Richard Hatem's Paranormal Bookshelf

“I know more than one super-skeptical person who is unsettled by the commonalities that people report from Ayahuasca.  Having your ego dissolve, seeing clockwork elves and snake imagery… Very common things that happen, and it’s like: ‘That bothers me’.”–- Blake Smith, co-host of MonsterTalk: The Science Show About MonstersWhat do you believe – and why do you believe it?   When it comes to the paranormal, Blake and Richard disagree on just about everything.  Blake is a self-described materialist while Richard rules nothing out.  Which makes the fact that they are friends the hardest thing to believe of all.  But they are.  In an age of AI anarchy and looming “Disclosure”, how can anyone know what to believe?  Richard and Blake waste no time finding out.  First, they debate Richard’s Disgusting Martini and Blake’s Odd Date Night Rituals.  Then they tackle the eternal questions: Is Bigfoot a bear?  Is Mothman a barn owl?  Can you really profile a serial killer?  And what would Blake do if he saw a poltergeist?  Before the night is through, they dissect The Men Who Stare At Goats, The Girl From Ipanema, the “Barney” song as an instrument of torture, Richard’s Danny Robbins impression, Shadow People, R.E.M (and REM), the gaps in materialism, the solution to alien abductions – and why Mezcal tastes like Band-Aids!   LINKS:Listen to Blake Smith’s podcast “MonsterTalk” here https://www.monstertalk.org/Support RHPB on Patreon and get extra AUDIO and VIDEO content here! https://patreon.com/RichardHatem?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLinkCelebrate 2026 with 26% off all RHPB merch with offer code RHPB26! CLICK HERE and the discount is pre-applied! https://richardhatem-shop.fourthwall.com/promo/RHPB26Need help with your personal writing projects?  Richard is here to help!  Get 20% off when you mention RHPB!  https://www.richardhatem.com/Visit Cyprus, the country where I have the fewest listeners!  It looks beautiful!  https://www.visitcyprus.com/

This week I’m joined by my old Titans friend Bryan Edward Hill as we break down the three films comprising the Omen Trilogy – all of which ask the haunting question: “What if the Anti-Christ was real -- and living among us right now?”  The Omen, starring Lee Remick and Gregory Peck, was released in 1976 to massive critical and box office success.  It is now considered a masterpiece of modern horror.  It spawned two feature film sequels, a TV-movie, a 2006 remake, a 2015 TV series, and most recently, a “pre-quel” which is somewhat confusingly titled The First Omen even though chronologically it could be considered the fourth, fifth or even sixth Omen (depending on how you count your Omens).  Bryan and I focus the first three films, and then we get into the short-lived A&E series Damien, primarily because I worked on the show and wrote one of the episodes.  We talk about everything from the incredible casting of all three films to the academy award nominated score, to various ways the story can (and should) continue today.  And along the way we answer the questions: where did the idea for David Seltzer’s original screenplay come from?  How did they film the iconic “Baboon Attack” sequence?  What famous political family was the Thorns based on?  And would you trust a guy named Bugenhagen if he told you that the only way to save the world was to murder your own child with the Seven Sacred Daggers of Megiddo?St. Louis native Bryan Edward Hill is a director, screenwriter and comic book author whose television work includes Ash vs. The Evil Dead and HBO Max’s Titans.  His comic book work includes American Carnage, Kilmonger, Blade, Fallen Angels and Ultimate Black Panther.PLUS – A PATREON EXCLUSIVE! “OMEN EXTRAS” – for Patreon members at the Obsessed Fan Level, get an additional 30 minutes of conversation where Bryan and I discuss the rarely seen Omen IV: The Awakening; the 2006 remake of the original -- and the surprisingly great 2024 release The First Omen.LINKS:Support RHPB on Patreon and get extra AUDIO and VIDEO content here! https://patreon.com/RichardHatem?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLinkCelebrate 2026 with 26% off all RHPB merch with offer code RHPB26! CLICK HERE and the discount is pre-applied! https://richardhatem-shop.fourthwall.com/promo/RHPB26Need help with your personal writing projects?  Richard is here to help!  Get 20% off when you mention RHPB!  https://www.richardhatem.com/

Astonishing Legends co-host Forrest Burgess makes his RHPB debut to kick off the Halloween Season and reveal his “Top 5 Favorite Paranormal Books”!Of course, first we have to argue about the format of the episode, whether or not I explained it to him clearly, and how is he even supposed to narrow it down to five?!?  But rest assured, we “count ‘em down!”  – just like Casey Kasem and “America’s Top Forty”!  And along the way we talk about everything from “Summer-ween” to Alien Pool Parties to The Odessa File to Tarot Cards to Silence of the Lambs, astral travel, Scott Philbrook, Mike Tyson, the Lizard Man, Spooky Action at a Distance – and all of Forrest’s Girlfriends!  If you know Forrest, you know it’s gonna get weird.  And if you don’t, well… you have been warned.PLUS: BONUS PATREON CONTENT!  For Patreon members at the Obsessed Fan Level -- Forrest Burgess joins me to reveal and discuss his FAVORITE BOOK OF ALL TIME!  Only on Patreon! LINKS:Listen to Astonishing Legends here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/astonishing-legends/id923527373 To buy all of the books Forrest recommends, please go to https://bookshop.org/Visit the Raymond Restaurant and have your own Alien Pool Party! https://theraymond1886.com/Support RHPB on Patreon and get extra AUDIO and VIDEO content here! https://patreon.com/RichardHatem?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLinkCelebrate 2026 with 26% off all RHPB merch with offer code RHPB26! CLICK HERE and the discount is pre-applied! https://richardhatem-shop.fourthwall.com/promo/RHPB26Need help with your personal writing projects?  Richard is here to help!  Get 20% off when you mention RHPB!  https://www.richardhatem.com/

Richard is back from the Light in the Dark Tour 2026!  Join Richard and his wife (and RHPB executive producer) Susan Lambert as they discuss everything from Richard’s yearlong scheme to finally appear on “Woo-Woo with Rachel Dratch”, to the last minute decision to embark on the tour alone, to Scott Philbrook’s shocking news about getting COVID which basically made Richard certain that he had COVID too just by talking about it, to all the performances of RHPB and all the beautiful, kind and amazing fans we met along the way!LINKS:Support RHPB on Patreon here! https://patreon.com/RichardHatem?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLinkCelebrate 2026 with 26% off all RHPB merch with offer code RHPB26! CLICK HERE and the discount is pre-applied! https://richardhatem-shop.fourthwall.com/promo/RHPB26Need help with your personal writing projects?  Richard is here to help!  Get 20% off when you mention RHPB!  https://www.richardhatem.com/

Welcome New Listeners! Revisit Episode 1: Ghosts & SpectersShow Description:  Hey Everybody!  I just had the pleasure of appearing on “Woo-Woo with Rachel Dratch”!  So, I’m re-broadcasting the very first episode of RHPB (“Ghosts & Specters”) for new listeners and anyone who wants to hear it again.  (And don’t worry, the episodes don’t run in chronological order, so you can actually start anywhere…) If you’re new here -- welcome aboard!  I’m so thrilled to have you here!LINKS:Listen to me on “Woo-Woo with Rachel Dratch” here:Spotify • Apple PodcastsWoo Woo websiteGet tickets to Richard Hatem’s “Light in the Dark Tour 2026” LIVE!: https://www.richardhatemsparanormalbookshelf.com/eventsSupport RHPB on Patreon here! https://patreon.com/RichardHatem?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLinkCelebrate 2026 with 26% off all RHPB merch with offer code RHPB26! CLICK HERE and the discount is pre-applied! https://richardhatem-shop.fourthwall.com/promo/RHPB26Need help with your personal writing projects?  Richard is here to help!  Get 20% off when you mention RHPB!  https://www.richardhatem.com/

“I love the idea that if the house up the road is haunted, then I literally have a cosmic doorway to another way of being.  And that just turns all the colors up in life.”  – Peter LawsMy friend Peter Laws grew up like a lot of us.  As a kid he was obsessed with ghost stories, horror movies and all aspects of the paranormal.  In fact, his interest in the “big questions” was so great that he became an ordained minister.  But his interest in the macabre never went away.  So he returned to the creepier side of life by authoring a series of novels featuring Matt Hunter, an ex-church minister who’s lost his faith, dropped out, and now assists the police in solving religiously motivated crimes.  And now, Peter has an insanely popular YouTube channel called “Into the Fog” where he investigates and documents reports of the unexplained.  These are real, never before heard  cases -- and he talks to the people who lived through them.  Peter is the guy I want to be when I grow up.In today’s show, Peter and I talk about everything from our favorite horror films to Ouija boards to Peter’s own supernatural encounters.  And along the way we grapple with the pressing questions: is there an afterlife?  Which religion believes in ghosts the most?  Should you take your grandfather to see “Friday the 13th: Part 4”?  Is Taylor Swift a witch?  Is E.T. a demon?  And just what does Peter mean when he says that his books are literally flying off the shelves?LINKS:Check out Peter’s YouTube Channel “Into The Fog” here https://www.youtube.com/@IntoTheFog Get tickets to Richard Hatem’s “Light in the Dark Tour 2026” LIVE!: https://www.richardhatemsparanormalbookshelf.com/events Support RHPB on Patreon here! https://patreon.com/RichardHatem?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink Celebrate 2026 with 26% off all RHPB merch with offer code RHPB26! CLICK HERE and the discount is pre-applied! https://richardhatem-shop.fourthwall.com/promo/RHPB26Need help with your personal writing projects?  Richard is here to help!  Get 20% off when you mention RHPB!  https://www.richardhatem.com/

Astonishing Legends co-host Scott Philbrook returns to chat with Richard about his upcoming “Light in the Dark Tour 2026” -- as well as answer such never-before-asked questions as: What scares our dogs?  Where will Scott & Forrest be appearing live in September?  Did Abbott & Costello get along?  Can anyone find Scott’s legendary “lost” appearance on “Portlandia”?  Did Richard schedule too many shows on this tour -- and will Susan ever forgive him??  Find out the answers to these and many more questions on today’s episode!LINKS: Get tickets to Richard Hatem’s “Light in the Dark Tour 2026” LIVE!: https://www.richardhatemsparanormalbookshelf.com/eventsSupport RHPB on Patreon here! https://patreon.com/RichardHatem?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLinkCelebrate 2026 with 26% off all RHPB merch with offer code RHPB26! CLICK HERE and the discount is pre-applied! https://richardhatem-shop.fourthwall.com/promo/RHPB26Need help with your personal writing projects?  Richard is here to help!  Get 20% off when you mention RHPB!  https://www.richardhatem.com/Notes:Get the answer to ALL of your Abbott & Costello questions here:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/abbott-and-costello-meet-the-podcast/id1729032545Is your dog afraid of hiccups, just like Luna? Learn about your dog’s weird fears here: https://www.redpointydog.com/post/understanding-your-dog-s-fear-what-to-look-for-and-how-to-help-them

“It is not more surprising to be born twice than once; everything in nature is resurrection.”  –- VoltaireAn entire branch of paranormal research involves documenting cases of children who claim to remember past lives.  Almost as soon as they can speak, these children ask desperately about their “other family”, their “other home” -- and will cry for months (sometimes years) begging to be reunited with people their parents have never met or even heard of.  And sometimes those people turn out to be 100% real.  Imagining the child’s pain is one thing -- but what about the parents?  The ones who brought their child into the world thinking they were at the very beginning of something special and beautiful and unique… Only to realize they’re entering at the middle of an ongoing story as their child mourns a life they know nothing about.  Jim B. Tucker’s book “Return to Life” is filled with such stories.  Becoming a parent is hard enough.  What do you do when your child is convinced they’re not even yours?Richard became a father for the first time on June 21st, 1996.  And while Owen never claimed to have a past life, he claimed this one as all babies do – by screaming and crying and testing the very last nerve of both his parents.  As Richard struggles through those first few months of fatherhood, he asks the questions every young parent does: who is this person?  Who will they become? Is he giving them what they need to have the life they want?  And over the years, did he somehow begin mistaking their dreams for his own?LINKS:See Richard Hatem’s “Light in the Dark Tour 2026” LIVE!  Get tickets here: https://www.richardhatemsparanormalbookshelf.com/eventsSupport RHPB on Patreon here! https://patreon.com/RichardHatem?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLinkCelebrate 2026 with 26% off all RHPB merch with offer code RHPB26! CLICK HERE and the discount is pre-applied! https://richardhatem-shop.fourthwall.com/promo/RHPB26Need help with your personal writing projects?  Richard is here to help!  Get 20% off when you mention RHPB!  https://www.richardhatem.com/Want to know more about near death experiences?  Attend the largest NDE gathering in the world!  Get tickets for IANDS 2026 Conference here https://iands.org/events/conference/

“That’s what was different about paranormal cases as opposed to my usual ones.  These cases made me wonder ‘What If?’  I wondered if Bigfoot had supernatural abilities.  Could it pass through dimensions the way we pass through air?  Could it make itself invisible?  Is that why it was so rarely seen?  Is that why I could smell it now –– but not see it?”-- Stanley Milford, Jr., The Paranormal RangerIn late 2002, Navajo Ranger Stanley Milford and his partner Jonathan Dover receive a strange and completely unprecedented assignment: they will be in charge of all reported cases involving UFOs, witches, Bigfoot, ghosts and any other paranormal activity.  They will be “The Paranormal Rangers.”  What starts out as a public relations maneuver soon evolves into a full-time, full-blown investigation into everything that people fear the most: the unknown.  And as Stanley Milford learns, you don’t take on an assignment like this and come out the other side unscathed – or unchanged.  Stanley prides himself on being able to live a life that straddles reality; with “a foot in two worlds”.  But what do you do when one world begins to pull you in deeper and deeper -- against your will –- and you start to lose your balance?Meanwhile, it’s 1979.  Richard is in 8th grade and he’s on the verge of becoming a man.  That’s right:  he’s about to enter the world of organized sports.  With it comes an entré into a world he’s never been allowed into: male bonding with the sports guys.  Sure, he’d rather be at home eating mini-pizzas and watching “The Rockford Files”.  But when Sean Delgado – the most popular guy in school – allows you to hang out with him, what are you supposed to do?  So what if he punches you so hard you have permanent bruises – it’s worth it, right?  Hanging with the sports guys offers privileges Richard has never dreamed of.  But there are hidden dangers, too.  When the road gets rough, even Richard must decide which of his “two worlds” he really belongs in.Links: Buy a copy of Stanley Milford’s “The Paranormal Ranger” HERE Support RHPB on Patreon HERE!Celebrate 2026 with 26% off all RHPB merch with offer code RHPB26! CLICK HERE and the discount is pre-applied!Need help with your personal writing projects?  Richard is here to help!  Get 20% off when you mention RHPB! https://www.richardhatem.com/Want to know more about near death experiences?  Attend the largest NDE gathering in the world!  Get tickets for IANDS 2026 Conference HERE.

“Please answer True or False to the following statements: ‘As a child, a lot of my time was spent in a world of self-created fantasy.’ ‘As a child, I felt that I had a guardian angel.’ ‘When I was a child, I was very psychic.’ ‘When I was a child, I nearly died’.”-- Questions from Dr. Kenneth Ring’s Omega Project Childhood Experience InventoryListeners of this podcast know: near-death experiences are awesome -- and alien abductions suck.  One is rapturous; the other nightmarish.  But what if, at their core, they aren’t so different?  What if only certain kinds of people have these experiences?  And what if, behind their wildly different theatrical trappings, both experiences are imparting the same message: the earth is drifting toward doom, and there’s only so much time left to course-correct before everything goes up in flames?Dr. Kenneth Ring’s ground-breaking 1992 work The Omega Project dives straight into these questions.  For the first time ever, a study is conducted to determine if there is an “experiencer type” – and an attempt is made to define who is prone to having these kinds of encounters.   And in true 1990’s fashion, the book anticipates the coming millennium with a mixture of chilling dread and paper-thin hope.  Thirty-four years later, we’re still here.  But does that mean the angels and aliens are wrong and we’re safe?  Or are they just working on a far longer timeline?It’s January 1997, and Richard has been sent to Baltimore, Maryland with one task: convince Richard Gere to star in The Mothman Prophecies.  Writing the script was one thing -- but wooing a Hollywood star?  That’s not really in his wheelhouse.  How much say do you ever have in your own success – or failure?  And how do you know what moves to make when the result could make or break your career -- and the future remains stubbornly unclear?     Notes & LinksBuy The Omega Project by Kennth Ring, PhD HERE.Support RHPB on Patreon HERE!Celebrate 2026 with 26% off all RHPB merch with offer code RHPB26! CLICK HERE and the discount is pre-applied! Need help with your personal writing projects?  Richard is here to help!  Get 20% off when you mention RHPB!  https://www.richardhatem.com/The Cumin Club – delicious, easy, authentic Indian cuisine delivered right to your door.  Use offer code RHPB to get 30% off on EVERY ORDER! https://www.thecuminclub.com/