Blake and Jeb discuss ISO's coverage of FAITH HEALING. The episode goes to places new and old. Jeb gives us historical context. Blake gets angry. Nimoy wears a lab coat.

EXTENSIVE Show Notes on our free Patreon page

Weirdumentary has a forward by Stephen Bissette who wrote a book also likely to be of interest to listeners: Cryptid Cinema (affiliate link)
(A follow-up to that book is under construction and will include research by your's truly about the "4-walling" tour of the PGF.)

I linked to Feral House's page for Weirdumentary above at the request of Gary. If you're curious about their catalog, we talked with their owner recently about monstrous food and they also produced Al Ridenour's new book about Carnival.

This is not a complete list of the films in the book - and it also covers a few TV series including In Search Of... and Arthur C. Clarke's _____ (he had three ITV series covering topics similar to ISO with each season getting a slightly different name).

1970: Chariots of the Gods, The Unexplained

1971: The Hellstrom Chronicles, The Man Who Saw Tomorrow

1972: Bigfoot Man or Beast, Monsters! Mysteries or Myths?, The Devil's Triangle, The Legend of Boggy Creek

1973: In Search of Ancient Astronauts

1974: Deadly Fathoms, In Search of Ancient Mysteries, In Search of Dracula, UFOs: Past, Present and Future

1975: Mysteries from Beyond Earth, The Force Beyond, The Legendary Curse of the Hope Diamond, The Man of Miracles, The Outer Space Connection

1976: Beyond Belief, In Search of Noah's Ark, Mysteries of the Gods, The Amazing World of Psychic Phenomena, The Legend of Bigfoot, The Legend of Loch Ness, The Miracle Healers, The Mysterious Monsters, World Beyond Death

1977: Aliens from Spaceship Earth, Journey into the Beyond, Mysteries of the Great Pyramid, The Lincoln Conspiracy, The Underground Doctors, The Unknown Force

1978: Are We Alone in the Universe?, Beyond and Back, Curse of the Mayan Temple, Manbeast! Myth or Monster?, Mysteries from Beyond the Triangle, Mysteries of the Mind, Mystery of the Sacred Shroud, Secret of the Bermuda Triangle, The Amazing World of Ghosts, The Late Great Planet Earth, The Lost City of Atlantis, The UFO Journals, UFO - Exclusive! , UFO: Top Secret, Unknown Powers, World of the Unknown

1979: Attack from Outer Space, Charles Berlitz's The Bermuda Triangle, Death: The Ultimate Mystery, Encounter with Disaster, Hypnosis and Beyond, In Search of the Historic Jesus, The Doomsday Chronicles, The Prophecies of Nostradamus, UFOs Are Real, World of Mystery

1980: Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World (TV), Land of Celtic Ghosts, Mysteries of the Mind, UFO Syndrome

1981: Search for the Titanic

Jeb and Blake head out to sea in research of the mystery of what happened to the crew of The Mary Celeste. 

The Dei Gratia

Nimoy Fashion Alert 
(NFA Wardrobe consulting by The Hogtown Rake, Pedro Mendes)

 Attorney Fred Flood

In 1913, The Strand Magazine provided an alleged survivor's account from one Abel Fosdyk, supposedly Mary Celeste's steward.

The Mary Celeste (1913 article)

Per "WhatTheFont" website identifier, that font is (appropriately):  JOLLY ROGER! 

Meanwhile on Skull Hut Island...

Pop Culture:

Dead Calm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mystery_of_the_Mary_Celeste

Read it, it's a time. Hammer film -Jeb

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chase_(Doctor_Who)

Watch this ISO episode on YouTube

Was Dracula, the Bram Stoker novel, based on a real person in the form of Vlad Dracula? Jeb and Blake discuss.

Discussed in this episode:

Update 1/28/2020: Listener Justin Mullis spotted an error which has led to a correction in this audio and will lead to some additional material in another IRO content drop shortly. -B

Bram Stoker's Dracula the novel

John William Polidori's The Vampyre 

Varney the Vampire, a penny dreadful

Carmilla by Joseph Le Fanu

Dan Simmons Children of the Night vampire book

Todd Browning's Dracula & Freaks

Copola's movie Bram Stoker's Dracula 

Hammer's The Horror of Dracula (1958)

Hellsing, vampire anime

Shadow of the Vampire (2000) fictionalized story of the making of Nosferatu (sort of)

Remastered Nosferatu (English, Scored, and free via YouTube)

Dracula (in the novel) goes to The Scholomance to become a vampire.  

What's a Lich?

Why did Hammer set most of its Dracula movies in Germany? It seems likely to be budget related, perhaps having sets ready? You'd have to ask script writer Jimmy Sangster to be sure, but I did uncover this passage in a book titled "Dracula Goes to the Movies," by Lyndon Joslin:

Castle Ambras - home of weird paintings and "cabinet of curiosities"

Lot's Wife geological formations 

• Stoker was going to create his character, and then ran into a history discussing Dracula, and used that as the backstory. Also added the vampire bat aspects.
  • Much of this may come from Emily Gerard's The Land Beyond the Forest. He basically lifts a number of ideas and text from her.
    • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Gerard

She was a travel writer and novelist.

Radu Florescu (obituary) co-author In Search of Dracula

Vampire lore around the world varies in what the vampires do, and how they are created.

The Order of the Dragon 

Ceahlău Massif

The story of Budu

• http://www.ceah
• laupark.ro/en/legends/ The show calls it a megalith, but it is actually two rock outcrops, one for Budu, one for Ana

Bran Castle

The Hardy Boys (and Nancy Drew) meet Dracula (part 1 and part 2) takes place in "Dracula's Castle" which I'm pretty sure features exterior shots of Bran Castle.  This episode features Lorne Greene (Battlestar Galactica and Bonanza) and also singer/songwriter/actor Paul Williams (The Phantom of the Paradise, Rainbow Connection)

The story about what was found in the church seems to be completely wrong.
From Wiki on Vlad Dracula: 

I think I solved this one. (-B):  

In October 1974, the AP released a news story about Dracula's grave and the island. The story tells that Rosetti investigated then immediately follows with the legends around the remains of Vlad. I'm betting this is the source because it closely matches the episode narrative and would have been easy to find or perhaps remember when this episode was made.
"The grave, said to be Dracula's, was discovered by Romania's eminent archaeologist Dinu Rosetti in 1931 after he followed up a folklore story known only to neighboring villagers across the lake." (see attached PDF for full article)

The famous woodcut of Vlad dining in front of impaled victims.

Nimoy Fashion Alert

Watch this ISO episode on YouTube

Jeb and Blake fail to find Amelia Earhart.  So they've got that in common with the folks profiled in this week's episode.

Discussed in this Episode:

Amelia Earhart, pioneering woman pilot

Husband and publisher George Putnam

Navigator Fred Noonan 

AutoGyros/GyroCopters and how they are different from helicopters. 

Propaganda film Flight for Freedom (DVD) which fictionalizes the story of Earhart as spy.

The Lockheed Electra Model 10 

The Searchers:

Joseph Gervais, the obsessive guy who believed an innocent New Jersey housewife was secretly Amelia. I'm not linking to his stupid book or to the woman he stalked and harassed, though she did pass in 1982. Even when she died, he tried to get to see the body.  No.  No, no, no, no. 

Elgen Long - aviator and author of Amelia Earhart: The Mystery Solved 

Fred Goerner, author of The Search for Amelia Earhart 

Nimoy Fashion!

Watch this ISO episode on YouTube 

Blake, Jeb, and guest Ken Hite talk about the search for Nazi Plunder - lost treasure and art following WWII.

Thanks to Ken Hite for joining us on this episode. You can find a huge archive of Ken's excellent podcast (with Robin Laws) titled Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff. Highly recommended!
Ken's also a prolific author and game designer and if you like this episode and weird war history, you might especially enjoy his Osprey (fiction) book on Nazi Occultism.  Also, if you enjoy vampires and Jason Bourne-style spy action, you should check out Night's Black Agents.

Discussed in this Episode:

About this rocket Jeb was asking about: It appears to say ПО РEЙXCTAГУ

"Po Ree-stah-gu"

Also, it appears to be a BM-XY launch system (not sure what values go in X or Y). Apparently, like the Brits called the V weapons "buzz bombs" because of their peculiar sounds, the Germans called this Russian rig "Stalin's Organ" because of its sounds. 

Per Ken, it translates into either "On to the Reichstag!" or possibly "to the Reichstag" like a package address."

Walter Horn - a "monuments man"

Martin Bohrman - a Nazi. Hitler's secretary and confidant. 

Jeb, haunted by WORLD AT WAR series intro.

Austria's Lake Toplitz (pronounced To-Plitz-Say)  was a treasure dump - found in 1957

In Florence - Rudolpho Siviero continues the hunt... Rodolfo Siviero ( 1911 - 1983 )

Nimoy Fashion Alert

Austrian fire-men (and treasure hunters) search a lake.

Wherein Jeb and Blake discuss the 13th episode of In Search Of... and fail to learn any ESP.

Watch this ISO episode on YouTube.

Notes:

Edgar Mitchell (Wikipedia)

Mitchell's Institute of Noetic Science 

Phenomena by Annie Jacobson (history of Gov't research into Psi)

Zener Cards 

Nimoy Fashion Alert:

One possible explanation of JJ's "psychic" powers is that he may have seen the images from the lens reflection.

Joseph (JB) Rhine mentioned as creator of the experimenter.  I know this is just a TV demo but a big problem w/ these tests is controlling for stuff like that might give away the card selection. 

Duke article on Rhine, including how he got involved in the Exorcist case and missing persons.

SPR article on Rhine.

Discussion of Rhine's motivations as being religious in style, but scientific in content.

David Ossman (Firesign Theater) on Spoonbending from Lawrence Kennedy, an excerpt from Dr. Firesign's Follies.

Robert Monroe of the "Monroe Institute" - home of the waterbed farm lab.

The American Society for Psychical Research. 

UC Davis' Dr. Charles Tart 

David Zink (from the Tiwanaku finale of the episode)

Night Gallery Commentary:

Percy Rodriguez (samples of his voice power) - wikipedia entry

An article discussing Rod Serling & Jack Laird on Night Gallery

The Sixth Sense TV show that was inserted into Night Gallery feed on syndication

Also Mentioned:

Jason King - the character (and TV Show) that inspired Austin Power's fashion sense. His show was a spin-off from the series that first featured him, Department S. 

Watch this ISO episode on YouTube

The In Search Of show profiles the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) and Jeb is not impressed. Blake & Jeb both relate Roswell/Black-Helicopter experiences near the VLA.

Unmarked Helicopters (song by Soul Coughing)

Green Bank West Virginia (radio free zone)

William Proxmire (senator who killed funding of SETI)

The novel Contact was written by Carl Sagan, but the novel was based on a screenplay by Sagan and Ann Druyan. 

Nimoy Fashion - what the heck color is his blazer?

No, seriously! What color is this?

Jeb and Blake join Leonard Nimoy and a group of St. Louis clairvoyants as we go in research of psychic detectives.

Watch this episode of ISO on YouTube. 

A quick thanks to Shane Gower for his helpful blog post from 2015 about this episode.

• 1970s Famous psychic Peter Hurkos is featured during the introduction.
• Hurkos was vouched for by Andrija Puharich, after being challenged by James Randi.  Puharich was a major figure in Ancient Aliens, Remote Viewing, and New Age culture in the US.
• "Psychic Detective" has changed meaning over the 20th century from detectives who investigated the paranormal into detectives who were themselves paranormal.
• IMDB and Wikipedia say that Sylvia Browne is in this episode. Jeb and I could find zero evidence to support that assertion. She appeared neither on-screen, nor in the credits. Furthermore, the episode took place in St. Louis and involved local psychic investigators but Browne had left Missouri for California in 1964 according to her obituary:

• Irene Hughes makes an appearance, already a media figure when this was shot
• Phyllis Deggendorf is said to attend George Washington University which is in Washington D.C. - but actually it is Washington University in St. Louis.
• Articles about the Sally Lucas murder case discussed in the episode:
  Body of Sally Lucas Found (Sep 1971)
  Details on Sally Lucas' Murderer's trial (Anthony Damico)
  Damico found Guilty
  St. Louis Magazine article on Bevy Jaegers
  Details on the Criminal Trial of Anthony Damico (no mention of Psychics)

Nimoy Fashion Alert: First Sweater Sighting!

• We'll be covering Easter Island in a terrific upcoming episode, but it has nothing to do with Atlantis.
• Olmec heads don't weigh anything like what is claimed.
• The Tiwankau text about "long before the Pyramids" stuff comes from nazi-sympathizer Arthur Posnansky whose "15,000 years ago" dating has been picked up by many alt-archaeology researchers.
• Thera/Santorini is a beautiful place that suffered a devastating disaster ( 1642–1540 BCE ). When not being called "Atlantis" it spends a lot of time as photographs in Greek restaurants. 
• Antikythera Mechanism is from within 200 - 50 BCE. Plato wrote the Atlantis story more than 100 - 200 years before the device was even made. It has nothing to do with Atlantis.
• Dr. Maxine Asher is a controversial choice for "subject matter expert." Her views may not have been known by the ISO producers? Weird ramblings about Catholics, Jews, 12 Noahs, Psychic Powers, and academic fraud are just some of her career highlights.
• The Piri Reis map appears again. It does not show Antarctica. Nor Atlantis.
• The Edgar Cayce people make an appearance. Their group is called the Association for Research and Enlightenment (ARE).
• The Bimini "Wall" or "Road" is discussed. It looks manmade but was created by natural processes. Other geological features that look manmade include The Giant's Causeway.
• We talk a bit about Peter Tompkins and mentioned: The Secret Life of Plants Secrets of the Bermuda Triangle 
• Oldest reference I found saying that Peter Tompkins might have been the voice in that weird call was from this 2003 post by "Gian." This comports closely to words written on The Quester Files site - by Gian Quasar, whom I presume is the same author. (Note: Blake and Jeb are both highly skeptical that Tompkins is the voice.)
• The Mochica artifacts (and the troubling assertion that their art represents proof of a post-Atlantis diaspora) are presented. There is no evidence that this is true, and Jeb is suspicious that some of those artifacts shown are forgeries.

[Note: Sadly, one side of the recording was lost due to massive Skype issues and some portions of this episode had to be reconstructed. This is why there are places where the audio sounds quite different. This appears to be the only episode of the season where this happened, but my apologies for the audio sounding inconsistent.  -Blake]

Jeb and Blake discuss "Martians" - wherein the In Search Of team examines the possibility that the planet Mars once had (or still contains) life on its harsh surface. The Viking missions as well as many Mars-related pop-culture topics are discussed.

Watch the ISO episode on YouTube. 

A lot of the material in this episode dealt with the Viking program. 

The surprisingly lengthy introduction to our solar system embedded in the 1953 film War of the Worlds.

A Trip to the Moon (1902) - colorized, restored, 720p

Space 1889 - The early "Steam Punk" roleplaying game

William Graves Hoyt's book Lowell and Mars

Missing from this episode (but expected) Italian astronomer:  Giovanni Schiaparelli 

The Difference Engine - by Gibson & Sterling (What if Babbage's Difference Engine had worked?)

Fantastic Planet - French Animated Film

The Silurian Hypothesis - Jeb mentions as an aside, lots to read there.

Face on Mars & Cydonia  (1976)

Pyramids of Mars Doctor Who (1975)

Pareidolia phenomena (Face on Mars is literally part of the article)

Tonight Tonight Smashing Pumpkins

Panspermia (directed and accidental)

(I couldn't help but think about the Errol Otis' view of the Myconoids in D&D when looking at A Trip To The Moon. -B)

Dr. Gerald A. Soffen (February 7, 1926 – November 22, 2000) was a Viking project scientist and Mars geologist.

Harold P. Klein (April 1, 1921 - July 15, 2001) was a chemist and microbiologist.

Leslie Orgel (January 12, 1927 - October 27, 2007) was a chemist interested in life origins.

Jeb and Blake discuss the ISO episode The Mummy's Curse, and the strange and interesting facts behind the legend of "King Tut's Curse."

Watch this ISO Episode on YouTube 

TV Listing Feb 11, 1977:

Photo mentioned by Jeb of Evelyn Beauchamp with Carter.
(Left to Right)  

Arthur Mace (Metropolitan Museum)
Richard Bethell (Carter's secretary)
Arthur Callender
Lady Evelyn Leonora Almina Beauchamp née Herbert
Howard Carter
George Herbert (5th Earl of Carnarvon)
Alfred Lucas (chemist for Egyptian government)
Harry Burton (photographer)  See several of his photos colorized here.

Dan Aykroyd used ASPR for Ghost Busters research

Carter's "Saqqara Incident" described in The National: 

MonsterTalk episode on the curse: The Call of Tuthulhu 

The "Dramatization" text we discussed (which appears to be added in later during syndication): 

I think it is safe to deduce from the palm tree that this graveyard is not in England.

Nimoy's fashion is a light blue turtleneck and (probably) blue blazer.

Most of the curse victims are indeed tied to the curse. (22 deaths "associated" with the curse at time of this show) The suicide was a real thing, Lovecraft commented on a newspaper article about it. However, there is a longitudinal study showing people lived longer if they went into the tomb. 

Unlucky Mummy - 1889, Bertram Fletcher Robinson, 1904.

We briefly discuss the films of Kenneth Anger. (To be clear, these are experimental movies he was making. I'm not recommending his work, but the "play" scenes in this episode definitely reminded me of some of his work.)  The actual history of the music for the film Lucifer Rising is quite convoluted but involves Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page, and convicted murderer Bobby Beausoleil, 

According to Time, Tut's penis is detached but not missing. 

Steve Martin's song about King Tut. 

Jeb Card and Blake Smith are joined by "spooky geologist" Sharon Hill to talk about this classic season one episode of In Search Of... that considers various methods to predict earthquakes, and what we might expect if a large quake hits the San Francisco area.

Watch this episode of In Search Of... on YouTube.

Nimoy Fashion - once again speaking to us from a Los Angeles rooftop.

Around the 9 min mark, we mistakenly say the Bay of Fundy is in Newfoundland. Nope - it's between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. (Does everything in Canada have to have "new" in its name??)
Thanks to Stephanie J. Lahey for this correction!

1964 Alaska Earthquake (Wikipedia)

2011 Earthquake/Tsunami (Disturbing Footage)

1936 Hollywood Movie about San Francisco Earthquake

Tallest tsunami ever recorded. 

VLBI - Very Long Baseline Interferometry  

Quasars for VLBI type research (NY Times)

1989 Double-Decker Collapse (Wikipedia)

Clips from 2015 San Andreas starring The Rock

Listener Darren Bennett advises us that the 1982 "Syzygy" disaster referenced in the show as The Jupiter Effect.  It was written by John Gribbin, a science writer who has apparently subsequently regretted it. (He's still alive and still writing science books - but tried to distance himself from his own book in a July 1980 issue of New Scientist.)

Jeb and Blake go into the jungles of California and France in search of WILD CHILDREN! 

This episode of ISO contains a lot of disturbing content and our commentary is laced with expletives, hence the Explicit tag.

• Tarzan is raised by a fictional ape species known as The Mangani

• The story of Mowgli is LOOOOSELY based on the real-life person Dina Sanichar.

• Frequently referenced ERB Zine article

• Ian Jackson obituary

• News coverage of David as adult (BBC)

• 2021 update on David

• 1985 story about search for "wild children" (and Sham Dev/Shamdeo)

• Christopher Hitchens on Mother Theresa

• Japanese quadrupedal runner

• The Green Children of Woolpit

• Victor of Aveyron

• Disturbing story of Genie - more neglected than feral

NFA - Wild Children:

 It's supposed to be a Bear but it has some other possumbilities.

Jeb Card and Blake Smith discuss the In Search Of episode: KILLER BEES.  Will aggressive Africanized honey bees destroy the world? Is every problem a metaphor for colonialism? Tune in and find out!

Watch episode on YouTube

I've attached some relevant articles from the time, one on bees and one on ISO. Also, I've set the episode to "Explicit" because of all the sexy, sexy bee talk.

Radioactive Wasps (Correction: Location was at HANFORD not HANSON site - corrected here, but I'm not cutting out my joke about Hanson. -B)

Jeb mentioned Japanese Giant Wasps - those are described here. (They're wasps, only giant - and from Japan. That's good marketing in the name.)

Jeb was right to bring this beastie up in conjunction with bees.  From the Wikipedia article:

Another correction - I think I called them "hornet killers" or something similarly stupid, but I was talking about the very large American "Cicada Killer" wasps.  But that's not what Jeb was talking about (see above).  The Cicada Killer is big enough to - you guessed it - kill a cicada.  They're not as insanely beefy as the Japanese hornets, but they're big beefy units.

Frequently on-screen expert Dr. Norman Gary is a Bee Wrangler for Hollywood, working on Candyman, X-Files, etc.

Dr. Gary playing clarinet covered in bees.

Lots of discussion as Jeb and Blake tackle a favorite topic of theirs... Bigfoot. Does a mysterious creature, part-ape, and part-man, lurk in the Pacific Northwest?

Watch the Episode on YouTube 

The episode opens with the Ape Canyon re-enactment. If you'd like to read Beck's extended narrative, it is available online. His extended comments include a lot of descriptions of the spiritual aspect of these creatures and sound quite a lot like John Keel's ultraterrestrials. (IMHO -Blake)

 
Other topics for further reading:

• Ape Canyon
• Gigantopithecus 
• Bernard Heuvelmans (perhaps first to connect Yeti and Giganto)
• Carleton Coon (Connected Yeti and Giganto in English) legacy tarnished by terrible racist theories of white supremacy. Also firmly believed in Bigfoot.
• John Napier
• Grover Krantz  
•  Peter Byrne (Irish birth / Tom Slick / Four Horsemen - Byrne, Green, Dahinden, Krantz) 
• Tom Slick
• Bossberg "Cripplefoot" Tracks
• Jacko hoax mentioned  

 Cranial hair and brow-ridges experiment mentioned in the show / Mankind Quarterly, 1973 

[Yet another racism warning - Mankind Quarterly is a notorious journal for people making the case for a "scientific" basis for white supremacy.  Guess what? Race is a social construct. ]  

You need to check out this very comprehensive article on Grover Krantz from his Alma Mater, Berkley. 

You should also definitely check out Brian Regal's book Searching for Sasquatch. He covers the rich and fascinating history of early Bigfoot research including the ties to the CIA, fabulous stories and really interesting characters.

More on Sheriff Bill Closner (Facebook Page) 

Skamania County and its ties to Bigfoot 

FBI documents released about Bigfoot hair research (related to Peter Byrnes)

We mentioned Ray Wallace's famous hoax tracks (aka the Jerry Crew case).

Also mentioned Bigfoot: The Life and Times of a Legend 

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Tweed and Salmon, in lovely Los Angeles

Is there a mysterious force causing the disappearance of ships and airplanes in the area between Miami, Bermuda and the Bahamas?  Or just a mixture of innumeracy and a desire for the numinous?

Show Notes:

Larry Kusche's The Bermuda Triangle Mystery - Solved

Who was the voice on the creepy radio broadcast? 

Bermuda Triangle movie based on Berlitz's book.

Not covered in detail, but some additional info on collier ships in the triangle:
Proteus (58 lives lost) the eponymous exemplar of the Proteus Class "collier" coal-carrier.  disappeared in the BT in 1941. sister of the Cyclops (306 lives lost) and the Nereus (61 lives lost)

The Case of the Bermuda Triangle (1977) - British documentary

Nimoy Fashion:

In Ancient Aviators, ISO looks into the possibility that ancient cultures either had the power of flight or were aware of it from exposure to extraterrestrial cultures.  The specifics of how are a little vague, but we return to our litany of archaeological sites for evidence that this might be the case.

Episode on YouTube

Sample TV Listing for the episode:

VCRs (VHS) really started to come into early adoption by the general public around 1977. Betamax appeared in 1975, VHS in 1977 - and the format wars took some time to play out.  (This is a common behavior for new, disruptive tech and has repeated for CDs, DVDs, BluRay and now the higher resolution successors. More on this if I ever finish my book. -WBS)
JVC Ad from 1977:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjXh-tNLqHQ

Swept-wing (not true delta-style) airplane design from 1936 adaptation of H.G. Wells' Things to Come 

French Mirage Delta-Winged aircraft.

An example of the Ica Stones.

Museum website mentioned in show (Spanish).

Report on 2014 damage to Nazca Lines by Greenpeace.

News report on 2018 damage to Nazca Lines by truck driver.

Maria Reiche, Lady of the Lines, who spent years studying and popularizing Nazca site.

Explicit Tag - this episode contains strong language. 

We are joined by Dr. Ken Feder to discuss Mystery Hill (aka America's Stonehenge) and the idea that this New Hampshire set of stone structures might have been built by ancient Phoenicians or medieval Europeans.  (It wasn't.)

Episode on YouTube

Weirdly topical, as we prepared this episode the Mystery Hill site was vandalized with #QAnon themed graffiti, carved into the stonework. 

(Image source: Union Leader) Vandalism spells #WWG1WGA - "where we go one, we go all" a well known QAnon motto.

Show Notes:

Episode opens with visual revisit of Bimini (see Atlantis in previous episodes).

Brief discussion of Nominative Determinism around the current owners of the site having the last name Stone.

Re: Stonehenge

• Battle of the beanfield (Hippies vs Thatcher era police)
• Spinal Tap perform Stonehenge 
• Foamhenge (and related: The Dinosaur Kingdom featuring dinosaurs vs civil war soldiers)

Hans Holzer wrote and produced (and starred in) this episode. A prolific writer about ghosts and the paranormal, he also wrote extensively about alt-archaeology. He billed himself as "Dr. Hans Holzer" but his degree appears to have come from a British diploma mill. 

You can read a posthumous critique of Holzer's work here by Dr. Joe Nickell, noted skeptic. 

Barry Fell was a zoologist turned amateur "archaeologist." His work on pre-Columbian North America is wildly unscientific and brutally criticized by actual archaeologists.

Much ado is made of the tale of Bjarni Herjolfsson (but the timeline and story are muddled).

There is a painful amount of euro-centric "moundbuilder myth" pseudo-archaeology in this episode.  This is the idea that the mound builders could not have been the Native Americans that the colonists encountered but must have been some other (read that as "white") lost civilization. 

The simple stone site of Mystery Hill is compared to the ancient site of Knossos.

Visually, there is not much similarity. 

Legitimate excavations at Mystery Hill were conducted by Gary Vescelius (obit).

Vescelius, Gary S. 1956 Excavations at Pattee's Caves. Bulletin of the Eastern States Archaeological Federation 15:13–14.

Discount Info for Ken's Archaeological Oddities book.  Code is RLFANDF30 if you order off the publisher's site and use the coupon code.

Can plants talk? Can Leonard Nimoy make this topic interesting? The answer to both questions will be discussed in this episode where we look at the first episode of In Search Of... which considers the question of plant communication.  

Episode on YouTube

Show Links:

Marcel Vogel - thought plants have feelings. Research chemist, San Jose, CA. Uses machines and the mind's "inner eye." 

Vogel was deeply interested in "crystal energy" and involved with the UFO work of Billy Meier.  Meier's "UFO" images were the basis of the "I Want To Believe" poster in the X-Files.

Conjuring Science by Christopher Toumey

Does music affect plant growth and health?http://www.dovesong.com/positive_music/plant_experiments.asp 

https://s3.wp.wsu.edu/uploads/sites/403/2015/03/bad-science.pdf

Myth Busters did an ep on this too: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZGDbA9HER4 - they found it plausible.  (I'm still very skeptical - Blake)

Plant Talk research: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jagadish_Chandra_Bose 

Radiolab episode on talking plants: https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/smarty-plants 

Kendall Johnson obituary.

Cleve Baxter - Polygraph and CIA

Interesting story on tree cooperation that we cut mostly because of a terrible pun.

It is difficult to say when these episodes "first aired" because the listings are all over the place.  

This is the pilot episode of In Research Of, the show where we watch the original TV show IN SEARCH OF… and consider some of the explanations that the producers chose not to present.

In our inaugural episode, we watch the TV Special In Search of Ancient Astronauts, a repackaged cut of a German documentary about Eric Von Daniken's book Chariots of the Gods. 

We want to thank Rachel and Chris Lackey for the theme music. They host the excellent show Rachel Watches Star Trek. 

Also, we want to credit Jason Colavito for his excellent research into this and many adjacent topics around the Ancient Astronauts and Ancient Aliens tropes of the past fifty years, including his book:  The Cult of Alien Gods: H. P. Lovecraft and Extraterrestrial Pop Culture

(Seriously - check out this link to Jason's article. He gives some great contemporary detail on the impact of this TV special such as "... within 48 hours of the program's broadcast, Bantam Books had sold 250,000 new copies of Chariots of the Gods."  Amazing.)

Oh - so as Jeb mentions, EVD is directly mentioned in the brainstorming session with Lucas, Spielberg, and Kasdan! You can check that out here.

Walter Conkrite's  UFO's Friend, Foe or Fantasy  UFO documentary

Show Notes:

• Dr. Harold P. Klein worked for NASA and was a major figure in the Viking mission.
• The Baghdad Battery - no reason to believe this was ever used as a battery. More likely a scroll container. (Featured on Episode 16 - season 3 - of Mythbusters)
• Star Trek Into Darkness (you can watch the clip here)
•  Mesoamerican Sites/Artifacts Discussed:
  • Olmec Heads
    
  • Tula
    
  • Teotihuacan
    
  • Chichen Itza
    
  • Tiwanaku
    
    
• Piri Reis map
  
  
• Wernher Von Braun
  
  
• Stonehenge
  
  
• How did the ancients move stones?
  
  

Theme music (updated!) is by Rachel Lackey & Greig Johnson.

Keywords

Ancient Aliens, Ancient Astronauts, Eric Von Daniken, Skeptic, Archaeology, Science, Rod Serling

How could Vincent have been a creative genius - yet also "insane?"
Jeb and Blake take a look at Nimoy's very personal thoughts about this question.

This episode deals with the topic of self-harm and suicide. If you're struggling with thoughts of self harm, please get help immediately.  You can reach trained and empathetic counselors (in the USA) by dialing 988 or 1-800-273-TALK. 

We care about our listeners and want you to be around for many years to enjoy life - and our work.

Links for Show Notes:

Nimoy's play VINCENT via Archive

81 Words - This American Life on the DSM 

The Book of Kells

Bullshit or Not? Was JTR really Nessie?

Article on Jo Bonger

The Golden Gate Quartet

Weird Al's Skipper Dan (YouTube)

Doctor Who clip of Vincent at the art gallery

Early montage sequence shows:

• Self Portrait (1888)

• Starry Night (1889)

• Vase with 15 Sunflowers (1888)

• Bedroom at Arles (1888)

• Night Cafe in the Place Lamartine in Arles (1888)

• Encampment of gypsies with caravans (1888)

• Langlois Bridge at Arles (1888)

• Fishing boats on the beach at Saintes Maries 

• Wheat FIeld with Cypresses (1880) 

You can find all these and more at the online Van Gogh museum. 

Meanwhile...
Could Manos be loosely based on Paul and Vincent?

Jeb and Blake learn all about the riveting world of stock certificates and inheritance law! It may not be the most mysterious episode of In Search Of... but it's certainly one of the episodes we watched.

Show Notes:

Orson Welles Critic Clip
Lot 249
Texas Pacific Land trust 1980 article
The big 2014 Business Insider article


Pembroke:
http://www.oldlongisland.com/2008/02/pembroke.html
http://www.oldlongisland.com/2011/10/pembroke.html
http://www.oldlongisland.com/2009/07/pembroke-american-architect.html

Pembroke tour (video)

Alice de Lamar

Failed lawsuit

Contemporary article about the case

Nimoy Fashion Alert (red-shift corrected)

The case of the missing hair!

Jeb was confounded by this man's barberian style choices.

Jeb and Blake are joined by Sharon Hill to get shook by the San Andreas Fault!

Understanding the Richter Scale (logarithmic)

Link (Netflix) to Earthstorm docu series

YT video clip featuring geologist Dr. Kerry Sieh

Classic Budweiser commercial from the 70s

The Salton Sea

Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power

Nuclear activist Ray Vrana

Peter Gros of Wild Kingdom

San Andreas movie with The Rock (Amz affiliate link)

Cover to guide for SF geological tour:

Dr. Tim Hall - One of the founders of the San Andreas Fault Trail in 1977. Featured in 2011 documentary available on YT.

Dr. Kerry Sieh

The very sexy VT52 from DEC.

NFA San Andreas edition: 

In order to understand In Search Of… The Dark Star, Jeb and Blake will first need to get Sirius; Sirius-B, that is!

Links from this episode:

Siris (A part of the Canis Major constellation) 

Jeb discussed a couple of evocative artworks:
 Appeal to the Great Spirit (Dallin)

End of the Trail (Fraser) 

North African musket (Moukahla)

Colonial Williamsburg

Hoop Rolling

Jacquard Loom

Punched Cards technology

The Hans Guggenheim art project

Isaac Koi UFO archives

The Tribal Eye BBC documentary series (YouTube)

Regarding Temple, Puhairich, Young, and The Nine

The Sirius Mystery by Robert Temple

Editorial letter about Temple from The Observatory

Dogon Shame by Phillip Coppens

Griaule's Legacy: Rethinking "la parole claire" in Dogon Studies

Pop Culture References (affiliate links):

Conjure Wife - aka Burn Witch Burn

Bewitched

Bell, Book and Candle

=====

Images:

The "orbit" of the Dogon dark star.

Nimoy posing with a tribal mask - our initial NFA image.

Later we get to see his legs in this seated NFA supplementary:

Hans Guggenheim initially appears in just a vest and pants.

Later, he too is in more of a Safari look, and has a professorial pipe as well.

Dr Gary Chapman, Astronomer

The man who first photographed Sirius B - Dr Lindenblad

A little of the FORTRAN code that powers the orbit animation in the episode:

We don't have enough information to know who made Nimoy's safari clothing, but if you want to try and track down a very close approximation, this example from J. Peterman's (est 1987) is as close a match as I've seen. You would still need to find it in a vintage shop because at present they don't sell these.

Blake and Jeb look for the real location of Mt. Sinai, where Moses was supposed to have received the Ten Commandments from God.

Jeb and Blake extinguish our cigarettes, put our trays in the upright position, and head out the back of the plane in search of the elusive skyjacker known as D. B. Cooper.

Nimoy Fashion Alert - dimly lit corporate office edition.

D. B. Cooper - Wikipedia

The Pursuit of D. B. Cooper (Movie) - if you buy it on Amazon we get a few pennies.

Recent Netflix series on D. B. Cooper

Blake's friend Rick Ollerman offered some opinions on vintage round parachutes.

Later we meet Nimoy outside where you can make out more of his ensemble.

Of course this is an episode about D. B. Cooper - who for Jeb and I, evokes the classic "MIB" look.

This ain't deal-a-meal. This is a different Richard Simmons.

There is some great photography in this episode. I liked seeing the reservoir and dam. Imagine landing there on a stormy November night without jump boots...
 

Finally - kudos to the faceless Cooper stand-in who lugged stuff around in the anonymous re-creations. 

Jeb and Blake join Leonard Nimoy's search for Pompeii!  (Well - is it really about finding Pompeii?  Or is it about finding a possibly Christian cross in Pompeii?  Tune in and find out!)

Links: 

• Depictions of the crucifixion in Medieval Art

• People debating the cross at Pompeii

• Christian graffiti at Pompeii

• House of the Faun - Pompeii

• About that "lost Legion" thing

• Discovery and rediscovery of Pompeii

• Giuseppe Fiorelli 

• Terentius Neo

• Lupinar

• Villa of Mysteries

• Dinosyian Mysteries

• Greco-Roman Mysteries

• Thyrsus

Nimoy Fashion Alert!

Hey - it's NOT a Jumpsuit.

We complain but there really is WAY too much red-shift in the majority of this episode:

You need pumice? WE GOT BUCKETS OF PUMICE!

Jeb and Blake track the last cryptozoology episode of the original In Search Of… as we join the late Peter C. Byrne in a search for "The Abominable Snowman."

Imagining the Wild Man: Yeti Sightings in Folktales and Newspapers of the Darjeeling and Kalimpong Hills

More on Tom Slick - MonsterTalk

Monty Python "abattoir" sketch

Searching for Sasquatch (affiliate link)

Article about Byrne still "hunting" in his 90s.

The Eternal Return

Bigfoot Map

Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds (YouTube)

Horror in the Heights - Kolchak Episode with Rakshasha

NFA - "Proof of Life" 

Crevasse photo we mention from the episode.

Jeb and Blake kick off Season 5 of In Search Of... by researching UFO COVERUPS!

Links: 

UFO Crash at Roswell

Catalina UFO Footage and Reddit discussion of same

Twilight Zone - A Small Talent for War

Malmstrom UFO Incident

Obit for Col. Donald Burggrabe

Peter Gersten "the UFO Lawyer"

Raymond Fowler

Col. Robert Friend - and obit

Jesse Marcel Sr.

NASA Lifting Body

Northrop Flying Wing

Doak VZ-4 (not a saucer!)

Avrocar

Jupiter II (Lost in Space)

Nimoy Fashion Alert!

UFO Crash Sites in New Mexico:

There is a lot of Top Secret in this episode:

Col Donald Burggrabe

Raymond Fowler

Peter Gersten

Donald Ritter

Jesse Marcel Sr.

Col Robert Friend

And was the model UFO in this episode a guest star from Lost In Space?

Jeb is right at home as we go In Search Of... Mexican Pyramids!

Links from research

Sacrifice City

Great Pyramid of Cholula

Templo Mayor

Ruz' Palenque Dissertation

The Christmas Robbery of the Century

Secrets of the Maya Temple (1958)

Museo (2018) movie about the robbery - affiliate link

Mystery of the Meridas Ciudad Maya nightclub

Music/Art film tied to the nightclub site

Operation PBSuccess - CIA and Guatemala 

Mystery film we think MAY have sourced part of this episode.

Director Jean Chartier 

Pyramid Comparison visual tool (wikipedia)

Nimoy Fashion Alert!  Jungle Cotton Blend edition:

There are actually subtle stripes on that shirt!

This episode has some amazing models - so cool:

And - of course - it wouldn't be ISO without some reenactments...

Dr. Joe Nickell recalls his experiences working on the Season 4 episode of In Search Of… dealing with The Shroud of Turin.

note: This interview will be cross-posted to MonsterTalk. The interview contents will be identical, but the framing intro/outro will be unique to the respective shows. 

In Research Of… (Patreon)

In Research Of (free feed)

In Search Of… The Shroud of Turin (YouTube)

Joe Nickell covered by The Daily Mail

That's Incredible! segment on THE AMITYVILLE HORROR. (YouTube)

Joe Nickell's website

Joe's Amazon Author's Page (affiliate link)

Jeb and Blake unwrap the mystery of the shroud of Turin! (Which might, it turns out, be neither a shroud, nor from Turin - talk amongst yourselves!)

Link to ISO on YouTube: While it lasts!

The bucket brigade saves the shroud in re-creation...

NFA - A return to "the Night Gallery?"

Young Joe Nickell at work in Alan Landsburg's NYC apartment:

The Rev. Francis Filas (1931 - 1985 - NYT OBIT)

Prescriptive Linguistics

Descriptive Linguistics

Overview of use of Christ in Medieval Art

Secondo Pia, photographer who discovered the "negative effect" on Shroud.
(also, dead ringer for Seth Myers)

Just saying...

Modern research suggests "blood on shroud" was applied artistically, not organically.

More on Accelerator Mass Spectrometry 

Dr. Harry Gove (Obit)

The Shroud of Turin Research Project 

Recent book that confirms Nickell's findings 

The ISO team take us back to Colonial Virginia to investigate the cold-case of the lost colony of Roanoke. Jeb and Blake learn about armadas, plays, and rock diaries.

Beach Action Nimoy Fashion Alert!

The Money Shot...

Blake thinks the ISO actor is giving off Keenan Wynn vibes.

And we've already discussed the ties between Rod Serling, Leonard Nimoy, Night Gallery, and more, so the visual similarities to this scene and Planet of the Apes might not be 100% coincidence.

The famous "Dare Stones" preserved with all the decor and pomp appropriate their historical significance:

Links for this episode:

History Channel's reboot of ISO covered this.

Antiquarianism

Play Sid Meiers Colonization 

Book by David Stick on topic

Park Ranger Phil Evans  

The full text of the Dare Stones 

We're going to need a bigger boat!  Jeb and Blake head to Australia to investigate the idea that Great White sharks are immortal!

Links:
1977 San Diego article about Sea World's shark exhibit

Article about weird things allegedly found inside sharks.

Henri Bource - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Bource

Groo the Wanderer

NFA - on the beach!

Sharks are famous for their teeth - and Nimoy's have improved since season one as well.

Nimoy just walking on the beach manages to attract a diver's audience.

Diving pioneer and explorer, Hugh Edwards.

Ray Keys at Sea World has lots of great shark information.

And don't forget researcher Dr. William Gladstone! (You can find him on twitter at @DrBillGladstone)

Jeb and Blake have a look at the Season 4 episode UFO AUSTRALIA which covers the Kaikoura UFO Sighting and the disappearance of Frederich Valentich. 

• Retrospective of the Kaikoura UFO sighting
• Better version of the video than what is in the episode
• Westall UFO case (Blake mentioned - but is not in ep)
• Skeptical Inquirer (McGaha & Nickell)
• Transcript of the Valentich air traffic discussion
• Psychic Hippie Lawyer article

Nimoy Fashion Alert shot on location at the San Fernando Aerospace Solar Observatory. 

Jeb, Blake and Alex French go in research of The Amityville Horror!

Typewriters 101 site

History vs Hollywood: Amityville

History of the House

The Warren Omission

The Calamityville Horror

The Dictionnaire Infernal

Nimoy gives us the calm and rational look in the midst of so much weirdness!

So many faceless re-enactors in this one!

Horror writer Jay Anson and his trusty typewriter!

And this episode is quite notable for giving us a look at Father Mancuso from the book. Aka Father Ralph Pecoraro. Aka Father Delaney.  Aka "Jimmy the Shadow" .

The Lutz couple at the table.

The two versions of Jodie the Pig:

And we gotta include the super creepy ISO doll.  Kudos to the prop dept. 

Jeb and Blake look back at the ISO team's coverage of the global manhunt for the terrorist known as "Carlos."

This episode gets an Explicit tag because of language.

Nimoy Fashion Alert:

Dr. Frederick Hacker (Obit) 

Carlos - aka The Jackal  (Wiki)

Raid on Entebbe (Wiki)

Carnaby Street, England (Wiki)

Friendship University, Russia (Wiki)

News story about how Carlos got his name

Nydia Toban (Obit) 

Carlos's Lawyer/"wife" 

Additional background material on this episode is available for Patrons.
Jeb and Blake wade into the first episode of season 4 of In Search Of... to learn a thing or two about tsunamis. (Yes, the producers actually said that they called it "tidal waves" because if they'd used "tsunami" Americans wouldn't have bothered to find out what it was about.  I remember being taught the "new" term during my basic education. -B)

Lots of good footage, interviews, reenactments, and science in this one!  

Nimoy Fashion - Henley Shirt (we assume he's wearing pants below the cut?)

To me, it looked like an AARP-style drug ad.

The J.K.K. Look Laboratory (in honor of Mr. James K. K. Look - who's death in pursuit of scientific data is honored in the naming)
There is shockingly little about Mr. Look on the net and he certainly seems like he deserves at least a Wikipedia page.  

Hokusai's famous "wave" - and yes, he really did pioneer "tentacle porn," but I'm not linking to it - nor judging. 

This is only a simulation. If this had been an actual podcast, this guy would have tried to sell you some Bombas Socks or a subscription to Wondrium.

NOAA monitoring lab

Ed Bernard 

Steven Froehlich

Blake and Jeb discuss their thoughts on the third season of In Search Of...

Things get... weird.

Blake and Jeb go In Research Of PAST LIVES with Leonard Nimoy.

Subjects include reincarnation claims, past-life regression therapy, and some truly baffling Nimoy wardrobe choices.

Link to YouTube Episode (while it lasts)



Topics we cover include:

• Nimoy wandering a Los Angeles graveyard in a strange quasi-military sport coat, and Blake's detective work tying the filming location to Evergreen Cemetery in Boyle Heights.

• The famous Pollock twins case from Hexham, England, where two girls were said to be the reincarnations of their deceased sisters — and how later research complicates the story.

• Dr. Lucia Capacchione's art-therapy / inner-child work and how the show uses regression narratives to explain modern psychological problems.

• Playwright A.J. Stewart (Ada F. Kay), who became convinced she was James IV of Scotland and wrote Falcon: The Autobiography of His Grace James IV King of Scots as if from the king's own perspective.

• Whether past-life regression therapy produces evidence of reincarnation or just vivid, therapist-shaped fantasy, and why skeptics are so wary of hypnosis-based "memories."

   

  NFA (Nimoy Fashion Alert):

  Cemetery Detective Work:

  Using the 2nd NFA shot, I was able to decipher the tex on the dark tombstone. It is a lot darker in real life with a modern shot.

  That "Find a Grave" entry includes the exact location where Nimoy was standing for this episode's cemetery shot.

  Jeb asked for an animated gif of the woman in the castle with secret doors:

  The cover of Robert and Loy Young's book about reincarnation:

  The twins at the heart of the British (Hexham!) reincarnation story:

  And I can't help but scream - DON'T GO NEAR THE EDGE!!! This episode is such a cliffhanger.

  
  Deeper reading & sources mentioned:
  Pollock twins case write-up at the Society for Psychical Research's Psi Encyclopedia
  
  Psi Encyclopedia on famous past-life claims (including A.J. Stewart / Ada F. Kay):
  
  Ada F. Kay / A.J. Stewart biography (reincarnation claim & Falcon background)
  
  Evergreen Cemetery (Los Angeles) – history and the Japanese "Garden of the Pines" section
  
  Lucia Capacchione and inner-child / expressive-arts therapy
  
  Skeptical overview of past-life regression therapy (Harriet Hall, Science-Based Medicine):
  
  General background on past-life regression and why psychologists consider it pseudoscientific

Jeb and Blake head out into the valley of the kings to learn more about King Tut. 

History of the Valley of the Kings 

Pyramid Secrets (IRO S02E09) 

Significance of pyramids (Benben) 

The Colossi of Memnon (the singing statue) 

Nimoy Fashion - in the desert 

Demotic writing 

Example of Cartouche:

James Lew - martial artist & actor 

The complex history of the Noah's Ark Hoax (article by Jim Lippard)
(featuring Gerald Larue)<-different link

Same story covered by LA Times 

Contemporary article about mummy curse - but we've covered this before.

Jeb points out that the actor playing the priest Ay favors deceased paranormal investigator Ed Warren.

Moses, Monotheism & Egypt 

James Brashler of Claremont College 

We're joined by Dr. Nathan French to discuss the Biblical tale of Sodom and Gomorrah and the ISO team's efforts to examine archaeological evidence supporting its actual historical existence.

Nimoy Fashion:

Dr. Avrahamm Biran (1909 - 2008)

The concept of Biblical Maximalism 

The big dig at Ebla where the library of clay tablets was found.

In 1976 Giovanni Pettinato claimed tablets found at the dig contained the names of five cities of the plain including Sodom and Gomorrah.  Modern scholarly consensus is that this was incorrect.

I think this is archaeologist Paulo Matti (Pettinato's fellow researcher on the dig) alongside an unnamed female researcher.

As promised, the animated gif of the sinners in our "re-creations" of ancient Sodom.

Discussion of Baal in the episode doesn't hint that this Biblical "villain god" may actually represent an entire class of deities. 

About 17 mins into the episode there's a guy who runs a hot spring and his moustache reminded Jeb of a certain someone...

Doctor Bruce Bolt sitting in front of some truly fabulous old equipment. 

Finally - one more thing - the link to the Atari E.T. fiasco documentary. 

We are joined again by Alex French to discuss "Brain Power."  No kids were harmed, but some hosts were shaken. The ISO episode contains outdated wording about cognitive states that are now considered offensive.  Our podcast episode steers clear of that but we wanted you to be aware if you decided to watch the original episode. 

Nimoy Fashion:

Discussed in this episode:

The Raimondi Stele (Jeb discusses flipping it to see different interpretation)

Discussion of Haeckle's Embryos (Amazon Affiliate Link)
Article on controversy (New Scientist)

The 1997 article that brought Haeckel back into fresh scrutiny

Biorhythms (pseudoscience popular in late 70s/early 80s)

Alleged Russian "psychic" Nina Kulagina 

Robert Doman (brother of founder Glenn Doman)

Orville Redenbacher called and wants his look back...

Louise Emerson of The Morgan Autism Institute

Art teacher Betty Edwards 

Thelma Moss 

What is Kirlian Photography? 

Jeb and Blake drag Alex French back into the studio to endure a "ghostly stakeout" with the sultry voiced Sylvia Browne.

Haunted Lives (Tobe Hooper, Nimoy, Sylvia Browne)

The Dead Files - S01E09 Scandal in the South (episode set in Blake's hometown of Cartersville, GA)

1972 Akai Video Camera

Sylvia Browne - self-proclaimed psychic - and she started a church!

Site of first "haunting" in renovated farmhouse (which burned in the 1980s)

Near the village of Jenner

Antoinette May, freelance journalist, who worked the episode cases and co-wrote with Browne

Adventures of a Psychic: The Fascinating and Inspiring True Life Story of One of America's Most Successful Clairvoyants

Nick Nocerino

A look at the Hope Diamond and other allegedly cursed gems from recent history. 

DeBeers slogan (1947) predates Bond book (1956) and is different:
A Diamond Is Forever | Diamonds Are Forever

The Gift - anthro book about reciprocity
Superman and the giant spider story - Kevin Smith

Osiander's preface to Copernicus

Robert Conrad (the actor) famous battery ads from 1979

David Trampier - artist for D&D PHB

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

Recent TV adaptation of same

The Mark of the Beast - Kipling

Jean-Baptiste Tavernier

The Order of the Golden Fleece (NatGeo)

Curator of Gems at Smithsonian Institution Paul Desautels

Jeb alluded to trouble at the end of his career

Link to "The Dollop" episode on the McClean family.

We don't know if the Koh-i-noor diamond is related to Star Trek's Kolinahr.

We're joined by Sharon Hill to look into the vital 1970s question: Was Noah's Ark Real? (And does it disprove Darwin's theory of evolution through natural selection?)  spoilers: No and No. 

The episode opens with "footage" (re-creations, repurposed footage) of the famous 1889 Flood.

The footage in the movie appears to be from a short film called The World that Perished (1977) but we couldn't find a version of that to share. 

The 1976 film In Search of Noah's Ark is available (in poor quality) on YouTube. 

Nimoy reminds of us the other Ark with this library fashion-alert moment.

The episode re-creates the famous "undressing in excitement" story of George Smith discovering the Utnapishtim version of the flood myth. 

(Later in the episode we get a better shot of Nimoy in the Library.)

We discussed the "Ararat Anomaly" briefly.

The many searches for Noah's Ark.

Physicist Rainer Berger (1930 - 2003) puts a lot of fake evidence to rest with his radiocarbon dating skills.

Creationist Henry Morris "an expert in the flow of water??"

Jeb discusses Abzu briefly.

The "Creation Research Society" is behind a lot of the content in this episode.

The episode calls him "Dr. Clifford Burdick" but he doesn't appear to have actually been a PhD.

Burdick reminded some of us of Reverend Kane from Poltergeist 2.

There is some mention of the Younger Dryas - a favorite of Hancockian enthusiasts.  

Many cultures around the world have flood myths. Many cultures around the world have floods. There may be some connection?

Discussion of the site called Doggerland.

Warm Mineral Springs in Florida.

The Black Sea Deluge hypothesis.

Burdick did look a little lost in the desert at one point...

We follow Nazi Hunter Simon Weisenthal as he hunts the notorious war criminal Josef Mengele. 

Simon Wiesenthal - wiki

Josef Mengele - wiki

Dr. Ellen Lingens - wiki

Juan Domingo Peron - wiki

The Big Gun - Gerald Bull, Saddam Hussein and the Mossad 

Read about Escape from Sobibor - this is an amazing story

There is the "real" ODESSA and then there's the fictional novel and film The ODESSA FIle.

Shadow over Günzburg

What really happened to Mengele? Britannica

Return to that classic "season 1" aesthetic in our Nimoy Fashion Alert:

Who knew the factory tokens in Axis & Allies were so accurate?

Another shot of Nimoy in the "Night Gallery."  Will we see this set again?  

Nimoy Fashion:

Links from our Discussion:

Robert Ballard Titanic search cover for military submarine research

The Mobius Group

The JASON Group

Stephan Schwartz paper on the use of remote viewing in Archaeology

Stephan A. Schwartz's website 

Alexander the Great's tomb (wikipedia) - it also recently showed up in a certain Marvel creative endeavor which I'm not going to mention because of "spoilers."

HYCO submarine was a "Pisces Class" deep submersible and some of these went to depths of more than 8000 feet.  The Taurus  IS FOR SALE!!!

Blake & Jeb discussing the video series Hellier with Hayley Stevens on her podcast The Spooktator.

The Great Wall of Benin

Lost Kingdoms of Africa: Great Zimbabwe

Jack Parsons and the JPL

Spiritual healer "Rolling Thunder" who some have accused of being a "Plastic Shaman."

Ed Dames, famous for selling remote viewing training and making terrible predictions

Ingo Swann - pioneer of "remote viewing"

(Ingo also wrote gay erotica as Hero Haubold)

Hella Hammid (1921 - 1992) 

Skeptical response to Ingo Swann's remote viewing 

Anne Kahle - Jet Propulsion Lab and NASA

Thomas Cook from the Bureau of Land Management shows up - says there are 1,100 known wrecks and 53 around Catalina

How Howard Pyle invented our modern image of the pirate.

The "real" Captain Kidd and Pyle's version:

Poe's The Gold Bug (wiki)

The Knickerbocker Tales (Amz Affiliate)

The Oak Island Mystery, Solved! (book about explanation for literal geology of site)

Nimoy Fashion Alert:

So many re-enactors in this one.

So many shirtless re-enactors.

FDR on Oak Island

The clay(?) model used throughout the episode:

The replica of the coded stone: