Bunkum and Ballyhoo

Bunkum & Ballyhoo enters the word of 20th century mysticism, with the 1956 release of The Third Eye, the immensely successful autobiography of the Tibetan Lama, T. Lobsang Rampa, giving an unprecedented look at the customs, culture, and ritual practices of a land almost inaccessible to the west, and with a storied reputation for the mystical and magical.
But this is Bunkum & Ballyhoo, so not all is as it seems. Who was Lobsang Rampa, really? What part did an owl have to play in all of this, and why do these stories always seem to end up having a Nazi in them?
Selected Sources
The Third Eye by T. Lobsang Rampa
The Rampa Story by T. Lobsang Rampa
Living with the Lama by T. Lobsang Rampa
T. Lobsang Rampa and Other Characters of Questionable Faith by R.B. Russell
Cults of Unreason by Dr Christopher Evans
An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural by James Randi

Audio Sources
Meditation (1969) by Dr T. Lobsang Rampa, The Henderson Company

Bunkum & Ballyhoo returns to the world of professional wrestling, as host, historian and author Patrick W. Reed tells the story of what happens when the make-believe world of professional wrestling becomes all too real - it's a story of obsession, toxic masculinity, and unimaginable grief. From the wrestling rings of Texas in the 1980s, this is the story of the Von Erich Curse.

In an impromptu and unscripted emergency episode of Bunkum & Ballyhoo, host Patrick W. Reed considers the emergent pop culture conspiracy theory that the final series of Stranger Things hid within it a series of clues revealing the existence of a secret additional episode - taking into account the distinction between fanfiction and fan theory, the dangers of mistaking the algorithm for reality, and the perennial Bunkum & Ballyhoo theme of being awake to irrational beliefs and cognitive biases in your own life. Plus Patrick's broader thoughts on Stranger Things as a series.

In a bumper edition of Bunkum & Ballyhoo, historian and author Patrick W. Reed uses examples from his own memory to example one of the internet's favourite bizarre beliefs, the timeline-hopping, detail-altering mischief of the Mandela Effect.

It's an exploration that takes in personal history, the paranormal, the vagaries and weaknesses of human history, while asking how the Mandela Effect can serve as a gateway drug to more dangerous beliefs, and what it tells us about the increasingly selfish and atomised nature of our culture, all serving to examine why we believe what we believe, and what leads people further and further down rabbit holes of conspiracy theory, extremism, and irrational beliefs in the face of contradictory evidence. All while finding time to fit in Bigfoot, the Satanic Panic, QAnon, and the nature of childhood fandom.

Selected Bibliography:
The Science of Weird Shit by Professor Chris French
Satanic Panic: Pop-Cultural Paranoia in the 1980s, edited by Kier-La Janisse and Paul Corupe
Satanic child abuse claims are almost certainly based on false memories - Professor Chris French, The Guardian, 18/11/14

Audio Sources:
WWF Monday Night RAW Intro - 1993

In the world of literary scandal, there have always been books filed under "non-fiction" that are better positioned elsewhere in the library. In this episode, historian Patrick W. Reed looks at one notorious example - Clifford Irving's authorised "autobiography" of the world's most famous recluse, the eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes.

Selected Bibliography & Sources:

The Autobiography of Howard Hughes by Clifford Irving
Howard Hughes: The Hidden Years by James Phelan
The Hoax by Clifford Irving

A return to the Fortean and the supernatural, and to the eminently gullible world of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, as Bunkum & Ballyhoo explores the story of fairies photographed in a Yorkshire garden, and how one of England's most famous authors made them a media sensation.
Selected Bibliography & Sources
The Coming Of The Fairies by Arthur Conan Doyle
Sprites, spiritualists and sleuths: the intersecting ownership of transcendent proofs in the Cottingley Fairy Fraud by Francesca Bihet
Arthur C. Clarke's World of Strange Powers
The James Randi Educational Foundation

Audio Credit

"Fairies Wear Boots" by Jazz Sabbath

Bunkum and Ballyhoo returns for its third series, as author and historian Patrick W. Reed looks at the phenomenon of True Believer Syndrome, through the story of the spiritualist medium M. Lamar Keene, his stranger than fiction true life story, and his fears of being stalked by who he called "The Psychic Mafia".
Selected Bibliography
The Psychic Mafia by M. Lamar Keene
Flim-Flam! by James Randi

Part two of a double-header on the story of The Highgate Vampire takes a closer look at the principle players - David Farrant, and Reverend Sean Manchester - to explore the background of two extraordinary characters, the unsavoury and unsettling beliefs that so often lurk behind the irrational and the conspiratorial world-view, and asks why Bunkum & Ballyhoo.
Selected Sources:
The Highgate Cemetery Vampire Hunt: The Anglo-American Connection In Satanic Cult Lore by Bill Ellis, in Folklore (1993)
London Uncanny by Clive Bloom
The Highgate Vampire by Sean Manchester
Haunted Highgate by Della Farrant
The Vampire's Bedside Companion by Peter Underwood
I am also indebted in these episodes to the work of Anthony Hogg, Erin Chapman, and Kevin Chesham.
Audio Sources:
True Horror with Anthony Head (2004)
Father Ted S3E1, "Are You Right There Father Ted?" (1998)

Series two of Bunkum & Ballyhoo closes out with the extraordinary story of the Highgate Vampire - a supposed supernatural phenomenon that haunted one of London's great cemeteries in the 1970s, and the ongoing feud between the two duelling occultists and vampire hunters at its heart. Are we ever really that far from the irrational beliefs and moral panics of the past?
Selected Sources:
The Highgate Cemetery Vampire Hunt: The Anglo-American Connection In Satanic Cult Lore by Bill Ellis, in Folklore (1993)
London Uncanny by Clive Bloom
The Highgate Vampire by Sean Manchester
Haunted Highgate by Della Farrant
The Vampire's Bedside Companion by Peter Underwood
I am also indebted in these episodes to the work of Anthony Hogg, Erin Chapman, and Kevin Chesham.
Audio Sources:
Penda's Fen (1974) dir. Alan Clarke, written by David Rudkin
BBC 24 Hours (1970)
One Hour with Jonathan Ross (1990)
True Horror with Anthony Head (2004)

Bunkum & Ballyhoo explores the life and complicated legacy of the voice of the Canadian wilderness, an early vocal spokesman for conservation, environmentalism, and native rights; Grey Owl, and the thorny issue of cultural appropriation.
NOTE:This episode contains historical quotations which some listeners may find offensive.
Selected Sources:
The Collected Works Of Grey Owlby Grey Owl
Devil In Deerskins: My Life With Grey Owlby Anahareo
Wilderness Man: The Strange Story of Grey Owlby Lovat Dickson
From The Land Of Shadows: The Making of Grey Owlby Donald B Smith
Audio Sources:
Canadian Cameo - "Grey Owl's Strange Quest" (1936)
Trailer: Grey Owl (1999), dir. Richard Attenborough -20th Century Studios

www.patrickwreed.com

www.patreon.com/patrickwreed