Episodes
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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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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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Missing episodes?
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Gene and cohost Tim Swartz remember one of the key figures of the early UFO field, as we interview Linda C. Powell, news editor for The Anomalist. She is the author of “Against the Odds: Major Donald E. Keyhoe and His Battle to End UFO Secrecy: A Biography.” In UFO lore, one man is largely responsible for the twin pillars of current belief: that UFOs represent extraterrestrial technology and that the government is hiding this truth from us. His name is Donald E. Keyhoe. He was a 51-year-old retired Marine Major when his own investigation of a famous 1948 flying saucer case led him to believe that the US Air Force and the CIA knew the Earth was under surveillance by beings from other worlds and were keeping it secret from the public. For the next 21 years, he devoted himself, at great personal cost, to exposing the official cover-up of what he believed was an alien visitation. Thanks to his highly-placed contacts in the military and secret informants in the Pentagon, Keyhoe became the first major figure to truly challenge the official view that UFO reports belonged in the domain of “kooks and fuzzy thinkers.” He eventually led what became the world’s most powerful civilian UFO organization for its time, the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP). You’ll also learn all about Gene’s early encounters with Keyhoe between 1965 and 1975, and some of the controversies that arose over Keyhoe’s attempts to run NICAP as a lobbying arm for UFO disclosure.
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A main focus of this episode is Bigfoot as Gene and cohost Tim Swartz present Greg Ogles, who got into investigating Bigfoot in 2013 and is the founder of the Alabama Bigfoot Society. Initially he just wanted a diversion in his life as his profession can be quite stressful. Greg has hunted and fished all of his life so being in the woods in remote places was not new to him. In his regular life, he is the traffic analyst for the largest city in Alabama. As an analyst, he's trained in investigative techniques which he has translated over to investigating the unknown. So throughout the history of mankind, we have always been curious about the unknown, making new discoveries and trekking our way into the wilderness. Greg's first thoughts were to fully document all of his encounters. As a skeptic he thought there would be little film that he would have to edit. Then one cold day in Alabama, everything changed! His company is Relic films, a production company that seeks out the truth about America's greatest Legends and Myths. With the use of modern technology and the study of ancient Indian cultures he attempts to uncover the hidden truth about what is real and what is just a story.
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Gene and cohost Tim Swartz present best-selling author W.T. Watson, a coffee addict and writer of both fiction and non-fiction. He infuses his work with his expertise in cryptozoology, monster lore, magic, Forteana and the paranormal. W.T. brings a unique shamanic and magical perspective to all of his work after over 30 years of exploration in these topics. During this episode there's a special focus on Bigfoot, and other strange creatures and legends of strange creatures through the ages. Watson's books include: "Canadian Monsters & Mysteries," "Sasquatch Canada: Beyond British Columbia," "Mysteries in the Mist: Mist, Fog, and Clouds in the Paranormal,", and his most recent, which will be discussed during this episode: "The Forest Poltergeist: Class B Encounters and the Paranormal." When he is not writing or reading about monsters, he can be found outdoors allowing his dogs to take him for a walk around his neighborhood in Kitchener, Ontario. He lives with his spouse, Stacey, in a townhome that would be jammed with books if it weren't for e-readers.
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Gene and cohost Tim Swartz present "Captain" Ron Janix, a fellow who has been immersed in the UFO/paranormal community for many years. During this episode, he'll talk in detail about the state of UFO research, especially the most recent issues regarding the Pentagon's various investigative projects. Through reading and listening to experts, working with various conferences, and doing hundreds of interviews, Ron has built up an extensive knowledge of the subject. He began podcasting with the Elevate The Conversation show back in 2014, and then moved on to the Truth Be Told show along with Tony Sweet. In April 2021, Ron founded The Observation Deck, an online source for information on speakers and events in and around the UFO community. Additionally, he also launched a podcast entitled The Observation Desk, that focused on where his passion lies new theories and discoveries in the areas of Science, Technology, History, and the Paranormal. He is also the Co-Owner, Producer, and Host of "Contact in the Desert," which he presents as the world's largest UFO-themed Conference, each year featuring dozens of well-known figures in the field. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the newly launched Hollywood Disclosure Alliance, headquartered in Los Angeles.
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As The Paracast begins its 19th year, Gene and cohost Tim Swartz present Peter Robbins, an investigative writer, author and lecturer best known for his books, columns, articles, radio commentaries, interviews and conference talks about UFOs. He has appeared as a guest on and been consultant to numerous television programs and documentaries. Robbins’ longtime interest in and research into the life and scientific discoveries of Dr. Wilhelm Reich have led to series of published papers and conference talks in the US and the UK, and presentations at for the International Conference on the Scientific Discoveries of Wilhelm Reich, Nice France; the American College of Orgonomy’s conferences in New York City and Princeton New Jersey, and For the Orgone Biophysical Research Laboratory conferences held near Ashland Oregon. His professional credits include, Editorial Assistant on United Nations’ Secretary General’s (requested) report “for the establishment of a UN-UFO Department,” and Editorial Assistant for Member of Parliament, the Honorable Brinsley Le Poer Trench, Earl of Clancarty’s (requested) paper for The House of Lords 1980 Debate on UFOs. Robbins was also a founding member of Budd Hopkins’ Intruders Foundation, member of its Advisory Board, and Executive Assistant to Mr. Hopkins. He was Event Coordinator for the SCI FI Channel’s "Alien Abduction Phenomenon: A Symposium," organized to promote the release of the Steven Spielberg miniseries "Taken," and writer, planner and commentator for the “Ultimate UFO” and “Ultimate Crop Circle” DVD sets. You can check out his weekly show, "Meanwhile, Here On Earth LIVE" on Mondays at 7:00 PM EST by going to www.unxnetwork.com and clicking on "X-Stream / Listen or Watch" at the top of the page.
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Gene and cohost Tim Swartz present a return visit from the one and only Joshua Cutchin, a long-time favorite of listeners to The Paracast. He is an author, musician, husband, father, who has appeared on a wide variety of paranormal programs discussing his work, including the hit History Channel television show “Ancient Aliens.” He is the author of seven critically-acclaimed books: 2015’s “A Trojan Feast: The Food and Drink Offerings of Aliens, Faeries, and Sasquatch” (translated into Spanish as “Banquete Troyano”); 2016’s “The Brimstone Deceit: An In-Depth Examination of Supernatural Scents, Otherworldly Odors, & Monstrous Miasmas”; 2018’s “Thieves in the Night: A Brief History of Supernatural Child Abductions”; and 2020’s “Where the Footprints End: High Strangeness and the Bigfoot Phenomenon,” Volumes I & II, with Timothy Renner. In 2022, he released his two-part masterwork: “Ecology of Souls: A New Mythology of Death & the Paranormal.” 2023 marked the release of his first fictional novel, “Them Old Ways Never Died,” as well as his curated collection of essays, “Fairy Films: Wee Folk on the Big Screen.”
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Gene and cohost Tim Swartz welcome back Hercules Invictus. A Lemnian Greek, he’s a proud descendant of Argonauts and Amazons. He is openly Olympian in his spirituality and worldview, dedicated to living the Mythic Life and has been exploring the fringes of our reality throughout his entire earthly sojourn. In this episode, Hercules pontificates about folklore, about the possibility that beings from other planets were active in so-called Biblical times. That is, unless an ancient civilization, such as Atlantis, was the home for a race of advanced beings. For over four decades he has been sharing his Olympian Odyssey with others. Hercules also recruits Argonauts and Heraklidae to help him usher in a new Age of Heroes. In the paranormal realm, Hercules currently produces and hosts several podcasts, a YouTube channel. He has also written numerous articles these subjects, and is an active author who has published two e-books on Kindle and contributed to over twenty paranormal anthologies. Hercules frequently conducts Olympian Workshops and serves as a guest speaker on multiple platforms.
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Gene and cohost Tim Swartz present an entertaining pop culture look at "B" movies and movie serials with Brian Walker, creator and webmaster of Brian’s Drive-In Theater. He's been keeping memories of drive-in films and their stars alive since February 1, 1998. His 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 with a special emphasis on B (low budget) movies. 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. All told, this episode will provide a great look into pop culture over the decades, and its impact on society. As listeners to The Paracast know full well, the conventional memes in the UFO field about the origins and purpose of the phenomenon are infused in our culture, and sci-fi "B" movies, such as "Earth Versus the Flying Saucers," play a large part.
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Gene and cohost Tim Swartz present another appearance from Keith Linder, who relates an extraordinary range of incredible paranormal experiences beginning in 2012. At the time, he and his girlfriend, Tina, moved into a house in the suburb of Seattle. The bizarre phenomena they witnessed would change their lives forever. The extreme ghostly activity started off when they heard what sounded to them like a child coughing. From there, things escalated quickly to strange noises, doors slamming, apparitions, things disappearing and dangerous fires. Objects would appear and disappear. One of the fires even burned a copy of the Bible. Keith eventually called in paranormal researcher Don Philips and British parapsychologist Steve Mera, who visited the house twice, spending several weeks and collecting extraordinary evidence. Keith is an IT professional for a popular IT company in Seattle, WA. He is author of the books "The Bothell Hell House: Poltergeist of Washington State," "Attachments: Poltergeist of Washington State Part 2," and "Poltergeist - The Night Side of Physics." His YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@KeithLdemonsinseattle
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Gene and cohost Tim Swartz present Brian Young — our resident skeptic — who makes a return visit to The Paracast to talk about Albert K. Bender, a curious character who became prominent in the early days of the modern UFO era and his experiences with the mysterious Men In Black. And what about their influence on UFO research and pop culture? Indeed, is there a group of government agents — rogue or otherwise — who travel around visiting innocent people whose only transgression was to see a UFO, telling to just shut up? What about Bender's strange sci-fi themed summary of his MIB encounters, "Flying Saucers and the Three Men"? Brian is a historian, cigar connoisseur, writer and researcher who, in addition to his paranormal studies, covers boxing and boxing history. He also 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."
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Gene and cohost Tim Swartz feature Chris Evers, owner and editor of Outer Limits Magazine a six times a year online publication dedicated to the paranormal world which we live in. He has had an interest in the UFO subject since his own strange experience in 1974. He is author of “THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME From Elsewhere:” Unidentified Flying Objects, Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, Flying Saucers, Orbs, Cigar-Shaped, Flying Triangles, V-Shaped or Cross-Shaped, or even the alleged Adamski Venusian craft, the world of Ufology has seen them all. Why have there been so many different shapes associated with the world’s greatest unexplained phenomena? Do they all come from the same manufacturing plant based on a planet many light years from Earth? Will the truth ever be known? Evers presents mysterious tales and stories surrounding many of the above types of craft. Some will be well known accounts, which you have likely heard of; while many will be presented to you for the first time in this the authors first book from Philip Mantle’s Flying Disk Press.
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Gene and cohost Tim Swartz present Lee Vander Boegh, an Emmy Award winning freelance writer, reporter and filmmaker based in Boise, Idaho. He spent nearly a decade at a local TV news station, where he helped produce "Ida-Haunts," a series of paranormal news stories (the promos he created for this series earned him two Emmys). The main focus of this episode is an article he wrote about cryptids, 10 Most Googled Monsters in the U.S. A self professed "Paranormal Agnostic," Lee doesn't discount the possibility of such phenomena, but wants irrefutable proof before calling himself a true believer. That said, he's had his fair share of "Did you see that?" moments, including an incident with a night-time aerial light so bright it burnt up his vehicle's alternator, and a one-year residency in a house that went bump-in-the-night on an uncomfortably regular basis. In his spare time he enjoys making horror films, acting, playing music and writing about himself in the third person. His horror short film, "Hinsdale," has won multiple festival awards including Best Horror Short at the 2019 Action on Film Festival and Best Horror Film and Audience choice award at the 2019 Twin Falls Film Festival.
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And now for something completely different: Gene and cohost Tim Swartz present Christina Ward, an author, editor, and seeker. She is also the Vice President and Editor of Feral House, a publisher noted for their books on outré topics. The main topic of discussion is her book, "Holy Food: How Cults, Communes, and New Religious Movements Influenced What We Eat." Religious beliefs have been the source of food "rules" since Pythagoras told his followers not to eat beans (they contain souls), Kosher and Halal rules forbade the shrimp cocktail (shellfish are scavengers, or maybe God just said "no"). A long-ago Pope forbade Catholics from eating meat on Fridays (fasting to atone for committed sins). Rules about eating are present in nearly every American belief, from high-control groups that ban everything except air to the infamous strawberry shortcake that sated visitors to the Oneida Community in the late 1800s. Even the followers of the Heaven's Gate cult had specific rules about food consumption. Ward's book also features over 75 recipes from religious and communal groups tested and updated for modern cooks.
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Gene and cohost Tim Swartz present Mark Christopher Lee, a singer-songwriter in the cult indie band The Pocket Gods since 1998. As a filmmaker, he presents “God Vs. Aliens,” which looks into whether life as we know and perceive it is just a simulation designed and controlled by extra terrestrials for some unknown purpose. This theory would then make religion and even the idea of God as a construct of the computer game and thereby the Aliens controlling it. This films explores this theory and its impact on the world’s religions should we make first contact, and especially if that contact would actually negate our physical existence and any notion of God as real. Featured in the film are former UK Ministry of Defence staffer Nick Pope, Harvard astronomer Professor Avi Loeb, and UFO skeptic Seth Shostak. As a working musician, Lee has long advocated for fair royalties for artists, especially on such music streaming services as Apple Music and Spotify. He says that musicians routinely get underpaid for their work by the music industry and they have released albums of 30-second songs since 2015 to highlight the lack of fair royalties.
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Gene and cohost Tim Swartz present author, producer, writer, lecturer, broadcaster, musician and artist Mark Olly, author of “Europe’s Roswell — 40 Years Since Impact.” This book contains detailed first-hand accounts of those involved, the best images of the crash debris available to date, up-dates from those same sources, how and where the original 25-year anniversary documentary was produced back in 2008, along with new international scientific analysis of the debris fragments. For over 22 years, Olly worked as a professional DJ, musician, and in music management founding Angelharp Music, Unicorn Entertainments Agency Ltd. and Legendthink Ltd. before moving on to pursue a solo career as writer, archaeologist and television presenter. This career has so far taken him to all parts of the UK, France, Egypt, Norway, Italy, Bulgaria, Cyprus, and the Yucatan Peninsular Mexico in search of the ancient and the mysterious. He has several books in print, appeared on Carlton Television’s “The History Detectives,” wrote and presented three seasons of ITV Granada’s award nominated ‘Lost Treasures’ adventure archaeology series, is a regular presenter on Sky History Channel, writes, presents and directs DVD’s for U.S. media giant Reality Entertainments/Reality Films, and recently wrote and directed four Music Videos for international recording band Hayseed Dixie, and played sessions with atmospheric band Soul Path and rock bands Stone Cold Nero and Sacred Wind.
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Gene and cohost Tim Swartz present an encore appearance by paranormal researcher Maxim W. Furek, whose eclectic background includes aspects of psychology, addictions, and rock journalism. He has a master’s degree in Communications from Bloomsburg University and a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Aquinas College. The main focus of this episode is the legend of the Philadelphia Experiment, about a purported attempt during World War II to make ships invisible to the enemy, with results that went awry. Furek will also explore the pop culture of the early days of the modern UFO field, featuring such controversial characters as Ray Palmer and Richard S. Shaver. Furek has written numerous rock biographies, as well as paranormal-themes books, such as Coal Region Hoodoo: Paranormal Tales from Inside the Pit and Flying Saucer Esoteric. He is a contributor to Fate Magazine, Normal Paranormal, and Paranormal Underground. The book Flying Saucer Esoteric: The Altered States of Ufology cxplores the chronology of “flying saucers,” tracing historical accounts of theologians and astronomers who lived in the days Before Christ to the 2023 Congressional hearings and the Mexican alien corpses myth.
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Gene and cohost Tim Swartz present a thought-provoking episode featuring Richard Thieme. He is an author/professional speaker who addresses challenges posed by new technologies, how to redesign ourselves to meet these challenges, and creativity in response to radical change. His speaking addresses “the human in the machine,” technology-related security and intelligence issues as they come home to our humanity. For the past 30 years, his speaking, writing and consulting has focused on security, intelligence, IT, and empowering people who live on the sharper edges of life and work. His books include: "UFOs and Government: A Historical Inquiry" (2013). When a senior at the NSA told him, "the only way you can tell the truth is through fiction," he heeded his advice, and four novels and dozens of stories later, he completed his magnum opus, the Mobius Trilogy: "Mobius: A Memoir," a novel about an intelligence professional that is receiving great reviews, "The Mobius Vector: The Long Road Home," and the third book in the trilogy, "Mobius: Out of Time."
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We feature a special UFO Roundtable, featuring cohosts Curt Collins and Tim Swartz. The list of topics includes UFO research updates, the influence of pop culture on the phenomenon, faulty memories of reported UFO crashes such as Roswell, and remembrances of the late Tim Beckley, known to some as "Mr. UFO." Curt is the author behind Blue Blurry Lines, a website focused on the UFO mystery, as well as its legends and hoaxes. After a career in retail management Curt began writing about UFOs, with a special interest in re-investigating the paradoxical 1980 Texas Cash-Landrum case.More recently, he launched The Saucers That Time Forgot with Claude Falkstrom, focused on unearthing “tales that UFO history has overlooked, or would rather forget.” Tim is an Indiana native and Emmy-Award winning television producer/videographer. He is also the author of a number of popular books including "The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla," "America's Strange and Supernatural History," and "Time Travel: Fact Not Fiction!"
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