Episodes

This time, we explore perhaps the biggest UFO case of Dr. Hynek's career, which involved some farmers, some college students, and what in Dana Unicorn's words we might refer to as "marsh farts". Enjoy. Sorry for the brief hiatus. We're happy to be back. Oh, and it's my fault we don't have show art. I waited until the last minute to ask, and by that time, Willem UFO was a concert. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

And Hynek. We're still covering Hynek.

J Allen Hynek and the Monty Hall problem

See! We told you! Non-abduction content.

We're finished with abductions! No, for real!

As we wrap the science portion, we also stop into the High Desert, the Kingdom of Nye--in other words, we clip some classic Art Bell episodes to explore how Budd Hopkins promulgated his stories--including the Linda/Manhattan Alien Abduction, with Art as very friendly interviewer. Enjoy. We'll wrap the Art Bell stuff next time. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Maybe after all of this abduction talk, you've wondered what real scientists have to say about people being taken aboard alien spacecraft. And specifically, what to make of all of their reports of forced reproduction and alien-human hybrids. Fortunately, real, responsible professionals have indeed done the work and gotten to the bottom of these questions. And we're going to hear from them in this episode and the next one. Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oops! Forgot to upload the episode. In this one, we get the denoument of the Budd Hopkins Manhattan alien abduction story. Next time, we hear from more skeptical, but still sympathetic, researchers who have examined abductions and abductees. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we wrap with the sad end of John Mack's once-fine career, then dive deeply into the most "important" "alien" "abduction" that pioneering researcher Budd Hopkins ever covered. Yes, this is the story of a woman who was abducted by aliens from a Manhattan apartment tower into a flying saucer in front of 23 witnesses! Except, spoiler alert, maybe not. More Budd and then some sensible people next week. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which we review the downfall of a once-respected psychiatrist, as John Mack publishes his findings only to have them completely torn apart by a wide variety of critics. Worse, we learn how he was taken in by an undercover skeptic who fed him a totally unbelievable story which, as you might expect, he believed. Next time--we do a deep dive on the elder statesman of abduction research, Budd Hopkins. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we wrap up the last bit of Strieber, before turning our attention to John Mack, a celebrated and respected psychiatrist who, late in his career, turned his attention to investigating, and then advocating for alien abductions. We learn why John Mack became obsessed, and how his friends, colleagues, and especially the vaunted institution he worked for tried to deal with this pillar of the psychiatric establishment embracing woo-woo nonsense. More on Mack next time. Hosted on Acas...

Hearkening back to high school English class, we compare and contrast my and Whitley Strieber's unusual experiences. Also, we hear from my real-life parents, who do their best to recall what really happened with my lightning strike. I hope you find them as adorable as I do. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Yes, it really happened.

Whitley Strieber's abduction, and the film it inspired

How the way we look at abductions changed between the 1970s and the 1990s

Barney and Betty Hill, part 5

Barney and Betty Hill, part 4

Barney and Betty Hill, part 3

Barney and Betty Hill, part 2

Barney and Betty Hill, part 1

We're back for 2025. This episode, we wrap up the story of The Seekers, the failure of their 1950s UFO prophecy, and the book that made them famous. We also dive into the ways cognitive dissonance theory interacts with other prophetic movements, including the early Christians. See you in two weeks. theparanoidstrain.com facebook.com/groups/theparanoidstrain patreon.com/theparanoidstrain Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The last part of our encore presentation. hope you enjoyed it--see you next week. In which Fletcher slowly loses what matters most to him, secures his legend, and goes down, senselessly, in a hail of bullets. Full lyrics, credits, and gorgeous fold-out album style artwork (it's a .zip file): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zj0Mbk4JNrHajuAwHC3fOGzY8ZHeTDOg/view?usp=share_link theparanoidstrain.com facebook.com/groups/theparanoidstrain Listen to the music as an album on Soundcloud: https://s...

Part IV of our re-post of the best thing we've done. In which Fletcher finally gets on the radio, tells us what 2001: A Space Odyssey is really about, and sees his life begin to fall apart. theparanoidstrain.com facebook.com/groups/theparanoidstrain Listen to the music as an album on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/paranoidstrainorchestra/sets/upon-a-red-horse-act-iv-five-minutes-to-midnight patreon.com/theparanoidstrain Like it? Please do spread the word. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com...

In part 3, we discuss our hero's magnum opus. theparanoidstrain.com facebook.com/groups/theparanoidstrain Listen to the music as an album on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/paranoidstrainorchestra/sets/upon-a-red-horse-act-iii-the-red-horse-and-the-sword patreon.com/theparanoidstrain Like it? Please do spread the word. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.