Spectral Skull Session

Mac Tonnies' book "Cryptoterrestrials: A Meditation on Indigenous Humanoids and the Aliens Among Us" makes the case that the UFO phenomenon is terrestrial in origin. Tonnies' book posits a breakaway humanoid civilization operating parallel to humanity. The cryptoterrestrials are dependent on us for genetic material, but fear us as an existential threat. They kidnap humans for the material required to replenish their gene pool, while spinning an elaborate and fantastical story of their off-world origins. According to Tonnies, cryptoterrestrials are a better explanation for UFOs and other paranormal phenomena than the more popular extraterrestrial hypothesis, because they explain the nonsensical dimensions of UFO encounters as part of the cryptoterrestrial deception program.

Dane outlines Tonnies' arguments in favor of cryptoterrestrials and critiques the idea before making the case that the cryptoterrestrial theory advances UFOlogy by reintroducing the potential role of systematic deception in understanding UFOs and paranormal phenomena.

Nikolai Federov believed that it is humanity's duty to colonize outer space, put an end to death, and resurrect the dead. He spawned a movement that inspired the Soviet space program, the musical instrument known as the theremin, and a range of occult, scientific, and pseudo-scientific research programs. Although Cosmism was eventually banned by the Soviet authorities, its influence changed the music and film of the twentieth-century USA. Today cosmism is enjoying a revival in modern Russia and is now virtually the state religion of a little-known north Caucus republic called Kalmykia. In 1997 the President of Kalmykia shocked Russia's leadership when he confided to Boris Yeltsin that he had had a close encounter with E.Ts. Since then the popularity of cosmist ideas in Kalmykia and the Eurasian world has only grown.

This is a five-minute announcement regarding the upcoming transhumanism session arc. Transhumanism is the idea that mankind should, or will, transcend the limitations of our mortality and finitude through the use of science and technology. The Spectral Skull Session is doing a series of sessions touring transhumanism, the impact and influence of transhumanist ideas, and making the case for transhumanism as an emerging form of religiosity rarely recognized as such. This piece also includes some corrections to earlier episodes.

Dane discusses mysterious stories from the war in Ukraine. First, a UFO blasts Russian troops in response to the prayers of a Ukranian church. Second, the Kremlin's Duma complains of Ukrainian biomutants. Third, Dane provides some real backstory to help make sense of the ongoing Russian allegations of secret U.S. biolabs inside Ukraine. Finally, is the United States transforming into the next Soviet Union?

**Note: This episode was edited on 7/30 after publication. Two minutes of discussion of the 7/29 Olevinka explosion that killed 53 Ukranian POWs was removed. The reason for this redaction is that the discussion was supposed to illustrate Dane's point that the western press often fails to investigate mysterious events related to the war in Ukraine. On the contrary, by the morning of 7/30, CNN and other western news services have significant stories about the explosion and the U.N. has offered to investigate. We're happy to see the western media doing their job and hope this bodes for expanded and higher-quality coverage of the many mysteries of the war in Ukraine in the days to come.

A review of mysteries of the Ukraine war. First, a story about a UFO that blasted Russian invaders in response to the prayers of a local Ukrainian Church. Second, the Russian Duma complains about Ukranian biomutants. Next, some real backstory behind allegations that the U.S is running secret bioweapons labs inside Ukraine. Finally, is the U.S. transforming into the next Soviet Union? And what is wrong with the American media?

HP Lovecraft has been declared the 20th century’s greatest horror writer by Stephen King, and influenced countless movies and video games. This episode explores Lovecraft’s influence with a focus on groups of people who regard him as a source of positive insight into the occult and esoteric. Dane reviews the themes of Lovecraft’s fiction, including the dangerous nature of knowledge, the subjectivity of knowledge, dysgenic horror, scientific occultism, and the Lovecraft mythos. British warlock, Aleister Crowley, seems to have borrowed from Lovecraft as evidenced by their use of similar terminology. The Crowley acolyte, Kenneth Grant, maintained that Lovecraft’s fictional Necronomicon is a real book that can be accessed through dreams. Dane argues against this on the grounds that Lovecraft wrote letters in which he insisted the Necronomicon was fiction. Even if the Necronomicon were real, Dane questions why anyone would want to communicate with Lovecraftian entities since those who do so in Lovecraft’s works tend to meet abysmal fates. Next, Dane discusses Jason Covalito’s book "The Cult of Alien Gods" which argues that the entire Ancient Aliens movement can be traced back to the French counter-culture of the 1960s through the editors at the Planete magazine and their book "Morning of the Magicians." Lastly, Dane discusses the Church of Satan whose own interest in Lovecraft is mitigated by their disbelief in supernatural entities. With all these different groups of people taking Lovecraft seriously, Dane sets out to explain why Lovecraft has such an effect on people. He posits that Lovecraft mastered the art of realism and cites scholar S.T. Joshi’s view that Lovecraft’s stories can be seen as incantations. Dane maintains that Lovecraft may be seen as unusually skilled at the art of making fiction seem real, a magical, if not necessarily supernatural skill. The episode ends with Dane refuting the objection that we ought not read Lovecraft because of his racism. Dane argues that Lovecraft grew out of his racism through real-life experiences and relationships, demonstrating the redemptive virtue of openness to experience. Shunning Lovecraft for being problematic would undermine our own open-mindedness. The listener is encouraged to find out for themselves if they enjoy Lovecraft, but to take care because this man’s writings have an established track record of making some people loosen their grip on reality.

Dane reviews British warlock and Thelemite magus, Aleister Crowley's best known works: The Book of Lies and The Book of The Law. Dane offers a unique interpretation that unifies both texts and helps explain Crowley's influence on the American counter-culture of the 60's and 70's. Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole of The Law!

Enoch. A mysterious biblical figure is described as ascending bodily into heaven in Genesis. He is alleged to have written a book of his travels through the cosmos and encounters with fallen angels; the eponymous “Book of Enoch.” This enigmatic text was revered by ancient Jews and Christians. Today, it is rejected by most established religions, but popular with counter-cultural spirituality and paranormal researchers.

Dane argues that the Book of Enoch is a cultural touchstone that brings together Christian, Jewish and Greek mythology. More than that, the text provides a unified account of the origins of evil including the origins of such 'creepy evil' as giants, sirens, evil spirits and fallen angels. Furthermore, the forces of darkness are located in diverse liminal spaces around the cosmos - from hollowed-out mountains to chaotic zones in outer space. This suggests the book is attempting to explain why we encounter paranormal phenomena in fringe and borderland locales. Taken together, all the unusual features of this book suggest we can best see it as a "cryptidnomicon" - a unified account of weird and disturbing fringe phenomena. The episode ends with Dane reviewing the impact the Book of Enoch has had on modern magicians, bigfoot research and UFOlogy.

The American rocket pioneer, Jack Parsons, co-founded the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasedena while running a cult with his wife's younger sister. His bizzare life has been turned into the show "Strange Angel" on CBS+. Dane reviews the literature on Parsons, exploring the man's deeply personal life and the explosive impact Parsons has had on the American UFO mythos.

Congress attempted to bring the Department of Defense's new Airborne Object Identification Management and Synchronization Group (AIMSOG) to account Tuesday with an open hearing on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena. Although many left the briefing disappointed, a tense exchange over a mysterious memo raises new questions about what might be going on behind the scenes when it comes to Congress, the Department of Defense, and the search for the truth about UAPs.