CW: misogyny, fat phobia Back in April I did an impromptu live stream. The theme of this live stream was music. One thing I love doing is live reacting to things I've never read before and this episode captures it well. In the first story, I recount a UFO encounter that the Moody Blues had while returning home from a show in 1967. The second story involves a Canadian man named Jack and his lifelong alien abduction experiences. Sources: Love and Saucers - Vinegar Syndrome Release Missing Time by Budd Hopkins Communion by Whitley Strieber Intruders by Budd Hopkins Extraordinary Contact: Life Be ..read more

Journalist Bob Pratt made several trips to Brazil, collecting stories from villagers of UFO encounters. Many of them proved to be random, violent encounters which he published in UFO Danger Zone. Often these attacks would come after the witnesses had lit up a cigarette. The area known as "The Valley of the Old Women" produced many accounts over the decades. To quote Pratt, “The valley encompasses 10,750 square miles of cattle ranches and farmland in low mountains and rolling hills in the center of the state of Minas Gerais. The river has many smaller streams feeding it. “The system originates ..read more

For every UFO sighting reported, how many many go unreported? Even more, how many of them become classic cases that are mentioned and written about for time immemorial? This case is one that has lived in obscurity since it was first written about.  I stumbled upon it while perusing old issues of Flying Saucer Review, and I felt like I couldn’t cover it alone… so I asked my buddies, Marc Storrs and Rob Morphy from the Cryptonaut podcast to give me a hand. In the late 70s, one family from South Middleton, Massachusetts went through a series of experiences involving strange “prowlers” cree ..read more

In 1975, over the skies of southern Manitoba, a quaint UFO would begin to make regular appearances that would last for nearly two years. Some would camp out and watch the strange red objects fly over their skies and down into Minnesota. The residents would name this UFO, Charlie Red Star, and would characterize the UFO as one that made "beer runs." Many of Manitoba's residents would claim to see Charlie numerous times. He would have encounters with pilots, with RCMP officers. He would be chased by the average citizen, and there is one dramatic encounter witnessed by some teenagers at a damn ..read more

In February of 1978 the news in northern California was consumed by Ted Bundy’s arrest, coverage of the East Area Rapist, and Roman Polanski’s escape to France following charges of rape. There was one story, however, that took up a lot of page space in The Sacramento Bee, from February to June of that year. It’s the story of five men that went to a basketball game in Chico and never came home. The mystery of the Yuba County Five, or the boys as their parents called them: Tim Weiher, Jack Madruga, Bill Sterling, Jackie Hewitt and Gary Mathias was forgotten about for nearly 40 years, until the ..read more

As above, so below. It’s a phrase that traces itself to the founding of Hermeticism. Those words can be found on the Emerald Tablet, a document that purportedly reveals the secrets of how to make the philosopher’s stone. As above, so below is a phrase that has carried on through generations. It’s found in the Bible, it’s an element in the hit series, Hellier, and in 1975 terror would come from both places. During the Summer, people would fear the water due to the theatrical release of the first ever Summer Blockbuster, Jaws. But in November of that year, 22 year old Travis Walton would encoun ..read more

Johnny Sands moved from Nashville to Las Vegas, Nevada in order to jump start his country music career. On the night of January 29, 1976, he was on his way home when he had a chance encounter with a pair of "enigmatic entities."  This encounter led to an even stranger encounter with a pair of men who may have been the infamous men in black. Grab your guitar and strum along to this fascinating tale of alien contact. Sources: Firelight (1964 Film) - Wikipedia  Kurt Vonnegut Museum & Library Store  “15 Things You May Not Know About Close Encounters of the Third Kind” By Sean Hutchinso ..read more

On this special bonus episode, I welcome author Daniel Kraus onto the podcast to talk about his latest novel, Bent Heavens, a YA horror novel about a pair of teens that capture an alien in a trap. Daniel talks about how his childhood affected the novels he writes, an eerie experience he had in Scotland, and what the writing process is like when you're collaborating with another writer. Theme song by Big Cats  Logo and Web Design by the Great Desdymona ..read more

The Yukon is one of the most remote places in the world. Its untouched wilderness is beautiful to behold, and it offers up some of the best hunting and fishing in the world. In September of 1987, a man using the pseudonym "Kevin" set out for the woods on a three day hunting a fishing trip. On the second day into the trip, he would have a remarkable on a dirt road with a pair of alien beings. I'm joined by Rich Hatem to discuss the baffling North Canol Road abduction.   Sources: The North Canal Road Abduction - Aliens in the Yukon  Abduction on North Canol Road  Theme Song by Big Cats  Logo ..read more

We're back with another Metldown. This time I'm joined by Brian Hastie from Double Density and The Coda: A Music Podcast, Chris Cogswell of the Mad Scientist Podcast, and Spencer Wirth-Davis of the What If? Podcast to roast the 2009 pile of dumpsters, The Fourth Kind.  The boys talk briefly about Brian Wilson's lost rap album, what the movie did wrong (P.S. it's most things), from the shitty plot, to the lack of character depth. Spencer roasts a blind girl, Brian goes off on the fact that there are too many sources the film uses to try to add validity to it, and Chris points to the fact th ..read more