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The Paranoid Strain
New: Secret Societies I, Part 10 - Holy Blood, Holy Grail 2
Season 4, Ep. 10
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Another fortnight, another episode about silly men and their silly book. Once again, we're discussing the work of Messrs. Lincoln, Baigent,and Leigh, who apparently never met a historical counterfactual they didn't immediately embrace. This time, we get neck-deep in the many, completely unrelated story threads that they rip out of context and stitch together into an unholy pantomime of historical scholarship. This is part three of our mini-series on the origins of Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code. We'll see you back here next time for the frankly astonishing conclusion, where we actually get to the bottom of all of this nonsense. Talk at you then.
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New! Unidentified--What Barney and Betty Hill actually saw (it wasn't a UFO)
32:12|The final part of our story of the Hills' strange encounter. We discuss the cheap hatchet job that Saint Carl Sagan did on the Hills' story, which came out quite tawdry in spite of Sagan's good intentions. Plus, we provide our suggestion for the best bet as to the real-life phenomenon that generated the Hills' legendary experience.
New! Unidentified--The aliens attempt to kidnap Darth Vader
29:31|This episode, we deep dive into a TV movie adaptation of the Barney and Betty Hill story, starring and produced by James Earl Jones. An interesting film, and well intended, we examine the ways that it compromised the Hills' own conclusions about their experience in favor of a story designed to normalize interracial couples for a mainstream 1970s US audience. Enjoy!theparanoidstrain.comfacebook.com/groups/theparanoidstrainpatreon.com/theparanoidstrain
26. New! Unidentified--Interracial relationships and alien abduction in 1960s America
32:17||Season 6, Ep. 26Barney and Betty's story goes public, and the US media decides they made up this alien story because of how hard it was to be an interracial couple in 1960s America. It's infuriating. Enjoy!theparanoidstrain.comfacebook.com/groups/theparanoidstrainpatreon.com/theparanoidstrain
25. New! Unidentified--Dreams, hypnosis, and the first American alien abduction
28:09||Season 6, Ep. 25Barney and Betty Hill had a weird night on September 19, 1961. Of that there's no doubt. But in this episode we investigate how the mid-century embrace of hypnosis as a psychological tool may have helped to generate the abduction story that would set the stage for the abduction mania of future decades.theparanoidstrain.comfacebook.com/groups/theparanoidstrainpatreon.com/theparanoidstrain
New! Unidentified--Barney, Betty, and the UFO they saw
28:35|We're ready to take on the story of Barney and Betty Hill, whose UFO encounter launched the abduction phenomenon, and whose personal story is even more fascinating. More on the Hills in two weeks.theparanoidstrain.comfacebook.com/groups/theparanoidstrainpatreon.com/theparanoidstrain
23. New! Unidentified--No ETs for Christmas
33:27||Season 6, Ep. 23We're back for 2025. This episode, we wrap up the story of The Seekers, the failure of their 1950s UFO prophecy, and the book that made them famous. We also dive into the ways cognitive dissonance theory interacts with other prophetic movements, including the early Christians. See you in two weeks.theparanoidstrain.comfacebook.com/groups/theparanoidstrainpatreon.com/theparanoidstrain
Encore: Upon a Red Horse, Part V
01:12:07|The last part of our encore presentation. hope you enjoyed it--see you next week.In which Fletcher slowly loses what matters most to him, secures his legend, and goes down, senselessly, in a hail of bullets.Full lyrics, credits, and gorgeous fold-out album style artwork (it's a .zip file): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zj0Mbk4JNrHajuAwHC3fOGzY8ZHeTDOg/view?usp=share_linktheparanoidstrain.comfacebook.com/groups/theparanoidstrainListen to the music as an album on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/paranoidstrainorchestra/sets/upon-a-red-horse-act-v-shutting-downpatreon.com/theparanoidstrainLike it? Please do spread the word.
Encore: Upon a Red Horse, Part IV
53:45|Part IV of our re-post of the best thing we've done.In which Fletcher finally gets on the radio, tells us what 2001: A Space Odyssey is really about, and sees his life begin to fall apart.theparanoidstrain.comfacebook.com/groups/theparanoidstrainListen to the music as an album on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/paranoidstrainorchestra/sets/upon-a-red-horse-act-iv-five-minutes-to-midnightpatreon.com/theparanoidstrainLike it? Please do spread the word.