The Micah Hanks Program

In 1958, a series of large, human-like footprints were discovered by employees at a California logging site. A casting of one of the prints was made by the man who discovered them, Jerry Crew, who took his unusual find to a local newspaper... and an American legend was born.

However, decades later it was revealed that one of the men overseeing the logging operation, Ray Wallace, had been involved in a hoax using large wooden carvings to create the huge footprints. Many skeptics argue, on account of this, that the origins of what came to be known as "Bigfoot" can be traced back to the 1950s, but is this entirely true?

This week we look at the history behind the famous Ray Wallace Bigfoot hoax of 1958, and the earlier American origins of the Sasquatch.

Chapters in This Episode

• Intro 0:00
• News 5:52
• Rocket Man 23:51
• I. Why Do People Believe in Bigfoot? 36:07
• Interlude 47:39
• II. The Case for Relict Hominoids 48:55
• III. Bigfoot Beginnings: 1958 53:39
• IV. The Hoax Unravels 1:05:25
• V. Misunderstanding Sasquatch 1:20:37
• Conclusion 1:40:05

Coronavirus Charities: If you are able, please consider supporting the following charities that are offering relief for those affected by the coronavirus pandemic:

• CDC Foundation Coronavirus Relief
• No Kid Hungry Responds to Coronavirus
• Direct Relief: Coronavirus Pandemic
• American Red Cross: Give Blood
• Doctors Without Borders: COVID 19
• Feeding America
• Meals on Wheels
• Homeless Shelter Directory

Enjoy The Micah Hanks Program? Check out Micah's other podcasts here.

Below are links to stories and other content featured in this episode:

• NEWS: CBS will celebrate 'Star Trek' Day 2020 with an epic Trek panel marathon
• Russia declassifies footage of 'Tsar Bomba' — the most powerful nuclear bomb in history
• Massive mystery holes appear in Siberian tundra and could be linked to climate change
• Mystery as "huge bang" shakes homes in Egham and Staines
• Elon Musk warns that there's a good chance the first settlers will die on Mars
• UFO Spotting Has Replaced Bird Watching as Pandemic Obsession
• ROCKET MAN: FBI investigating pilot report of 'guy in jetpack' flying 3,000 feet in air near LAX
• Jet-pack flight a mystery, as usual suspects deny culpability
• A jetpack at LAX? Maybe. Jetpacks are very real
• UPDATE: Mystery jetpack man at LAX may have been manikin on a drone
• San Antonio residents spot mysterious 'floating man' they believe was using a jet pack
• BIGFOOT: If Bigfoot Were Real
• Who Believes in Bigfoot?

BECOME AN X SUBSCRIBER AND GET EVEN MORE GREAT PODCASTS AND MONTHLY SPECIALS FROM MICAH HANKS.

Like us on Facebook

Follow @MicahHanks on Twitter

Follow Micah on Instagram

Visit Micah's Website and check out Our Podcast Page

In 1970, zoologist and popular author Ivan T. Sanderson wrote, "it may come as somewhat of a shock... to learn that, by actual count, over 50 percent of all so-called 'sightings' of UFOs have occurred over, coming from, going away over, or plunging into or coming out of water. That this fact is known to officialdom is manifest from their official publications, but they seem to have left this aquatic factor out of their statistical analyses."

This week on The Micah Hanks Program, we examine maritime incidents from over the years involving unidentified objects observed at sea, and the implications for such sightings in terms of broader studies of the UAP issue.

Chapters in This Episode

• Intro 0:00
• News 8:34
• O'Hare Incident Addendum 14:28
• Segment: A.I. and Aliens 25:22
• UFO Encounters at Sea 32:15
• Part I: History 33:41
• Part II: Wheels of Light 39:34
• Interlude 47:04
• Part III: Blue Book Reports of USOs 51:23
• Part IV: NUFORC Calls About USOs 1:05:09
• Part V: Russia's USO Files 1:20:15
• Conclusion 1:30:32

Coronavirus Charities: If you are able, please consider supporting the following charities that are offering relief for those affected by the coronavirus pandemic:

• CDC Foundation Coronavirus Relief
• No Kid Hungry Responds to Coronavirus
• Direct Relief: Coronavirus Pandemic
• American Red Cross: Give Blood
• Doctors Without Borders: COVID 19
• Feeding America
• Meals on Wheels
• Homeless Shelter Directory

Enjoy The Micah Hanks Program? Check out Micah's other podcasts here.

Below are links to stories and other content featured in this episode:

• Marijuana test for stressed-out Warsaw Zoo elephants
• Tests providing results in 20 seconds trialled at Heathrow
• Humans Take Step Closer to 'Flying Cars'
• Robot Boats Leave Autonomous Vehicles in Their Wake
• Artificial Intelligence Validates 50 Exoplanets in Kepler Data
• UNIDENTIFIED SUBMERGED OBJECTS
• April 17, 1995. Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf
• Robert Hendrickson, PhD. on Marine Light Wheels
• AUDIO: Hotline Reports National UFO Reporting Center
• Blue Book Reports by Ships at Sea: Report by A.F. Rullán
• Paul Stonehill's notes on Russian UFOs around Water

BECOME AN X SUBSCRIBER AND GET EVEN MORE GREAT PODCASTS AND MONTHLY SPECIALS FROM MICAH HANKS.

Like us on Facebook

Follow @MicahHanks on Twitter

Follow Micah on Instagram

Visit Micah's Website and check out Our Podcast Page

In November 2006, something odd appeared in the late afternoon skies above one of the world's busiest airports.

More than a decade later, no simple explanation exists for what had been observed by a crew staff at O'Hare International Airport, which was described by those who saw it as a circular or disc-shaped object hovering over Gate C17. The story has become one of the most widely-discussed and often cited cases in modern times involving a multiple-witness observation of unidentified aerial phenomena and has been cited in countless books and articles on the UFO subject. This week on The Micah Hanks Program, we reopen the case files on the Chicago O'Hare UFO Incident and look at its implications for aviation safety.

Chapters in This Episode

• Intro 0:00
• News 4:17
• Incident at O'Hare Part I: Introduction 20:57
• Part II: Hilkevitch Reports 39:30
• Second Hour 46:27
• Part III: The Witnesses 49:52
• Part iV: The Investigation 1:05
• Conclusion 1:32

Coronavirus Charities: If you are able, please consider supporting the following charities that are offering relief for those affected by the coronavirus pandemic:

• CDC Foundation Coronavirus Relief
• No Kid Hungry Responds to Coronavirus
• Direct Relief: Coronavirus Pandemic
• American Red Cross: Give Blood
• Doctors Without Borders: COVID 19
• Feeding America
• Meals on Wheels
• Homeless Shelter Directory

Enjoy The Micah Hanks Program? Check out Micah's other podcasts here.

Below are links to stories and other content featured in this episode:

• NEWS: Mystery of Interstellar Visitor 'Oumuamua Gets Trickier
• FDA Authorizes Convalescent Plasma As Emergency Treatment For COVID-19
• First ever double hurricane could hit the Gulf of Mexico
• The O'Hare UFO Incident
• PRELUDE: The Truth Is Out There: Peter Davenport takes UFO reports seriously
• ORIGINAL NUFORC REPORT: National UFO Reporting Center Entry for O'Hare Sighting
• HISTORY: Chicago O'Hare International Airport UFO sighting occurred on November 7, 2006
• Chicago Tribune: In the sky! A bird? A plane? A ... UFO?
• FAA SKEPTICS: FAA skeptical of UFO report at O'Hare
• NARCAP INVESTIGATES: "Report of a UAP and its Safety Implications over Chicago O'Hare"
• WRAP: UFO Sightings Pose Danger to Aviation

BECOME AN X SUBSCRIBER AND GET EVEN MORE GREAT PODCASTS AND MONTHLY SPECIALS FROM MICAH HANKS.

Like us on Facebook

Follow @MicahHanks on Twitter

Follow Micah on Instagram

Visit Micah's Website and check out Our Podcast Page

This week on The Micah Hanks Program, after news and a segment that takes a deep look at what is currently known about the DoD's recent announcement about its UAP Task Force, we turn our attention to the efforts of the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies, an organization comprised of scientists, former military, and others from various disciplines who are working to advance efforts toward the academic study of unidentified aerospace phenomena.

Joining us to discuss the SCU is board member Rich Hoffman, who holds a BA in Organizational Communications from Wright State University. He is an Information Technology consultant and strategist. He has been a defense contractor for over 20 years working primarily for the Army Materiel Command HQ with a variety of companies. Rich has over 54 years of experience in Investigations and research into the UFO subject and has served as Director of Investigations, Star Team Manager, and Director of Strategic Projects as well as State Director in MUFON and other organizations. In our discussion, we explore the SCU's analysis of the Navy's UAP videos, as well as other prior existing videos of purported UAP.

Coronavirus Charities: If you are able, please consider supporting the following charities that are offering relief for those affected by the coronavirus pandemic:

• CDC Foundation Coronavirus Relief
• No Kid Hungry Responds to Coronavirus
• Direct Relief: Coronavirus Pandemic
• American Red Cross: Give Blood
• Doctors Without Borders: COVID 19
• Feeding America
• Meals on Wheels
• Homeless Shelter Directory

Enjoy The Micah Hanks Program? Check out Micah's other podcasts here.

Below are links to stories and other content featured in this episode:

• California Sees Record Heat, Rolling Blackouts and a 'Firenado'
• 'Cyborg' technology could enable new diagnostics, merger of humans and AI
• The CIA Built a Nuclear Bird Drone to Spy on Communists. Now It's Declassified.
• Famous alien-hunting telescope slashed to pieces in mysterious midnight accident
• Pentagon launches task force to investigate UFO sightings
• Establishment of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force
• Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021
• The Homepage of the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies
• Rich Hoffman at the SCU Website

BECOME AN X SUBSCRIBER AND GET EVEN MORE GREAT PODCASTS AND MONTHLY SPECIALS FROM MICAH HANKS.

Like us on Facebook

Follow @MicahHanks on Twitter

Follow Micah on Instagram

Visit Micah's Website and check out Our Podcast Page

It was the summer of 1967, and Jacques Vallee was feeling troubled. A young French computer scientist living in America, Vallee had been tasked with one of the most unusual jobs anyone could imagine: assisting astronomer J. Allen Hynek with the review of reports collected by the United States Air Force about unidentified flying objects.

It was also the summer of 1967 that Vallee first uncovered a document that both fascinated, and greatly concerned him "because of the new light it throws on the key period of the Robertson Panel and of the classic Report#14," he would later write. "It is stamped in red ink 'SECRET – Security Information.' It is dated 9 January 1953. It is signed by a man I will call Pentacle."

What this secret memorandum appeared to detail was "the fact that prior to the top-level 1953 Robertson Panel meeting somebody had not only listed but analyzed thousands of UFO cases on behalf of the United States Government." This week on The Micah Hanks Program, we look at the strange history of this elusive and concerning the document, its eventual release, and the controversy that has surrounded it in the decades since it became publicly available.

Coronavirus Charities: If you are able, please consider supporting the following charities that are offering relief for those affected by the coronavirus pandemic:

• CDC Foundation Coronavirus Relief
• No Kid Hungry Responds to Coronavirus
• Direct Relief: Coronavirus Pandemic
• American Red Cross: Give Blood
• Doctors Without Borders: COVID 19
• Feeding America
• Meals on Wheels
• Homeless Shelter Directory

Enjoy The Micah Hanks Program? Check out Micah's other podcasts here.

Below are links to stories and other content featured in this episode:

• Powerful 5.1 magnitude earthquake jolts Charlotte area, strongest in NC in 104 years
• Why are we having so many earthquakes?
• Mysterious 'fast radio burst' detected closer to Earth than ever before
• Mystery ancestor mated with ancient humans. And its 'nested' DNA was just found.
• Why Aren't More Scientists Studying Unidentified Aerial Phenomena? History Gives Us the Answer.
• The "Pentacle Memorandum", Including Text of Correspondence from Dr. Jacques Vallee
• The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects by Edward J. Ruppelt
• The Wilbert Smith Memorandum
• Bad UFOs: Jacques Vallee, J. Allen Hynek, and the "Pentacle Memorandum"

BECOME AN X SUBSCRIBER AND GET EVEN MORE GREAT PODCASTS AND MONTHLY SPECIALS FROM MICAH HANKS.

Like us on Facebook

Follow @MicahHanks on Twitter

Follow Micah on Instagram

Visit Micah's Website and check out Our Podcast Page

During the 1960s, American author and UFO researcher John Keel had a problem: it involved reports of Men in Black, the mysterious strangers in dark suits said to appear after UFO sightings and intimidate witnesses.

So who were these ominous observers of the UFO phenomenon? Could some of them have been government agents—possibly investigators with the U.S. Air Force during the years of Project Blue Book? Or are stories of "Men in Black" really just folklore that managed to build up around some of the unusual characters that ran in UFO circles throughout the 1960s? We explore these questions, along with recent news on this week's edition of The Micah Hanks Program.

Coronavirus Charities: If you are able, please consider supporting the following charities that are offering relief for those affected by the coronavirus pandemic:

• CDC Foundation Coronavirus Relief
• No Kid Hungry Responds to Coronavirus
• Direct Relief: Coronavirus Pandemic
• American Red Cross: Give Blood
• Doctors Without Borders: COVID 19
• Feeding America
• Meals on Wheels
• Homeless Shelter Directory

Enjoy The Micah Hanks Program? Check out Micah's other podcasts here.

Below are links to stories and other content featured in this episode:

• SpaceX Crew Dragon makes historic 1st splashdown to return NASA astronauts home
• Egypt tells Musk pyramids were not built by aliens
• Egyptian Public Figures React to Elon Musk's Comment on Pyramids Built by Aliens
• Pentagon's secret, defunct UFO-hunting program may still exist
• Why Aren't More Scientists Studying Unidentified Aerial Phenomena? History Gives Us the Answer.

BECOME AN X SUBSCRIBER AND GET EVEN MORE GREAT PODCASTS AND MONTHLY SPECIALS FROM MICAH HANKS.

Like us on Facebook

Follow @MicahHanks on Twitter

Follow Micah on Instagram

Visit Micah's Website and check out Our Podcast Page

"For more than a decade," reads the latest in a series of New York Times articles on UFOs that have appeared since late 2017, a shadowy Pentagon UFO program "has been conducting classified briefings for congressional committees, aerospace company executives and other government officials," according to officials and documents associated with the program.

That isn't all the recent New York Times piece reported on, however; of far greater interest had been the mention of Senate briefings related to crashes of purported "off-world vehicles not made on this Earth."

The response to the piece wasn't quite what it had been to previous New York Times articles covering UFOs over the last few years, and if anything, controversy ensued almost immediately. This week on The Micah Hanks Program, we break down the story, and observe the public reaction that resulted in so many divided opinions. Then later in the program, we are joined with additional perspectives from writer, podcaster and UFO commentator Jason McClelland of Rogue Planet, who shares his take on what went wrong, and how reporting on the UFO subject can be managed better in the future.

Coronavirus Charities: If you are able, please consider supporting the following charities that are offering relief for those affected by the coronavirus pandemic:

• CDC Foundation Coronavirus Relief
• No Kid Hungry Responds to Coronavirus
• Direct Relief: Coronavirus Pandemic
• American Red Cross: Give Blood
• Doctors Without Borders: COVID 19
• Feeding America
• Meals on Wheels
• Homeless Shelter Directory

Enjoy The Micah Hanks Program? Check out Micah's other podcasts here.

Below are links to stories and other content featured in this episode:

• Ghostly particles produced inside the sun just detected under a mountain in Italy
• Groundbreaking blood test can detect cancer years before symptoms appear
• Mystery Seeds Possibly From China Are Being Mailed to Virginia Residents
• UK and US say Russia fired a satellite weapon in space
• Investigators bewildered by death, mutilation of Oregon cow
• UFO sightings across Canada have spiked during the pandemic
• The Canadian UFO Survey
• Texas GOP Lawmaker Roasted For Saying Aliens Will Need To Find 'Salvation Through Jesus'
• 'Unidentified Aerial Phenomena,' Better Known as UFOs, Deserve Scientific Investigation
• No Longer in Shadows, Pentagon's U.F.O. Unit Will Make Some Findings Public
• Pentagon Has 'Off-World Vehicles Not Made on This Earth'
• Link to Harry Reid's Follow-Up Tweet Responding to the New York Times
• NYT retracts 'off-world vehicles' recovered bit from its UFO article
• NYT Reporters Take Aim at Internet UFO "Frenzy": Commentary from Bryce Zabel
• Jason McClelland at Rogue Planet

BECOME AN X SUBSCRIBER AND GET EVEN MORE GREAT PODCASTS AND MONTHLY SPECIALS FROM MICAH HANKS.

Like us on Facebook

Follow @MicahHanks on Twitter

Follow Micah on Instagram

Visit Micah's Website and check out Our Podcast Page

In December 1967, Maryellen Kelley felt an electric shock go through her body as she stood outside her home in Mohomet, Illinois, watching an orange UFO pass overhead. She was later stricken with a headache, and the skin on her hands, face, and legs reddened as if burned. In October 1973, trucker Eddie Webb was blinded for several days after a bright light struck him while driving along a stretch of highway in eastern Missouri late one night. In May 1967, prospector Stephan Michalak was blasted by hot air or gas as he approached a strange, landed aircraft, which suddenly shot into the sky.

In each of the UFO cases described here, witnesses claimed to have suffered strange physical effects in the aftermath of their encounters. However, there is perhaps no incident in the history of UFO research that involves physical effects suffered by witnesses more well known than the famous Cash Landrum affair, involving two Texas women who developed a number of odd symptoms following a nighttime encounter with a bright, hovering object outside of Dayton, Texas. But what to odd incidents like these help us learn about the unidentified aircraft described by such witnesses, and do they offer any clues about the technologies behind them? We explore these questions this week on The Micah Hanks Program.

Coronavirus Charities: If you are able, please consider supporting the following charities that are offering relief for those affected by the coronavirus pandemic:

• CDC Foundation Coronavirus Relief
• No Kid Hungry Responds to Coronavirus
• Direct Relief: Coronavirus Pandemic
• American Red Cross: Give Blood
• Doctors Without Borders: COVID 19
• Feeding America
• Meals on Wheels
• Homeless Shelter Directory

Enjoy The Micah Hanks Program? Check out Micah's other podcasts here.

Below are links to stories and other content featured in this episode:

• Historic Moon Landing Footage Has Been Enhanced by AI, And The Results Are Incredible
• Don't miss Comet NEOWISE in the evening sky now. It won't be back for 6,800 years
• Weird country-size 'campfires' on the sun revealed in closest-ever photos
• Scientists Discover "Vantablack" Deep-Sea Creatures
• 'National security risk': Rubio seeks declassification of UFO secrets

BECOME AN X SUBSCRIBER AND GET EVEN MORE GREAT PODCASTS AND MONTHLY SPECIALS FROM MICAH HANKS.

Like us on Facebook

Follow @MicahHanks on Twitter

Follow Micah on Instagram

Visit Micah's Website and check out Our Podcast Page

It was shortly after 6 PM on January 8, 2008, when witnesses Mike Odom, Lance Jones, and Steve Allen first noticed a series of bright, flashing lights passing through the sky. The lights appeared to be at an estimated 3500 feet, spanning a distance of close to half a mile across the portion of the sky they covered.

The "ship," as the trio later referred to the spectacle, passed silently through the sky overhead, moving quickly in the direction of nearby Stephenville, Texas. At one point, the lights appeared to shift from two horizontal lines into an odd, vertical orientation. Shortly afterward, the men also saw a pair of F-16 fighter jets pursuing the object as it moved in the direction of then-president George W. Bush's texas residence. Days later, however, the U.S. Air Force would claim the unidentified lights had been their own jets conducting a routine training exercise.

However, there is compelling evidence that there might have been more going on over the town of Stephenville in January of that year. This week on The Micah Hanks Program, we go in search of answers behind this odd incident, which remains one of the strangest and most compelling UFO events of the modern era.

Coronavirus Charities: If you are able, please consider supporting the following charities that are offering relief for those affected by the coronavirus pandemic:

• CDC Foundation Coronavirus Relief
• No Kid Hungry Responds to Coronavirus
• Direct Relief: Coronavirus Pandemic
• American Red Cross: Give Blood
• Doctors Without Borders: COVID 19
• Feeding America
• Meals on Wheels
• Homeless Shelter Directory

Enjoy The Micah Hanks Program? Check out Micah's other podcasts here.

Below are links to stories and other content featured in this episode:

• Comet Streaking Past Earth, Providing Spectacular Show
• Navy Lab's Future Is At Risk, Report Warns
• The new Concorde? Supersonic 1,700mph jet unveiled
• Look out, Mars: Here we come with a fleet of spacecraft
• Ringing of the Global Atmosphere Detected by Scientists
• Mysterious Lights Keep Locals Guessing
• MUFON releases report on UFO sighting in Stephenville

BECOME AN X SUBSCRIBER AND GET EVEN MORE GREAT PODCASTS AND MONTHLY SPECIALS FROM MICAH HANKS.

Like us on Facebook

Follow @MicahHanks on Twitter

Follow Micah on Instagram

Visit Micah's Website and check out Our Podcast Page

In July 1947, something crashed on a sprawling ranch outside the town of Roswell, New Mexico. The wreckage was discovered by the property owner, Mac Brazel, who reported it to the U.S. Army Air Force: shortly thereafter, newspapers ran the sensational headline "RAAF Captures Flying Saucer on Ranch in Roswell Region." The rest, as they say, is history.

However, the real history of alleged UFO crashes, and their later recovery by the military, goes much deeper than the famous Roswell UFO Incident. This week, we look at claims that a forthcoming New York Times article will explore the idea of UFO crash/retrievals, and whether the idea is purely legendary or has some basis in fact. We then revisit famous FBI memos that discuss alleged flying saucer wreckage, and how one UFO researcher traveled the country speaking with witnesses who claimed to have firsthand knowledge of military recovery of these alleged crashes.

Coronavirus Charities: If you are able, please consider supporting the following charities that are offering relief for those affected by the coronavirus pandemic:

• CDC Foundation Coronavirus Relief
• No Kid Hungry Responds to Coronavirus
• Direct Relief: Coronavirus Pandemic
• American Red Cross: Give Blood
• Doctors Without Borders: COVID 19
• Feeding America
• Meals on Wheels
• Homeless Shelter Directory

Enjoy The Micah Hanks Program? Check out Micah's other podcasts here.

Below are links to stories and other content featured in this episode:

• Brain Eating Amoeba Infection Reported In Florida, Here Is What It Is
• World UFO Day: Official Site
• Navy videos spark renewed interest in UFOs from enthusiasts and Congress
• States with the Most UFO Sightings in 2020
• Anatomy Of A UFO Crash Retrieval Story: What's Taking The NYT So Long?
• The "Crashed Saucer Legend"

BECOME AN X SUBSCRIBER AND GET EVEN MORE GREAT PODCASTS AND MONTHLY SPECIALS FROM MICAH HANKS.

Like us on Facebook

Follow @MicahHanks on Twitter

Follow Micah on Instagram

Visit Micah's Website and check out Our Podcast Page