Grant Cameron: “Disclosure” Has Already Happened

Grant Cameron has been looking for answers since his own dramatic sighting in 1975. After years of searching through documents in Presidential libraries, he only recently gave up. “You would think that they’d never heard of UFOs” he says.

This week, he sent me an untitled work in progress. The paper examines the genesis of the Area 51 story and concludes that the reason for the so-called “leaks” from the secret base in the early 1990s was that a group in the U.S. intelligence community was trying to get the truth of alien contact and ET technology into the public discussion. By selectively releasing stories ranging from nearly benign to totally paranoid, Cameron thinks that there is a plan to both frighten and desensitize the public so that when the reality of an alien presence is revealed, the dominant emotion will be relief that the wildest rumors were only that.

Grant and I have been in contact for many years, and have communicated with many of the same government people. During the program, we debated many of the finer points of evidence for government knowledge of the UFO subject. He has concluded that, based on the public statements of current and former intel personnel, that the U.S. Government is dealing with a non-human race which has arrived on Earth in “nuts and bolts” craft. I am not quite ready to make that leap, and I hope that our back-and-forth over the course of the show is enlightening. It was for me, even though I remain unconvinced of anything, especially when it involves the statements of spies and others tasked with keeping national secrets. A fun and lively interview.

Posted in Authors, Government, Intelligence, UFOs | Tagged , , , , , , | 18 Comments

Peter Robbins: Issues in Abduction Research

Peter Robbins makes his third appearance on the program, and on the heels of the untimely death of Budd Hopkins, we talk about his friendship with Hopkins and insights into working with people who claim abduction by non-human entities. We started with an in-depth examination of Robbins’ own sighting and subsequent repression of the troubling memory until he was reminded of it in the mid 1970s by his sister, who was there and had an apparent abduction experience.

While there are certainly many troubling issues in UFO abduction research, I do not personally have all the data and experience of someone like Peter Robbins to be able to come to a solid conclusion about the way it has been conducted in the last 30 years, although I have been occasionally critical of it in the past. Peter addressed some of the charges leveled at Hopkins concerning the treatment of apparent abductees, protocols for interviews and hypnosis sessions and guarding against bias from both the researcher and the subjects.

Peter brought up a new case he’s been working on involving a security guard at a prison in the southwest and his sighting of a massive (100-yard or more) black, disc-shaped object which silently appeared and then disappeared in the night sky. Peter has promised to ask the witness if he would appear on the program for a short interview.

We also discussed the problem of fundamentalist thinking and how it pervades the skeptical community, UFO researchers, religion and politics. This led to a segment about compassion and how we should conduct our lives to do the most good for others and ourselves.

The theme of the program is probably best summed up as: “As much as you can, withhold judgment for as long as possible and keep your emotions in check.”

Robbins’ paper that is referred to during the program, Politics, Religion and Human Nature: Practical Problems and on the Path Toward Official UFO Acknowledgment can be downloaded by clicking on the title.

Photo credit: ICAR.

Posted in abductions, Authors | Tagged , | 15 Comments

Upcoming Guests

As the Radio Misterioso site passes 100,000 hits (after counting started on June 25th of this year) the interview schedule is pretty busy for the next few weeks:

This Sunday (September 18th) we’ll talk to renowned UFO researcher Peter Robbins about his work with the late Budd Hopkins and try to clear up some misconceptions about Hopkins’ abduction research and his personal life. Robbins worked with Hopkins for over 20 years and has some insights which he will share for the first time.

On September 25th, Grant Cameron makes his first appearance on the show. Cameron’s site Presidential UFO catalogs his research into each administration’s UFO involvement from FDR to Obama. He has said that he wants to ask me some questions, so this should be a good one.

For October 9th, we welcome back ghost hunter Richard Senate to the program to talk about his recent research as well as his new collection of adventure fiction, entitled Steam.

Stay tuned and thank you for your continued support!

Posted in Guests, Site News | 4 Comments

Another Weird Music Show

No guest this week, and I liked how the music show went, so it’s posted for eternity.

Actually, there are only three 9/11-themed songs in this show, and we get them out of the way right at the beginning. Also on the menu: Country music with distorted guitar and sitar, music produced entirely with computer-generated voices in close harmony, a jazz cover of “Voodoo Chile” with a tuba taking the lead, a ska version of the Beatles, and the original recording of the Plan 9 From Outer Space theme before Ed Wood got ahold of it. We end with a few favorites from the Messer Chups.

Special thanks to Mr. Fab at Music For Maniacs for a couple of these gems!

Posted in Music | 3 Comments

Tim Binnall: Host To Host

Tim Binnall has become one of the leading lights in the paranormal radio podcast parade. He is known for his no-nonsense yet easygoing style and has interviewed such well-known UFO personalities as Jacques Vallee, Linda Howe and Stan Friedman.

Like many of us, his projects evolved out of a need to learn more from those we considered leading researchers and theorists. What better way than to ask them yourself? Binnall of America started as a fan site for Coast To Coast AM and quickly developed it’s own unique personality.

We began with a discussion on the sorry state of mainstream paranormal radio, and the twin disasters of the 2008 Bigfoot hoax and Sylvia Browne’s psychic prediction backtracking in 2006 which played out on Coast to Coast. I also mentioned my deep dislike of Sean Morton, and Tim called him and his ilk “Performance bullshit artists.”

We talked shop about interviews, problems with contemporary UFO study (a long segment), and then Tim launched into his negative assessment of Arizona Governor Fife Symington’s about face on the Phoenix Lights sightings of 1997. Paul Kimball suddenly called in to comment on Symington and entered into a debate with Tim as to whether the man was a “coward” or just an opportunist. Three callers later, we closed with a discussion about the nature of what exactly constitutes a “ufologist.”

This program was recorded on April 1st of 2007.

The photo above is from when Tim and Paul were visiting L.A. in 2008. (Tim is on the left and Paul is on the right. )

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Nick Redfern: The Real Men In Black

Nick was on the show again to talk about his new book, The Real Men In Black. The MIB have been a ufological bugaboo for over 50 years now, and the myth has changed little since it was introduced by ufologist Albert Bender in the mid 1950s. Are they real or imaginary? Nick says yes.

For the first 15 minutes we actually discussed the problems that authors face with publishers, self publishing, and selling ideas. We then dove into our subject with an examination of Bender and some little-known parts of his story, including Nick’s ideas about Bender’s psychological state during his MIB visitations. We continued with a few well-known and not a few less well-known encounters with Ufology’s shadowy silencers.

For most of the last hour of the program we discussed theories about where the MIB might come from, how they are perceived and how these two issues interact in legend and reality. At the end of the show I played a segment from a rare recording of Albert Bender describing his experiences.

The drawing above is Bender’s depiction of the entities which he said scared him right out of his UFO studies.

Posted in Authors, books, Conspiracies, Government | Tagged , , | 11 Comments

Barbara Harris: Strange History of the Integratron and Giant Rock

Barbara Harris is the president of the Morongo Basin Historical Society and an expert on the history of the Joshua Tree/ Yucca Valley/ Landers area of the California high desert.

Most people who listen to Radio Misterioso know about flying saucer contactee George Van Tassel and his famous Integratron. What many might not realize is that when Van Tassel moved his family from Los Angeles in the early 1950s, he didn’t just pick the desert at random. His friend Frank Critzer told him about the area and carved out an 800 square foot living space underneath one of the world’s largest freestanding granite boulders. In contrast to his reputation as a retiring hermit, Critzer also graded the roads and built an airstrip to encourage visitors. Critzer was accused of being a Nazi sympathizer (probably not true) and may have provided support to Japanese families hiding from arrest and internment camps during WWII. Barbara expanded on all of this, busted a quite a few myths and revealed much new information publicly for the first time during our interview, which lasted over two hours.

Posted in contactees, forgotten history, Radio Misterioso exclusive | Tagged , , | 10 Comments

Mike Clelland: Hidden Experience

Mike Clelland and I have talked by phone and skype a over the last couple of years, but we thought it might be time to talk publicly about our mutual interests. Mike has a fascinating site called Hidden Experience which he uses to examine his own strange experiences and discuss paranormal issues and synchronicities.

We started out with a report from and commentary on the Laughlin UFO conference. Mike returned from the 2010 meeting with a mixed bag of impressions and memories. While at the conference, he attended an abductee support meeting, which he described in detail.

We also spoke about conversations with our late friend Mac Tonnies. His analogy of a cat chasing a laser pointer and the comparison of humans seeing UFOs occupied us for a good while. This led to a conversation about Mac’s last book The Cryptoterrestrials and how it might affect UFO research.

Mike made the important point that many abduction researchers have agendas that ignore the variety of UFO encounter and abduction experiences. We went on to talk about the experience of the paranormal and how it changes lives.

This interview was recorded on March 7th of 2010.

No interview scheduled this week (8/7). Weird music will occur during your regularly scheduled program.

Posted in abductions, archives, conferences, UFOs | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Walter Bosley and Richard Spence: Occult Murder from 1915?

About three years ago, Walter Bosley’s background in criminal investigation led him to a century-old series of unsolved deaths. As he looked into the unusual incidents, he noticed that the authorities of the time seemed to have little interest in pursuing any leads or making any real effort to solve the crimes, even though one of the victims was written up in newspapers as far away as Salt Lake City.

Empire Of The Wheel recounts Bosley’s increasing efforts to follow leads based on newspaper accounts, public records, and coroner reports from the autumn of 1915 in an effort to reconcile the unusual spate of unexplained deaths in the burgeoning town of San Bernardino, California. On the way, he and co-author Richard Spence discovered possible links to spiritualist groups, Masons, foreign spies, Aliester Crowley, and even a possible coverup by members of the local establishment at the time. Spence’s most recent book is Secret Agent 666: Aleister Crowley, British Intelligence and the Occult.

Perhaps the strangest and most startling revelation was that the infamous “Zodiac” serial killer of the 1960s may have been using elements of occult geology to plan his murders in the same way that an unnamed person or persons might have been doing at the turn of the 20th century in San Bernardino.

Bosley and Spence do not claim to have solved the mystery, but ask that the questions they raise be considered as hitherto unexamined motivations for the possible murder of at least seven people over a four-month period, which was highly unusual for the time.

Posted in Authors, books, Conspiracies, forgotten history | Tagged , , , , , | 22 Comments

Nick Redfern – Final Events: The U.S. Government and Demonic UFOs

Nick Redfern has been a very good friend for a very long time, and it was a pleasure to welcome him to the program once again to talk about one of his most controversial books.

In short, Final Events and the Secret Government Group on Demonic UFOs and the Afterlife is the story Nick uncovered about a secret U.S. Government group that has been around since the 1950s and who labor under the belief that all UFO and specifically “alien” phenomena are demonic in origin. They are committed to fighting this supposed evil influence over mankind, and if possible, to defeat it.

Nick describes the genesis of this group called the “Collins Elite” which began in the 1950s while background checks were being done on infamous rocket pioneer Jack Parsons and his connection to the “wickedest man in the world,” Aliester Crowley. The group became convinced that Parsons and his cohorts opened some sort of psychic doorway that ushered in the age of flying saucers.

Confused? Intrigued? You’ll be less of the first and more of the second after listening to this episode of Radio Misterioso, recorded on April 17th of 2011.

Note: Neither Nick nor I “believe” all of this wholeheartedly. As Nick says, it is an interesting story and one he wanted to tell after talking to a few individuals in the group.

The photo above was taken when Nick and I visited the grave of Paul Bennewitz in New Mexico.

Posted in Authors, books, Conspiracies, Government, Intelligence | Tagged , , , , , | 21 Comments

Norio Hayakawa – Non Belief

Norio Hayakawa has been part of the UFO/ conspiracy scene for over 20 years. In fact, he was becoming known in the community just as I was first writing about strange stuff. He has been in the thick of the Area 51 and Dulce underground base stories and personalities since before the beginning.

This night we talked about his involvement with the early personalities involved in these stories, such as John Lear, Bill Cooper, Ted Gunderson, and Anthony Hilder. Norio recalled his 1990 interview with Area 51 “whistleblower” Bob Lazar and the strange men who wouldn’t leave his side throughout the filming of a segment for Japanese television. He also noticed that Lazar’s home didn’t looked lived in, more like a movie set. This sounds very much like Lazar’s leaking of government secrets were highly scripted. Norio also mentioned that he first heard of Area 51 and the supposed Dulce base in a packet of reading material he requested from Bill Moore in 1988. We also discussed our experiences with a man named “Mike Younger” and our impressions of him as a disinfo agent. Much of what he did also seemed scripted and designed to create definite ideas and opinions.

Throughout the program, Norio stressed his agnostic approach. Like many others, he has found that interested non-belief is probably the best way to approach the UFO subject as well as so-called conspiracy issues. We also went into his background and bio since his immigration from his native Japan. I particularly liked his stories of working the night shift at a mortuary.

We ended with one of his original keyboard compositions entitled “Showdown At Dulce, New Mexico.”

Posted in conferences, Conspiracies, Government, Intelligence, Radio Misterioso exclusive, UFOs | Tagged , , , , | 17 Comments

Jerry Modjeski – Fellow Traveler

Jerry Modjeski and I have very similar pursuits. We are both interested in all aspects of the paranromal, mind/ consciousness issues and research, and how it all fits together. Jerry hosted a program called the Musical Transportation Spree that was broadcast for over 15 years on public radio station KFAI in Minneapolis. He was a field investigator for MUFON and played weird music every week. My kind of guy.

We have not spoken much since this program was aired on January 5th of 2003, and I plan to remedy that situation soon. On this night we spanned the spectrum of the weird, speaking about his UFO investigations, ghosts and ouija boards, the Cash-Landrum UFO incident, and UFO songs. I played a few gems on the show, such as “(You’d Better Pray To The Lord) When You See Those Flying Saucers” and UFO contactee Frank Stranges’ audio documentary from the mid 1960s.

This was a really fun show and I’m glad that I found the CDs on which it was recorded. Hello Jerry, wherever you are!

Photo credit: Peter Stenshoel

Posted in archives, Fortean, Ghosts, Music, UFOs | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Kenn Thomas – JFK and UFO

Kenn Thomas is “America’s Best Loved Conspiracy Researcher” (at least to his friends.) The long-time Steamshovel Press publisher’s new book is entitled JFK & UFO: Military-Industrial Conspiracy and Cover Up From Maury Island To Dallas.

We started the program with an examination of mysterious Fred Crisman and his little-known role in both one of the first famous UFO sightings of the modern era, as well as his involvement with men accused by D.A. Jim Garrison in his prosecution of the New Orleans connection to the JFK assassination. Of his new book Kenn says “It focuses on the intertwining connections between the parapolitical world of assassinations and conspiracies, and the ufological subculture, and how they work together even today.” Thomas described his recent listen of a rare 1950s recording of British philosopher Gerald Heard lecturing about scientific attitudes towards UFOs. We then discussed the theory that JFK was killed over a military contract for a jet fighter. The the new Area 51 book controversy was mentioned and the probable fallacy of mistaking a U2 for UFO (although listener Carlos wrote in to say that this was an excuse given to pilots who saw the aircraft while it was still secret.) Kenn also recounted his own UFO sighting at Area 51 many years ago.

Kenn had to go, so Adam Gorightly called and we spent a half-hour talking about the Bigfoot press conference, people who approach us to talk about their UFO sightings, and anything else that came up. Adam talked about his well-known UFO sighting while on LSD, so I had to mention one of my only UFO sightings which happened in Death Valley a few years ago.  We ended with a a discussion about the value of reputation in the UFO field (I say it doesn’t count for much, unless you are respected outside the community.)

Posted in Authors, books, Conspiracies, Government, UFOs | Tagged , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Jeffrey Gonzalez: Bigfoot’s DNA

Jeffrey Gonzalez is looking for a lab to test what he says is the DNA of a Bigfoot.

Jeffrey Gonzalez is the founder and director of the Sanger Paranormal Society (SPS), which investigates and documents all manner of strangeness in California’s Central Valley. If lights are hovering over your house, things are bumping in the night, or weird creatures are trying to carry off your chihuahua, SPS will investigate and document the disturbance, as well as offer any explanation that seems reasonable.

One month ago, Gonzalez says he found evidence of what he believes to be the face- and handprints of a Bigfoot creature on the window of his pickup truck, which was parked in a remote area of the Sierra Nevada mountains. He and his research group say that the place has been a recent hotspot for Bigfoot activity.

On June 23rd, the SPS held a press conference in Fresno to announce the find and ask for help to test the DNA traces left on the truck on or around May 30th of 2011. I attended and arranged for Gonzalez to appear on Radio Misterioso. This is the first interview he has given about the recent events.

We talked about the controversy surrounding the event and the public and private reaction. We also delved into Gonzalez’ other paranormal investigations, including his discovery of anomalous ruins in the hills north of Fresno. We also discussed his UFO research, why he has recently resigned as an official of the Mutual UFO Network, and then listened as he fielded a live call from a local skywatcher while an apparent sighting was in progress during the program.

The subject of 2012 prophecy came up, as well as government and military involvement in the UFO subject. We ended with a conversation about paranormal theories and Jeffrey’s opinions about them in light of his personal investigations over the past few years. He also promised to take me out to the area where the Bigfoot has been seen.

When this happens, a report will follow!

Posted in bigfoot, Fortean, Ghosts, Intelligence, Podcast, Radio Misterioso exclusive, UFOs | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Bigfoot Press Conference

Jeffrey Gonzalez points to the area of his truck window where he believes a bigfoot-type creature left forensic evidence sometime between May 30 and June 1, 2011.

Yesterday afternoon, I attended the Sanger Paranormal Society press conference in Fresno, California with friend and journalist Skylaire Alfvegren. Spokesman Jeffrey Gonzalez and his team announced that they had acquired “potentially the most convincing evidence of Bigfoot since the Patterson film of 1967.”

Gonzalez told this story: From May 27th to 29th of this year, he and five others camped in an area of the Sierra Nevada mountains that they identified as active in the past for apparent bigfoot activity. Nothing notable happened during the camping trip. A storm of rain and snow began on the night of the 28th. By 2AM the group were concerned that they would be stranded if they remained in the area. Everyone piled into two cars and left. The next day, Gonzalez realized that his laptop was still in his stranded truck. On the way back to retrieve the truck and computer the group noticed felled trees and logs blocking the remote dirt road.

As Gonzalez approached his truck, he noticed dirt and smears on the driver’s side window. It appeared that something had left the marks while peering into the cab. He drove the truck down to an area where there was cel coverage and phoned Mickey Burrow, a local forensic examiner and paranormal investigator.

Burrow met Gonzalez in the foothills and took pictures of the markings on the window. At the conference, Burrow (while admitting that he is not a biologist or zoologist) offered the opinion that the apparent nose and lip marks did not seem to match those of a bear or mountain lion. Samples of the marks were taken for later analysis. Gonzalez later had the window removed for safe storage. He has not washed the truck since the incident, almost a month ago.

The group made a plea for donations, leads, or services to perform DNA testing on the samples. Some reports indicate that the entire conference was a ploy to make money, but the local news had to pin Burrow down on a figure: “I guess five thousand would be enough” he said. It seems that if the Sanger group were going after the big score, they would have gone about things differently.

My impression is that Gonzalez and his group are sincere in their convictions. The videos, photos, and other evidence presented at the event are debatable and probably unconvincing to most. If they can get their samples tested by at least two labs and the results agree, perhaps their claims can be at least partially verified.

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Site Header Follies

New Radio Misterioso pal and webgraphic designer JT Lindroos has been sending me site logos to try out. I particularly like the present one. We are working on a few more which will be featured in the next week or so. Vote for your favorites.

JT’s work can be seen at these sites:
jtlindroos.carbonmade.com
bookgasm.com/author/jt-lindroos/

Posted in Site News | 9 Comments

From The Archives – Rob Sterling and Jonathan Vankin

In the innocent days of early 2001, I recall renaming the program each week depending on what or who happened to be on the show. When discussing politics, I called the show “Mind Control.” I also started and ended the programs with a recording of Tibetan monks chanting, mixed with whatever struck my interest at the time. That week it was samples from broadcasts of “numbers stations.”

On March 1st, Rob Sterling of the Konformist website, and later, the author of 50 Reasons Not To Vote For George Bush was scheduled by phone to discuss political intrigue in the form of what is known to most people as “conspiracies.” Just as we started the program, author Jonathan Vankin and his (then) wife and noted journalist Deb Vankin walked into the studio unannounced, so I gave them a microphone.

What followed was an unexpected meeting of the minds on the effects of the Bush family on American politics, police brutality at the recent Democratic National Convention, and Jonathan’s books The 50 Greatest Conspiracies Of All Time and The Big Book Of The 70s. The current hot topic of Napster’s legal battles also came up. Of course, anything else that came to mind was also fair game and the conversation was stimulating and informative as always when sharpies like these get together.

Through the wonders of modern technology, this program was digitized from the original 90 minute cassette tape recorded over a decade ago.

Posted in archives, Authors, Conspiracies, forgotten history, Podcast | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Back From The Desert – Weirdo Documentary Wrapup

Paranormal Posse at Giant Rock. From left: Walter Bosley, Andy Colvin, Greg Bishop, Adam Gorightly, Nick Redfern, Robert Larson

In the next few weeks, I’m going to be posting some of the shows that were recorded during the site outage that started late last year.

In the first week of December, Adam Gorightly and filmmaker Sam Fielder took a group of us out to the high desert of Southern California to shoot a documentary about authors, artists and radio people who were into the weirdness starting in the early 1990s. Most of us knew each other by our shared interests back then and that’s when I started corresponding and meeting with people like Gorightly, Chica Bruce, Nick Redfern and Robert Larson, who will all appear in the documentary. Others who we met later, such as historian and journalist Jayne Pojawa and author and photographer Andy Colvin were also out in Yucca Valley, Landers and Giant Rock over the weekend of December 4th. Walter Bosley, my long time co-host is also in the documentary and was in the studio that night.

Kate Burke, Chica Bruce, Gorightly, Redfern, and Jayne Pojawa at Bombay Beach on the Salton Sea.

Chica, Jayne and her husband Jared joined us in the studio to talk about the film and what inspired our interest in UFOs, the paranormal, and general strangeness. Andy called in from home, then Gorightly and finally Nick to round out almost two and a half hours of a very fun show that was much more like a party than an interview.

Posted in archives, Authors, film, Guests, Podcast | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Coincidences and Commentary – Paul Kimball Returns

Walter texted that he wouldn’t be able to show up last Sunday, but I was out in the desert all day (above it actually) without my phone and didn’t get the message. Two rare recordings about flying saucer contactees later, I was on the line with Paul Kimball, asking him to help me out with some conversation. Since this program is about conversation and ideas first, and personalities second (actually that’s probably far down the list) I didn’t mind that Paul was on for the second week in a row. We brought up synchronicity, perception, and coincidence again, and moved on to other topics that interest us, such as movies and TV, as well as the ubiquitous paranormal mish-mosh.

Paul also addressed those who think that he’s gone all new-agey. He says he’s just revealing the non-public side of his personality, but I think he’s actually tired of pointing out what’s wrong with UFO study and ready to discuss the positive. What interests him personally now comes first. Like a few (a very few) others in the field, he’s decided to mostly ignore the petty squabbles and look for personal meaning in the mysteries.

I think that’s the best that any of us can do right now.

Posted in Guests, Podcast, UFOs | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Farah Yurdozu – Turkish Ufology

Visiting Farah

As the Radio Misterioso site continues to be repaired, I will occasionally post shows that either have not been heard in awhile or ever (at least since the original broadcast.)

My good friend Farah Yurdozu appeared on Radio Misterioso in 2007 when we had just met at the Roswell UFO festival, where we both appeared as speakers. We found that we shared many opinions on UFOs and the paranormal, and I immediately asked her to appear as a guest. Since then, we have met a few times at conferences and I eventually visited Farah in her home country of Turkey, where she was a gracious and knowledgeable host. This interview was recorded in late July of 2007. Farah talked about her many books in at least two languages (she speaks Turkish, English, and Spanish) her own paranormal experiences and those of her family, the Djinn tradition and how it relates to the abduction phenomenon, and the Turkish government and press attitude towards UFO sightings.

Rare insights by a renowned researcher, author, and sensitive. Enjoy.

(Farah has agreed to appear on the program again in the near future, so keep visiting and listening!)

Posted in archives, Authors, Fortean, Guests, UFOs | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments