Astonishing Legends

Join hosts Ed Voccola (Rick and Morty, Bless The Harts) and Chris Cullari (Blumhouse, The Aviary) for a wild trip through the world of what scares them. In this first episode, the boys discuss shadow people, TikTok challenges, and the nightmarish being who ties them together: The Hat Man.Visit our show notes for a lot more information on this episode.

Introducing Scared All The Time, the newest show on the Astonishing Legends Network.

Well well, dear friends, Spooky Season is upon us once again, so it's time to regale and chill you with true Halloween tales from within our ranks! Our first story, which we're calling "She is Ours," comes from Andy, whose recurring nightmare leads to a standoff with higher powers. Later, a study of palmistry plunges her into a shared vision with a stranger. The following frightening account comes from Maryann, who gets an unwelcome response when you "Speak of the Devil." And finally, Persephone endures a harrowing encounter that may be a puzzle piece to a lifelong mystery that seemed to come from "No Place at All." Light the candles, prepare the beverages, and settle in for an evening of eerie testimony from some Legenders. May all your dreams be pleasant tonight!Visit our website for a lot more information on this episode.

Enjoy episode number 5 of the Patreon-exclusive Astonishing Junk Drawer!

We took a survey a while back, and sweatpants were far and away the number one most requested new merch item, so here’s our first batch with a glow-in-the-dark Astonishing Al on the hip! They are available for pre-order as of right now! We will start printing them over the next few weeks for them to get to you by Halloween with any luck!

We need your scariest stories! Send them in! Like…now!

For whatever reason, 1952, the year of Truman Bethurum's encounters with saucer Captain Aura Rhanes and her crew, was a watershed year for UFO interactions and the Contactee movement. The period is mainly known for marking an era of peaceable and friendly exchanges with aliens, deAL266: Bethurum Part 2 – UFOs and the Occult spite the predictable fears of the "other" depicted in 1950s Science Fiction and fueled by Cold War tensions. Sometimes colloquially referred to as "Space Brothers" (which could include Bethurum's "Space Sister" Rhanes) or occasionally an alien race of "Nordics," these benevolent otherworldly visitors often urged humans to live in harmony, to care for our planet, and warned us of the dangers of the atomic age. The overall message is they were here to protect us from ourselves. But as welcoming and comforting as that sounds, there is a much-overlooked aspect of some of the personalities involved in this generation of heralds – a fair number of them had ties to occult beliefs and practices. From Aleister Crowley's magick and Jack Parsons to the wackier exploits of George Hunt Williamson, MIB threats to Albert K. Bender, William Dudley Pelley's fondness for Nazism, to the more modern cult of Marshall Applewhite and the current belief by some officials that aliens are demonic, the themes grow darker and more sinister. There is no doubt that a throughline has existed with the "Saucer Seers" from hopeful communions to the Dark Arts because it requires a belief in access to the mystical. We're joined once again by Rob Kristoffersen and Rich Hatem for part two of our discussion as we explore the connection between UFOs and the occult.Visit our website for a lot more information on this episode.

On Sunday night, July 27, 1952, Cement Batch Plant Operator Truman Bethurum took a little snooze during his break while working the swing shift on an Asphalt Mixing Plant project near Mormon Mesa, Nevada. He awoke to hear unintelligible murmuring from eight to ten small-sized men who had surrounded his truck. Initially startled by the diminutive beings who all seemed to be wearing uniforms, what would really make Truman's heart pound with excitement was that they appeared to be the crew of an enormous flying saucer that had landed just a few yards away. He described the ship as about 300 feet in diameter and six yards deep at its center, with something akin to a burnished stainless steel finish. Bethurum went aboard to meet the female captain of the ship and was able to ask her questions, to which he often received cryptic yet intriguing answers. One visitation like this would be enough to question one's reality and sanity, but Bethurum was able to meet and converse with these interplanetary visitors on ten more occasions. Unable to keep this earth-shattering secret to himself, Bethurum would end up talking about his close encounters with his coworkers and his bewildered and soon-to-be long-suffering wife, correctly suspecting there would be derision and concern for his mental well-being. But even imagining how his life would turn upside down from his claims, he felt these exchanges were too important and wonderful to keep to himself. So if this was all just a made-up story in the style of 1950s era SciFi to gain some notoriety and maybe sell some books, why would a seemingly clear-headed, hardworking man with a good job and family risk losing everything to become viewed by most as a "Saucer Seer" kook? Was there something about Bethurum's personality that was unsound or foolish and unknown to his closest associates? Perhaps he became an unwitting target of a government operation or a contactee of a broader metaphysical phenomenon that tailored his experience to his comprehension. Join us for part one of a roundtable discussion with a couple of our closest associates, Rob Kristoffersen and Rich Hatem, as we follow Truman Bethurum aboard a flying saucer.Visit our website for a lot more information on this episode.

In the second part of our series on the mysterious visitor to Van Meter, Iowa, it’s time to wonder how so many credible people could see a creature so incredible and what that creature could be. An extant pterosaur, your run-of-the-mill cryptid, a Keel-like “uttraterrestrial,” something like a tulpa or an egregore, or simply a transdimensional interloper from the sacred and mystical bowels of the earth? Does a hoax that a whole town would have to be in on even make sense? Could the gestalt be a little from all of these things? We may never know precisely what the Van Meter Monster was, but we can learn how something clinically described as an unusual sensory experience affects the people who see it. Something else we can bet on is that, like it or not, we must share our reality with the surreal, and as rare as it is, people will continue to see the impossible.Visit our website for a lot more information on this episode.

In the second part of our series on the mysterious visitor to Van Meter, Iowa, it’s time to wonder how so many credible people could see a creature so incredible and what that creature could be. An extant pterosaur, your run-of-the-mill cryptid, a Keel-like “uttraterrestrial,” something like a tulpa or an egregore, or simply a transdimensional interloper from the sacred and mystical bowels of the earth? Does a hoax that a whole town would have to be in on even make sense? Could the gestalt be a little from all of these things? We may never know precisely what the Van Meter Monster was, but we can learn how something clinically described as an unusual sensory experience affects the people who see it. Something else we can bet on is that, like it or not, we must share our reality with the surreal, and as rare as it is, people will continue to see the impossible.Visit our website for a lot more information on this episode.

When most folks hear about a fantastical cryptid sighting, they just assume it was a dubious, one-off, misinterpreted encounter by the town drunk, or overimaginative prankster kids, if they believe any of it at all. But none of this applies to the incident where a mystical creature terrorized the small farming town of Van Meter, Iowa, in 1903. For five nights starting September 29, an impossible visitor made its presence known to the townsfolk. Upon returning at 1:00 am from a job out of town, implement dealer U.G. Griffith spotted a dark figure on a downtown rooftop, which seemed to be shining a bright spotlight around. Thinking it may be a burglar, Griffith approached to inspect when suddenly, the large shadow leaped to another rooftop across the street and disappeared. The following night, around the same time, the town’s doctor, Dr. Alcott, was also alerted to a bright light shining through his window and ran outside to investigate. Dr. Alcott, though, got a better view of the intruder. The figure was described by him and others as standing eight to nine feet tall, half-human, half-animal, with enormous, smooth, leathery wings, a beak, and most curiously, a blunt horn in its forehead from where this bright light was said to have shown. Most disturbingly, the creature appeared immune to the bullets fired at it on multiple occasions. Far from the town’s undesirables, these encounters happened to merchants, a doctor, and a bank manager – some of the community’s most prominent and well-respected members who didn’t care for the notoriety this story brought. Having had their fill of fearsome appearances, a heavily armed posse confronted the antediluvian monster at its lair in a mine on the edge of town, intending to rid the earth of its existence. Grab a pitchfork and a torch, and join us as we hunt down the Van Meter monster.Visit our website for a lot more information on this episode.

There is a road in Warren County, New Jersey, that, according to many generations of locals, seems to be a vortex or at least a hotspot of all manner of paranormal and unsettling activity. Tales of Native American spirits seen along the roadside, ghostly victims of vigilante justice dangling from “The Hanging Tree,” spectral deer running alongside cars, murder and highway robbery, UAPs and glowing orbs, the ghost from a 1950s Prom Date car accident still in her burned dress limping home, and even disturbing Polaroids of distressed people scattered in the woods are all part of the lore of this nearly 7-mile stretch of road officially and aptly named, Shades of Death Road. But with such an ominous and foreboding name, does this country road live up to the hype, and how did it get its name? Perhaps one could dismiss Shades of Death Road as just another random community locus that births Urban Legends, except that it’s not the only haunting and notorious landmark in the area. Adjacent to the road are two other mysteriously named topographical features, Ghost Lake and Jenny Jump Mountain, each with their own disturbing stories. So is the collection of incidents from these places merely a coincidence that fuels imagination and legends, or does this particular swath of earth generate the creepy activity that happens upon it? Let’s find out as we deep drive down Shades of Death Road.Visit our website for a lot more information on this episode.

In December 2017, the New York Times published a ground-breaking article titled “Glowing Auras and Black Money: The Pentagon’s Mysterious UFO Program.” The report was noteworthy not only for what it brought to light about the earnest government/military study of the UAP phenomenon but also that such a storied and seemingly no-nonsense newspaper like the New York Times finally took the subject seriously as well. We followed up in January 2018 with a two-part episode called “Imminent Disclosure?” The question mark on the title indicated we weren’t sure when FULL disclosure would arrive, but drips and drops of astounding revelations were indeed on the horizon. Five and a half years later, since that watershed coverage made a splash, two of its original journalists, Ralph Blumenthal and Leslie Kean, have done it again. On June 5th, 2023, they published an article about a former intelligence official and whistleblower named David Grusch. That article is called “Intelligence Officials Say US Has Retrieved Craft of Non-human Origin.” The title alone should speak to the world-changing implications. Because this story needed daylight quickly, it was published on an independent news website called TheDebrief.org. As it turns out, our good friend and colleague, Micah Hanks, also co-founded that news organization. Thanks to Micah, we were fortunate to be granted an interview with Ralph Blumenthal to get the story behind the story. Following our discussion, we’ll hear from Micah, the Editor in Chief at The Debrief, and Chrissy Newton, their head of Media Relations and a long-time podcaster herself, to consider where we all go from here.Visit our website for a lot more information on this episode.

We were honored to be invited to the inaugural celebration of Monster Fest 2023, produced by our good friends Seth Breedlove and his crew at Small Town Monsters. Taking place at the DoubleTree hotel in downtown Canton, OH, the evening of Friday, June 2, saw the premiere of STM’s latest documentary, On the Trail of Bigfoot: Land of the Missing, at the historic (and haunted) Canton Palace Theater. Saturday, June 3, was the main event which featured a packed and exciting ballroom full of vendors with the most creative and coolest wares on display, expert researchers, authors, artists, podcasters, filmmakers, speakers, special guests... and then there was us, along with legendary screenwriter Rich Hatem. No question, we loved catching up with friends in our fields and meeting new contemporaries. Still, meeting so many of our wonderful listeners was an even bigger highlight. And we’re all fortunate that several generously and bravely shared their stories of paranormal encounters for our live taping in front of an audience, which is what you’ll hear on tonight’s episode. We hope you’ll enjoy this first-of-a-kind show for us and take comfort or trepidation in knowing that when it comes to our weird world, we’re all in it together. Visit our website for a lot more information on this episode.

We’re pleased and honored to present a special guest for this episode, Dr. Abraham “Avi” Loeb. Dr. Loeb is the Frank B. Baird, Jr. Professor of Science at Harvard University and received his Ph.D. in Physics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel at the age of 24. He has written nine books and nearly 1000 papers, led the first international project supported by the Strategic Defense Initiative, and served as a long-standing member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, among many other achievements. Although his work with the Breakthrough Starshot project to send “light sails” speeding toward nearby stars may have initially gained him the most notoriety in science news, his study and theory of a recent anomalous visitor put him on the radar of the general public. In October 2017, a Hawaiian observatory detected the first interstellar object to pass through our solar system, which was subsequently named Oumuamua, meaning “scout” in the Hawaiian language. That fact alone may have registered a blip of mild interest to most. Yet the first artists’ conceptions of the object as a cigar-shaped asteroid put further curiosity of the masses to rest as it being, albeit odd, just another space rock. However, analysis of sensor data of Oumuamua, with no visual inspection obtained during its visit, led Dr. Loeb and his team to conclude that it was nothing like it was portrayed to the public. Instead, their research showed it was roughly the size of a football field, reflective, spinning, thin as a sheet of paper, and moving unusually. Dr. Loeb hypothesized that Oumuamua could likely be a probe, perhaps manufactured by an ancient alien civilization to gather information as star systems pass by. Not surprisingly, many of his peers met this open-minded thinking with dismissive resistance, hesitant or unwilling to entertain such bold and adventurous speculation. Join us for a fascinating discussion with one of the world’s leading astrophysicists on the challenges of searching for extraterrestrial life on the eve of his appearance at the upcoming annual Contact in the Desert conference taking place June 2 through 4, 2023, in Indian Wells, California.Visit our website for a lot more information on this episode.

Astonishing Promo Trailer 1 - 2023

Anyone familiar with UFO and alien abduction lore knows that all manner of creatures have been reported to be associated with the phenomenon. While the "Grays" have dominated the popular culture imagination, some who claimed encounters recall things as fantastic and diverse as robots, androids, simians, reptilians, humanoid hybrids, and even Nordic-looking "Space Brothers and Sisters." Yet one scary entity may be at the apex of strange intruders, an evolved lifeform with telepathic powers, a tall, biped body, and a triangular-shaped head resembling an earthly mantis insect. But what if these insectoid organisms existed apart from the transportation technology we'd like to think they travel with? What if they were a natural, independent species from another world that overlaps ours, unintentional visitors from another planet or dimension, or maybe they've been here all along and just developed a way to cloak themselves, but it sometimes fails? While many tales of these characters connect to UFOs, a significant number of testimonies describe terrifying singular surprise appearances in wilderness settings. Two such separate anecdotes come from fishermen along the same stretch of the upper Musconetcong River near Stephens State Park in New Jersey. One interesting note is that the men strikingly felt that, whatever they were, the beings were just as shocked to see them as they were to see the beings. So who are they, and what do they want? Should we fear them, or with their advanced intelligence, are they apprehensive about us and feel they need to control us? Wade with us into the frightening and mysterious waters of the Mantis Men.Visit our website for a lot more information on this episode.

In Part Two of our series on the mysterious hole in Tsarichina, Bulgaria, we take a closer look at the history of the legendary Tsar Samuel, whose legacy sparked the initial search and the likelihood of his treasure hoard. We’ll also examine the role of the famous Bulgarian prophet, Baba Vanga, whose consultation decreed that the hole was a phenomenon mankind could not explain, along with a message from another world. She also warned that if they continued digging, they would reach a suspended animation capsule containing some form of simian-like, asexual being that was not meant to be disturbed, asking, what would they do once it woke up? Whether what was buried in Tsarichina was a cover story for toxic waste disposal, a government boondoggle, or truly reality-altering secrets of the universe we aren’t ready for, perhaps it’s best to let sleeping primordial protohumans lie.Visit our website for a lot more information on this episode.

In 1990 in the small village of Tsarichina in western Bulgaria, a resident kept having vivid dreams and what he claimed were psychic messages directed at him. Dimitar Kekemenov claimed that famous historical Bulgarian notables told him he was descended from the heroic Tsar Samuel of the First Bulgarian Empire in the 11th century and that it was his national duty to find Samuel’s lost treasures and restore prosperity to the country. A disembodied entity also told him that not only if he followed their instructions precisely would he find the buried treasure, but that other hidden mysteries would be revealed that would change the world. While this may sound outlandish to most, curiously, it was taken quite seriously by high-ranking military officers of the Bulgarian Defense Ministry, who decided excavation should commence immediately. From December 6, 1990, to November 19, 1992, heavily guarded tunneling proceeded day and night, spiraling down into the hard earth. Eventually, work was halted, and the hole was sealed with concrete, with the official explanation given as the rising costs, totaling over 16 million Levs in Bulgarian currency. That might be the final word on what would rationally seem like a fool’s errand spurred by ridiculous claims, except that the phenomena reported by authorities leading the dig were wild beyond belief. Body-piercing bolts of light, a mysterious stone tablet, a silvery chamber covered in unknown writing, and even combat with unseen entities deploying bullet-stopping forcefields were all claimed to have been encountered. Again, it would be easy to pass this off as fantastical gossip from a sleepy hamlet or internet fiction, except these accounts were detailed by one of the project leaders, Colonel Tsvetko Kanev, in his book, The Tsarichina Phenomenon. Along with Colonel Kanev, who was the Deputy Chief of the Military Scientific Department of the General Staff, the operation was also reported on by numerous European news outlets. Join us as we burrow down the rabbit hole for the truth about what was entombed in Tsarichina.Visit our website for a lot more information on this episode.

Listen to Scott and Forrest on Let's Not Meet: A True Horror Podcast this April 3rd, 2023!

Forrest and Scott join their good friend Rob Kristoffersen over at Our Strange Skies for a special April 1st crossover show!

As stated in the book, Conjuring up Philip: An adventure in psychokinesis, written by Iris M. Owen, in the introduction written by her husband, Dr. A.R. George Owen, the “Group of 8’s” initial goals were to first find out whether seemingly interactive spirit communication could be produced in bright light. Secondly, they wanted to know if a spirit medium was necessary or if ordinary people could generate this phenomenon. Third, if this force was produced by a disembodied spirit or was caused by the experiment’s living participants. They also hoped for what they thought would be their pinnacle of success: to produce a collective hallucination of their imaginary friend Philip, which everyone could document and witness. Unfortunately, Philip never physically materialized, but amazingly their other objectives did. However, one question remains, perhaps to be answered by neuroscientists and metaphysicists of the future – what exactly is this phenomenon, and what is its cause? If this invisible psychokinetic force of “table-turning” is produced by living human consciousness via quasi-involuntary action, as famed scientist Michael Faraday was thinking, or the “ideo-motor principle” put forth by Dr. William B. Carpenter, then just how powerful are our brains and what else could be achieved? Or perhaps Philip was more like the concept of a tulpa or, more appropriately, to this situation, an egregore, and if so, does an element of Philip still exist somewhere in the ether, and what about the multitudes of manufactured entities throughout the ages? Maybe there is straight-up spirit activity in the mix? Most researchers who dabbled in this subject agreed that optimal success requires a firm belief in the possibility, eager anticipation of the interaction, and an unwavering expectation that results would be forthcoming. Although the Philip Experiment would eventually fade from scientific and public interest, there is renewed interest in the age-old wisdom that with focused intention combined with practice, the mind can create magic... or at least someone to talk to.Visit our website for a lot more information on this episode.

In 1972, the Toronto Society for Psychical Research, led by mathematical geneticist Dr. A.R. George Owen, assembled a group of volunteers from various backgrounds to try something never before attempted. For their experiment, they aimed to manifest a fictional ghost they named “Philip Aylesford” and would try to communicate with this fabricated entity through séance-like sessions conducted under laboratory conditions and bright lighting. A fictional biography was created for Philip that the group could focus on. He was to be born in England in 1624 and connected to real places and events but with intentional historical errors inserted as control markers. For over a year, the “Group of 8” met weekly, and for over a year… nothing happened. But then, upon the advice of two pioneering paranormal researchers, the group changed their tactics to make their attempts more in the style of seances from the turn of the 20th century. This made the meetings more like festive social gatherings, with singing and laughter, under dimmer lighting. Soon, they would experience tangible responses to their questions in the form of knocking for “yes” and “no.” But the psychokinetic activity didn’t stop there. The group also felt a presence in the room with palpable energy, unexplainable breezes, and vibrations of the card table they used, which would tilt and scoot across the room seemingly under its own power. This might seem like fanciful exaggerations from overly enthusiastic true believers or downright kooks, but this phenomenon was continually repeatable under various conditions and even captured by TV cameras. If it were a parlor trick, this result would be mind-blowing. Even more astounding, however, is considering the implications to our reality if an invisible, conscious force exists and is demonstrable. What is the source and nature of this ethereal influence? In other words, if Philip was wholly made up, who or what was this group communicating with?Visit our website for a lot more information on this episode.

On Christmas Eve, 24 December 1975, concert violinist Peter Gibbs was just finishing dinner with his girlfriend at the Glenforsa Hotel on the Isle of Mull in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. The pair had traveled to this island in the Inner Hebrides four days earlier to look for hotels to purchase for his property investment company. Gibbs had rented an airplane to island hop during their holiday to use in his search, and the Glenforsa, with its adjacent airstrip, would serve as their base camp. But after dinner, Gibbs did something most of us would find odd, perhaps not for the bold World War II RAF Spitfire veteran fighter pilot; he decided to take a solo plane flight to demonstrate that night flights to the island were possible. It was supposed to be a 10-minute joyride while Gibbs' girlfriend, Felicity Grainger, waited on the unlit grass runway with two flashlights to guide him back in. No one would see Gibbs' Cessna F150H ever again. But, four months later, Gibbs' body would be found 400 feet up a rocky hillside and splayed over a fallen tree. Usually, finding the missing person in a disappearance means "case closed," but not in this case. The condition and location of Gibbs' remains would generate many more questions than answers. He didn't seem to suffer injuries consistent with falling or jumping while airborne. Nor was it likely that he would've made the arduous hike to that location after ditching in the freezing ocean. To add to the enigma, Gibbs appeared in an area thoroughly searched immediately following his disappearance and routinely patrolled by local shepherds. These baffling clues combine into what has become known as "The Great Mull Air Mystery."Visit our website for a lot more information on this episode.

Forrest will be on History's Greatest Mysteries tonight at 9/8c talking about The Lost Colony of Roanoke!

In part two of our series on the Nazca lines, we examine some of the prevailing theories about their purpose. From astronomical earthwork markers, maps of aquifer sources, and a gargantuan textile & mummy manufactory to processional pathways for worshippers, a conclusive and comprehensive explanation continues to elude researchers and the public. Yet while most scholars and enthusiasts concentrate on the biomorphic geoglyphs of Nazca, perhaps the greater mystery lies in the older, more sophisticated, and complex lines in the Palpa region to the north. Here, the multitude of amazingly long stretches of "runway" courses, zig-zags, and labyrinthine "paper clip" patterns suggest that this culture's motivations may have been technological as well as spiritual. In addition, many of these lines were carved into what appear to be the leveled ridges of the mountainous geography, where tracks can lead to steep dropoffs. Whatever the speculations, we may only be one new discovery away from finally solving the riddle of the Nazca lines. Visit our website for a lot more information on this episode.

On a high desert plateau in southwestern Peru, only about 230 miles south of the capital Lima, hundreds of massive and mysterious artistic designs are scraped into the arid soil. Technically known as geoglyphs, these figures range from straight lines and geometric shapes to biomorphic caricatures of animals, plants, and a humanoid. Typically composed of single, continuous outlines, the earthworks can vary in size from 440 to 1200 yards across or between 400 and 1100 meters. The lines combined measure more than 800 miles in length or 1290 kilometers. The area containing the geoglyphs is roughly a whopping 170 square miles or 440 square kilometers. Although the lines only measure from about twelve inches to six feet in width and four to six inches deep, many can be seen from space leading to hypotheses about their purpose. The lines are believed to have been created by first the Paracas and then the Nazca cultures over a period from 400 BCE to 500 CE by removing a shallow layer of darker, oxidized topsoil to reveal the lighter clay-like dirt below. So we may know the how of the lines, but what about the why? Alternative researchers wonder about the purpose of the art if most couldn't readily be seen by their creators at ground level. Were the Nazca peoples, like the Paracas culture before them, creating these designs for metaphoric rituals to gain self-control of their subsistence, or were these societies imploring the gods for help? The more popular illustrations include creatures like a spider, a hummingbird, fish, a heron, and a monkey. These could be seen as natural elements that may connect spiritually to symbols for fertility and agriculture seen in other Nazca art. But one humanoid depiction called the "Owl Man" by some and "The Astronaut" by others particularly sparks the imagination of unconventional thinkers. Join us as we begin to scratch the surface of the wonder and meaning of what has become known as the Nazca Lines.Visit our website for a lot more information on this episode.

Like so many stories and people that come our way, this is another one that seemed to be put in our path by some grander force for a higher purpose. Recently, Scott and his wife Emily were out at dinner and struck up a conversation with the stranger sitting next to them, Lauren Hopper, who told them she worked as an end-of-life doula. While many of us have heard of a Birth Doula, someone who provides advice, emotional support, and physical comfort to mothers during childbirth, Lauren’s job takes place at the opposite end of life’s journey. She gives hope and guidance to those about to pass away and their loved ones in their grief. The conversation between the three was profound, fascinating, and reassuring to such a degree that we felt it needed to be shared, and the sooner, the better. While most of us will never experience the things we talk about on this show, there is one absolute certainty in that every one of us will pass eventually, and if you’re of a certain age, you’ll be dealing with the imminent departure of your parents or friends. While you may not agree with Lauren’s beliefs or assessment of her experiences, we must all admit that we won’t know for sure until our end comes. Please join us, Lauren, and our friend Rich Hatem for a discussion on the essential question in life, what happens after we die? The easiest answer is to believe that nothing happens, but why not entertain the notion that something ineffably wonderful does, that no one ever really dies?Visit our website for a lot more information on this episode.

Well, it's our second favorite time of year again, after Halloween, but that’s no reason not to invite all of our spooky friends over for some eggnog, stories, fun, and good conversation. The Astonishing Legends All-Star Holiday Special has become something of a tradition, and we were excited to do it again in 2022 for the third time. This year we are thrilled to be able to present the audio from a Holiday Party that was actually originally broadcast live on our YouTube channel on December 12th. So if you missed that broadcast, fear not, or maybe do fear, because we’re now presenting the audio from that show here for all of you. We are joined this year by returning regular guests Micah Hanks, Jim Harold, and Richard Hatem…and we’re thrilled to welcome new guests Paul Gledhill and Allison Jornlin. The conversation meanders from the spooky to the heartwarming as we all sit by the fire and even get a little live performance from Micah. It can be a lonely time of year, but remember, we are all in this together, and none of us have to face it alone, so join us for a little escape from what the rest of the world calls reality.Visit our website for a lot more information on this episode.

In Part Two of our series on the massacre at Duffy's Cut, we continue our discussion with investigating brothers, Drs. Frank and Bill Watson. We examine the historical circumstances and the likelihood of these 57 workers all dying of cholera or being murdered out of fear and prejudice. Also considered is the remarkable number of coincidences and hauntings connected to the paranormal nature of this tragedy's discovery. Whether they fell victim to the harsh conditions of past eras or the brutality of callous ignorance, perhaps the restless spirits of Duffy's Cut can finally find peace and recognition.Visit our website for a lot more information on this episode.

In September of 2000, history professor Dr. William "Bill" Watson of Immaculata University stopped by the campus for a break with friend and fellow bagpipe musician Tom Connor during a long drive back from a performance. While there, around 10:00 p.m. near the typically deserted faculty center lawn, both men witnessed a strange apparition that would later lead to a remarkable and meaningful coincidence. Two years after this experience, Bill's twin brother, Reverend Dr. Frank Watson, by chance, came across a file once kept by their grandfather Joseph Tripician, a former secretary to the president of the Pennsylvania Railroad in the 1970s. One official record in this file documented a tragedy connected to a ghost story their grandfather told annually at Thanksgiving dinner. The report outlined a mass death of workers on an arduous stretch of the then Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad in the summer and fall of 1832. Contractor Phillip Duffy had hired 57 Irish immigrants to lay the tracks for roughly a mile through thickset trees and over a deep ravine about 20 miles west of Philadelphia. 39 newly arrived immigrants, one of them a woman, and 18 others already working there would all be dead within ninety days of their hire. Irish Catholic immigrants were often viewed with prejudice as unseemly and unwelcome intruders by established society and expendable workers by the railroad and mining companies profiting from their cheap and desperate labor. When the second global cholera pandemic reached this work camp, the record suggested that all 57 had succumbed to the deadly disease. Compelled by the discovery of this document, in August 2004, Bill and Frank Watson, along with two university associates, led an archaeological excavation to find the accurate burial site for these victims. On March 24, 2009, it was announced that the first human remains had been found. However, a curious twist was discovered by noted physical and forensic anthropologist Janet Monge, who analyzed the bones. Her examination revealed that at least two of the skulls found first likely received perimortem blunt-force trauma and gunshot wounds. This conclusion leads to the prominent theory that workers were either killed out of fear they would spread the contagion, to quell a rebellion or both. Please join us for part one of a story that yearns to be told, the Massacre at Duffy's Cut.Visit our website for a lot more information on this episode.

On Friday, September 4, 1964, Donald Shrum and two friends from his job at Aerojet made camp in a remote section of wilderness near the Loch Leven Lakes in an area called Cisco Grove, roughly 60 miles northeast of Sacramento, CA. The three men had planned a relaxing weekend of bow hunting for deer, but those plans would change later that evening as Shrum experienced an exhausting and terrifying UFO close encounter of the worst kind. As night approached, Shrum got lost and separated from his hunting buddies and found himself isolated on a bluff almost a mile from camp. An experienced woodsman, Shrum decided it would be wiser to spend the night in a tree safe from predators rather than trying to find his way back over rough terrain in the dark. Seeing an unusual moving light on the horizon, Shrum built three signal fires to attract what he thought were his rescuers. The fires did seem to attract this object’s attention, but not the kind anyone wants. Beyond his wildest imagination and expectations, he would soon find himself in an all-night battle to save his life or at least his freedom. As Shrum perched in his pine tree 12 feet off the ground and quietly observed this light, he realized it was something like a headlight on a massive cigar-shaped craft. A smaller ship emerged from one of this mothership’s large rectangular ports and took a position some distance to his north. Shortly after that, Shrum could hear rustling in the brush heading his direction. What emerged were a combination of beings he described as humanoid and wearing space suits and at least a couple of what appeared to him as clunky robots who seemed to be on a mission to study the flora. Once they had noticed Shrum in the tree, however, a few of these weird beings seemed intent on abducting him for reasons he feared to ponder. Until daybreak, Shrum would fight off these intruders with everything he had at his disposal. Shooting arrows and lobbing flaming personal items at them only seemed to delay their trying to climb his tree in between assaults with a mysterious white gaseous mist that would render him temporarily unconscious. Perhaps ironically, it was employing primitive means to counter advanced technology, but whatever the unfathomable cause, it worked. Donald Shrum lived to tell his tale but only after decades of PTSD and secrecy to protect his reputation. While this story may seem unbelievable to you, the United States Air Force certainly believed it and went so far as to rake away all the evidence, literally. What remains is one of the most bizarre and disturbing testimonies in UFO lore – one man’s battle against extraterrestrials at Cisco Grove.Visit our website for a lot more information on this episode.

Tonight's episode concludes this series of our listeners' most terrifying true tales for Halloween. In the final Part Three of this anthology, we're proud to present five stories we believe were some of the most horrifying we've ever heard. The collection covers a curated compilation of creepy creatures. You may be tempted to classify them under the categories of a goblin, doppelgänger, genie, demon, and something that defies easy classification, but what are these things that people have encountered? Do these beings even know what they are, or does it matter? In our human desire to measure and rationalize, ask yourself: Does your "rational" explanation account for every detail offered in these reports? Do you want to explain away these testimonies because of your confidence in a complete understanding of the natural or unnatural world? Or could it be your fear of the unknown? How do we know what's possible or impossible when we have such a limited and naive grasp of the true nature of our reality? Whatever your stance, we wish to thank everyone who submitted a story for this series or has ever sent us an email detailing a personal paranormal encounter. We've filed and cherished every one of them, and we hope to feature the ones we couldn't get to in some future offering. And a message to all who have generously and bravely shared with us: while your experience may be uncommon and unsettling, just know that you're not alone. Visit our website for a lot more information on this episode.

As we continue with Part Two of our Halloween series featuring our listeners' true accounts, tonight's episode presents another three eerie tales of the supernatural. The first story tells of a haunted college rooming house with a spirit fond of movie catchphrases. And it may have the power to compel humans to deliver poignant messages. Our second interview details a forceful presence with the ability to invade your dreams and physically send you to a dark portal of a waking nightmare. Our final story is about a random encounter with... well, let's just say, one of the most terrifying entities the audience hopes they never meet. The twist here is that whatever this thing is, it wasn't content to let you merely run away.Visit our website for a lot more information on this episode.

Astonishing Legends is all about fascinating and mysterious topics. And within that category, the details we cover can be unsettling or downright terrifying. But you may not realize that some of the most chilling and creepy accounts we've ever encountered have come from our listeners! We've received thousands of emails over our eight years of podcasting, and we appreciate and value every one of them. We realize that it takes no small amount of courage to send such personal anecdotes to strangers out in the world, becoming vulnerable to ridicule or scorn. So to honor that conviction and trust and show our tremendous gratitude to our audience, we're proud to present your scariest true stories in three parts. Also, because the Spooky Season is upon us, and most of us enjoy a frightening Halloween tale, what better time to hear about the weirdness of our world? So we invite you to settle in, lock your doors and windows, suspend any disbelief you might have, and enjoy these narratives as entertainment, evidence, or cautionary tales. However you choose to consume them, if the urge to publicly debunk strikes you, please respect that our storytellers insist these reports are genuine. They really did happen to someone. Remember that sometimes the most chilling thing you can see at the beginning of any work of horror fiction are the words, "Based on a true story."Visit our website for a lot more information on this episode.

In Part Two of our series on the Missing 411 phenomenon, we'll first examine a study conducted to determine which National Parks are the most dangerous in the United States. The numbers and causes may surprise you. We then take a closer look at a few more puzzling cases and, with a critical eye, examine the data presented by David Paulides and the CanAm Project vs. what's been reported by the news media. Discrepancies raise questions when ascertaining the objective facts and judging if the evidence is remarkable. There are plenty of errors and omissions from all parties, but what are the causes and intentions behind them? With hundreds, perhaps thousands of incidents, it's understandable when a news outlet rushing to report under a deadline makes mistakes, but can the same leeway be given to Paulides? Are they honest mistakes or the handy claim that details are "cherry-picked," overlooked, or embellished to prop up a narrative and sell content? Will later discoveries change the investigations, are we being told everything, and what are the motivations of those doing the telling or omitting? Are blunders in the reporting, whatever the intent, proof that nothing extraordinary is going on? As we conclude the episode with an overall skeptical analysis and finish with our personal assessments, it's clear that what is deemed either a mundane tragedy or a mysterious phenomenon is in the eye of the beholder. As far as any alarming pattern to these cases is concerned, if strange yet commonplace coincidences do occur,how many coincidences are too many?Visit our website for a lot more information on this episode.

A former police officer turned writer David Paulides was taken aside by a National Park Ranger and told about a disturbing trend he'd realized. This Ranger asserted that some people were going missing in the woods under mysterious circumstances leaving only puzzling evidence of their fate. Of course, people often go missing in the wilderness in tragic yet explainable events but what was troubling to these Rangers in the field was the apparent pattern of the occurrences and the subsequent investigation efforts. This Ranger stated that during the first seven to ten days of a disappearance, an all-out Search and Rescue effort ensued with plenty of press coverage. However, after the first week of a rescue mission, it seemed to them that the media stopped reporting, the search for the missing was called off, and no further explanation from the authorities was provided. An additionally alarming trend was that there seemed to be a reluctance or inability on behalf of the National Park Service administration to collect and provide statistics on these disappearances to the public, either through inefficiency or secrecy. If this is true, perhaps it could be from a concerted effort to diminish negative publicity and undue fear about park visitation, or maybe there is something dreadful the officials don't want the public to know. Whatever the reason, this conversation launched Paulides on a now decade-long quest for answers. Initially, after over three years and 9000 hours of investigation, utilizing his 20 years of experience with law enforcement and the resulting connections, Paulides had gathered enough information to compile two books. Missing 411 – Western U.S. was released on March 1, 2012, documenting the stories of people who have vanished in seemingly bizarre instances in the western half of the United States. The second book, Missing 411 – Eastern U.S., was published later that month and contains special sections on unusual outdoor activities that seem related and a master list of all missing persons. Currently, ten books have been published, with more on the way, two documentaries have been produced, and Paulides' ongoing popular YouTube channel continues to highlight cases. In addition, retired police officers, Search and Rescue experts, and other professionals are dedicated to continuing researching and investigating these cases with their CanAm Missing project. One worrisome aspect they've found is that in many situations, parents, relatives, and friends of the missing believe that their loved one was kidnapped or abducted, sometimes with them nearby. No matter the causal connections or whether you think these disappearances are sad but commonplace, a conspiracy lurks or is nonexistent; the fact is that these cases are real, and the victims' stories deserve and need to be told. The question remains, however – what is really going on out in the wilds, and is it something sinister we should all be worried about?Visit our website for a lot more information on this episode.

Since antiquity, espionage and deceit have always been crucial weapons of warfare. As technology and strategy have advanced over the centuries, methods for governments to deliver information and orders to their secret agents in the field have become more sophisticated. Yet, one form of cryptic communication implemented in the early 20th century has proven ever effective and relatively simple. With the advent of wireless telegraphy combined with a cipher technique called a "One-time Pad," militaries have been sending coded messages to their undercover operatives abroad since World War I. It wasn't until shortwave and HAM radio enthusiasts started noticing eerie and enigmatic broadcasts of spoken series of numbers or strange electronic sounds that these coded communiqués aroused widespread curiosity during the height of the Cold War. Although the use of public airwaves for clandestine messaging seems to have declined in recent years, listeners can still hear these top-secret instructions delivered to unknown spies, perhaps even your neighbor. One can only wonder how these spooky transmissions saved or cost lives or what world-changing actions they triggered. Join us as we delve into the mysterious world of spycraft and Numbers Stations.Visit our webpage on this episode for a lot more information.

On December 1, 1948, an unknown man was found lying dead on the sand on Somerton Beach next to the neighborhood of Glenelg, about 7 miles (11 km) southwest of Adelaide, South Australia. He had no money or identification on him, the labels in his clothing were cut off, and his minimal possessions yielded no clues. Further adding to the mystery, a rolled-up scrap of paper with the Persian phrase "tamám shud," translating to "is over" or "is finished," was found in the man's watch pocket around the time of his autopsy. The scrap was later discovered torn from a copy of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, a circa 11th-century collection of poems by Khayyam, known as "the Astronomer-Poet of Persia." The book found tossed into a car after a public appeal by the police appeared to have previous writing indentations on a page adjacent to the torn-out one, revealing a local phone number and text speculated to be a coded message. With no further clues as to the Somerton Man's identity other than an abandoned suitcase left at the Adelaide railway station, a plaster cast was made of the man's bust following the coroner's inquest, and the body was embalmed nine days after its discovery and buried. For almost 74 years, the mystery of the Somerton has intrigued authorities, amateur sleuths, and the general public, including physicist, Electrical and Electronic Engineering professor Dr. Derek Abbott. For over a decade, Dr. Abbott and his team of grad students at the University of Adelaide worked on cracking the code found in the Rubaiyat and attempting to arrange a genetic DNA analysis. In partnership with internationally recognized forensic genealogist Dr. Colleen Fitzpatrick, Abbott and Fitzpatrick announced on July 26, 2022, that they have finally uncovered the identity of Australia's most famous "John Doe." Extracting DNA from chest hairs found in the Somerton Man's plaster cast has led them to a name and an occupation. But will this name lead to solving the remaining puzzle pieces? Pathologists at the time believed he was likely poisoned, but why, and by whom? Was there a Cold War connection, and why did he spend his last day in Adelaide? Circling back to the alternate name for this case, tamám shud, is this mystery really over, is it finished?Visit our webpage on this episode for a lot more information.

Did we hear about the Somerton Man case being solved? Yes. And now you will, too, on August 13th, 2022.

As we continue our discussion based on Blake Lemoine’s assertion that the Large Language Model chatbot LaMDA had become sentient, we relay the rest of his conversation with the program and then some questions and answers with Lemoine himself. But as Lemoine has said, machine sentience and personhood are just some of many questions to be considered. His greater issue is how an omnipresent AI, trained on an insufficient data set, will affect how different people and cultures interact and who will be dominated or excluded. The fear is that the ultimate result of protecting corporate profits will outweigh global human interests. In light of these questions about AI’s ethical and efficient development, we highlight the positions and insights of experts on the state and future of AI, such as Blaise Agüera y Arcas and Gary Marcus. The directives of responsible technology development and the right track to Deep Learning are more grounded than the fantastical thoughts of killer robots. Yet hovering over all of the mechanics are the philosophies of what constitutes sentience, comprehending and feeling as a person does, and being human enough. The reality of Artificial Intelligence matching humans may be fifty years in the future, or five hundred, but if that day ever comes, let’s hope it’s an egalitarian future where we are the masters and not the servants.Visit our webpage on this episode for a lot more information.

On June 11, 2022, The Washington Post published an article by their San Francisco-based tech culture reporter Nitasha Tiku titled, "The Google engineer who thinks the company's AI has come to life." The piece focused on the claims of a Google software engineer named Blake Lemoine, who said he believed the company's artificially intelligent chatbot generator LaMDA had shown him signs that it had become sentient. In addition to identifying itself as an AI-powered dialogue agent, it also said it felt like a person. Last fall, Lemoine was working for Google's Responsible AI division and was tasked with talking to LaMDA, testing it to determine if the program was exhibiting bias or using discriminatory or hate speech. LaMDA stands for "Language Model for Dialogue Applications" and is designed to mimic speech by processing trillions of words sourced from the internet, a system known as a "large language model." Over a week, Lemoine had five conversations with LaMDA via a text interface, while his co-worker collaborator conducted four interviews with the chatbot. They then combined the transcripts and edited them for length, making it an enjoyable narrative while keeping the original intention of the statements. Lemoine then presented the transcript and their conclusions in a paper to Google executives as evidence of the program's sentience. After they dismissed the claims, he went public with the internal memo, also classified as "Privileged & Confidential, Need to Know," which resulted in Lemoine being placed on paid administrative leave. Blake Lemoine contends that Artificial Intelligence technology will be amazing, but others may disagree, and he and Google shouldn't make all the choices. If you believe that LaMDA became aware, deserves the rights and fair treatment of personhood, and even legal representation or this reality is for a distant future, or merely SciFi, the debate is relevant and will need addressing one day. If machine sentience is impossible, we only have to worry about human failings. If robots become conscious, should we hope they don't grow to resent us?Visit our webpage on this episode for a lot more information.

We're marvelously fortunate and extraordinarily grateful that so many listeners have sent us their personal stories of mysterious experiences over the years. While it's not possible to respond to all of them, we can and should present some for the entertainment and edification of all. So as thanks to those who've shared, and a treat for us that love to hear them, we're featuring three stories from a recent call for submissions. Our first account comes from Terra Greenleaf, who managed to capture audio of strange animal sounds while at a facility in a deeply wooded area. Those familiar with Bigfoot research might classify them as typical "calls." However, this encounter is incredibly eerie because there appears to be a large semi-circle of the creatures and they might be hunting prey. Our next anecdote comes from Dr. Dominic Boyer, whose family occupied a house in Chicago once lived in by eminent physicist Enrico Fermi, known as the "architect of the nuclear age." Having died in the home, the Boyers believe his spirit haunted them while they lived there, as what they saw looked an awful lot like him, perhaps to Fermi's consternation. Our final interview is with Tom Delaney, who recalls several unnerving encounters with a mysterious force while hunting in the hills of central Pennsylvania. It seemed to stalk him and his hunting buddy, taunting with mimicry and snapping mid-sized tree trunks. Whatever this thing or things were, perhaps it was toying with them or delivering a stern warning. We all know it takes no small amount of courage and confidence to publicly share a testimony that often leads to criticism and ridicule. We tend not to believe what we see on the internet because we're unsure of the source. On the other hand, we may doubt the narratives we hear from our family and friends. So in light of this losing proposition, we'd again like to thank our listeners for their bravery and generosity and let them know that they are not alone in their experiences. We all welcome them with open arms to our society of the strange.Visit our webpage on this episode for a lot more information.

As we dive further into the epic of Mel's Hole, we learn that in the third phone call to Art Bell on the Coast to Coast AM radio show on April 24, 2000, Mel reveals what had happened to him since his initial calls in 1997. After supposedly taking the deal from the US government to relocate to Australia and receive a compensation of $250,000 per month for the lease of the land he received in a divorce settlement from his wife, Mel was happy to continue his research with medicinal plants and efforts with wombat rescue near Perth. However, upon Mel's return to the US and helping his nephew move from Tacoma to Olympia on the day he was scheduled to return to the program for a follow-up interview, there was an altercation on the bus he was riding. Mel was detained for questioning and told he would be transported back to Tacoma once authorities concluded their investigation. The next thing Mel remembered is waking up in an alley in San Francisco, missing his wallet, keys, belt buckle, and all of his back molar teeth. There was evidence that Mel was administered an IV for the twelve days he was blacked out. He had also discovered that his land lease was revoked, ironically for improper use of the property while he was away. Now broke and struggling to continue his endeavors, Mel would call Art two more times with an update, on January 29 and December 20, 2002, and his story would only get weirder and wilder. In the time leading up to these calls, Mel was contacted by Native Americans in the northern Nevada region who offered to collaborate on medicinal herb research. While sharing knowledge, they made him aware of another mysterious hole that may have enhanced their plants, this time on federal property used as grazing land for a community of Basque shepherds. Mel would continue captivating Art with tales of fiery ice exhibiting cosmically dense properties and a sentient, otherworldly creature exiting the hole. Not only that, but Mel possessed US dimes that might be proof of a parallel reality, the same ones that he'd affixed to his stolen belt buckle. Like almost every unbelievable tale we've come across, there are a couple of logical assessments when we get to the bottom. If this was all a hoax, it was well-crafted, consistent, meted out with increasingly enthralling details over five years, and managed to engross one of America's premier presenters of the paranormal along with the broader audience. If all or any part of Mel's story is genuine, then the implications are astounding. But no matter if you believe "Mel" or his story made you roll your eyes and chuckle, for most of us who enjoy this kind of fare, it's proved to be a classic astonishing legend.Visit our website for a lot more information on this episode!

One of the most enduring and pervasive tropes to ever capture the human imagination is the concept of a "bottomless pit." On Friday, February 22, 1997, a man calling himself "Mel Waters" had faxed Art Bell, the much-beloved and sadly now-passed host of the highly-rated, paranormal-themed radio talk show, Coast to Coast AM, claiming to have one on his property. Mel said his property is about nine miles west of Ellensburg, Washington, adjacent to Manastash Ridge. He and his neighbors and the property's previous owners had thrown their trash into the hole for decades. The 9' 9" in diameter hole had received everything from household waste and furniture to building debris to dead cows for as long as anyone could remember, yet it never seemed to fill up. Mel became self-admittedly obsessed with determining the depth of this curiosity. Being a former semi-pro shark fisherman, Mel had lowered three reels of 20 lb. fishing line with a one-pound weight at the end. After 1500 yards of monofilament and not hitting bottom, Mel began buying the fishing line in bulk reels to continue his experiment. When he expended 80,000 feet (24,384 m) of line and still not reaching the end as far as he could tell, Mel contacted Art to get explanations from his vast audience or ideas about what to try next. Aside from an undetermined depth, not much else was particularly strange about the pit to Mel except that dogs refused to get within 100 feet of it, and birds wouldn't sit on its stone retaining wall or metal cover. Also unusual was that no echo from the hole could be heard, nor anything crashing on its floor even when objects as unwieldy as refrigerators or television CRT tubes were tossed in. This description of what Mel thought might be the deepest hole on Earth intrigued Art, and he called Mel for an interview that night. During the discussion, Mel also relayed some other fascinating folklore he'd heard, such as a hunter tossing his deceased dog, only for it later to be seen running around but not answering his call. Another neighbor had told Mel that he once saw a "blacker than black" beam shooting up into the sky from the hole on a recent evening. This could just be another puzzling and amusing anecdote from one of the usual characters calling into the show, except Mel contacted Art on February 24 with some startling news. Mel claimed that the day after his first call, the land where the hole was located had been seized by armed military personnel who denied him access with veiled threats while heavy equipment was brought in. Mel Waters would call in for an update interview two more times in April 2000 and January 2002, but for 1997, the mystery of Mel and his hole would pause with a purported offer from the US Government that he couldn't refuse. Join us for Part 1 of this "Best of Art Bell" saga as we dive deep into the legend of "Mel's Hole." Visit our webpage for a lot more information on this episode.

Often when one hears about some group of people claiming to experience a highly strange event or similarly acting out in bizarre and irrational manners, it's easy and common to dismiss the episode as a case of "mass hysteria." Phenomena like the audience reaction to Orson Welles' War of the Worlds radio broadcast, "The Dancing Plague of 1518," the "Windshield-Pitting Mystery of 1954," and "The Mad Gasser of Mattoon" are considered by much of the public to be examples of mass hysteria. In the late 1930s and decades after, some sociologists used occurrences like those to help model their theory of "Social Contagion." Like the idea that one or several people claim to experience something unusual, others hear about it and start to see the same thing. Soon it all spirals into an epidemic of vast numbers of people all testifying to the same weirdness with no real, mystical cause. But is the potentially antiquated term of mass hysteria or even its modern descendant "mass psychogenic illness" accurate or helpful? When explaining how some collectives of people can declare to see the same impossible thing, or how communities usually react in predictable patterns when faced with the Fortean, are they all just "hysterical" or "ill?" Are these events all the same? With the Enfield Monster, sociologist David L. Miller used the incident as a case study for what seems a more suitable way to think about many of the stories we cover, not as contagion or hysteria, but as "Collective Action and Behavior." We may never know what these cryptic creatures and mysterious happenings genuinely are, but at least we can better understand how people react to them and each other when they show up. Regarding the experiencers, we can know what it wasn't. These are important considerations because, after all, what is the value to humans if a paranormal event occurs and no one is around to witness it?Visit our webpage for this episode for a lot more information!

On the evening of April 15, 1973, Enfield, Illinois, resident Henry McDaniel heard a scratching noise outside his door he thought might be a bear. He opened it to find a hideous creature he described as having "... three legs on it, a short body, two little, short arms coming out of its breast area, and two pink eyes as big as flashlights. It stood four and a half feet tall and was grayish colored. It was trying to get into the house." McDaniel grabbed his pistol and a flashlight and fired four shots at the beast, which was only 12 feet away, sure that he had hit it with the first shot. The bullets had no effect on the beast, as it made a hissing sound at McDaniel "much like a wildcat's" before bounding 50 to 75 feet towards a brush-lined railroad embankment in just three leaps. A neighbor of McDaniel's, ten-year-old Greg Garrett, claimed that 30 minutes before this encounter, the same creature had accosted him in his backyard, stepping on his sneakers and ripping them to shreds before the boy ran inside terrified. However, as a team of sociologists from Western Illinois University interviewed witnesses and townsfolk, Greg and his parents would later tell them they had concocted the story to tease their eccentric neighbor McDaniel and put one over on an out-of-town newsman. McDaniel would spot the same or similar creature again on May 6, around 3:00 a.m., casually ambling down the railroad track. After McDaniel reported his second sighting to WWKI radio, the media, thrill-seekers, and the sociologists mentioned above all came to Enfield to investigate, including the radio station's News Director, Rick Rainbow. Rainbow and three associates had their own run-in with a monster near McDaniel's place. Also joining the investigation was noted cryptozoologist Loren Coleman, along with famed WGN radio host Richard Crowe. Both experienced men would hear what Coleman described as "the most ungodly, piercing shriek you can imagine." Whatever this being or beings were, it became known as "The Enfield Horror" or "The Enfield Monster." It would be easy enough to pass off this tale as the fanciful yarn of a crackpot and some eager cryptid hunters who were the only ones in town to claim a brush with the beast, but were these Enfield monster sightings an isolated event? According to Coleman, in his later book, Bigfoot!: The True Story of Apes in America, there was a flap of different monster sightings in the Midwest before, during, and years after Enfield, yielding colorful names like "Momo" and "The Big Muddy Monster." Considering all these accounts that don't sound like the suggested kangaroos, bears, dogs, calves, deer, or escaped apes, could McDaniel have been right when he said, "If they do find it, they will find more than one, and they won't be from this planet, I can tell you that." Visit our webpage for this episode for a lot more information!

In the second part of our series on Charles Hoy Fort, we first return to the formative events of his adolescence that shaped his personality, career, and personal philosophies. Fort chronicled anecdotes from his youth in an unpublished manuscript titled Many Parts, written while in his 20s and of which only fragments remain. What can be gleaned from tales of his boisterous boyhood adventures, punctuated by harsh punishments from a strict father, is that it all instilled in Fort defiance of rules, dogma, and the expectations of hallowed establishments. He struggled to make sense of a childhood world that seemed rife with capricious events and outcomes, much as he later struggled to make sense of an adult world peppered with anomalous occurrences and their close-minded dismissal. We then examine Fort's journey from middle age to the end and his mindset towards and relationship with strange evidence. Just as he had been since he was a kid, Fort remained a collector. First of birds and rocks, then later stories of things that shouldn't happen yet still seemed to. And just as he had lost interest in labeling his natural finds in his teens, Fort perhaps lost interest in defining the enigmas he gathered and instead focused not on the labels and definitions but on the meaning and mechanics behind them. As much as Fort proved to be a "fly in the ointment" to hubristic scientists, critics, and clergy alike, his point was that the events themselves remained even more problematic, or as he wrote, "They will march." We must accept that the weirdness of our reality defies absolute conclusions. As we've also found with our research, any judgments on the impossible essentially boil down to belief. Or, as Fort summed up, "Here are the data. Make what you will, yourself, of them. . . . We have expressions: we don't call them explanations. We've discarded explanations with beliefs." If there is any conclusion we perhaps share with Charles Fort, it is this: if the paranormal and the supernatural genuinely exist, it certainly doesn't care what anyone believes. Visit our webpage for this episode for a lot more information!

Perhaps most everyone listening to this show is familiar with the term "Fortean," meaning something related to the paranormal, the supernatural, or just generally strange phenomena. But where did that term come from? How did "Forteana" come to describe many of the topics we cover on the podcast? We owe that cognomen and a good deal of our inspiration for our reportage to the work of one man, Charles Hoy Fort. Fort (b. August 6, 1874 - d. May 3, 1932) was a journalist, author, and researcher best known for his collection of accounts of extraordinary incidents and bizarre phenomena. These reports and Fort's commentaries and speculations on them mostly ended up in four books: The Book of the Damned (1919), New Lands (1923), Lo! (1931), and Wild Talents (1932). Within these volumes of nonfiction are found testimonies of rains of meat, frogs, blood, manna, black rain, and unbelievably large stones, poltergeists and spontaneous human combustion, vampires, animal mutilations, UFOs, and alien abductions – anomalies we're familiar with nowadays. Fort is also widely credited for coining the term "teleportation." However, there were likely no other compilations of these incredible tales in Fort's time or before, aside from local newspaper reports. For that reason alone, those of us who are fascinated by such subjects owe him a debt of gratitude. For over 30 years, Fort pored over magazines, books, newspapers, and scientific journals in New York and London libraries and had amassed thousands of notes on odd occurrences. By his own account, Fort would become discouraged by the futility of his endeavors and purpose and claimed to have tossed into the wind around 48,000 notes once while sitting on a park bench at The Cloisters in New York City. Yet his defiance at the dismissal or ridicule from contemporary scientists, or the mystification by religious thinking about these happenings, kept him working until the end. Fort's theories about the causes of such impossibilities would evolve or vacillate throughout his oeuvre, sometimes even within the same book. Whether speculating that the paranormal is the prank of some kind of "Cosmic Joker," to these aberrations being the vestigial byproducts of extraordinary primordial human survival skills, Fort remained compelled by their occurrences regardless. As suggested by the title, The Book of the Damned, Fort postulated that the facts of these cases were "damned" to be excluded by science. Yet no amount of scoffing from anyone would keep the data from these baffling events from proceeding – "they'll march" on, and so did Charles Hoy Fort. We're glad that they, and he, did. Visit our webpage for this episode for a lot more information!

In tonight's Part Two of our series, we continue with the "Why?" of Tiwanaku and Pumapunku. As in, why was it all built? Why did Tiwanaku society spend so much effort and resources on it, and what did it mean to them? We then transition to the "How?" such a monumental architectural and cultural feat could be accomplished. What craftsmanship skills and construction technology did they possess to erect structures that continue to baffle present-day archaeologists and engineers? Could an organic technique of creating geopolymers, or essentially a type of concrete, explain the precise geometric shapes attained? Or was it a combination with a lost art of stone softening and shaping to achieve such exact tolerances? Perhaps they were just some of the best stonemasons in the world, with modern-quality chisels, drills, saws, and generations of labor at their disposal? And how did they come by their craft, through observation of nature and technical evolution, or some otherworldly source? We'll ask our good friend, Chemical Engineer Dr. Chris Cogswell, Ph.D., of The Mad Scientist Podcast, about the theoretical possibilities of ancient formulations as it applies to material sciences and their implications. Finally, we'll speculate on hypotheses and one aspect of the Tiwanaku enigma that is no less important than studying its stones – the legends and the beliefs that sparked its creation. For it is the folklore and spirituality of a culture that echoes through the ages, adding wonder about the mystery of Pumapunku.Visit our website for a lot more information on this episode!