploits, Redfern has investigated reports of lake monsters in Scotland, vampires in Puerto Rico, werewolves in England, aliens in Mexico, and sea serpents in the United States. Redfern travels and lectures extensively around the world.
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
It All Started with a TV Show
By Gene Steinberg
In 1975, I sought a new direction in my life. My first marriage had ended and a new business I was operating with a friend wasn’t doing so well. It was time to consider other options.
But wait, there’s a paranormal element to this. I was living in Downingtown, PA, about 45 minutes outside of Philadelphia. One afternoon, I visited a friend, a long-time pagan, who lived in Philadelphia.
She asked me how I was doing and I explained my dilemma. I told her I thought that perhaps I should return to the New York area. So she broke out her Tarot deck and did a reading. While her answers weren’t terribly revealing, one stood out. That I’d be “plying my trade.”
This was important, because that failing business supplied prepress services, such as typesetting and design, to local companies. Alas, phototypesetting equipment was expensive, so the affordable versions we acquired weren’t quite up to the task.
In passing: Yes, I did eventually “ply my trade” and earned a decent living from doing the same sort of work at some New York-based prepress studios.
But while pondering my future, I was providing typesetting and editing for a paranormal magazine, Harry Belil’s Beyond Reality. When he decided to take advantage of public access — meaning free — cable programming at a New York outlet, he asked me to help because of my broadcast background.
The show was entitled “The World Beyond Reality,” or something similar. Feel free to correct me if any of you ever heard of it.
Belil, who conveyed the persona of a low-end henchman, wasn’t too comfortable in front of the camera, so I became its host. On one episode, we featured Charles Berlitz who, at the time, was promoting his best-selling book from 1974, “The Bermuda Triangle.”
When I asked what he’d be working on next, he mentioned the controversial Philadelphia Experiment, and talked about seeking a copy of the infamous Varo edition of M.K. Jessup’s book, “The Case for the UFO.”
The Philadelphia Experiment myth was hatched by someone who used the pseudonym Carlos Allende (his real name was Carl Allen), who paraded about an annotated version of Jessup’s book with multiple handwritten notes revealing the alleged details of a test on a battleship during World War II that went horribly wrong in a most peculiar way. It involved time travel, teleportation and other strange forces.
Jessup became aware of what was going on when he discovered that the U.S. Office of Naval Research had contracted the printing of that annotated book. Different color inks were designed to simulate the multiple colors of the annotations, each evidently meant to reflect a different person.
The book, as printed by Varo Manufacturing Company of Garland, Texas, had limited distribution but found its way into UFO circles. One of those copies, which I received from controversial UFO author/publisher Gray Barker, mimicked the original by being printed in a spiral-bound 8½ x 11 format.
So I told Berlitz that I had the book and would loan it to him if he wanted. That promise, which he eagerly accepted, earned me the first of many free lunches as he questioned me about the strange affair.
A couple of times, I visited him at his old mansion in Glen Cove, NY. Remember that he was a descendant of the founders of the Berlitz Language schools, so he was quite wealthy before he got into writing paranormal titles. We met in his den, which featured an old ship’s cabin converted into a study.
Anyway, after a few months of these regular visits, I didn’t hear from him for quite a while. Then, in 1979, The Philadelphia Experiment, by Berlitz and William Moore appeared. In exchange for those lunches, I received a credit once or twice in the book.
Yes, Berlitz returned the Varo book to me.
Understand, I have never accepted the story as much more than a clumsy attempt at foolery. I suppose it had its value, though. The book evidently sold well enough to inspire Hollywood to acquire the rights and deliver the first of three sci-fi films based on the concept. I’m not sure how well they did, but the story has become a lingering if controversial legend in the UFO field.
Now I am not going to be foolish enough to assert that I was in any way responsible for any of this other than to loan Berlitz a book that he sought for research, and answer a bunch of questions.
I rather doubt, however, whether he took much of it seriously. On more than a few occasions, he’d look at me, a telltale twinkle in his eyes, an assert that he was as “honest as the day is long.”
He even said that in the winter, but you get the picture. He was having fun, selling lots of books, making money from lecture tours, and enjoying his unexpected fame.
He later moved to Florida; he died in 2003 at the age of 90.
Nowadays, I doubt most would remember him, except for one more book that was published in 1980, “The Roswell Incident,” coauthored again with William Moore.
According to Stanton Friedman, he did a great deal of work on that book, claiming that he was one of the first — or the first — to talk to one of the eyewitnesses of the 1947 Roswell crash over 30 years after the event.
Indeed, based on what Friedman said on The Paracast and elsewhere, you’d think he would have deserved a full coauthor byline on that book rather than some credits. But I don’t know the background of that deal, or whether most of his contributions were in the form of research rather than actually writing much of it.
But a great of what was known, rumored or suspected about Roswell was an outgrowth of that book. Had it not appeared when it did, I wonder whether folks in the UFO field would be saying much about it now. After all, Roswell was pretty much dead and buried as a story after the original event and the military’s claim it was all just a weather balloon.
I won’t pretend to know whether my unexpected encounter with Berlitz on a small TV cable show spurred any of this. As you can readily imagine, my contributions to any of these legends were quite modest in the scheme of things.
And that’s the way it was.
Copyright 1999-2022 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 6, 2022
www.theparacast.com
Explore Ancient Mysteries, Such as Whether Anti-Gravity Was Used by the Ancients to Build the Pyramids and Other Immense Structures with Nick Redfern 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.
THIS IS IMPORTANT! DON'T MISS OUT! YOU CAN SUPPORT THE PARACAST 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 present very prolific author Nick Redfern, who will discuss his recent book, "How Antigravity Built the Pyramids: The Mysterious Technology of Ancient Superstructures." Throughout history, folklore, and mystery, tales have circulated of massive stones being moved through the air effortlessly by sound. Bizarre? Well, yes, it is. That doesn’t take away the fact that sound was, and still remains, the key to the construction of the pyramids of Egypt, Stonehenge, the stone figures of Easter Island, and the massive stones at Baalbek, Lebanon. Were they the work of ancient humans or of equally ancient extraterrestrials? Nick is a full-time author and journalist specializing in a wide range of unsolved mysteries.
After The Paracast — Available exclusively for Paracast+ subscribers November 6: Very prolific author Nick Redfern is back to talk with Gene and cohost Tim Swartz about his book, "Diary of Secrets: UFO Conspiracies & the Mysterious Death of Marilyn Monroe." Was the death of the famous actress in 1964 due to something other than suicide? What about the death of gossip columnist Dorothy Kilgallen, who explored both the JFK assassination and UFOs? There's also an extended discussion about flying saucers and disinformation, and whether such significant sightings as the 1980 Rendlesham Forest case in the UK have conventional explanations. Among his many exploits, Redfern has investigated reports of lake monsters in Scotland, vampires in Puerto Rico, werewolves in England, aliens in Mexico, and sea serpents in the United States. Redfern travels and lectures extensively around the world.
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
It All Started with a TV Show
By Gene Steinberg
In 1975, I sought a new direction in my life. My first marriage had ended and a new business I was operating with a friend wasn’t doing so well. It was time to consider other options.
But wait, there’s a paranormal element to this. I was living in Downingtown, PA, about 45 minutes outside of Philadelphia. One afternoon, I visited a friend, a long-time pagan, who lived in Philadelphia.
She asked me how I was doing and I explained my dilemma. I told her I thought that perhaps I should return to the New York area. So she broke out her Tarot deck and did a reading. While her answers weren’t terribly revealing, one stood out. That I’d be “plying my trade.”
This was important, because that failing business supplied prepress services, such as typesetting and design, to local companies. Alas, phototypesetting equipment was expensive, so the affordable versions we acquired weren’t quite up to the task.
In passing: Yes, I did eventually “ply my trade” and earned a decent living from doing the same sort of work at some New York-based prepress studios.
But while pondering my future, I was providing typesetting and editing for a paranormal magazine, Harry Belil’s Beyond Reality. When he decided to take advantage of public access — meaning free — cable programming at a New York outlet, he asked me to help because of my broadcast background.
The show was entitled “The World Beyond Reality,” or something similar. Feel free to correct me if any of you ever heard of it.
Belil, who conveyed the persona of a low-end henchman, wasn’t too comfortable in front of the camera, so I became its host. On one episode, we featured Charles Berlitz who, at the time, was promoting his best-selling book from 1974, “The Bermuda Triangle.”
When I asked what he’d be working on next, he mentioned the controversial Philadelphia Experiment, and talked about seeking a copy of the infamous Varo edition of M.K. Jessup’s book, “The Case for the UFO.”
The Philadelphia Experiment myth was hatched by someone who used the pseudonym Carlos Allende (his real name was Carl Allen), who paraded about an annotated version of Jessup’s book with multiple handwritten notes revealing the alleged details of a test on a battleship during World War II that went horribly wrong in a most peculiar way. It involved time travel, teleportation and other strange forces.
Jessup became aware of what was going on when he discovered that the U.S. Office of Naval Research had contracted the printing of that annotated book. Different color inks were designed to simulate the multiple colors of the annotations, each evidently meant to reflect a different person.
The book, as printed by Varo Manufacturing Company of Garland, Texas, had limited distribution but found its way into UFO circles. One of those copies, which I received from controversial UFO author/publisher Gray Barker, mimicked the original by being printed in a spiral-bound 8½ x 11 format.
So I told Berlitz that I had the book and would loan it to him if he wanted. That promise, which he eagerly accepted, earned me the first of many free lunches as he questioned me about the strange affair.
A couple of times, I visited him at his old mansion in Glen Cove, NY. Remember that he was a descendant of the founders of the Berlitz Language schools, so he was quite wealthy before he got into writing paranormal titles. We met in his den, which featured an old ship’s cabin converted into a study.
Anyway, after a few months of these regular visits, I didn’t hear from him for quite a while. Then, in 1979, The Philadelphia Experiment, by Berlitz and William Moore appeared. In exchange for those lunches, I received a credit once or twice in the book.
Yes, Berlitz returned the Varo book to me.
Understand, I have never accepted the story as much more than a clumsy attempt at foolery. I suppose it had its value, though. The book evidently sold well enough to inspire Hollywood to acquire the rights and deliver the first of three sci-fi films based on the concept. I’m not sure how well they did, but the story has become a lingering if controversial legend in the UFO field.
Now I am not going to be foolish enough to assert that I was in any way responsible for any of this other than to loan Berlitz a book that he sought for research, and answer a bunch of questions.
I rather doubt, however, whether he took much of it seriously. On more than a few occasions, he’d look at me, a telltale twinkle in his eyes, an assert that he was as “honest as the day is long.”
He even said that in the winter, but you get the picture. He was having fun, selling lots of books, making money from lecture tours, and enjoying his unexpected fame.
He later moved to Florida; he died in 2003 at the age of 90.
Nowadays, I doubt most would remember him, except for one more book that was published in 1980, “The Roswell Incident,” coauthored again with William Moore.
According to Stanton Friedman, he did a great deal of work on that book, claiming that he was one of the first — or the first — to talk to one of the eyewitnesses of the 1947 Roswell crash over 30 years after the event.
Indeed, based on what Friedman said on The Paracast and elsewhere, you’d think he would have deserved a full coauthor byline on that book rather than some credits. But I don’t know the background of that deal, or whether most of his contributions were in the form of research rather than actually writing much of it.
But a great of what was known, rumored or suspected about Roswell was an outgrowth of that book. Had it not appeared when it did, I wonder whether folks in the UFO field would be saying much about it now. After all, Roswell was pretty much dead and buried as a story after the original event and the military’s claim it was all just a weather balloon.
I won’t pretend to know whether my unexpected encounter with Berlitz on a small TV cable show spurred any of this. As you can readily imagine, my contributions to any of these legends were quite modest in the scheme of things.
And that’s the way it was.
Copyright 1999-2022 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!