MonsterTalk

We were delighted to finally meet up with Dr. Kiki - aka Dr. Kirsten Sanford - a science communicator who makes amazing science outreach shows such as This Week in Science and Dr. Kiki's Science Hour.  Find all her stuff here.

Karen has known her for a while, but I've somehow evaded actually getting to talk to her until this episode. (Recorded May 24, 2020.). You can watch this interview on video on YouTube on our MonsterTalk stream. We'd love it if you'd subscribe to us there. Karen and her husband Mathew are adding content all the time.

Ashley Landrum joins us to discuss Conspiracy Theories and why people believe them. Her work has been discussed in The Guardian and The BBC. Karen and I got to meet Ashley last year at Texas Tech, thanks to the generous support of their College of Media and Communication. That's not an advert - but we did have an amazing time there and I got to eat some amazing Mexican food and had the rare opportunity to hang out with Karen and her husband Matt (and their son).

You can watch this discussion on YouTube.

1-29-2021 - Remastered Audio

We got to sit down and talk with the mentalist, magician and skeptic Banachek. You may know him as the creator of Penn & Teller's famous "bullet catch" or as the expert behind the JREF's Million Dollar Challenge testing or from his amazing performances or even from his podcast (Banachek's Brain).

(You can watch this video interview on YouTube)

Note: 01-29-2020 - remastered audio to normalize and level episode.

Speak of the Devil! No, really!  Our May 3, 2020 interview with Joe Laycock and his spouse and co-conspirator Natasha Mikles is here for you. Talking about his book, Speak of the Devil.

Speak of the Devil is the first book-length study of The Satanic Temple. Joseph Laycock, a scholar of new religious movements, contends that the emergence of "political Satanism" marks a significant moment in American religious history that will have a lasting impact on how Americans frame debates about religious freedom. Though the group gained attention for its strategic deployment of outrage, it claims to have developed beyond politics into a genuine religious movement. Equal parts history and ethnography, Speak of the Devil is Laycock's attempt to take seriously The Satanic Temple's work to redefine religion, the nature of pluralism and religious tolerance, and what "religious freedom" means in America.

You can snag it here: https://amzn.to/3er9nTx 

 

You can watch the video of this interview here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-M4FHE5klQ

Note: 01-29-2020 - remastered audio to normalize and level episode. Once again we welcome Sara Head from ArchyFantasies on to talk about the strange television show The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch. Is it good? (Spoilers - not if you want anything to happen in your TV shows.) But it was fun to sit down with Sara and talk again.

Archaeological Fantasies Podcast (podcast link) The Archy Fantasies Blog (blog link) If you want to watch this episode on video - you can! (youtube link).  Be sure to Like and Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!

Note: 01-29-2020 - remastered audio to normalize and level episode. We're joined by Jerry Drake to discuss "Black Eyed Kids" and some interesting timing that suggests a possible origin for the legends.

Archived post from Bethel - July 30, 1997 - discussing Chaos Magick and Bloody Mary.

Reposting of Bethel's original BEK post - but not the original post. His original posting was dated August 28, 1997.

Jerry points out that at this time The X-Files was in its 4th season. A recurring image/concept in that show as "the black oil" virus, an alien mind-control entity that's most visible symptom is that it turns the eyes of the infected...black. 

In appearance, it is pretty much identical to the eyes in the kids described in Bethel's story.  Multiple episodes with this effect had aired since its first appearance in the episode Piper Maru back in 1996.   Further development of the concept (and more visuals) were in the episode Terma which aired quite close to the time of the original telling. Listen to the episode for more details.

 

We interview Dr. David Aveline about his new project studying people who see or experience ghosts.  He's just getting started, but it's a really interesting conversation about how one puts together research into such a strange and complicated topic.

Notes: An article about Dr. Aveline's research 

 The Thomas Theorem (1928) by William Isaac Thomas and Dorothy Swaine Thomas “If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences.”

The Banff Springs Hotel - allegedly haunted hotel discussed in the episode

The Stanley Hotel - Colorado hotel, inspiration for The Overlook in The Shining

(Remastered audio - normalized, leveled)

In the March 29th episode, Karen and Blake hang out and take listener questions.

This discussion on YouTube.

1-28-2021: Updated audio file with normalized/leveled version to reduce distortion.

 

Actor Douglas Tait joins us to talk about playing monsters in film.  Douglas has played Bigfoot more than any other actor. (YouTube of this interview)

 

(IMDB) Douglas Tait was born on December 17, 1978 in Tarzana, California. He is known for his work on Annabelle Comes Home (2019), Hellboy (2019) and Legacies (2018).

[Remastered audio to reduce distortion - but not perfect.] [EXPLICIT] Audio (podcast) feed from our MonsterTalk Live - this one with Dr. Brian Sharpless discussing the weird (real life) conditions behind lots of movies and myths.

Brian previously joined us for one of my favorite interviews to discuss Sleep Paralysis.

Find Brian's books and info here: http://briansharpless.com/index.html

Video of this Interview:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvlN8c-CcZo&t=131s