0:00

You're listening to an Airwave Media

0:03

Podcast. The

0:05

holidays start here at Kroger with a variety

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of options to celebrate traditions old

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and new. You could do a classic herb-roasted

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turkey or spice it up and make turkey tacos.

0:15

Serve up a go-to shrimp cocktail or

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use Simple Truth Wild-Caught Shrimp for your

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first Cajun risotto. Make creamy

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mac and cheese or a spinach artichoke

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fondue from our selection of Murray's Cheese. No

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matter how you shop, Kroger has all

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the freshest ingredients to embrace all your

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holiday traditions. Kroger, fresh for

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everyone.

0:35

What's something you learned in history class that

0:37

you feel like wasn't the whole truth?

0:40

Better yet, what's something you didn't learn at all

0:42

that was omitted completely? That's

0:44

what I like to call redacted history. My

0:47

name is Andre White, the host of the

0:49

Redacted History Podcast, the place

0:51

where history's forgotten events, heroes,

0:54

and villains get their story told,

0:56

one episode at a time. The

0:58

Redacted History Podcast.

1:00

Real history never dies.

1:03

Stream the Redacted History Podcast

1:05

on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or

1:07

wherever else you get your podcasts.

1:18

When considering the cover-up claims

1:21

made by UFO whistleblowers

1:23

and conspiracy speculators for

1:25

the last 70 years or so,

1:28

one central question is why?

1:31

Why would the US government or other

1:33

governments feel compelled to keep

1:35

such a momentous, historic milestone

1:38

from humanity? Darksider

1:41

ufologists spin their fiction

1:43

about a Faustian bargain with malevolent

1:46

EBEs selling out citizens

1:48

in exchange for advanced technology.

1:51

But of the more down-to-earth conspiracists,

1:55

and conspiracy claims are so

1:57

varied that there actually are

1:59

more.

1:59

more pragmatic and realistic

2:02

can spare just beliefs they

2:04

rely on the old saw that the

2:06

government wants to avoid

2:08

a general panic like that

2:10

scene during the orson wells war of the

2:13

world's broadcast in

2:15

fact as i discussed in a bonus episode

2:17

back in twenty twenty one called

2:19

extra extra extra terrestrial

2:22

hoaxes there is convincing evidence

2:24

that the widespread panic

2:26

caused by the wells broadcast was

2:29

overblown buy newspapers in

2:31

a media hoax to make radio look

2:33

that creating a scandal where one

2:35

did not really exist in

2:37

reality for a long time we have

2:39

seen people's reactions to the possibility

2:42

of disclosure as those

2:45

in the u f o community call the long

2:47

awaited revelation of extraterrestrial

2:49

dissertation when bobl as ours

2:52

false claims went viral people

2:54

didn't write in the streets but

2:56

many descended on the town of rachel

2:58

nevada near area fifty one

3:01

hoping to glimpse a saucer and

3:03

when bob went viral again on wrote

3:06

millions did not riot but rather

3:08

expressed a similar interests to

3:10

quote see them aliens

3:12

in quote thousands traveled

3:15

to nevada again and in the

3:17

end they just used it as an opportunity

3:19

to plan a music festival which

3:22

was to be called aliens in

3:24

two thousand and seventeen when the pentagon's you

3:26

a p program was exposed in the

3:28

new york times and in twenty twenty

3:31

one when the department of defense

3:33

released and acknowledged already

3:35

leaked and viral videos of you a

3:37

p n when the office of

3:39

the director of national intelligence

3:41

released it's first annual report

3:43

on the topic and now and twenty twenty

3:46

three when david brush went before

3:48

congress to allege a secret you a

3:50

p crash retrieval and

3:52

reverse engineering program on

3:54

none of those occasions was there panic

3:57

among the general populace and

3:59

this was not because most were skeptical

4:01

and disbelieved it rather

4:04

these events were typically met with

4:06

ironic detachment and indifference

4:09

on social media many posts were made

4:11

saying so aliens are real

4:14

i still gotta pay my rent this

4:16

summer during the you have a whistle hearings

4:18

in b c news remarked on this would

4:21

the headline quote are aliens

4:23

real people online don't seem

4:25

to care either way the congressional

4:27

hearing on you oppose was met with a collective

4:30

shrug by many twitter and tic toc

4:32

users in court and the washington

4:34

post likewise reported quote

4:37

congress asks are aliens

4:39

real many americans respond

4:42

may and quote so

4:44

of it's no longer a panic or riots

4:47

the supposed government cover up fears

4:49

what else some have suggested

4:52

that the face of the religious is being

4:54

sheltered fearing that the discovery

4:56

of other cynthia species in the universe

4:58

would challenge ideas about mankind's

5:01

unique role as the creation

5:03

of god such a revelation

5:05

would be akin to the copernican

5:07

revolution when the world's religions

5:10

were forced to reckon with the fact that

5:12

the earth was not the center

5:14

of the universe but rather as carl

5:16

sagan put it called an insignificant

5:19

planet of a humdrum star

5:22

lost in a galaxy tucked away in

5:24

some forgotten corner of a universe

5:26

in which there are far more galaxies

5:28

than people in cook but

5:31

ever since the discovery and nineteen ninety six

5:33

of what was at first believed to be

5:35

fossilized bacteria in

5:37

a martian meteorite they claim that

5:39

has since been refuted but still

5:41

served as a milestone in the field

5:43

of astrobiology theologians

5:46

and believers everywhere have already

5:48

come to terms with the notion

5:51

of a life elsewhere western

5:53

religion and christianity which

5:55

especially relies on the notion of an incarnation

5:58

of god being sacrificed to

6:00

redeem mankind has proven

6:02

very adaptable to the notion, considering

6:05

that God may have likewise redeemed

6:08

numerous other creations through

6:10

similar incarnations. In 2016,

6:14

the Center for Theological Inquiry

6:16

at Princeton invited two

6:18

dozen theologians to consider the question,

6:21

and some of these religious scholars predicted

6:24

that the discovery of alien life would

6:26

actually strengthen religious

6:28

traditions rather than weaken or

6:31

undermine them, as many would

6:33

turn to their faith for some

6:35

sense of how to process and contextualize

6:38

their new place in the universe. And

6:41

certainly we can already see this

6:43

sort of reaction among those in government

6:46

privy to classified UAP information.

6:49

As I mentioned in part two of my UFO

6:52

Whistleblowers series, it appears

6:54

some in the intelligence community have

6:56

decided that the unidentified aerial

6:59

phenomena they hear about must

7:01

be celestial beings whether

7:04

demons or angels. And

7:06

this view has spread among

7:09

legislators who are learning more

7:11

about these UAP programs, like

7:14

Republican Representative Eric Burleson

7:17

of Missouri, who was quoted as

7:19

saying, �In my opinion, I think

7:21

it's either angels or man-made.�

7:25

Then there is the notably unbalanced QAnon-supporting

7:28

representative of Georgia, Marjorie

7:31

Taylor Green, who recently said

7:33

of UAP, �I'm a Christian

7:36

and I believe the Bible, and I

7:38

think we have to question if it's more

7:40

of the spiritual realm, angels

7:42

or fallen angels.�

7:46

This religious dimension of UFO

7:49

belief is actually nothing

7:51

new though, and looking closely

7:53

at the intersection of UFO mythology

7:56

and religious thought and the similarities

7:58

between belief in religion. religion and

8:00

belief in alien visitation can

8:02

help us to come to a clearer understanding

8:05

of the psychological and spiritual

8:08

drives of such beliefs. This

8:11

is historical blindness. I'm

8:13

Nathaniel Lloyd and taking a skeptical

8:16

view of both alien visitation

8:18

and religion leads me to believe

8:20

the similarities between these two

8:23

faiths, one ancient and the other

8:25

more modern, actually serves

8:28

to discredit both. Thank

8:30

you for joining me as I look up into

8:33

the sky at our technological

8:36

angels, the religious dimension

8:38

of UFO belief. Before

8:46

we begin the episode, I want to thank my newest patrons,

8:48

Harvey Jones and Mohammad Khan.

8:51

Thanks so much to all my patrons.

8:54

If you pledge on Patreon, you can get ad-free

8:57

and exclusive episodes. I've

8:59

pledged to release one mini soda month,

9:02

but I've been releasing two for a long time,

9:04

always releasing something exclusive

9:07

between each episode and effectively

9:09

making this a weekly podcast

9:11

for patrons. For example, after each episode

9:14

of my UFO Whistleblower series, I

9:16

released a mini soda, one on Ray Palmer,

9:18

the sci-fi magazine editor credited with

9:20

inventing flying saucers, one very

9:23

personal piece about a conspiracy broadcaster

9:26

similar to Bill Cooper in my own family,

9:28

and recently a piece on

9:30

the history of Bob Lazar's claims

9:32

about aliens coming from Zeta

9:35

Reticuli. Spoiler,

9:37

it just further proves him a liar.

9:40

If you hear the word mini soda and

9:42

think these pieces are insubstantial, they're

9:45

actually fully produced and researched

9:47

episodes, usually around 10 to 15

9:50

minutes in length. Some feeds also

9:52

get episodes early and, as mentioned,

9:54

their episodes aren't interrupted by ads

9:57

or Patreon pitches like this, so

9:59

visit Patreon. Patreon.com slash

10:01

historical blindness and support the

10:03

show or you can support the show by making

10:05

a one-time donation at historical

10:08

blindness dot com slash donate

10:10

or at the PayPal link in the show notes or

10:13

on Venmo at historical blindness.

10:16

Now on with the episode.

10:31

Welcome to historical blindness.

10:34

At the beginning of my massive documentary

10:36

style series on UFO whistleblowers,

10:39

I mentioned that early in the podcast, I

10:41

made an episode on UAP

10:44

of which I'm not especially proud.

10:47

At the time in 2018, I

10:49

didn't really know what the podcast

10:51

was. I knew I wanted to do some

10:53

critical thinking and dig into some

10:55

esoteric topics, but I had more

10:58

of a focus on historical mysteries

11:00

and I was cross-promoting with some

11:03

paranormal podcasters that were

11:05

in the same pod collective as I was back

11:07

then. In the episode, I relied on the

11:09

illustrated survey, Wonders

11:11

in the Sky, Unexplained Aerial Objects

11:14

from Antiquity to Modern Times by

11:16

Jacques Vallée. At the time, I considered

11:19

Vallée to be the most academic

11:21

and reliable of UFO researchers,

11:24

so I was happy to find this work compiling

11:27

seeming UFO sightings throughout

11:29

history by what I then considered

11:31

to be a credible author. And

11:33

I still consider Vallée as far

11:35

more credible than others in his field.

11:38

For example, he thoroughly debunked the

11:40

Philadelphia Experiment hoax, and

11:43

I relied on his work there in my episode

11:45

on the topic. And although I didn't mention

11:47

it in my recent episode on Bill Cooper,

11:50

Vallée also rather famously interviewed

11:52

and discredited that conspiracy

11:55

kingpin. But my opinion of Vallée

11:57

and the work Wonders in the Sky is that it's a very interesting

12:00

guy has since changed.

12:02

Based on the work of Jason Colavito,

12:05

I have come to recognize that Valet

12:07

and his so-called Invisible College,

12:10

a group of educated scientists who

12:13

took an interest in UFOs and the

12:15

paranormal, including J. Allen

12:17

Hynek of Project Blue Book and

12:20

physicist Hal Pudoff, who

12:22

listeners may remember for his research into

12:24

psychic phenomena and remote

12:26

viewing, were driven by their obsession

12:29

with the occult and supernatural and

12:31

have been instrumental again and again

12:34

in getting the U.S. government interested

12:36

in funding studies of absolutely

12:39

bonkers claims like those

12:42

at Skinwalker Ranch, where

12:44

a government research project spent

12:46

taxpayer money searching for shape-shifting

12:49

dogmen and space poltergeists.

12:52

The story of Skinwalker may need to be

12:55

told elsewhere, but suffice

12:57

it to say here that Valet and Pudoff,

13:00

like the infamous George Knapp, was

13:03

also on eccentric billionaire

13:05

Robert Bigelow's payroll to

13:07

promote the UFO and paranormal claims

13:10

of his think tank, the National

13:12

Institute for Discovery Science.

13:15

Colavito has also gone point

13:17

by point through the quote-unquote

13:20

prodigies listed in Valet's

13:22

Wonders in the Sky, demonstrating

13:24

how he took nearly all of them out of

13:26

context, relied on

13:28

poor translations, and presented

13:31

fake quotes as genuine.

13:34

And more recently, researcher Douglas

13:36

Dean Johnson has made a convincing

13:39

case that Jacques Valet is guilty

13:41

of cherry-picking and omitting

13:43

inconvenient evidence in order

13:45

to present stories in such a way that

13:48

they favor his views. All

13:50

of this further makes me cringe

13:53

in embarrassment at that early

13:55

episode of the podcast, and it

13:57

may be that I produce a more def-

14:00

definitive episode about Valet and

14:02

his invisible college in the

14:04

future, especially if I can score

14:06

an interview with Colavito, whom I'd

14:08

love to have on the podcast. For

14:11

the sake of this topic though, I wanted to highlight

14:13

that much of what Valet took out

14:15

of context in his book Wonders

14:18

in the Sky, the accounts of quote-unquote

14:21

prodigies or luminous visions

14:23

in the sky, actually seem to have

14:25

been references to natural meteorological

14:28

phenomena, sun-dog optical

14:30

illusions, or references to the

14:32

disc of the sun or the disc of

14:35

the stars, old astronomical

14:37

and astrological terms. These

14:40

prodigies, although explainable

14:42

with historical context and our modern

14:45

understandings of the world and our perception

14:47

of it, were often at the time taken

14:49

to be some kind of omen or

14:52

divine sign. What

14:54

Valet did was project

14:56

modern notions of UFOs backward

15:00

onto these historical accounts of

15:02

religious visions. That

15:05

is by definition presentism, a

15:07

kind of cultural bias in historical

15:09

analysis. Perhaps Valet

15:12

can be forgiven this since

15:14

he is no historian, but

15:16

we should instead look at things

15:19

the other way around. Rather

15:21

than suggesting that the similarity of

15:23

UFO beliefs today to

15:25

ancient religious beliefs and visions

15:28

somehow proves those ancient beliefs

15:30

valid and shows that it was

15:33

UFOs all along, perhaps

15:35

we should instead consider that belief

15:37

in extraterrestrial visitation today

15:40

is just another example of

15:42

humanity's tendency to

15:44

seek meaning in the skies, and

15:47

that this should not be considered any more

15:49

valid than those superstitions

15:53

in antiquity. Certainly,

16:02

in Western religion, an emphasis

16:04

has been placed on the sky or the heavens

16:07

as the abode of deities and

16:09

divine beings, and thus has been

16:12

designated the focus of believers'

16:14

faith. The Hebrew word for heaven,

16:17

Shema'im, is traced back

16:19

to an Akkadian word for sky

16:21

and another word for waters, thus

16:24

meaning sky waters or lofty

16:26

waters. This derives from

16:28

an ancient conception of the earth as

16:30

a flat disk supported by pillars

16:33

and the sky above as a dome or

16:35

firmament that was blue only

16:38

because of the cosmic ocean of waters

16:40

beyond. This weird

16:43

cosmogony was the original

16:45

flat-earther notion. God had

16:47

raised this solid dome and supported

16:50

it on the pillars of the earth in order to

16:52

separate the waters below from the

16:54

waters above, making a pocket

16:57

of habitable space for mankind.

17:00

In the dome were installed windows

17:02

to let in precipitation, and

17:05

on the underside God demonstrated

17:07

His artistry with the lights of

17:10

the heavens, which served as a kind

17:12

of bulletin board, as in them

17:14

could be divined prophetic signs

17:16

and wonders. Only the heavens

17:19

were the abode of the divine,

17:21

where angels and God were

17:24

known to dwell, and whenever

17:26

these celestial beings came to

17:28

mankind or whenever a person

17:30

went to them, it was referred

17:32

to as a descent to

17:34

earth or an ascent up

17:37

to heaven. The traditions of Christianity

17:40

continued this focus on the sky

17:42

with Christ locating His Father

17:45

who art in heaven, and

17:48

the conception of the Holy Spirit descending

17:50

from on high, and

17:53

His disciples reports that He Himself

17:56

ascended to heaven after His resurrection.

17:59

Likewise, Islam continued this

18:01

theme with Muhammad's heavenly

18:03

ascension, journeying into the skies

18:06

to observe the stars and speak

18:08

with angels and the dead. Nor

18:11

was Western religion unique in

18:13

this regard. Certainly some

18:16

pagan and Eastern traditions

18:18

focused more on natural surroundings

18:21

and invested them with the qualities

18:23

of the divine, but many others venerated

18:26

sky gods like Ahura

18:28

Mazda of Zoroastrianism, Zeus

18:31

of Ancient Greece, Jupiter of Rome, and

18:33

the Sumerian Anu. The

18:35

list goes on and on among

18:38

ancient Egyptians, the Incans,

18:41

the Mayans, the Aztecs,

18:43

the Hindu, and the endless names

18:45

of Chinese sky emperors.

18:49

From sun worship to wind gods enthroned

18:52

on clouds, the concept is so

18:54

widespread across so many disparate

18:57

faiths and cultures appearing in

18:59

so many pantheons that comparative

19:02

mythology offers a name for it, the

19:04

sky father. While proponents

19:07

of ancient aliens like Erich von

19:09

Daniken take this as evidence

19:12

of alien contact in apparently

19:14

every ancient culture in antiquity,

19:17

an inversion of their reasoning seems

19:20

far more logical. This

19:22

universal tendency to seek

19:24

supernatural meaning in the skies

19:27

has in more recent years with

19:29

the influence of science and the enlightenment

19:32

evolved to encourage new

19:34

beliefs about the inhabitants of

19:36

the heavens that are nevertheless

19:38

equally religious in

19:41

nature. The

19:47

idea that modern folklore about

19:49

UFOs and aliens can be likened

19:52

to religious mythology was not

19:54

lost on early thinkers on the

19:56

topic either. French psychologist

19:59

and UFO researcher Ima Michel

20:02

noted the similarity of ideas about

20:04

aliens to ideas in Greek antiquity

20:07

about daemons, some of which,

20:10

so-called eudemons, were

20:12

benevolent and others evil,

20:15

a belief that was later Christianized

20:18

in notions of angels and demons,

20:21

the latter even using the same Greek

20:23

word. But theologian Ted

20:25

Peters in the 70s wrote

20:28

in UFOs the Religious Dimension

20:30

that belief in UFOs was nothing

20:33

more than, quote, scientized

20:35

religion, end quote, in that believers,

20:38

quote, do want a celestial

20:41

savior, but that savior will

20:43

not be mysterious, instead

20:45

he will be fully comprehendable and

20:47

scientifically explainable according

20:50

to the laws of nature, end quote.

20:53

One of the first thinkers to recognize

20:55

this tendency to place UFOs

20:57

in the same role as angels and

21:00

daemons or gods and to

21:02

suggest it was not only an explanation

21:04

for widespread belief in alien visitation,

21:07

but also an explanation for UFO

21:10

sightings themselves was Carl

21:12

Gustaf Jung, the Swiss

21:15

founder of analytical psychology.

21:17

In his book Flying Saucers, a

21:20

Modern Myth of Things Seen

21:22

in the Sky, he asserts that

21:24

it is hard to consider them, quote,

21:26

unquote, objects at all,

21:29

quote, because they behave not

21:31

like bodies, but like weightless

21:33

thoughts, end quote. Jung

21:35

surmised that it was not coincidence

21:38

that our preoccupation with flying saucers

21:41

and alien contact began

21:43

during the Cold War when the looming

21:45

threat of nuclear war had

21:47

already invested the skies with

21:50

the specter of death from above. In

21:52

contrast to this existential

21:55

threat, however, UFOs and

21:57

the ETs that many began to

21:59

believe we've piloted them, came

22:01

to be viewed in the 1950s and beyond

22:04

as not only technologically advanced

22:06

but also morally superior

22:09

beings coming to save us from

22:11

ourselves. This view

22:13

of aliens and flying saucers as

22:16

our saviors caused Jung

22:18

to suspect that UFOs or

22:20

our ideas about them were

22:22

simply conforming to the established

22:25

archetypes of religion. For

22:27

those unfamiliar with the term, the quintessential

22:30

Jungian view of psychology

22:32

was that human beliefs inherit

22:35

universal patterns of thought into

22:37

which we organize our perceptions,

22:40

and religion specifically can be understood

22:43

as conforming to these patterns or

22:45

archetypes. By Jung's reckoning

22:48

in a world of science and technology,

22:50

humanity was beginning to replace

22:53

outmoded notions of sky gods

22:56

with what he called, quote, technological

22:59

angels, end quote. To

23:02

Jung, identifying saucer sightings

23:04

as a kind of religious experience

23:07

meant that while in some cases,

23:09

sights of actual things in the

23:11

sky might be misconstrued

23:14

according to this quasi-religious interpretation,

23:17

in other cases perhaps nothing

23:19

real was seen at all, or

23:21

rather the things, quote, unquote,

23:24

seen were only figments

23:26

of ecstatic imaginations. Objects

23:30

actually caught on radar may likewise,

23:32

he reasoned, be mundane phenomena

23:35

invested with the religious mystique

23:38

of the UFO. But Jung actually

23:40

took his evaluation of flying saucers

23:43

as a psychological phenomenon beyond

23:46

the domain of the mind, thinking

23:48

that perhaps the imaginations of those

23:51

who believed they saw saucers were

23:53

actually creating some physical

23:56

manifestation of their beliefs, which

23:59

in turn could be seen. seen by others and

24:01

observed with radar. The

24:04

projection-creating fantasy, he wrote,

24:06

soars beyond the realm of earthly

24:09

organizations and powers into the heavens,

24:12

into interstellar space, where

24:14

the rulers of human fate, the gods,

24:17

once had their abode in the

24:19

planets. Of course, he

24:21

would not be the first to entertain this

24:23

parapsychological notion of a

24:25

thought-form or tulpah, the

24:27

notion that human belief could make

24:30

the unreal real. While

24:33

this is quite a stretch, scientifically

24:35

speaking, there was further

24:38

more concrete reason for Jung's

24:40

identification of UFO belief

24:43

with religion. Not long

24:45

after the advent of Sossermania came

24:48

the rise of UFO contactees

24:51

in the 1950s and the formation

24:53

of outright UFO cults,

24:56

all of which had their roots in

24:59

alternative religions. The

25:10

tendency to make UFOs and

25:13

aliens into sacred figures

25:15

like deities has been remarked

25:17

on by modern academics, like

25:20

religion scholar and historian Catherine

25:22

Wessinger, who observed that quote,

25:25

increasingly in new religions, extraterrestrials

25:28

and space aliens are the superhuman

25:31

agents that act in the roles

25:33

previously filled by gods, gods,

25:37

angels, and devils. These

25:40

new religions, or as they are more

25:43

commonly labeled, cults, actually

25:45

began to appear long before the rise

25:48

of flying Sossermania. In 1758,

25:51

a Swedish philosopher named Immanuel

25:54

Swedenborg published a pseudo-scientific

25:57

work whose ponderous title

25:59

is typically translated as worlds

26:02

in space, but in its entirety

26:05

is concerning the Earth's in our

26:07

solar system, which are called planets,

26:10

and concerning the Earth's in the starry

26:13

heaven and concerning their inhabitants,

26:15

and likewise concerning the spirits

26:18

and angels there from what

26:20

has been seen and heard. Swedenborg

26:23

was formerly a scientist writing

26:26

exclusively on chemistry and mineralogy

26:29

who had transitioned into theological

26:32

treatises and then went full-blown

26:34

visionary mystic, claiming that

26:37

much like Muhammad, he had ascended

26:39

into the heavens, visiting other planets

26:42

and detailing the anatomy and cultures

26:44

of all their inhabitants, including

26:47

the native beings of the moon, Mercury,

26:50

Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and

26:52

Saturn. Interestingly he called

26:54

them all quote-unquote spirits,

26:57

even though he described their bodies

27:00

and organs in detail. Swedenborg's

27:03

work should be viewed as mere

27:06

fiction, telling as it is that

27:08

he only visits the planets of our

27:10

solar system known by science

27:12

at the time. His work also

27:15

conforms to a literary trope,

27:17

that of the fantastic voyage,

27:20

a popular kind of story, like Gulliver's

27:22

Travels, in which a traveler discovers

27:25

a strange civilization that serves

27:27

as a kind of satire or parable

27:29

in order to teach us some lesson about our

27:32

own world. Swedenborg however

27:34

never admitted to writing fiction, but

27:37

rather transformed himself into a

27:39

revelator figure, and though he never

27:41

founded a religion he did speak

27:44

in his works about a quote-unquote

27:46

new church, and in the years after

27:49

his death a cult following

27:51

did develop in reading groups and

27:53

among those who studied and interpreted

27:56

his many weird writings. In 1787

28:00

And 15 years after his death, his

28:02

new church was eventually organized

28:05

in England, and this Swedenborgian

28:08

church would be brought to America

28:11

by none other than John Chapman,

28:13

a nurseryman and conservationist who

28:16

has been immortalized in tall

28:18

tales as Johnny

28:20

Appleseed. But besides this

28:23

Church of New Jerusalem, as

28:25

it was called, and its several

28:27

denominations, Swedenborg's

28:29

influence can perhaps more widely

28:32

be seen in his inspiration

28:34

of another quasi-religious, pseudo-scientific

28:38

movement, Spiritualism.

28:42

Now for a brief intermission.

28:49

Robert Barker was the most famous book

28:51

printer of his time, and luckily for him, his

28:53

time was when book printers could be really famous,

28:56

especially if you were responsible for the most read

28:58

book of all time, The King

29:00

James Bible, which Robert produced in 1611. Yes,

29:04

you could get quite famous printing books

29:07

in Robert Barker's time. Unfortunately,

29:09

you could also get infamous. In 1631,

29:13

Barker tried to double down on his success

29:15

and reprinted the King James Bible, but

29:17

this time around he missed a word. One

29:19

word that caused him to lose his license,

29:22

destroyed his reputation, got him fined,

29:24

and removed to debtor's prison, where

29:27

he died. Exodus 20,

29:30

14, the sixth commandment, thou

29:33

shalt commit adultery. This

29:36

is The Constant, a history of getting things

29:38

wrong. I'm Mark Chrysler. Every episode

29:40

we look at the bad ideas, mistakes, and accidents

29:43

that misshaped our world. Find

29:45

us at ConstantPodcast.com or

29:47

wherever you get your podcasts.

29:51

Everybody shush! William Shatner

29:54

has something to say. Well,

30:00

of course you dig her up and you live with her. Awwww!

30:03

The show is examined. Weird things.

30:06

There are plenty of old photographs from

30:08

this time period of children out in the streets

30:10

playing in and among the dead horse carcasses.

30:13

Oh, I miss those days. Things

30:16

used to be so much simpler.

30:17

Cat and Jethro. Then there's

30:19

the urine wheel, which sounds like a

30:21

really bad game show. They've done

30:24

weird things. Weird! Awwww!

30:27

Weird! Cat

30:29

and Jethro box of oddities. That

30:32

is really mysterious. Show

30:34

Cat and Jethro Gilligan Toth

30:37

for the strange, the bizarre,

30:40

the unexpected, as they lift

30:42

the lid and cautiously peer

30:45

inside the box

30:47

of oddities. A Whitney Award-winning box

30:49

of oddities podcast from their wave media.

30:54

Now, back to the show. The

31:00

The The

31:06

Spiritualists, those who claimed

31:08

to act as a medium through

31:11

which contact with the dead and other spirits

31:13

could be made, first arose in

31:15

the Burned Over District of upstate

31:18

New York, a hotbed of new

31:20

religions out of which both the Millerites

31:23

and the Mormons arose. In

31:25

that milieu, the writings of

31:27

Immanuel Swedenborg with his claims

31:30

of psychic ability and spiritual travel

31:32

and a quote-unquote world of

31:35

spirits was combined with

31:37

the teachings of Franz Mesmer,

31:39

who claimed that a group of people

31:42

chained together by holding hands could

31:44

amplify the paranormal power

31:46

he called animal magnetism.

31:49

And these two developed into

31:51

the practices of seance

31:54

and mediumship. And interestingly,

31:57

spiritualists did not only claim

31:59

to be able to contact the dead. They

32:01

also claimed to contact extraterrestrials.

32:05

Helene Smith, a French medium

32:08

claimed in the late 19th century that she

32:10

too, like Swedenborg, had spiritually

32:13

traveled to Mars and encountered

32:16

Martians. And Sarah Weiss,

32:18

an American medium, claimed the same

32:21

in the early 20th century. Just

32:23

as Swedenborg's account of travel

32:26

through our solar system has been revealed

32:28

to be false through his omission of

32:31

all planets not known at the time that

32:33

he wrote his works. So too, the

32:35

claims that these mediums made of

32:37

having visited Mars have been

32:39

disproven because of their reliance

32:42

on inaccurate notions popular

32:44

at the time. They both included

32:46

descriptions of canals on

32:48

Mars, a notion that actual

32:50

works of engineering could be seen

32:53

on the planet's surface, a false notion

32:55

that arose because of a poor translation

32:58

of Italian and that has since

33:00

been definitively debunked with

33:03

higher resolution imagery of Mars.

33:06

This conflict between science and

33:08

those who claim extraterrestrial contact

33:11

tends to be persistent. The

33:13

claims of contactees and UFO

33:16

religions blend the occult

33:18

with materialist scientific ideas

33:21

and thus when scientific errors

33:23

are corrected, they too must amend

33:26

their doctrines. But this never

33:28

stopped such claims from proliferating.

33:31

Many are the supposed alien intelligences

33:34

contacted through seance and

33:37

telepathy. The most influential

33:39

of these were the quote-unquote ascended

33:41

masters of Madame Helena

33:44

Blavatsky, the founder of Theosophy,

33:47

a 19th century religion that drew

33:49

its teachings from her writings, many

33:52

of which were proven to have been plagiarized.

33:55

Blavatsky's religion grew directly

33:58

out of spiritualism. before she

34:00

started out as a medium. Eventually

34:03

she claimed to be in contact with

34:05

and passing on the teachings of these

34:08

ascended masters who were extraterrestrial

34:11

entities dwelling on Venus.

34:14

Despite the many and thorough debunkings

34:17

of Madame Blavatsky as a con artist,

34:20

which is a whole can of worms that I'll have

34:22

to open in a future episode, Theosophy

34:25

had an outsized influence on

34:27

many thinkers. In fact, the notion

34:29

of a tulpa or thought form, which

34:32

Carl Jung was playing with in

34:34

his explanation of UFO sightings,

34:36

was itself a theosophical

34:39

concept. And Blavatsky's assertions

34:41

about alien intelligences from Venus

34:44

being quote-unquote ascended masters

34:47

have cropped up time and time again

34:49

in the stories of contactes, some

34:52

of whom also went on to found

34:54

religions of their own. Guy

34:56

Ballard, a California mining engineer,

34:59

began claiming in 1935 that

35:01

he had met with Blavatsky's

35:04

Venusian ascended masters in

35:06

a cavern inside Mount Shasta,

35:09

and he went on to found a cult called

35:12

the I Am activity,

35:14

in which he supposedly passed on

35:16

the new teachings of Blavatsky's

35:19

Venusians to his followers.

35:22

Following the advent of Zossermania,

35:24

perhaps the most influential or

35:27

infamous of supposed contactes,

35:29

George Adamsky, who faked UFO

35:32

photos and claimed to have been taken

35:34

on a Sweden-Borgian voyage across

35:37

the solar system, was known to

35:39

have been a theosophist before

35:42

making his claims, and his Nordic-looking

35:45

aliens also just happened

35:47

to come from Venus. And

35:49

George Van Tassel, a contactee

35:52

whom I mentioned in a recent episode, who

35:54

would start a religion called the Ministry

35:57

of Universal Wisdom, claimed

35:59

to have been in contact with

36:01

an ascended master from Venus

36:04

named Ashtar, whose spiritual

36:07

revelations he compiled and

36:09

passed on to his believers. Many

36:18

are the UFO religions founded

36:21

on the spiritualist concept of channeling

36:24

or telepathically being in contact

36:26

with extraterrestrial intelligences

36:28

or spirits, such as the Mark

36:31

Age movement, based on the claims of

36:33

a supposed contactee whose organization

36:36

received promotion in the pages

36:38

of Ray Palmer's magazine, Fate,

36:41

which did so much to propagate UFO

36:43

myths. Or similar groups

36:46

whose teachings were always received through

36:48

channelers like the Universarium

36:51

Foundation and the Extraterrestrial

36:54

Earth Mission. Some emergent

36:56

UFO religions or cults did

36:59

not seem to have much connection

37:01

to spiritualism or theosophy

37:03

but rather represent a kind of syncretism

37:06

of Christian theology and UFO

37:08

mythology. The most prominent

37:10

example of these is the Human

37:13

Individual Metamorphosis Group, who

37:15

also called themselves Total Overcomers

37:18

Anonymous, or UFO

37:21

people, but who went by another

37:23

name during the last years of their

37:25

existence, a name that would become

37:27

infamous after the group's mass

37:30

suicide, Heaven's Gate. Other

37:33

UFO groups, however, tend

37:35

to mash up all of these influences,

37:38

spiritualism and theosophy with

37:41

Christian elements like the

37:43

Etherius Society and the

37:45

Summit Lighthouse, whose founders

37:47

claimed to be in contact with ascended

37:50

masters from Venus and claimed

37:53

that Jesus had been one such

37:55

Venusian being. One of these

37:57

religions was based on the teachings of

37:59

a supposed Venusian called Unarius,

38:03

a group led by two channelers, Ernest

38:05

and Ruth Norman, who also

38:08

claimed to be reincarnations

38:10

of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene.

38:13

Then there is the more atheistic

38:16

Raelian movement, whose prophet,

38:18

a Frenchman named Claude Voorlehan,

38:21

who had taken the name Rael, began

38:23

claiming that he had been contacted

38:26

by extraterrestrials called

38:28

Elohim. Elohim is

38:31

of course a word translated

38:33

as angels in the Bible, and

38:35

Rael claimed these aliens had simply

38:37

been mistaken for angels in

38:40

antiquity. Throughout history

38:42

he claimed that Elohim had created

38:45

alien-human hybrids to serve

38:47

as their prophets, among them included

38:49

the Buddha, Christ, Muhammad, and

38:52

of course himself. His

38:54

organization relies on membership

38:56

fees, and one of the major practices

38:59

is, quote, sensual meditation,

39:02

end quote, as adherents are guided

39:04

toward achieving, quote, cosmic

39:07

orgasm, end quote. The

39:09

church's founder, Rael, also

39:12

organized an exclusive order

39:14

of women meant to serve as

39:16

the sexual consorts of

39:18

the Elohim, which until their

39:20

arrival would just sexually

39:23

gratify him, it seems. So

39:26

here we find many of the hallmarks

39:28

of a cult. But not all

39:31

UFO religions are so

39:33

easily categorized. One

39:35

of the most successful UFO religions

39:38

is Scientology, which

39:40

is classified also as a secularized

39:43

religion, or a psychotherapeutically

39:46

oriented religion, or just

39:48

as a privatized religion or

39:51

scam, but can certainly also

39:53

be classified as a UFO religion

39:56

because of its emphasis on an ancient

39:58

alien myth. regarding the origin

40:01

of humanity, the quote-unquote

40:03

Zenu myth, which they themselves

40:06

call a quote space

40:08

opera in quote

40:10

admitting its science fictional

40:13

nature.

40:17

Even among UFO contactees who

40:19

never start or join a religion

40:22

focused on UFOs though, we still

40:24

see the clear connection of their UFO

40:26

beliefs with religious concepts

40:29

and experiences. Nowhere

40:31

is this more apparent than in the claims

40:33

of UFO abductees. Of

40:36

course, much of the alien abduction

40:38

phenomenon can be adequately

40:41

explained based on the issues

40:43

with hypnotic regression. I

40:45

spoke a bit in my most recent patron

40:48

exclusive minisode, which delved

40:50

a little into the famous claims

40:52

of Betty and Barney Hill, specifically

40:55

highlighting some theories about the

40:57

surfacing of traumatic memories surrounding

41:00

accidental awareness or waking

41:03

up under anesthesia during medical

41:05

procedures. There is also the

41:07

general unreliability of hypnotic

41:10

memory regression, which I will likely

41:12

discuss more in my next patron

41:14

exclusive. And a further rational

41:17

explanation of many other abduction

41:19

claims is that they conform

41:21

to the experience of sleep

41:23

paralysis, which may involve

41:26

hypnopompic or hypnagogic

41:28

hallucinations. Interestingly,

41:31

this phenomenon can also be

41:33

used to explain other supposedly

41:35

supernatural phenomenon or myths.

41:38

As I spoke about in my episodes on vampires,

41:41

it serves as a clear explanation

41:44

of the accounts of revenants, troubling

41:47

townspeople in their sleep. The

41:49

phenomenon of sleep paralysis and its

41:51

attendant hallucinations also

41:54

explains claims of demonic

41:56

visitation and has even been called

41:58

the incubus. phenomenon,

42:01

named after demons that supposedly

42:03

attack one sexually while

42:06

one is in bed, in Incubus

42:08

being a male version of this demon and

42:10

Aesucubus the female version.

42:14

Taking a Jungian view of these experiences,

42:17

religious symbolism is most common

42:19

in dreams, and while religious

42:22

views of the past might have colored

42:24

interpretations of the shadow figures

42:27

of sleep paralysis hallucinations

42:29

as demons, if our collective unconscious

42:32

has adopted a newer space

42:34

age conception of sky gods

42:36

as Jung suspected, it is reasonable

42:39

to believe that many modern minds

42:41

would interpret these hallucinations

42:44

as extraterrestrials today

42:46

rather than as demons. Moreover,

42:49

we see the sexual aspect of

42:51

Incubus and Succubus encounters

42:53

present also in many of these abduction

42:56

experiences. Abductees

42:58

claim to have been not just poked or probed

43:00

painfully, but to have their genitals

43:03

examined and to engage in

43:05

sexual intercourse, claims

43:07

that have led to the belief that extraterrestrials

43:10

seek to interbreed and

43:12

create some hybrid offspring.

43:15

Whether or not the experiencer views

43:17

their alien abductors as benevolent, neutral,

43:20

or malicious, they still tend

43:22

to be led to a kind of religious

43:25

epiphany by the experience. Many

43:28

abductees claim their abductors

43:30

impart some moral lesson for

43:32

them to pass on to the rest of humanity,

43:34

an aspect that further helps us categorize

43:37

these as quintessentially spiritual

43:40

or religious experiences. Then

43:43

there are those whose abduction experiences

43:45

are horrifying who view their abductors

43:48

as evil or we might say

43:51

demonic like horror

43:53

writer Whitley Streber whose

43:55

book on the topic bears the very

43:57

religious sounding title, Communion.

44:00

Indeed, he explicitly

44:02

compares his quote-unquote visitors

44:05

to demons claiming they wield

44:08

a quote technology of the

44:10

soul end quote. Streber

44:13

has actually argued against

44:15

an exclusively materialist interpretation

44:18

of abductee experiences emphasizing

44:21

their religious character and

44:23

seemingly unrelated to his abduction

44:26

experience but further indicating his

44:28

tendency toward religious experiences

44:31

or visitations resulting in

44:33

spiritual epiphany. Streber

44:35

later claimed to have been visited

44:38

by an angelic type of character,

44:41

a mysterious man who came to

44:43

his hotel room and helped guide

44:45

him to a new understanding

44:47

of God. One

44:54

last way in which UFO beliefs

44:56

have been observed syncretizing

44:59

with religious traditions is

45:01

simply through the reinterpretation of

45:03

western religion through the lens

45:05

of ufology. This is the very kind

45:08

of presentism I spoke about in the beginning

45:10

of the episode which serves as the

45:12

bread and butter of ancient astronaut

45:14

proponents like Erich von Donakin.

45:17

These revisionists will scour

45:20

scriptures for anything that might be construed

45:22

as sounding related to the UFO

45:25

phenomenon and hold it up as

45:27

evidence of their UFO beliefs. Thus,

45:30

the descending of God onto Mount Sinai,

45:33

which if anything just sounds like the description

45:35

of a thunderstorm, is construed

45:38

as the landing of an extraterrestrial

45:40

vehicle. Likewise the pillar of

45:42

fire that led Israelites out of Egypt

45:45

must also have been some ET-crack

45:47

craft. Perhaps the most commonly

45:50

cited is Elijah's ascent

45:52

into heaven in a chariot of fire,

45:55

though if we read that closely this

45:57

chariot of fire led by horsemen.

46:00

of fire only is said to

46:02

separate Elijah from his son and

46:04

he's actually born into heaven by a

46:07

whirlwind but even a whirlwind

46:09

is close enough for those who want to

46:11

find flying saucers in the Bible they

46:14

look at the star of Bethlehem

46:16

and see a saucer they look

46:18

at the heavens opening and God's

46:20

Spirit descending on Christ at his baptism

46:23

and see a saucer they look at the bright

46:25

cloud that appears at Christ's transfiguration

46:28

and see a saucer and they look at the cloud

46:31

that hid Christ from their sight during

46:33

his ascension and again see

46:36

a flying saucer whenever an

46:38

angel appears whenever the Holy Spirit

46:40

descends they speculate that

46:43

it may have been a UFO or

46:45

an alien or some kind of beam

46:48

technology and this backward

46:50

thinking this inverted logic

46:53

can be seen also in claims that UFOs

46:55

are commonly depicted in religious

46:58

art from the Renaissance indeed

47:00

there are numerous paintings such

47:03

as the Annunciation with Saint

47:05

Imidius by Carlo Crevelli 1486

47:08

in which a beam

47:10

appears to come out of a circle in the clouds

47:13

right into the Virgin

47:13

Mary's head

47:15

and the baptism of Christ by

47:17

Eric De Gelder in 1710

47:19

which depicts the Spirit descending

47:22

on Jesus like beams of light out

47:24

of a circle in the sky and the

47:27

Madonna and Child with the infant

47:29

Saint John by Domenico Gerlandaio

47:32

sometimes called Our Lady of the Flying

47:34

Saucer because of a luminous shape

47:37

in the sky up at which a shepherd

47:39

stares in the background to

47:42

my embarrassment I actually

47:44

used details of this painting without

47:47

any analysis as the artwork

47:49

of my old episode on UAP

47:52

in history the more I research

47:54

and realize the problems with that early

47:56

episode the more I cringe

47:59

at keeping it up in my feed. So

48:01

while I quietly remove the episode

48:04

from my public feed, let's look

48:06

at these Renaissance paintings to

48:08

see why they most certainly are not

48:11

depicting flying saucers. First

48:25

of all, it is absurd to think

48:27

that these paintings prove something

48:29

about events in the Bible. They were

48:31

painted more than a thousand years after

48:34

the events they depict. The only

48:36

thing they can show us is how

48:38

such religious traditions were being

48:40

conceived of and portrayed in Renaissance

48:43

artistic trends, and we must look

48:46

back at the scriptures that inspired

48:48

them to understand these portrayals.

48:51

The heavens are said to have opened at Christ's

48:53

baptism, so the circle overhead

48:56

through which the Spirit of God descends

48:58

like beams of light is not a

49:00

disc-like object, but rather

49:02

a circular opening, a window

49:05

in the firmament or heavens.

49:08

As for the circle in the sky

49:10

beaming something into Mary's head in

49:13

Creveli's Annunciation, we

49:15

know from the title and subject of

49:17

the image that this is meant to portray

49:19

angels communicating to Mary

49:22

that she will give birth to the Son of

49:24

God. There are very

49:26

high resolution images of this painting online,

49:29

and if you zoom in you can clearly

49:31

see that it's no flying saucer.

49:34

Rather, it is two concentric circles

49:37

of angels in a roiling

49:39

cloud. You can see their cherubim

49:42

faces and wings. This

49:45

unlocks the meaning of all of these paintings,

49:48

including the strange object hanging

49:50

in the skies behind Our Lady of the

49:53

Flying Saucer. These depictions

49:55

derive from the Renaissance artist's

49:58

clearer understanding of how we are living. biblically

50:00

accurate angels were described. Most,

50:03

I think, have by now seen the viral

50:06

social media memes saying, Here's

50:08

what angels really looked like, suggesting

50:11

typical depictions of angels are all

50:13

wrong and that the religious don't

50:15

even know their Bibles because angels really

50:18

were just a terrifying mass of wings and

50:21

eyes. There is some element

50:23

of truth to us

50:25

as specific angels, Seraphim

50:28

and Cherubim, are described in

50:30

Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Revelations

50:33

as having numerous wings, not just two,

50:35

and numerous eyes as well as multiple

50:38

faces. Of course, there

50:40

are also descriptions of angels and archangels

50:43

as being human-like, so as

50:45

always don't get your understanding of history

50:48

or mythology from a meme.

50:50

But the clincher here

50:52

comes from the numerous detailed descriptions

50:55

of angels in Ezekiel.

50:57

The prophet's vision repeatedly talks

51:00

of Cherubim forming into

51:02

quote-unquote wheels or

51:05

circling up. Likewise, his

51:07

vision of God enthroned describes

51:10

how the throne is born aloft

51:13

by these very same angelic wheels.

51:16

Of course, those who seek some confirmation

51:18

of UFOs in the Bible take his

51:21

description of quote wheels within

51:23

wheels in quote out

51:25

of context and claim it to be

51:27

yet another biblical flying saucer.

51:30

But what Ezekiel is actually describing

51:33

is the formation of angels into

51:36

rings that encircle and

51:38

carry the throne of God. It

51:41

seems abundantly apparent

51:43

that this is what Renaissance artists

51:46

were depicting when they painted divine

51:49

circles in the sky, either

51:52

rings of angels or the very

51:54

throne of God as described

51:56

in the Bible to project modern

51:59

ideas about space aliens onto

52:01

the intentions of these artists or

52:04

onto the traditions of ancient religions

52:07

is really to misrepresent and

52:10

revise them. The

52:16

modern tendency to project newer

52:19

ideas about space travel and alien

52:21

visitation onto old inherited

52:24

religious ideas and the desire to

52:26

reconcile the two claims into one

52:29

coherent worldview may

52:31

be more deeply entrenched among

52:33

military officials, the intelligence community,

52:36

and lawmakers than we might suspect.

52:40

One of the first signs that this perspective

52:42

was spreading in those fields came

52:44

in 1994 when two former

52:47

Air Force officers self-published

52:49

a book called Unmasking the

52:51

Enemy, claiming that because witnesses

52:54

had described UFOs as vanishing

52:56

like ghosts, they must actually

52:59

be demons. That's right,

53:01

they jumped right past hallucinations and

53:03

mass hysteria and any sort of rational

53:06

explanation having to do with experimental

53:08

technology like stealth and

53:10

they went right to demons. And

53:13

in 2010, UFO and paranormal

53:16

researcher Nick Redfern claims

53:18

to have stumbled onto what appeared to

53:20

be a secret group within

53:23

the Department of Defense called the

53:25

Collins Elite that was dedicated

53:28

to investigating the possibility that UAP

53:31

are actually angels and demons.

53:34

Redfern is known to uncritically

53:37

repeat some of the most outrageous claims

53:40

of conspiracy and the supernatural

53:42

in his work, so I would caution that he's

53:44

not exactly a reliable source,

53:47

but after his book, when wild conspiracy

53:49

claims about the Collins Elite began

53:51

to spread online, he tried

53:54

to correct the record, explaining

53:56

that the only thing he had discovered by

53:58

being put into contact with members

54:00

of the alleged group through a priest

54:03

who had been approached by them was

54:05

that they started out as a group of

54:07

Christians who came to this conclusion

54:10

about UFOs in the

54:12

1980s, met and discussed their ideas with

54:14

others, growing their numbers during the 1990s, and

54:17

eventually through the Defense Department

54:19

contacts of some involved ended

54:22

up getting some state funding. And

54:25

to Redfern they are not a large or powerful

54:27

organization, just an assemblage

54:30

of like-minded people and their activities

54:32

are mostly focused on briefing

54:35

congressmen and senators on

54:37

their theory that UFOs are

54:39

demonic. This is absolutely

54:42

a baseless conspiracy claim from an

54:45

unreliable and unverifiable

54:47

source, but based on the

54:49

fact that we know from

54:51

the book Unmasking the Enemy that

54:53

this theory was prevalent in the Air

54:56

Force in the 90s and we further

54:58

know from the comments of Lou Elizondo

55:01

that some shadowy figures in the Pentagon

55:03

expressed the same theory and

55:06

we know that legislators like Marjorie

55:08

Taylor Greene have started floating

55:11

this theory themselves, it certainly

55:13

seems believable. Redfern

55:16

suggests that the Collins elite

55:18

specifically chooses to approach legislators

55:22

who might be likely to believe their

55:24

theory and the notion that some rogue

55:27

group of religious officials in the Pentagon

55:29

may be whispering into the ears of

55:32

already bonkers representatives

55:34

like Greene that UFOs

55:36

are probably demons is

55:39

terrifying.

55:51

It seems quite possible

55:54

that such a group as the

55:56

Collins elite working behind

55:58

the scenes like lobbyists may

56:00

have pushed for the recent congressional

56:03

hearing in order to make a public

56:05

spectacle and bring the issue

56:08

into the limelight, a kind of religious

56:10

evangelism through government

56:13

that should be prohibited by the separation

56:15

of church and state. But still,

56:18

while such a group, if it exists, may

56:20

be growing in its influence, and the

56:22

syncretism of Christianity with

56:25

UFO beliefs appears to be continuing

56:28

apace, it is my personal

56:30

view that there are others within the military

56:33

and intelligence community who will never

56:35

subscribe to such a theory since they

56:38

already know that UAP are

56:40

not angels or demons or aliens,

56:43

because they know exactly what classified

56:46

technology is being mistaken for

56:48

them. My personal pet theory,

56:50

which I did not arrive at on my own

56:53

and has been floating around for decades, is

56:55

that most sightings that are hard

56:58

to explain with mundane phenomena

57:00

like birds and balloons and

57:02

optical illusions can be explained

57:05

by radar spoofing technology.

57:08

Indeed, certain recent UAP

57:10

described by Navy pilots as orbs

57:13

with a cube inside have

57:15

been identified as radar-reflecting

57:18

balloons, and for any sightings

57:20

that involve impossible maneuvers

57:23

or speeds, there is the potential

57:25

explanation that particle beams

57:27

may be theoretically projected

57:30

from the ground or from an aircraft, creating

57:33

a glowing plasma ball in the sky

57:35

that can be seen by the naked eye and

57:37

by instrumentation, could be made

57:39

to look like it was performing maneuvers

57:42

and achieving speeds that no aircraft

57:44

possibly could, and could

57:46

be made to disappear at will simply

57:49

by hitting the off switch. This

57:52

is, admittedly, only theoretical,

57:54

which any deeply classified technology

57:57

would be until it has been revealed

57:59

that we have had it. it for years, but

58:01

it should be noted that we use very

58:04

similar technology today in the

58:06

medical field to project protons

58:09

for targeted radiation on cancer

58:12

in a procedure called proton beam

58:14

therapy. It may likewise

58:17

be speculation, but to

58:19

me it seems a more rational

58:21

and feasible explanation that

58:24

does not smack of religion

58:27

at all.

58:39

Thanks for listening to historical blindness.

58:42

Check out the blog post for this episode,

58:45

which should go up on historicalblindness.com

58:48

sometime before the next episode for a transcript,

58:51

related imagery and citations for further

58:53

reading. As always, thanks go

58:55

out to my partner patrons. Diane Lane,

58:58

Joe Escott, Sean Munger, Devlin

59:00

Hoff, Michael Markham, Mitchell

59:02

Shuttler, Jessica Reeves, Fred

59:05

from Colorado, Robin Nagat,

59:07

Rebecca, Don Mundus, Eunice

59:09

Allen Bradley, Juliet O'Connor,

59:12

Jonathan Williams, Joshua Luddington,

59:14

Logan Houlihan, Lily Powers,

59:17

Lonnie Koffer, Ralph Fen, Aima,

59:20

Lee Holland, Kevin Osborne, Ed

59:22

Shockley, Benny Slater, and

59:24

Rachel Hornbruck. I

59:27

know you are faithful and dedicated

59:29

listeners, and I'd love it if you'd tell others

59:31

about the podcast, but I'd rather

59:34

if you never say you listen to

59:36

the podcast, quote unquote, religiously.

59:40

This podcast is part of the Airwave Media

59:43

Podcast Network. Visit airwavemedia.com

59:46

to listen and subscribe to their other fine shows

59:48

like The Constant and Data

59:51

Over Dogma. Some music

59:54

on this episode is copyright Alex

59:56

Kish. Visit alexkishmusic.com

59:58

and contact us at www.airwavemedia.com. him to get compositions

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for your own projects. Additional

1:00:03

music is by Kai Engel and

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by Kevin McLeod, licensed under

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1:00:25

Until next time, whenever you scoff

1:00:28

at the absurdity of a cult's doctrines

1:00:30

and the unbelievably of its leaders'

1:00:33

claims, ask yourself, are

1:00:35

they so very different from, or any

1:00:37

harder to credit than, the claims made

1:00:40

by the revered founders of

1:00:42

any other religion?