Jeb and Blake examine the idea that the builders of Cahokia's "Woodhenge" might have had links with the Maya.  

Some things we discuss in this episode:

Cahokia 

Mound 72 

Recent paper on the Mounds of Cahokia

Dr. Warren Wittry 

Dr. Wittry discovered the woodhenge that is a large part of the focus of this episode.

The active dig shown in the episode:

Nimoy Fashion Alert:

Hovenweep National Monument 

Dr. Ray Williamson 

More on Ray 

And a BOOK he wrote

Casa Grande 

 Robert Hicks of University of Arizona

Hicks work with Mutter.  

Casa Rinconada 

 Dr. Jonathan Reyman of Illinois State University:

Dr. Garman Harbottle 

Jeb and Blake continue their look at the 1984 film Ghostbusters.  The full version of this has an additional 90 mins of coverage and is available at our Patreon page for as little as $2/month.

Just in time for H̶a̶l̶l̶o̶w̶e̶e̶n̶ Thanksgiving, we bring you the first part of our 2-part coverage of the classic 1984 film Ghostbusters.  This is one of our favorite movies and we wanted to get this special out to you before Halloween but life conspired against us meeting that deadline.  But with the new sequel dropping in just about a week, we figure the movie still has some relevance. ;)   We'll be back with Indian Astronomers very soon.  In the meantime, grab your Proton Packs and PKE Meters and head for the fire pole!

Discussed in Part 1: 

On the current version of the Columbia Pictures Logo 

The Stanford Prison Experiment 

Lovecraft and the Pineal Gland 

The very awful Theosophist Charles Webster Leadbeater 

The Bat-O-Matic with Dan Aykroyd

Casper vs Ghostbusters 

The Ghostbusters Song 

Zener Cards 

J. B. Rhine 

PKE Valances 

The Crookes Tube 

Trepanation 

The Etheric Plane 

The Cathedral of Learning vs The Continental Life building 

eb and Blake hoist the Jolly Roger and set sail to the Caribbean to look for unsuspecting rich tourists in fancy 1970s yachts.  

A lot of this episode is based on the writing of Carl Hiaasen - his newspaper work, not his many successful novels. 

We see Carl here (RIGHT) with beer-drinking FLORIDA MAN (LEFT).

This episode deals, primarily, with a few key missing boat cases:

The Saba Bank  (also, see the attached PDFs for contemporary coverage of missing ships in this episode)

The Pirate Lady (found in 1990s)  - this was being searched for by the colorful owner Charlie Slater. 

The Como No 

Fiction/Pop-Culture Mentioned:

The Island

Licence to Kill

The Deep

Hitchhiking as Moral Panic

Some more images from the episode:

Remember folks, when doing a reenactment NEVER GO FULL GILLIGAN! 

Our reenactment Villain for this episode takes the "Pirate" thing pretty seriously. You can tell from his shirt.

His cartoonish villainy reminds me of the "Red Ryder" home-defense sequence from A Christmas Story. 

The "Map Scrolling" equipment the Coast Guard was using as an animated GIF:

And finally... our Nimoy Fashion Alert!

I'm on a boat!

(See this NSFW boat documentary)

I recently appeared on a podcast called The Plastic Plesiosaur Podcast.  They asked me for a copy of the theme to this show and I realized I never made that available?  So... here it is! The music is by Greig Johnson and the singing is by Rachel Lackey.

The lyrics are by me, Blake Smith.  And in case you have trouble following them for your sing-alongs, here they are:

"In Research of" We talk and have some fun They shared ideas But not the only ones

We share the facts That the show sometimes lacked "I-R-O" "In Research of!"

Jeb and Blake continue their coverage of the influential film Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Part two of this session is exclusive to our wonderful Patrons.  

Full show notes includes additional images and material with background on the science and nonsense behind this movie.

Quftis: "men from the Upper Egyptian town of Qift who were trained and became skilled excavators and foremen who went on to work for other foreign missions in Egypt, as well as in Palestine"

From OxfordHandbook article on Egyptian Archaeology and the Museum.

Building the Ark today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGcdE5RllG0+

https://youtu.be/enbdsdKfhFo?t=2611 - featuring "scientist" John Hutchison of Canada. (Creator of "The Hutchison Effect" fiasco…)

Archaeoastronomy - how the sky is tied to ancient sites (Map Room)

The art of the Ark:

https://www.thepropgallery.com/raiders-of-the-lost-ark-ralph-mcquarrie-the-power-of-god

Jacques James Tissot's ark of the covenant

Errors Removed in Digital Versions? According to this site the Cobra reflection was removed - which matches Jeb's recollection.  But after famously negative responses to guns being replaced with mobile phones in digital releases of E.T., Spielberg claimed he wasn't going to be tinkering with his films.  Well… people certainly change their minds.

Movies knocked off from Raiders: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-indy-ripoffs-2008-pg-photogallery.html

Video Games based on Indy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93ojbvhbqOI

The idea that the Templars worshipped the mummified head of Jesus?  Source: The Head of Godby Keith Laidler.

The Dorade Box (Indy's hiding locale on freighter)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorade_box

Kiss Me Deadly (McGuffin style copied in Pulp Fiction)

Jeb and Blake tackle the Ooky world of Monster Hunters.  

Nimoy in the forest shadows...

Peter Byrne and Tim Dinsdale - two legendary monster hunters meet.

Monsters in the intro to this episode are from the TV film Manbeast! Myth or Monster

For reasons I can't explain, some of the images in this episode reminded me of 1970s album covers...

Arch Buckley 2007 Obituary 

Warren Thompson 2013 Obituary 

Al Berry 2013 Reminiscence  

Ron Moorhead (Sierra Sounds) 

 We have more material on Doc Shiels but that will be a different post for Patrons. 

Scientific American discussion on Bigfoot Language (by MonsterTalk co-host Dr. Karen Stollznow)

Some supportive analysis of the Sierra Sounds recordings that we discuss in the episode.  

Another paper from Dr. Kirlin 

Ook Ook in Sierra Sound paper 

Jeb and Blake discovered that S03E08 - The Great Lakes Triangle - has disappeared into a temporal anomaly. But we dare not leave you adrift in Lake Eerie, so instead we usher you through a mysterious temple to a VHS tape on a stone pedestal... as we go in research of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK.

Discussed in this episode:

The story conception tapes of Raiders (Lucas, Spielberg, Kasden) 

Same thing, but performed by actors 

• Secret of the Incas (Affiliate Link)
  • Whole film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K02U0CVoutE
  • Map Room https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZJaIc1SDbQ
  • The big scene https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzl4_ytmxDs

The real Aztec Sun Stone 

The "protection of antiquities" act wasn't real yet when the film is set.

The Nazis and the occult stuff alluded to the Ahnenerbe.  Discussed on MonsterTalk before. 

Turkdean Barrows mentioned in the film were not a real place but during and after the filming, two barrows in similar area were excavated. Retcon doesn't work in real life guys.

The Pan American sea plane 

LucasFilm & Trademarking the word "Nazi."

Also mentioned: OG style gaming in the Raiders mileu: Raiders of the Lost ArtifactOG style D&D game

Jeb and Blake consider the possibility that the Tunguska Event was caused by an extraterrestrial  atomic craft.  An old friend returns. A SciFi icon cameos. Atoms are split. 

Mr. Leonard Nimoy!

Charles Cole

Ronald Oriti

And Dr. Isaac Asimov

News about Golden Globes scandals

Asteroid Monitoring (NASA)

Tunguska in Pop Culture (Wiki)

Basic coverage of Tunguska and theories (Wiki)

Leonid Kulik 

Thomas R. Atkins (A Fire Came By) Amz Author's Page (Affiliate Link)

The Jomon Period (Japan) and some amazing Jomon Masks (3D Print)

Henry Gris ("Psychic" author and early member of Hollywood Foreign Press Association)

Alexey Zolotov

Permafrost Links:

• https://spookygeology.com/the-hellmouth-batagaika-crater/
• https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/07/siberia-s-gateway-underworld-grows-record-heat-wave-thaws-permafrost
• https://www.thearcticinstitute.org/blessing-curse-melting-permafrost-russian-arctic/

Finally - and I'm definitely not recommending this video to you - but am sharing it because it might be the disturbing thing you're looking for. Rabies in a Human Patient (1960) - Warning, Disturbing Imagery

AIPT Comics - is putting on a free online convention Sunday July 18th. 

The online convention starts at 10 am and I'll be participating in a couple of ways if you're interested. At noon, I've got a special interview with Stephen R. Bissette.  You might know him as a key artist on Alan Moore's run of Swamp Thing in the 80s - but if you've been subscribing to BIG FOOTAGE the Patreon bonus cast, you'll know him as the author of CRYPTID CINEMA.

I'll also be on at 3:30 pm with Jeb Card to discuss conspiracies and comics.

Other guests include paleontologist Jim Lehane, psychologist Craig Foster, paranormal investigator Kenny Biddle, artist Celestia World, archaeologist David Anderson, and Matt Brady. author of THE SCIENCE OF RICK AND MORTY.

A link to Cryptid Cinemais here:  http://bit.ly/CryptidCinema

The convention details are here: 

https://aiptcomics.com/2021/06/28/aipt-sciphi-fest-science-skepticism/

The direct ZOOM link is here:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86109451697

I hope you can catch the show tomorrow but if you can't, I know that many of the interviews will end up on YouTube and I'm happy to report that Steve Bissette and I talked quite a while longer and the full version of that discussion will be up on YouTube *AND* will drop as a regular episode because it's all right up your alley, dear audience.  Fun and informative stuff indeed - and chock full of monsters.

Also chock full of monsters is also my favorite imaginary coffee.