Astonishing Legends

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

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

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

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

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Astonishing Promo Trailer 1 - 2023

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

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

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

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

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