Explore American Indian Legends of the "Star People" 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, September 19, 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: Co-host Christopher O'Brien introduces an elder for the Zuni tribe making his first radio appearance, Clifford Mahooty, who will discuss Indian legends, including those involving "star people" who came to Earth in ancient times.
Christopher O'Brien's Site: Home - Our Strange Planet
Coming September 26: Co-host Nicholas Redfern takes us on a fascinating journey of UFO information and disinformation with Mark Pilkington, author of “Mirage Men: An Adventure into Paranoia, Espionage, Psychological Warfare, and UFOs.”
Nick Redfern's Site: Nick Redfern
Mark Pilkington's Blog: Mirage Men | Folklore and Deception in the UFO Age
Reminder: [/B]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.
Hiding in Plain Sight
During one of the early episodes of The Paracast, back in 2006, one of our guests suggested that the disinformation specialists who want to confuse and befuddle people who want to get at the truth of the UFO enigma were “hiding in plain sight.”
Just what does that mean?
Well, the most obvious conclusion is that government agents and perhaps private individuals and agencies who want to complicate the situation are busy feeding fake information. Without a clear line of demarcation between the real data and the faux data, how can serious UFO researchers really figure out what’s going on?
The answer is, of course, that they can’t.
There are, however, reasonably suspicious tidbits of information that might be evidence of disinformation. Back in the 1980s, for example, after the 1947 Roswell UFO crash became a major bone of contention in the wake of the publication of a best-selling book on the subject, a curious roll of film was received by an investigator, purporting to reveal a set of documents describing a secret government committee in the U.S. known as MJ-12.
Now I realize MJ-12 is contentious even today, and some UFO investigators continue to believe such a group exists. Others think it’s all a fake, but based on some degree reality (the existence of a secret committee seriously examining UFOs), while others point to some all-too-obvious red flags.
One red flag is that a key MJ-12 member was identified as Dr. Donald Menzel, the late astronomer and notorious UFO debunker. What a curious development, having an arch-skeptic turn out to be someone who knows they’re real?
That Dr. Menzel worked in intelligence in World War II was cited as evidence of his ongoing efforts during the early years of the modern UFO era to protect secrets. On the other hand, lots of prominent people were recruited for intelligence work during that war, including entertainers, and even the late news broadcaster, Paul Harvey. Were they all engaged in plots to hide the truth about the flying saucers?
But perhaps the most blatant (and downright absurd) example of possible UFO disinformation is the Project Serpo affair, which includes a set of documents that purport to describe an ongoing exchange program between the U.S. military and ET.
Now I have read some of those documents, and to say they seem utterly naive is an understatement. For example, the alleged diaries of soldiers who visited ET’s home world reads very much like the efforts of a child to write a science fiction story. I cannot believe anyone was taken in by this silly deception.
However, it’s fair to say that there are probably a whole lot more sophisticated attempts at fakery afoot. I wouldn’t doubt that some are so close to real events that most people wouldn’t notice the differences. Indeed, I have long speculated that some UFO abduction cases are, in fact, the result of government research into mind control. To make matters worse, as soon as untrained investigators get involved in such practices as hypnotic regression to unearth hidden memories, all bets are off.
Yes, I understand the use of regression is quite controversial. There may be genuine paranormal events behind the lost time, or perhaps they are caused by blackouts or other symptoms totally explainable by doctors. But when you add the possibility of government intervention, the chances of discovering what’s really going on lessen considerably.
At the end of the day, some might even suggest that many of the most compelling UFO reports are, themselves, attempts to deceive us about what’s really going on. Is that deception the result of government actions, or something way more mysterious? Maybe the truth is also hiding in plain sight, but discovering that truth may be the hardest job of all.
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, September 19, 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: Co-host Christopher O'Brien introduces an elder for the Zuni tribe making his first radio appearance, Clifford Mahooty, who will discuss Indian legends, including those involving "star people" who came to Earth in ancient times.
Christopher O'Brien's Site: Home - Our Strange Planet
Coming September 26: Co-host Nicholas Redfern takes us on a fascinating journey of UFO information and disinformation with Mark Pilkington, author of “Mirage Men: An Adventure into Paranoia, Espionage, Psychological Warfare, and UFOs.”
Nick Redfern's Site: Nick Redfern
Mark Pilkington's Blog: Mirage Men | Folklore and Deception in the UFO Age
Reminder: [/B]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.
Hiding in Plain Sight
During one of the early episodes of The Paracast, back in 2006, one of our guests suggested that the disinformation specialists who want to confuse and befuddle people who want to get at the truth of the UFO enigma were “hiding in plain sight.”
Just what does that mean?
Well, the most obvious conclusion is that government agents and perhaps private individuals and agencies who want to complicate the situation are busy feeding fake information. Without a clear line of demarcation between the real data and the faux data, how can serious UFO researchers really figure out what’s going on?
The answer is, of course, that they can’t.
There are, however, reasonably suspicious tidbits of information that might be evidence of disinformation. Back in the 1980s, for example, after the 1947 Roswell UFO crash became a major bone of contention in the wake of the publication of a best-selling book on the subject, a curious roll of film was received by an investigator, purporting to reveal a set of documents describing a secret government committee in the U.S. known as MJ-12.
Now I realize MJ-12 is contentious even today, and some UFO investigators continue to believe such a group exists. Others think it’s all a fake, but based on some degree reality (the existence of a secret committee seriously examining UFOs), while others point to some all-too-obvious red flags.
One red flag is that a key MJ-12 member was identified as Dr. Donald Menzel, the late astronomer and notorious UFO debunker. What a curious development, having an arch-skeptic turn out to be someone who knows they’re real?
That Dr. Menzel worked in intelligence in World War II was cited as evidence of his ongoing efforts during the early years of the modern UFO era to protect secrets. On the other hand, lots of prominent people were recruited for intelligence work during that war, including entertainers, and even the late news broadcaster, Paul Harvey. Were they all engaged in plots to hide the truth about the flying saucers?
But perhaps the most blatant (and downright absurd) example of possible UFO disinformation is the Project Serpo affair, which includes a set of documents that purport to describe an ongoing exchange program between the U.S. military and ET.
Now I have read some of those documents, and to say they seem utterly naive is an understatement. For example, the alleged diaries of soldiers who visited ET’s home world reads very much like the efforts of a child to write a science fiction story. I cannot believe anyone was taken in by this silly deception.
However, it’s fair to say that there are probably a whole lot more sophisticated attempts at fakery afoot. I wouldn’t doubt that some are so close to real events that most people wouldn’t notice the differences. Indeed, I have long speculated that some UFO abduction cases are, in fact, the result of government research into mind control. To make matters worse, as soon as untrained investigators get involved in such practices as hypnotic regression to unearth hidden memories, all bets are off.
Yes, I understand the use of regression is quite controversial. There may be genuine paranormal events behind the lost time, or perhaps they are caused by blackouts or other symptoms totally explainable by doctors. But when you add the possibility of government intervention, the chances of discovering what’s really going on lessen considerably.
At the end of the day, some might even suggest that many of the most compelling UFO reports are, themselves, attempts to deceive us about what’s really going on. Is that deception the result of government actions, or something way more mysterious? Maybe the truth is also hiding in plain sight, but discovering that truth may be the hardest job of all.
