Episodes
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Jim Moseley once boasted he'd be here "til the last cup and saucer," and perhaps he came closer than we expected. In this classic episode, Gene and cohost Chris O'Brien remembered Jim, the UFO field's court jester and editor of "Saucer Smear," who died on November 16. 2012. His close friends joined us with their anecdotes about Jim's amazing life, including Tim Beckley (who left us in 2021), Jerome Clark, Allen Greenfield, Geneva Hagen, and Bob Zanotti.
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Now with better audio and fewer ads: On the evening of October 11, 1973, co-workers 42-year-old Charles Hickson and 19-year-old Calvin Parker told the Jackson County, Mississippi Sheriff's office they were fishing off a pier on the west bank of the Pascagoula River in Mississippi when they heard a whirring/whizzing sound, and saw two flashing blue lights and an oval shaped object 30–40 feet across and 8–10 feet high. Parker and Hickson claimed that they were "conscious but paralyzed" while three "creatures" took them aboard the object and subjected them to an examination before releasing them. Gene and Randall presented Calvin Parker to discuss this experience and another, 20 years later, as told in his book, "Pascagoula — The Closest Encounter: My Story." After fighting a long illness, Parker died on August 24, 2023 at the age of 68.
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Missing episodes?
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Now with better audio and fewer ads: Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear as Gene and cohost Tim Swartz welcome back Brian Walker, the creator and webmaster of Brian’s Drive-In Theater, where he’s been keeping memories of drive-in films and their stars alive since February 1, 1998. On the agenda: low budget (B-movie) fare, particularly serials featuring super heroes and other popular characters. He also talks about the sad histories of some of the stars that never quite realized their full potential, and others, such as George Reeves (“Adventures of Superman”), whose lives ended tragically. Brian’s love of films began in childhood with his first Super 8mm projector given to him by his grandmother who also bought him his first film, a four-minute excerpt of a W.C. Fields comedy. Over the last 50 years, he has assembled a film collection from such genres as horror and science fiction, comedy, and action. Currently calling Morgantown, West Virginia home, Brian is fortunate to live in proximity of a number of still-operating drive-in theaters in the southwestern Pennsylvania area and loves taking his convertible to the drive-in during the warm summer months.
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Now with better audio and fewer ads: The late Stanton T. Friedman was world famous as a lecturer on the subject of UFOs. In this episode, he appeared with Kathleen Marden, both co-authors of “Captured!: The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience.” Ms. Marden is Betty Hill’s niece and has amassed a huge collection of documents about her aunt’s life and the incredible 1961 UFO abduction experience. She has since gone on to become a prominent researcher and therapist focusing on UFO abductions.
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Now with better audio and fewer ads: Gene and Chris present "The Great Aztec Debate," featuring Scott Ramsey, co-author of "The Aztec Incident: Recovery at Hart Canyon" and long-time UFO researcher Kevin D. Randle. During this debate, Ramsey will argue in favor of reports of a UFO crash in Aztec, NM in March 1948. Randle is a long-time skeptic of the case who attributes the report to two alleged hoaxers who gave the story to the late gossip columnist Frank Scully, author of a 1950 book, "Behind The Flying Saucers." The book was updated in 2008 with additional material from several authors, including Ramsey.
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Now with better audio and fewer ads: Gene and cohost Tim Swartz explore the histories of mediums and spiritualism, including notable events, with Gerald O’Hara. At age 12, he bought a copy of Alan Bullock’s “A Study in Tyranny” and was intrigued by the biographical process and discovered that writers have different perspectives on the same topic. This intriguing discovery led to a life-long study of biography, religion, and the reading of history. In 2006 he launched his 1st book, “Dead Men’s Embers.” In 2007, the author’s 2nd book “Mrs. Miller’s Gift” was published to mark the 75th anniversary of the Edinburgh College of Parapsychology. And in 2009, the CD and book” Mrs. Miller’s Gift CD” was published. “I Come to the Garden,” 2017 is Gerald’s fourth book, and a new edition is in preparation. "Ethel Post Parrish" is Gerald’s is the fifth book and his latest work is, "Spiritualism's Scandal: Mediumship in America." You learn more about his lengthy study of this scandal, and its implications, in this episode.
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Now with better audio and fewer ads: In this vintage episode of The Paracast from 2009, Gene and David remembered the late Mac Tonnies, author, futurist and Fortean, with a special tribute episode featuring his close friends and colleagues, including such research notables as Greg Bishop, Patrick Huyghe, Paul Kimball and Nick Redfern. In his brief life, Mac applied an innovative approach to the UFO mystery and other paranormal events. One of his theories was that UFOs may represent visitors from a breakaway civilization on this planet, visitors he referred to as Cryptoterrestrials.
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Now with better audio and fewer ads: We observe ten years of The Paracast with a special roundtable featuring two of our guest co-hosts over the years, Greg Bishop, of “Radio Misterioso,” film producer Paul Kimball, and long-time forum participant and moderator Goggs Mackay. We talk about the state of paranormal research, how our views have changed over the years when it comes to individual cases, such as Roswell, and the possible causes of the UFO phenomenon. The panel also discusses things that might be done to make research more productive; what about the evidence contained in those UFO databases, what about free and transparent evaluation of all the evidence? The discussion also includes the plight of the experiencer, how their lives have been impacted by their experience, and where UFO abductions may fit in. And what about “panic in the woods” and the “Oz Factor”? Sadly Goggs is no longer with us.
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Now with better audio and fewer ads: Gene and cohost Tim Swartz introduce Tillie Treadwell, a modern day author and paranormal scholar. In her own words, she is a conscious experiencer of phenomena, having had what she fully believes to be personal, true encounters with The Mandela Effect, odd glitches in time, both main topics for this episode, plus wild night crawlers, the Glimmer Man, UFOs, nonhuman people such as the fae and others. In past years, Tillie co-headed a paranormal investigation and exorcism team in blessing with leadership from the Catholic church, worked as an independent energetic healer, Tarot interpreter, and intuitive medicinal/ nutritional advisor in cooperation with local naturopathic and allopathic medical staff for her clientele. Today and since retiring from her previous full-time spiritual-social ventures, Tillie often quietly advises behind the scenes on books and YouTube channels. She is an avid reader and writer, a lover of communication and storytelling. Tillie joins Gene as one of the contributors to a new book, "Weird Time: Exploring the Mysteries of Time and Space."
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Now with better audio and fewer ads: Gene and cohost Tim Swartz present the return of Kevin D. Randle, who is seen as one of the preeminent experts not only on the UFO phenomena in general, but also with the reported UFO crash near Roswell, New Mexico in July 1947. In this episode, he will discuss such topics as the ongoing research into the Roswell event and other early cases, along with his observations about reported UFO abductions and their cause or causes. Randle is a retired lieutenant colonel who served in Vietnam as a helicopter pilot and in Iraq as a battalion intelligence officer. He began writing for UFO magazines and eventually moved onto books. His writing is not limited to the UFO field. He is the author of more than 100 books that cover not just UFOs, but action-adventure, mysteries, science fiction and even a vampire novel called, cleverly, “VAMPYR.” Randle’s notable UFO-related books include: "Roswell in the 21st Century," "Levelland," and "UFOs and the Deep State." He has been a frequent guest on The Paracast over the years. You can find his blog, A Different Perspective, at: https://kevinrandle.blogspot.com/
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Now with better audio and fewer ads: In this vintage episode, Gene and original cohost David Biedny put together a memorial for noted UFO researcher Richard H. Hall, who died in 2009. His major works included "The UFO Evidence," originally published when he was Assistant Director of Major Donald Keyhoe's NICAP in the 1960s. Featured guests included some of the esteemed investigators in the UFO field who knew him well, including Jerome Clark, Don Ecker, Paul Kimball, Dr. Bruce Maccabee and Kevin D. Randle. Sadly, both David and Bruce are no longer with us.
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Now with better audio and fewer ads: Gene and cohost Tim Swartz explore the legends and myths one of the most infamous serial killers of them all, Jack the Ripper. Along for the ride is Paul Begg, who has also written highly acclaimed books about mysterious disappearances, the Mary Celeste, a history of the C.I.D. at Scotland Yard, and several books examining different aspects of the Jack the Ripper case, including "Jack the Ripper: The Definitive History," "Jack the Ripper: The Forgotten Victims," "Jack the Ripper: CSI: Whitechapel," and "Mary Celeste-The Greatest Mystery of the Sea." Also joining us is Brian Young, our resident skeptic, a friend and colleague of Begg, who will share in the conversation about Jack the Ripper. Brian is a writer, researcher, historian, cigar connoisseur, and co-hosts the Transatlantic History Ramblings podcast along with Lauren Davies, heard on Spotify and other streaming platforms. His book is "The Wrestlers’ Wrestlers: The Masters of the Craft of Professional Wrestling." Begg has a career background in newspapers and publishing as well as being a freelance writer, as he says, "For far more years than I care to think about."
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Now with better audio and fewer ads: Shortly after his death, we presented a special three-hour tribute to the late Fortean author, John Keel, author of "The Mothman Prophecies" and other books. Over the years, he offered an original, sometimes offbeat, view of the strange and the unknown. Gene and cohost David Biedny presented an all-star guest list of UFO and paranormal researchers that included Tim “Mr. UFO” Beckley, Jerome Clark, Loren Coleman, Jim Moseley, Brad Steiger and Curt Sutherly. Sadly, David, Tim, Jim and Brad are no longer with us.
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Now with better audio and fewer ads: Take a trip through modern folklore, strange experiences and the legends and myths of advanced ancient civilizations with special guest Gareth Rees. Speaking with Gene and cohost Tim Swartz, you’ll discover how modern myths and folklore of place have always driven Gareth’s writing and he has contributed weird fiction and horror stories to numerous anthologies. His new book is “Sunken Lands: a Journey Through Lost Kingdoms and Flooded Worlds,” published by Elliott & Thompson. It’s an exploration of lost worlds, starting in the UK, then going out to the Bay of Naples and the Louisiana wetlands. It is about how folklore and mythology cling to places and carry messages from the deep past in a time of climate change. Gareth’s first book was “Marshland,” about a deep map of a semi-rural former industrial edgeland in the middle of London, blending factual writing with weird fiction. His second book, “The Stone Tide,” is an autobiographical work about Hastings on the East Sussex coast, where he wrote about the mavericks who have gravitated there: Aleister Crowley, John Logie Baird, Alex Sanders, Teilhard De Chardin. “Car Park Life,” his third book, is about parking lots, where he explores the boring spaces around chain stores, superstores, retail parks. Even though there’s nothing really paranormal in it, the process of extracting meaning from the mundane could be described as magical.
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Now with better audio and fewer ads: This is the original, premiere episode of The Paracast, with Gene Steinberg and David Biedny, where we explored the personality side of the world of UFOs with Jim Moseley, editor/publisher of Saucer Smear and prolific UFO and paranormal author Brad Steiger. Sadly David, Jim and Brad are no longer with us. This episode is reposted in respect to their memories.
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Now with better audio and fewer ads: This episode features better audio and fewer ads: Gene and cohost Tim Swartz present Kurt Konecny, one of the co-hosts of the podcast “The Strange Sessions.” In the podcast, Kurt and his friend and fellow ghosthunter Krista look into stories of the strange, whether it’s poltergeists, alien abduction, time travel, Bigfoot, or the nature of reality itself. Expecting only a few friends and family to listen to their podcast, Kurt and Krista were amazed when people they didn’t know started listening and joining their Facebook group. A lifelong Wisconsin native, Kurt has been into the paranormal ever since he was a child, experiencing several unexplained things in the house he grew up in. This blossomed into a lifelong fascination with ghosts, aliens, and anything spooky, eventually joining the Wisconsin-based paranormal research group Heartland Paranormal Investigations and doing investigations all over the Midwest. Kurt believes that the world is far stranger than anyone realizes. And that’s a good thing, because without that sense of mystery and wonder, life would just be dull. He also has a chapter about the synchronicity of numbers and time in the upcoming book: “Weird Time — Exploring the Mysteries of Time and Space.” Gene has also contributed a chapter to this book. You can listen to “The Strange Sessions” podcast at: The Strange Sessions | Kurt and Krista
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This episode features better audio and fewer ads: Gene and cohost Tim Swartz present a return visit from Philip Kinsella, author of several UFO and spiritual books who has written countless articles surrounding UFOs, consciousness and the afterlife. He began his investigations after an alien abduction he’d experienced back in the winter of 1989 and has spent the rest of his years exploring alternate theories surrounding both UFOs and alien contact, as well as psychic phenomena. In 1996, he published an article in Alien Encounters magazine, which had been considered within its theoretical application, entitled "Spirits in a Material World," which created some controversy with regards to his theoretical assumptions surrounding what a certain faction of the Greys may represent. Philip has lectured on the subject and has appeared on national television. He also co-hosts a radio program ran by the Paranormal UK Radio Network called "Twin Souls." In this episode, Philip discusses one of his books, "Terrestrial Trespassers." It covers such topics as: What are the Greys? Why are they here, and furthermore, what are their intentions? Why is it that after decades of alien abduction and UFO research we are no nearer in truly establishing what we may be up against regarding this omnipresent force which seemingly operates beyond our level of reality and hides within the shadows like phantoms in the night? Philip takes a candid look at the phenomenon, along with other areas of high strangeness in his search for the clues which may answer some truly extraordinary claims.
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This episode features better audio and fewer ads: Gene and cohost Tim Swartz introduce Paul Schatzkin, a biographer of obscure 20th century scientists. He has been described variously as a visionary, gadfly, serial entrepreneur, Internet pioneer, staunch McLuhanist, author, occasional bomb-thrower, guitarist and songwriter. His two books are: “The Boy Who Invented Television” about Philo T. Farnsworth and “The Man Who Mastered Gravity” about T. Townsend Brown. As to Farnsworth, he invented a thing called “the television” — which over the course of his lifetime (1906-1971) became the most ubiquitous appliance in the history of human civilization. Every video screen on the planet — including the one you are looking at now – can trace its origins to a sketch that 14-year-old Philo drew for his high school science teacher in 1922. Schatzkin’s second book — exploring the mysterious life of T. Townsend Brown (1895-1985) — is “the biography of a man whose story cannot be told.” “The Man Who Mastered Gravity” is a tale that lives in the Venn diagram between science, science fiction and pseudo science, with elements of world history, international espionage, and cross-generational romance. He was also involved in the early creation of a UFO research organization, the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP), which was later placed under the direction of UFO field pioneer and disclosure advocate Major Donald E. Keyhoe.
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This episode features better audio and fewer ads: Gene and cohost Tim Swartz present the all-encompassing views of Dr. Thomas F. Lawson, a psychologist and original thinker who has done extensive research into the ontology and history of super ancient Egypt and how all of its structures/temples/pyramids are part of a “Messianic/Mashiach Plan,” now culminating and which, he says, will create a “new heaven and a new Earth.” After personal research in Egypt, Dr Lawson developed and presented a number of PowerPoint lectures on antediluvian civilizations whose members fled after a world-wide cataclysm circa 11,000 B.C. to Egypt. This ancient, technological knowledge was used to build the pyramids and recorded this history on the Egyptian temple at Edfu. In 2009-11, Dr Lawson was privately invited to explore the Sphinx enclosure by the then Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities Dr. Zahi Hawass as part of a five man “quiet” team with Raytheon Inc to use a new LIDAR tunnel detection system to surreptitiously search for the Atlantean Hall of Records. He has over 25 years experience in design, development and implementation of strategic, tactical and operational planning and systems analysis within numerous federal government, intelligence and defense environments. He is a highly experienced multi-discipline FAA Project and Air Traffic Control Facility Manager and Operations.
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This episode features better audio and fewer ads: Gene and cohost Tim Swartz present Dr. Simon Young, a British folklore historian based in Italy. He has written extensively on the nineteenth-century supernatural. His book Magical Folk: British & Irish Fairies, came out in 2017.The Boggart (from Exeter University Press) and The Nail in the Skull and Other Victorian Urban Legends (from Mississippi University Press) came out in 2022. Dr. Young has undertaken the biggest folklore survey of its kind, on behalf of the Fairy Investigation Society and released in 2024 The Fairy Census 2: 2017-2023. His earlier collection, The Fairy Census 1, came out in 2017. The census, revived more than 60 years from the last one, gathered details of as many fairy sightings from the 20th and 21st century as possible, and to measure contemporary attitudes to fairies. He is also the editor of Exeter New Approaches to Legends, Folklore and Popular Legends, which provides a venue for growing scholarly interest in folklore narratives, supernatural belief systems and the communities that sustain them. As well, Dr. Young teaches history at University of Virginia's Siena Campus (CET). Over the years he has run courses on the History of Christianity, Italian Food History, Italian Media History, Contemporary Italian History, WW2 in Italy and Italian Renaissance History. For more information about the Fairy Census, visit its website at: www.fairyist.com. His blog can be found at: www.strangehistory.net
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