Mysterious Voices from "Beyond" Explored on The Paracast
Special Announcement: The Paracast is heard Sundays from 6:00 PM until 9:00 PM (Central Time) on the GCN radio network.
The Paracast Humbly Requests Your Donations: Although ads help cover a small part of our expenses, the income they produce is never enough, and we don't want to overwhelm the show with them, so we hope you'll be willing to help fill the gap if you can to help us cover increasing server costs and other expenses -- or perhaps provide a little extra cash for lunch. No contribution is too small (or too large
. We have a Donate link on our home page, below the logo and audio player. There's also a Donate link on our forums, right below our logo. Or just send your PayPal donation direct to sales (at) theparacast (dot) com.
You Can Now Order The Official Paracast T-Shirt: You asked, and we answered. We are now taking orders for The Official Paracast T-Shirt and a collection of other specially customized merchandise. To get your T-Shirt, just pay a visit to our new online store at Welcome to The Official Paracast Store to select your size and place your order. We now also offer a lineup of other premium merchandise featuring The Paracast logo.
Sunday, October 17, 2010: 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 hosts interview long-time researchers in the field, to shed light on the mysteries and complexities of our Universe and the secrets that surround us in our everyday lives.
Join us as we explore the realms of the known and unknown, and hear great stories of the history of the paranormal field in the 20th and 21st centuries.
This Week's Episode: Can voices from the beyond be recorded? What are they trying to tell us? This week co-host Christopher O'€™Brien presents Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP) expert Michael Esposito, who takes us beyond the sonic threshold.
Christopher O'Brien's Site: Home - Our Strange Planet
Reminder: Don't forget to visit our always-active Discussion Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal (and note our new Internet address): The Paracast Community Forums.
Bug-Eyed Beliefs
By Nick Redfern
When Gene Steinberg asked me, just a few days ago, if I’d be interested in doing a guest-editorial for the Paracast website, my unhesitating answer was: “Of course!” But then there was the issue of the subject-matter. When I inquired of Gene if there was anything in particular that he had in mind, he replied succinctly: “Indulge yourself!” Well, that was good enough for me, and so here we go.
One particular question that I often find myself coming back to in relation to all-things flying and saucer-shaped, is: why, for so many people within the realm of Ufology, is it important to champion, uphold, and fly the flag of the Extraterrestrial hypothesis beyond all other hypotheses?
We know that UFOs exist – the sheer wealth of credible reports, worldwide encounters, governmental, military and intelligence files, and much more, makes that issue absolutely crystal clear. But concluding that, if UFOs aren’t “ours,” then they simply must be “theirs” (and by “theirs” I mean honest-to-goodness E.T.’s) is nothing less, and nothing more, than a belief-system and an article of faith.
After all, I can think of half-a-dozen theories for the UFO presence on our planet that would still allow for the phenomenon to be placed in definitively anomalous categories, but that have about as much relevance to aliens as a dead armadillo on the road does to the inner-workings of a nuclear-reactor.
But, it’s that outer-space-based belief-system, coupled with the aforementioned article of faith that is promoted by many of the leading lights of Ufology with what is undoubtedly near-religious zeal. And why is that? Well, part of the reason is because Ufology has become an industry – and it’s an industry that is filled with lectures, with conferences and with potential TV appearances. And if you wanna be a part of it, then you better conform or else, right? Actually, no!
Back in July, I gave a lecture at the annual conference of the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) in Denver, Colorado. The subject of my presentation: Crop Circles. Imagine the outcry when I suggested that Crop Circles might have less to do with the antics of bug-eyed little Gray bastards, and more to do with the complex world of Ritual Magicians and landscape artists.
Funnily enough, imagining the outcry is all that you will be able to do, because the lecture was very well received. In other words, contrary to what many conference organizers may assume, people who attend UFO conferences don’t always want to hear about bloody E.T.! We’ve heard about the accursed entity for more than 60 years and we still haven’t found him/her/it!
In fact, on this same track, I’ve seen on several occasions absolute, overwhelming arrogance displayed by certain gig organizers who feel they know far better than their audience when it comes to what should or should not be discussed in an on-stage environment.
Another reason why the alien motif towers over all the rest is because, to put it bluntly and simply, many people in the field want UFOs to have alien origins. It’s seen as exciting, as conspiratorial, as thrilling.
Had Mac Tonnies not tragically passed away in October 2009, I have to wonder how many of the major conference organizers would have invited him to speak on the subject of his book "The Cryptoterrestrials" (that suggested UFOs may originate with an ancient, hidden, Earth-based race of beings, rather than in outer-space)? Sadly, the answer would probably, and predictably, have been: not many.
And if you are in the business of desperately wanting the UFO puzzle to have origins of the alien kind, then you should really ask yourself: why?
If we definitively solved Roswell tomorrow and it was shown to have been an event that had nothing to do with UFOs, then why would that be a problem? It certainly shouldn’t be a problem, because we would have every right to feel proud that we, as a community, had resolved one of the biggest mysteries of the modern era.
But, Ufology wants Roswell to be alien. Ufology wants the craft seen by Kenneth Arnold back in June 1947 to be alien. And Ufology wants its tales of crashed UFOs stored at Area 51. But wanting this or wanting that – in a Ufological setting – can only mean that an impartial quest for the truth has been eclipsed by a belief-driven yearning for an already-decided-upon conclusion.
And maybe that’s why, after 63 years of following in the wake of Arnold himself, the UFO community hasn’t resolved the mystery: it’s looking in all the wrong places
About the Author: Nick Redfern’s latest book is "Final Events," a study of a think-tank group within the U.S. Intelligence community that also suffered from an overwhelming belief in one particular Ufological theory – in their case: the demonic theory – at the expense of all others.
The Paracast Copyright 1999-2010 Making The Impossible, Inc. 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!
Special Announcement: The Paracast is heard Sundays from 6:00 PM until 9:00 PM (Central Time) on the GCN radio network.
The Paracast Humbly Requests Your Donations: Although ads help cover a small part of our expenses, the income they produce is never enough, and we don't want to overwhelm the show with them, so we hope you'll be willing to help fill the gap if you can to help us cover increasing server costs and other expenses -- or perhaps provide a little extra cash for lunch. No contribution is too small (or too large
. We have a Donate link on our home page, below the logo and audio player. There's also a Donate link on our forums, right below our logo. Or just send your PayPal donation direct to sales (at) theparacast (dot) com.You Can Now Order The Official Paracast T-Shirt: You asked, and we answered. We are now taking orders for The Official Paracast T-Shirt and a collection of other specially customized merchandise. To get your T-Shirt, just pay a visit to our new online store at Welcome to The Official Paracast Store to select your size and place your order. We now also offer a lineup of other premium merchandise featuring The Paracast logo.
Sunday, October 17, 2010: 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 hosts interview long-time researchers in the field, to shed light on the mysteries and complexities of our Universe and the secrets that surround us in our everyday lives.
Join us as we explore the realms of the known and unknown, and hear great stories of the history of the paranormal field in the 20th and 21st centuries.
This Week's Episode: Can voices from the beyond be recorded? What are they trying to tell us? This week co-host Christopher O'€™Brien presents Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP) expert Michael Esposito, who takes us beyond the sonic threshold.
Christopher O'Brien's Site: Home - Our Strange Planet
Reminder: Don't forget to visit our always-active Discussion Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal (and note our new Internet address): The Paracast Community Forums.
Bug-Eyed Beliefs
By Nick Redfern
When Gene Steinberg asked me, just a few days ago, if I’d be interested in doing a guest-editorial for the Paracast website, my unhesitating answer was: “Of course!” But then there was the issue of the subject-matter. When I inquired of Gene if there was anything in particular that he had in mind, he replied succinctly: “Indulge yourself!” Well, that was good enough for me, and so here we go.
One particular question that I often find myself coming back to in relation to all-things flying and saucer-shaped, is: why, for so many people within the realm of Ufology, is it important to champion, uphold, and fly the flag of the Extraterrestrial hypothesis beyond all other hypotheses?
We know that UFOs exist – the sheer wealth of credible reports, worldwide encounters, governmental, military and intelligence files, and much more, makes that issue absolutely crystal clear. But concluding that, if UFOs aren’t “ours,” then they simply must be “theirs” (and by “theirs” I mean honest-to-goodness E.T.’s) is nothing less, and nothing more, than a belief-system and an article of faith.
After all, I can think of half-a-dozen theories for the UFO presence on our planet that would still allow for the phenomenon to be placed in definitively anomalous categories, but that have about as much relevance to aliens as a dead armadillo on the road does to the inner-workings of a nuclear-reactor.
But, it’s that outer-space-based belief-system, coupled with the aforementioned article of faith that is promoted by many of the leading lights of Ufology with what is undoubtedly near-religious zeal. And why is that? Well, part of the reason is because Ufology has become an industry – and it’s an industry that is filled with lectures, with conferences and with potential TV appearances. And if you wanna be a part of it, then you better conform or else, right? Actually, no!
Back in July, I gave a lecture at the annual conference of the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) in Denver, Colorado. The subject of my presentation: Crop Circles. Imagine the outcry when I suggested that Crop Circles might have less to do with the antics of bug-eyed little Gray bastards, and more to do with the complex world of Ritual Magicians and landscape artists.
Funnily enough, imagining the outcry is all that you will be able to do, because the lecture was very well received. In other words, contrary to what many conference organizers may assume, people who attend UFO conferences don’t always want to hear about bloody E.T.! We’ve heard about the accursed entity for more than 60 years and we still haven’t found him/her/it!
In fact, on this same track, I’ve seen on several occasions absolute, overwhelming arrogance displayed by certain gig organizers who feel they know far better than their audience when it comes to what should or should not be discussed in an on-stage environment.
Another reason why the alien motif towers over all the rest is because, to put it bluntly and simply, many people in the field want UFOs to have alien origins. It’s seen as exciting, as conspiratorial, as thrilling.
Had Mac Tonnies not tragically passed away in October 2009, I have to wonder how many of the major conference organizers would have invited him to speak on the subject of his book "The Cryptoterrestrials" (that suggested UFOs may originate with an ancient, hidden, Earth-based race of beings, rather than in outer-space)? Sadly, the answer would probably, and predictably, have been: not many.
And if you are in the business of desperately wanting the UFO puzzle to have origins of the alien kind, then you should really ask yourself: why?
If we definitively solved Roswell tomorrow and it was shown to have been an event that had nothing to do with UFOs, then why would that be a problem? It certainly shouldn’t be a problem, because we would have every right to feel proud that we, as a community, had resolved one of the biggest mysteries of the modern era.
But, Ufology wants Roswell to be alien. Ufology wants the craft seen by Kenneth Arnold back in June 1947 to be alien. And Ufology wants its tales of crashed UFOs stored at Area 51. But wanting this or wanting that – in a Ufological setting – can only mean that an impartial quest for the truth has been eclipsed by a belief-driven yearning for an already-decided-upon conclusion.
And maybe that’s why, after 63 years of following in the wake of Arnold himself, the UFO community hasn’t resolved the mystery: it’s looking in all the wrong places
About the Author: Nick Redfern’s latest book is "Final Events," a study of a think-tank group within the U.S. Intelligence community that also suffered from an overwhelming belief in one particular Ufological theory – in their case: the demonic theory – at the expense of all others.
The Paracast Copyright 1999-2010 Making The Impossible, Inc. 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!