As promised, here's Annie Jacobsen's super-weird story about the *real* reason Area 51 was founded. It's super dumb. But fascinating. But dumb. Seriously. Real, real dumb. I don't know how she possibly believed this crap. Enjoy!

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We continue our exploration of the (actual) history of Area 51, this time emphasizing some of the truly awful, irresponsible, and dangerous stuff that went on there--not just nuclear tests, but a simulated dirty bomb explosion with radiation that should clear up in about fifty thousand years, plus an nauseating story about poisoning employees and then refusing to acknowledge said poisoning because the place where they worked doesn't even officially exist. Next time: one of the weirdest goddamned stories we've ever covered. And it's from an otherwise sensible book. I KNOW! Can't wait for you to hear about it.

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Merry Christmas, or Happy Hannukah, or like whatever you're into, folks. This time, we talk about Area 51's original raison d'etre, the notorious U2 spy plane. We learn how and why this odd-looking thing was built, how it played into one of the earliest crises of the Cold War, and how its weird shape and unbelievable maximum altitude essentially made sightings of it as a truly unidentified flying object nearly inevitable.

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We put J Allen's story to bed, and begin our exploration of the most mysterious stretch of desert on earth, Area 51. This time, we learn what happened when show artist Willem UFO and I visited Rachel Nevada, the wide spot in the road nearest to the Groom Lake secret facility. More Area 51 in a couple of weeks!

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Hynek was a good dude. But like Icarus, he chose repeatedly to fly too close to Carl Sagan's sun. We cover Hynek's turn from skeptic to believer, and then his repeated and largely embarrassing run-ins with the greatest science communicator of the 20th century, who repeatedly pantsed Hynek in public debates over the course of decades. Next time, we wrap up Hynek and move on to Area 51! Happy Turkey day for our American listeners. Enjoy your Thursday, everyone else.

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This time, we explore perhaps the biggest UFO case of Dr. Hynek's career, which involved some farmers, some college students, and what in Dana Unicorn's words we might refer to as "marsh farts". Enjoy. Sorry for the brief hiatus. We're happy to be back. Oh, and it's my fault we don't have show art. I waited until the last minute to ask, and by that time, Willem UFO was a concert.

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Don't let the episode title fool you--we're still covering J Allen Hynek. But we're considering the period of his career in which a number of important events transpired, including the launch of the Russians' bleeping ball of evil, as well as the construction of the mysterious, time-traveling sound bath, the Integratron. See you in a couple of weeks.

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We continue our exploration of J. Allen Hynek's life, but also take a sharp left turn to explore bayesian analysis, and how it can help us understand why aliens are not a particularly likely answer to the mystery of UFOs.

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We move on from abductions with a look back at the greatest educational film host of all time, Phil Hartman. But then, in a more serious vein, we start our discussion of J Allen Hynek, a real and admirable astronomer who started out as the military's in-house scientist debunker, and eventually became one of the most prominent, authoritative, and dare we say it--sane voices in favor of the argument that UFOs deserved more serious attention than they were getting from the dismissive powers-that-be. Next time: more Hynek. He's a really interesting guy!

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This is the second half of our Art Bell abduction coverage--this time, we're handling John Mack's and Whitley Strieber's appearances on the show. Art super-duper believes in this stuff, so there's not much push back, but these interviews really provide a flavor for each man's work and arguments, and I hope you'll agree that this is a great way to cap off our abduction mini-series. Next, we are diving deep into the Cold War. See you in a couple of weeks.

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