Citizen's Guide To The Supernormal

Part two of our conversation on the weirdest area in Massachusetts.

Episode 10, The Bridgewater Triangle: Yeti Boogaloo

http://www.youtube.com/sargethedestroyer

https://www.patreon.com/Sargethedestroyer

At the start of this episode, my 9 year old daughter gives a pretty spot on definition of cryptozoology. After a brief description of what that word meant, she and I came to a pretty quick agreement on how she would define it for the show. You can’t put much past that kid. She had Santa figured out at six years old.

People believe in some weird shit, you guys. A mayor in Puerto Rico was so convinced that Chupacabras were real that he and a posse of locals hunted for them. They patrolled the streets with loaded guns looking for something that no one is sure even exists. In Massachusetts, there is a guy, so convinced of the existence of bigfoot (yeti, skunk ape, sasquatch, ect.), that he led armed expeditions into the woods of Bridgewater Massachusetts, in hopes of… killing it, I guess? It’s not clear.

While people might say, “who cares?” or “it’s harmless”, I have to respectfully disagree. In 2017, Edgar Maddison went into a pizza shop and discharged an round from his AR-15. He did this because some fucking moron told him that nefarious government officials, who were part of “The Deep State”, were molesting children in the basement of that restaurant. Aside from the fact that this shop didn’t have basement, the allegations are objectively insane. However, platforms like Infowars and other tentacles of the alt-sanity movement were convinced, so this dipshit decided to be a hero.

The point I am trying to make, is that critical thinking is immensely important. If we take what we are being told and accept it as fact without filtering it through a lens of skepticism, we are libel to believe things that thoroughly preposterous. Let me ask you a question, which is more likely; a small predatory animal, never before seen on a relatively small island is sucking the blood out of goats and then vanishing into the night or an average run-of-the-mill animal corpse in an advanced stage of decomposition? One of these things is wildly insane and one of these things is highly probably in a tropical climate.

The next time someone tells you a certain woman sold Uranium to Russia, google it. The next time someone tells you an entity of the Federal Government killed a sitting president because of … Something? Ask some questions. And the next time someone tells you that The Holocaust was a hoax, you have my permission to straight up kick that person in their genitals as many times as you’re comfortable with. Trust no one… except me and Anderson Cooper, that dreamy bastard.

Love,

Sarge

Part two of our conversation on the weirdest area in Massachusetts.

Episode 10, The Bridgewater Triangle: Yeti Boogaloo

http://www.youtube.com/sargethedestroyer

https://www.patreon.com/Sargethedestroyer

At the start of this episode, my 9 year old daughter gives a pretty spot on definition of cryptozoology. After a brief description of what that word meant, she and I came to a pretty quick agreement on how she would define it for the show. You can’t put much past that kid. She had Santa figured out at six years old.

People believe in some weird shit, you guys. A mayor in Puerto Rico was so convinced that Chupacabras were real that he and a posse of locals hunted for them. They patrolled the streets with loaded guns looking for something that no one is sure even exists. In Massachusetts, there is a guy, so convinced of the existence of bigfoot (yeti, skunk ape, sasquatch, ect.), that he led armed expeditions into the woods of Bridgewater Massachusetts, in hopes of… killing it, I guess? It’s not clear.

While people might say, “who cares?” or “it’s harmless”, I have to respectfully disagree. In 2017, Edgar Maddison went into a pizza shop and discharged an round from his AR-15. He did this because some fucking moron told him that nefarious government officials, who were part of “The Deep State”, were molesting children in the basement of that restaurant. Aside from the fact that this shop didn’t have basement, the allegations are objectively insane. However, platforms like Infowars and other tentacles of the alt-sanity movement were convinced, so this dipshit decided to be a hero.

The point I am trying to make, is that critical thinking is immensely important. If we take what we are being told and accept it as fact without filtering it through a lens of skepticism, we are libel to believe things that thoroughly preposterous. Let me ask you a question, which is more likely; a small predatory animal, never before seen on a relatively small island is sucking the blood out of goats and then vanishing into the night or an average run-of-the-mill animal corpse in an advanced stage of decomposition? One of these things is wildly insane and one of these things is highly probably in a tropical climate.

The next time someone tells you a certain woman sold Uranium to Russia, google it. The next time someone tells you an entity of the Federal Government killed a sitting president because of … Something? Ask some questions. And the next time someone tells you that The Holocaust was a hoax, you have my permission to straight up kick that person in their genitals as many times as you’re comfortable with. Trust no one… except me and Anderson Cooper, that dreamy bastard.

Love,

Sarge

Part one of our conversation about the weirdest place in Massachusetts

Episode 9, The Bridgewater Triangle

https://www.patreon.com/Sargethedestroyer

Welcome back to the CGS Blog. In this episode, we are discussing something near and dear to my heart, the weirdness that is Massachusetts. The Commonwealth has a checkered past, you guys. You’ll be hard pressed to find a more angry group of people than anyone who lives in this rocky, miserable hellscape with recently good sports teams. Unfortunately, being thoroughly annoyed by everything isn’t the only quality my home state has been saddled with.

Massachusetts has a pretty nasty reputation for racism and it’s not without precedence. From the arrival of the pilgrims to the bussing crisis of the mid 70s, there’s been some really fucking shitty behavior from a state that holds some of the world’s most prestigious universities. I’m not going to get into why that might be because frankly, as any fan of this show is aware, I’m a goddamn moron. I only mention the racism because we discuss a shameful atrocity of early Massachusetts history known as King Phillip’s War.

This war was fought by a number of tribes in Massachusetts, in an effort to oust the settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. It was led by Chief Metacom, known to the settlers as King Phillip. The crux of the war rested on England imposing sovereignty on what was already a collection of sovereign nations. While tribes fought on both sides of this conflict, the fact remains that the English took lands away from the people who lived on them because they believed they were superior to the natives because… white folks, am I right?

This is not a history lesson. This is not a social commentary. I’m not trying to come off as woke here. What I am trying to say, is that the racism didn’t end, it just changed its manifestation. There is a belief that part of the Bridgewater Triangle rests on an “Indian Burial Ground”. This trope is seen in a lot of scary stories. We might think it’s harmless but when you think about it, it’s pretty fucked up. Why are Native American burial grounds such a target for weird happenings? I know that other stories use settlements built on cemeteries as the explanation for supposed hauntings but how many times have you heard the term “Indian Burial Ground”? It just seems shitty to me. It’s not bad enough that the indigenous tribes of America were resettled, oppressed, and/or nearly wiped out, now their sacred lands are basically a punchline when shit goes sideways. “My pipes froze and my microwave caught fire, I swear this house is built on an indian burial ground”. Fuck that.

I’m not trying to shame anyone but after talking through this episode, it made me realize just how casually we use terms that are rooted in racism, intentional or not. I don’t know how we fix it. Change takes a lot of time but it requires some effort on our part too. I’m certainly not perfect and I don’t think anyone else is. One thing is certain though, I’m going to try and be a lot more aware of the clichés I use and I’m definitely blaming all my supernatural problems on the various curses I’ve picked up from people I’ve blocked on Twitter. I just hope “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” or I have some tweets I need to delete.

Sarge

Part one of our conversation about the weirdest place in Massachusetts

Episode 9, The Bridgewater Triangle

https://www.patreon.com/Sargethedestroyer

Welcome back to the CGS Blog. In this episode, we are discussing something near and dear to my heart, the weirdness that is Massachusetts. The Commonwealth has a checkered past, you guys. You’ll be hard pressed to find a more angry group of people than anyone who lives in this rocky, miserable hellscape with recently good sports teams. Unfortunately, being thoroughly annoyed by everything isn’t the only quality my home state has been saddled with.

Massachusetts has a pretty nasty reputation for racism and it’s not without precedence. From the arrival of the pilgrims to the bussing crisis of the mid 70s, there’s been some really fucking shitty behavior from a state that holds some of the world’s most prestigious universities. I’m not going to get into why that might be because frankly, as any fan of this show is aware, I’m a goddamn moron. I only mention the racism because we discuss a shameful atrocity of early Massachusetts history known as King Phillip’s War.

This war was fought by a number of tribes in Massachusetts, in an effort to oust the settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. It was led by Chief Metacom, known to the settlers as King Phillip. The crux of the war rested on England imposing sovereignty on what was already a collection of sovereign nations. While tribes fought on both sides of this conflict, the fact remains that the English took lands away from the people who lived on them because they believed they were superior to the natives because… white folks, am I right?

This is not a history lesson. This is not a social commentary. I’m not trying to come off as woke here. What I am trying to say, is that the racism didn’t end, it just changed its manifestation. There is a belief that part of the Bridgewater Triangle rests on an “Indian Burial Ground”. This trope is seen in a lot of scary stories. We might think it’s harmless but when you think about it, it’s pretty fucked up. Why are Native American burial grounds such a target for weird happenings? I know that other stories use settlements built on cemeteries as the explanation for supposed hauntings but how many times have you heard the term “Indian Burial Ground”? It just seems shitty to me. It’s not bad enough that the indigenous tribes of America were resettled, oppressed, and/or nearly wiped out, now their sacred lands are basically a punchline when shit goes sideways. “My pipes froze and my microwave caught fire, I swear this house is built on an indian burial ground”. Fuck that.

I’m not trying to shame anyone but after talking through this episode, it made me realize just how casually we use terms that are rooted in racism, intentional or not. I don’t know how we fix it. Change takes a lot of time but it requires some effort on our part too. I’m certainly not perfect and I don’t think anyone else is. One thing is certain though, I’m going to try and be a lot more aware of the clichés I use and I’m definitely blaming all my supernatural problems on the various curses I’ve picked up from people I’ve blocked on Twitter. I just hope “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” or I have some tweets I need to delete.

Sarge

On this episode, we cover the strange disappearance of the Jamison Family

Episode 8, The Jamison Family

Welcome back to the CGS Blog. In this episode, we talked about the disappearance of a family of three. As a father it always bothers me a little more when we find out that children are involved. Due to substantial decomposition, no one knows what happens to the family and for once I’m kind of relieved. I think, in a case like this, it’s easier not to know what happened in their final moments.

Disappearances always capture people’s imagination. As I’ve said before people are problem solvers. Part of that problem-solving involves our ability to see patterns. A big short-circuit in our brains is that sometimes, we see patterns where none exist. This metal tick is called pareidolia. You know when someone sees Jesus in their toast or when someone sees a president in a huge, flabby, orange disaster? You can thank your brain being a dick.

While pareidolia is most often associated with visual patterns our brains convert into faces, this can also lead to people creating patterns in other situations. For instance, Alex “Screaming Shirtless Ape” Jones could very easily be described as someone who exhibits signs of extreme pareidolia. He receives stimulus, like learning about fluoride in our water and assumes it’s turning frogs gay. While that’s not a typical response for normal human adults, it’s not without the realm of possibility that some people might make some leaps. I could use this as a segway to jump into the many conspiracies about this story but I’d rather take a different angle. Buckle up, I’m going out on a limb.

Pareidolia is not an uncommon trait for certain mental illnesses. The most well-known portrayal of this is the movie, A Beautiful Mind. In it, Russel Crowe portrays a brilliant man suffering from severe schizophrenia. His illness causes him to see codes in the newspaper and cumulates with him inventing a massive conspiracy. It’s not just schizophrenia that claims signs of pareidolia. Drugs have been known to induce psychosis. Bobby Jamison was rumored to be involved in the meth trade which was booming in the part of Oklahoma that they lived in. Witnesses described him as “emaciated” before the family disappeared. Furthermore, Bobby had once asked his pastor if there were special bullets he could use to kill ghosts. Those aren’t the words of a healthy, rational mind. Finally, inside their abandoned truck was $32,000 in cash. Unless they were working on the dark web, drug dealing is a cash business. I am making some big leaps here and I know I sound crazy but no more crazy than ghost bullets.

So what’s the point? The point is, pareidolia is something we deal with all the time. Look at the clouds and you might see a kitten riding a pony or you might see an elaborate gas powered sex toy depending on what kind of life you lead. In other cases, some people might look at the clouds and see the End Of Days. It’s a scary thought that some people suffer that way. I can only imagine the fear. So maybe the next time you see Jesus in your toast, be grateful he’s not telling you to mail your toe nails to Jodie Foster.

Sarge

On this episode, we cover the strange disappearance of the Jamison Family

Episode 8, The Jamison Family

Welcome back to the CGS Blog. In this episode, we talked about the disappearance of a family of three. As a father it always bothers me a little more when we find out that children are involved. Due to substantial decomposition, no one knows what happens to the family and for once I’m kind of relieved. I think, in a case like this, it’s easier not to know what happened in their final moments.

Disappearances always capture people’s imagination. As I’ve said before people are problem solvers. Part of that problem-solving involves our ability to see patterns. A big short-circuit in our brains is that sometimes, we see patterns where none exist. This metal tick is called pareidolia. You know when someone sees Jesus in their toast or when someone sees a president in a huge, flabby, orange disaster? You can thank your brain being a dick.

While pareidolia is most often associated with visual patterns our brains convert into faces, this can also lead to people creating patterns in other situations. For instance, Alex “Screaming Shirtless Ape” Jones could very easily be described as someone who exhibits signs of extreme pareidolia. He receives stimulus, like learning about fluoride in our water and assumes it’s turning frogs gay. While that’s not a typical response for normal human adults, it’s not without the realm of possibility that some people might make some leaps. I could use this as a segway to jump into the many conspiracies about this story but I’d rather take a different angle. Buckle up, I’m going out on a limb.

Pareidolia is not an uncommon trait for certain mental illnesses. The most well-known portrayal of this is the movie, A Beautiful Mind. In it, Russel Crowe portrays a brilliant man suffering from severe schizophrenia. His illness causes him to see codes in the newspaper and cumulates with him inventing a massive conspiracy. It’s not just schizophrenia that claims signs of pareidolia. Drugs have been known to induce psychosis. Bobby Jamison was rumored to be involved in the meth trade which was booming in the part of Oklahoma that they lived in. Witnesses described him as “emaciated” before the family disappeared. Furthermore, Bobby had once asked his pastor if there were special bullets he could use to kill ghosts. Those aren’t the words of a healthy, rational mind. Finally, inside their abandoned truck was $32,000 in cash. Unless they were working on the dark web, drug dealing is a cash business. I am making some big leaps here and I know I sound crazy but no more crazy than ghost bullets.

So what’s the point? The point is, pareidolia is something we deal with all the time. Look at the clouds and you might see a kitten riding a pony or you might see an elaborate gas powered sex toy depending on what kind of life you lead. In other cases, some people might look at the clouds and see the End Of Days. It’s a scary thought that some people suffer that way. I can only imagine the fear. So maybe the next time you see Jesus in your toast, be grateful he’s not telling you to mail your toe nails to Jodie Foster.

Sarge

Episode 7, Meat Showers

Welcome back to the CGS Blog. Last episode was heavy. We covered the horrors of the unknown and how it can lead to wild speculation. We talked about silent struggles and the darkest side of mental illness. This episode couldn’t be more different and yet it still maintains some elements of fear and the unknown.

In the book of Exodus in the bible, there were 10 plagues. One of those plagues was a rain of blood. Another was frogs. This episodes covers both those things but don’t panic because neither one was particularly as serious as God’s lobbying firm dropping all manner of nightmares on an ancient people. Instead, we talk about the occurrences of strange rains around the world and what might have caused them. (Spoiler alert: WATER SPOUTS!)

What struck me as so fascinating about this phenomenon, is that we are such an advanced society. We have answers for everything. A man made object is currently 4 billion miles from Earth as we speak, beaming back images of an icy bowling pin spinning in the vacuum of space. We can watch and track the progress of major storm systems. I can pick up a wireless block of plastic and glass and talk people thousands of miles away in an instant. Still, nature finds a way to confound us. We may know that a storm is coming but we can never be 100% sure that a shower of African frogs won’t accompany it.

Strange rains are just a part of this story. The larger theme here, is that there will always be the unknown. We can try to explain our surroundings but sometimes, we just have to expect that some things are unknowable and that makes life infinitely more exciting. The only thing I would suggest is to buy a really sturdy umbrella. Happy New Year and enjoy the show.

Sarge

Episode 7, Meat Showers

Welcome back to the CGS Blog. Last episode was heavy. We covered the horrors of the unknown and how it can lead to wild speculation. We talked about silent struggles and the darkest side of mental illness. This episode couldn’t be more different and yet it still maintains some elements of fear and the unknown.

In the book of Exodus in the bible, there were 10 plagues. One of those plagues was a rain of blood. Another was frogs. This episodes covers both those things but don’t panic because neither one was particularly as serious as God’s lobbying firm dropping all manner of nightmares on an ancient people. Instead, we talk about the occurrences of strange rains around the world and what might have caused them. (Spoiler alert: WATER SPOUTS!)

What struck me as so fascinating about this phenomenon, is that we are such an advanced society. We have answers for everything. A man made object is currently 4 billion miles from Earth as we speak, beaming back images of an icy bowling pin spinning in the vacuum of space. We can watch and track the progress of major storm systems. I can pick up a wireless block of plastic and glass and talk people thousands of miles away in an instant. Still, nature finds a way to confound us. We may know that a storm is coming but we can never be 100% sure that a shower of African frogs won’t accompany it.

Strange rains are just a part of this story. The larger theme here, is that there will always be the unknown. We can try to explain our surroundings but sometimes, we just have to expect that some things are unknowable and that makes life infinitely more exciting. The only thing I would suggest is to buy a really sturdy umbrella. Happy New Year and enjoy the show.

Sarge

This is our stand-alone episode exploring the mysterious death of Canadian student, Elisa Lam

Welcome back to the CGS Blog. This episode was a brutal one. Elisa’s death is the epitome of a mystery. A young woman seen on tape behaving erratically is later found deceased and completely nude in a relatively isolated water tower. Almost as disturbing as her death, is what little we know about the days and weeks leading up to her demise. One major detail about Elisa that is known, is that she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and depression. This is something that affected me the most as I learned about her case. This is also what inspired this blog.

Mental illness is a major problem in the United States. Access to mental health treatment is often not considered much of a priority. People who seek treatment face being stigmatized. As a veteran diagnosed with PTSD, I can say without question, that I have faced that stigmatization first hand but I have also lost too many friends to the darkness of PTSD to keep silent.

There’s no secret that mental illness diagnoses are seemingly more common than even 20 years ago. There are some who would chalk this rise up to a “weak character” of the people who are diagnosed. There’s this school of thought that says, “they’re not unwell, they just need to get over it”. Others will suggest that therapists are quick to diagnose an illness to line the pockets of the pharmaceutical industry often referred to as “big pharma”. Still more react to people who are open about their struggles with a sort of silent discomfort, worried that this person is somehow unpredictable and possibly dangerous.

In my lifetime, a number of prominent figures have come out publicly with their mental health struggles. Most recently, Pete Davidson of Saturday Night Live has very publicly struggled with Borderline Personality Disorder. Just days ago, Pete posted a message on Instagram that alarmed people because he hit an overwhelming moment of darkness. I recognized it immediately because I’ve been there. I don’t know Pete but I do know that many others don’t know him either. In spite of this, a mob of strangers had been encouraging him to kill himself. This is shamefully disgusting and sadly indicative of the ignorance and stigmatization people face when they are open about their struggles.

Human beings are remarkably resilient. We can overcome so many of the challenges we face in amazing ways. However, when people are hurt and do not treat it, our bodies can only recover so much on their own. This is probably why, when someone has a fever, we tell them to take care of themselves. It doesn’t matter what you believe is causing the illness. They could have the flu, an upper respiratory infection, or something far more serious but we always say, “take care of yourself”. What is it about mental illness that doesn’t inspire the same response? Who cares if you think the person is being overly sensitive or in the depths of a very real struggle? Everyone should feel encouraged to take care of themselves. Cold or plague, bad-day or severe depression, the sentiment should be the same.

Thank you for reading this and no matter your struggles, please take care of yourself.

Sarge

This is our stand-alone episode exploring the mysterious death of Canadian student, Elisa Lam

Welcome back to the CGS Blog. This episode was a brutal one. Elisa’s death is the epitome of a mystery. A young woman seen on tape behaving erratically is later found deceased and completely nude in a relatively isolated water tower. Almost as disturbing as her death, is what little we know about the days and weeks leading up to her demise. One major detail about Elisa that is known, is that she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and depression. This is something that affected me the most as I learned about her case. This is also what inspired this blog.

Mental illness is a major problem in the United States. Access to mental health treatment is often not considered much of a priority. People who seek treatment face being stigmatized. As a veteran diagnosed with PTSD, I can say without question, that I have faced that stigmatization first hand but I have also lost too many friends to the darkness of PTSD to keep silent.

There’s no secret that mental illness diagnoses are seemingly more common than even 20 years ago. There are some who would chalk this rise up to a “weak character” of the people who are diagnosed. There’s this school of thought that says, “they’re not unwell, they just need to get over it”. Others will suggest that therapists are quick to diagnose an illness to line the pockets of the pharmaceutical industry often referred to as “big pharma”. Still more react to people who are open about their struggles with a sort of silent discomfort, worried that this person is somehow unpredictable and possibly dangerous.

In my lifetime, a number of prominent figures have come out publicly with their mental health struggles. Most recently, Pete Davidson of Saturday Night Live has very publicly struggled with Borderline Personality Disorder. Just days ago, Pete posted a message on Instagram that alarmed people because he hit an overwhelming moment of darkness. I recognized it immediately because I’ve been there. I don’t know Pete but I do know that many others don’t know him either. In spite of this, a mob of strangers had been encouraging him to kill himself. This is shamefully disgusting and sadly indicative of the ignorance and stigmatization people face when they are open about their struggles.

Human beings are remarkably resilient. We can overcome so many of the challenges we face in amazing ways. However, when people are hurt and do not treat it, our bodies can only recover so much on their own. This is probably why, when someone has a fever, we tell them to take care of themselves. It doesn’t matter what you believe is causing the illness. They could have the flu, an upper respiratory infection, or something far more serious but we always say, “take care of yourself”. What is it about mental illness that doesn’t inspire the same response? Who cares if you think the person is being overly sensitive or in the depths of a very real struggle? Everyone should feel encouraged to take care of themselves. Cold or plague, bad-day or severe depression, the sentiment should be the same.

Thank you for reading this and no matter your struggles, please take care of yourself.

Sarge