The Impossible Archive

Religion scholar David Halperin stops by to discuss his book Intimate Alien: The Hidden Story of the UFO. David shares his own history as a young ufologist, and how he later came back to ufology as a scholar. Tangents include: the cover of Whitley Strieber's Communion, the Jungian quaternity, and "Ezekiel Saw the Wheel." Links/sources mentioned: David Halperin, Intimate Alien: The Hidden Story of the UFO (Stanford University Press, 2020) Carl Jung, Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Sky (1959) Gray Barker, They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers (1956) Frank Scully, Behind the Flying Saucers (1950) Jacques Vallee, Passport to Magonia (1969) Whitley Strieber, Communion (1987) David Halperin, "Judaism and the UFO," in Handbook of UFO Religions (Brill, 2021) William L. Dawson leading the Tuskegee choir in his arrangement of "Ezekiel Saw de Wheel" (1942): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51rIXqGxLOk (this is the arrangement Bill sang in high school) Ray Bradbury, "Way in the Middle of the Air," in The Martian Chronicles (1950)

Documentary filmmaker Brad Abrahams comes on the show to discuss his terrific films "Love and Saucers," "Telos or Bust," and "Do You See What I See?" Topics include alien abduction, Mt. Shasta, conspiracy theory rabbit holes, and Austin. You can watch "Love and Saucers" (2017) on YouTube, "Do You See What I See?" (2021) on Vimeo, and the trailer for "Telos or Bust" (2021) on Vimeo. For more of Brad's work, go to bradabrahams.net. Also check out the Mt. Shasta episode he did with QAnon Anonymous. more links/sources: Budd Hopkins, "Missing Time" (1981) Budd Hopkins, "Intruders" (1987) Farah Yurdozu, "Love in an Alien Purgatory: The Life and Fantastic Art of David Huggins" (2009) "We Believe in Dinosaurs" (2019) "All Light, Everywhere" (2021) "Welcome to Leith" (2015) "Wrinkles the Clown" (2019) "Sasquatch" (2021) Brian Regal, "Searching for Sasquatch" (2011) "Curse of the Man Who Sees UFOs" (2016) Archives of the Impossible

Bill and Eddie unpack the "ancient astronaut" theory popularized by Erich von Däniken. Why do so many people want to attribute the Pyramids or Teotihuacan to long-ago extraterrestrials? Tangents include: Nazi ghostwriters, cargo cults, and Superman. They focus on the 1973 TV special In Search of Ancient Astronauts (narrated by Rod Serling), and also touch on the 1976 TV special Mysteries of the Gods (starring William Shatner). LINKS: In Search of Ancient Astronauts (1973): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJd756bz2Ak Mysteries of the Gods (1976): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJl4O2CALbk Transcript of George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and Lawrence Kasdan (1978): http://maddogmovies.com/almost/scripts/raidersstoryconference1978.pdf

Bill reads today's issue (or at least this day in 1823) of the Troy Sentinel. The issue includes beekeeping tips, hogsheads of rum, an enormous pig, news on the Morales expedition, a Christmas poem from an anonymous reader…   Links/sources:   Troy Sentinel (Dec. 23, 1823): https://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn83031777/1823-12-23/ed-1/seq-3/   Victor Herbert's Orchestra, "Nutcracker Ballet: Chinese Dance / Dance of the Mirilitons" (1913): https://archive.org/details/Voices_of_Christmas_Past_1898_to_1922/16_NutcrackerBalletChineseDanceDanceoftheMirilitons.flac   "O Tannenbaum": https://archive.org/details/78_o-tannenbaum_orchefter-mit-gloden_gbia0010664b   Ken Griffin, "Silent Night" (1950): https://archive.org/details/78_adeste-fideles-o-come-all-ya-faithful_ken-griffin-mohr-gruber_gbia0097796/03   Charles R. Cronhom, "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear / Shepherd's Christmas Song / I Saw Three Ships a-Sailing" (1960): https://archive.org/details/78_it-came-upon-the-midnight-clear-shepherds-christmas-song-i-saw-three-ships-asai_gbia0034356a/   Ken Griffin, "O Come All Ye Faithful" (1950): https://archive.org/details/78_adeste-fideles-o-come-all-ya-faithful_ken-griffin-mohr-gruber_gbia0097796/03   Ernest Hare, "The Night Before Christmas" (1920): https://archive.org/details/Voices_of_Christmas_Past_1898_to_1922/15_NightBeforeChristmas.flac   Andrew Kostelantetz & His Orchestra, "Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71" (1924): https://archive.org/details/78_nutcracker-suite-op.-71a.-march---dance-of-the-sugar-plum-fairy_andre-kostelantetz_gbia0001232a   Edison Male Quartette, "Sleigh Ride Party / Jingle Bells" (1898): https://archive.org/details/Voices_of_Christmas_Past_1898_to_1922/03_SleighRidePartyJingleBells.flac  

How did an extinct shark become a modern-day cryptid? Eddie explains.   Digressions include: U-Haul SuperGraphics, Yeti nomenclature, and 1990s Bin Laden.   Citations/links:   Edward Guimont, "The Megalodon: A Monster of the New Mythology," M/C (2021): https://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/view/2793   Michael J. Gaynor, "The Town without Wi-Fi," Washingtonian (2015): https://www.washingtonian.com/2015/01/04/the-town-without-wi-fi/   Harry Turtledove's "State of Jefferson" stories: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Turtledove_bibliography#State_of_Jefferson_Stories   Steve Alten, "Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror" (1997)   Steve Alten, "The Trench" (1999)   Darrin Lowery et al., "Integrated Geology, Paleontology, and Archaeology: Native American Use of Fossil Shark Teeth in the Chesapeake Bay Region," Archaeology of Eastern North America (2011): https://www.jstor.org/stable/23265116   David G. Stead, "Sharks and Rays of Australian Seas" (1963)   Ben S. Roesch, “A Critical Evaluation of the Supposed Contemporary Existence of Carcharodon Megalodon," Cryptozoology Review (1998): https://web.archive.org/web/20131021005820/http:/web.ncf.ca/bz050/megalodon.html   Robert Deis and Wyatt Doyle, eds., "Maneaters: Killer Sharks in Men's Adventure Magazines" (2021)

Bill and Eddie chat with Robert Skvarla about the 1982 film "Halloween III: Season of the Witch," a bizarre piece of techno-folk horror. Tangents include the Havana Syndrome, Bowling Green's Wikipedia page, and the politics of Stonehenge.   Citations/links:   Martin Harris and Kathryn Conner Bennett, "You Can't Kill the Boogeyman: Halloween III and the Modern Horror Franchise," Journal of Popular Film and Television (2004): https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3200/JPFT.32.3.98-120   Ronald Hutton, "The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain" (Oxford UP, 1996)   Fangoria’s issue on "Halloween III": https://www.fangoria.com/archives/Halloween3-Fridaythe13thPart3-Creepshow/   Kevin Cooney, “Unlocking Nigel Kneale's Mythic Evil in 'Halloween III: Season of the Witch,” Diabolique Magazine (2018): https://diaboliquemagazine.com/unlocking-nigel-kneales-mythic-evil-in-halloween-iii-season-of-the-witch/

Bill has a surprise story for Eddie, involving crank letters, Theosophy, Napoleon, continental drift, and the far side of the moon.

Horace Smith, professor emeritus of astronomy at Michigan State University, joins the show to discuss a book he's writing with Eddie about H.P. Lovecraft and astronomy. They talk telescopes, gravity repulsion, the ether, life on Venus, and Planet X. Bill realizes that some of the astronomy he learned as a child is out-of-date now.   You can find Smith's article on Lovecraft and the moon (which will become a chapter in the book) here: https://www.jstor.org/stable/26868583

The podcast welcomes its first-ever guest, historian Kate Dorsch. Kate is a postdoctoral lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania and is writing a book about the U.S. Air Force's UFO investigations from 1947 to 1969, including Project Blue Book.   How should we understand these investigations within the context of the Cold War? How weird was Project Blue Book, really? How did J. Allen Hynek become J. Allen Hynek? And what does Kate think about that show on the History Channel?   You can read Kate's dissertation here: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/3231/   Also check out her recent piece in Foreign Policy: https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/06/06/ufos-space-cold-war-pentagon-military-aliens/

In H.P. Lovecraft's 1936 novella "At the Mountains of Madness," a scientific expedition to Antarctica accidentally uncovers evidence—both archaeological and biological—of an ancient, perhaps otherworldly civilization. Eddie and Bill discuss how they first encountered Lovecraft, why his imagination was drawn to the polar regions of the earth, what the story tells us about early-20th-centuries anxieties about race and civilization, the influence this story had on "The Thing" and the modern ancient aliens myth, and more.   Citations/links:   Kate Dorsch's dissertation, which will be discussed in the next episode (2019; no paywall): https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/3231/   H.P. Lovecraft, "At the Mountains of Madness" (1936; full text): https://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/mm.aspx   Edward Guimont, "An Arctic Mystery: The Lovecraftian North Pole," Lovecraft Annual (2020; paywall): https://www.jstor.org/stable/26939814   Edward Guimont, "At the Mountains of Mars: Viewing the Red Planet through a Lovecraftian Lens," Lovecraftian Proceedings (2019)   S. T. Joshi, "Lovecraft's Alien Civilizations: A Political Interpretation," Crypt of Cthulhu (1985)   Jason Colavito, "The Origins of the Space Gods: Ancient Astronauts and the Cthulhu Mythos in Fiction and Fact" (2011; free ebook): https://www.jasoncolavito.com/origin-of-the-space-gods.html   Garrett P. Serviss, "Edison's Conquest of Mars" (1898)   Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier, "The Morning of the Magicians" (1960)   Erich von Däniken, "Chariots of the Gods?" (1968)