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BOA : Audio

1.17.11

Nick Redfern & Greg Bishop

(2 Hours, 44 Minutes)


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Longtime friends of BoA:Audio, Greg Bishop and Nick Redfern return to the program for our annual examination of the past year in Ufology. This year, we'll cover some of the biggest stories of 2010, including Stephen Hawking's warning about contacting aliens, China's big airport UFO event, the UFO-Nuke press conference, remembering Zecharia Sitchen, Robert Miles, and others we lost in the past year, as well as the Emma Woods controversy and the shake up at MUFON. Plus, we'll look at cryptozoology as well as emerging esoteric trends with 2011 on the horizon. Unlike in previous years, where we poured over the minutiae of the last 12 months, this year we opt for a more freeform discussion on the state of UFO studies as 2010 comes to an end.

Less an interview and more a conversation between three friends, this episode will hopefully give BoA:Audio listeners food for thought about where we stand when it comes to unlocking the enigmatic UFO phenomenon.

Full Preview: We kick things off by first finding out what story or project most caught the interest of Nick and Greg over the last year. Then we dive in to the biggest stories of the year, broken down into major categories, starting with the 'geopolitical / science' story of Stephen Hawking warning against contacting aliens. We get Nick and Greg's opinion on whether or not it was unique that the Hawking story had a negative point of view about aliens. We also look at the questions of whether we ever found out the reason for Hawking's statement and if we should speculate as to a greater agenda behind it. The next story, under the banner of "significant sighting" is the Chinese Airport UFO, which we dissect and summarily dismiss, for a number of reasons, as truly significant. This segues into Greg detailing how UFO sightings could possibly be used as a learning tool today and how that differs from simply reporting on an event in awe.

Next we tackle the big "exopolitical / disclosure" story of the year: the UFO-Nuke Press Conference of September. We dig into the story and ponder the true value of such events in both the short and long term. Pulling the camera back a bit further, we discuss the idea of whether 2010 constituted the beginning of a "message shift" on the part of Ufology, where the framing of UFO enigma has changed from "aliens are here" to "we don't know what UFOs are." This leads to some discussion on the idea of "UFO disclosure" is already hampered by the preconceived notions of what that constitutes.

We then move on to the "In Memoriam" portion of the Year in Review and begin by remembering Zecharia Sitchen and the legacy he left on the the world of esoterica. Following that, we remember former BoA:Audio guest Jerry E. Smith and we recall some of our personal interactions with the late esoteric researcher. We also look at the legacy of another UFO researcher who passed away in 2010: Bertold Eric Schwarz and Greg talks about how Schwartz examined the outliers of the paranormal world and Nick recalls a bizarre Men in Black story that Schwartz famously investigated.

In the last of the big categories of 2010 stories, we then turn to the big "inside baseball" story of 2010 in Ufology: the Emma Woods case. We examine the big issue which emerged from this story: the viability of hypnosis as a investigative tool in hypnosis research. We then ponder the question of how abduction research should proceed if it abandons (or lessens the reliance on) hypnosis as a research tool. This segues into Greg discussing the difficulties in applying human measurements and psychology to studying the paranormal, while Nick talks about how Ufology came to a crossroads with the research of Jacques Vallee, which led us to where we are today in a "nuts and bolts" mainstream view of the phenomenon

Wrapping up our discussion on 2010 in Ufology, we also look at the change of leadership at MUFON and what that might mean for the organization and Ufology as a whole. Closing the book on 2010 stories, we also have Nick reflect on the 30th anniversary of the Rendlesham Forest case and provide some context as to where we are at with regards to this legendary UFO event. We also get Greg's reaction to Mark Pilkington's book Mirage Men which featured Greg as a player in the book.

We then look at the world of cryptozoology and get Nick's take on the slew of new species which were discovered in 2010 and what that might mean for potential future discoveries of bigger (and more infamous) creatures. Greg then asks Nick what he thinks Bigfoot / Loch Ness Monster are and what people will say they are if no proof for their existence ever surfaces. We also get, for the first time ever on BoA:Audio, Greg's opinion on the nature of Bigfoot. Nick also talks about what he thinks would be more fascinating than a 'nuts and bolts' or 'flesh and blood' answer for UFOs and Bigfoot.

Heading towards the close, we then do our annual look at the emerging trends in esoterica as 2011 begins. Wrapping things up, we find out what's next for Nick and Greg in 2011. We also hear about the movie that Nick and Greg were recently working on in California.


Greg Bishop Bio

Greg Bishop became interested in UFOs at a very early age. He has no idea why. In 1991, he cofounded a magazine entitled The Excluded Middle, for the purpose of educating himself first, and secondly, passing on the info to interested readers. How selfish. TEM was a journal of UFOs, conspiracy research, psychedelia and new science (now online at www.excludedmiddle.com ). "Wake Up Down There!" a collection of articles from the magazine, was published in 2000.

Greg’s writing has appeared the L.A. Weekly, Fortean Times, UFO Magazine and Magical Blend, among others, and in the book-length anthologies "Conspiracy And Cyberculture," "Zen And The Art of Close Encounters," "Kooks," and "You Are Being Lied To." In 2005, his book "Project Beta" was an attempt to set the record straight on the Paul Bennewitz disinfo saga. His third and newest title, "Weird California," was published in March of 2006. His internet show, "Radio Misterioso," can be heard on Sundays from 8-10 PM PST at www.killradio.org. Interviews with fringe-topic researchers and weird music are the usual fare.

When not writing, he can be found in the southwestern deserts of the US or flying his paraglider above vertiginous cliffs and mountains, sometimes with a propeller strapped to his back. Successful bribes include New Mexican cuisine, recordings of “outsider” music, rare contactee books, tickets to baseball games and selected original artwork.

His websites are excludedmiddle.com & ufomystic.com

Nick Redfern Bio

Nick Redfern started his writing career as an eighteen-year-old in 1982 on a British-based music, fashion, and entertainment magazine called "Zero." His interest in UFOs was prompted by his father, who worked on radar with the British Royal Air Force, and who was personally aware of several UFO encounters investigated by the British Government in the 1950s.

Nick is the author of several books on unsolved mysteries and UFOs: "A Covert Agenda;" "The FBI Files;" "Cosmic Crashes;" "Strange Secrets" (with Andy Roberts); "Three Men Seeking Monsters;" "Body Snatchers in the Desert;" "On the Trail of the Saucer Spies;" "Celebrity Secrets;" "Monkey Man;" and "Memoirs of a Monster Hunter". He has written for UFO Magazine; Fortean Times; Fate Magazine; and the British Daily Express newspaper.

Nick has spent weeks chasing the vampire-like Chupacabras in Puerto Rico for the Sci-Fi Channel and Canada's Space Channel; roamed around the old base at Roswell, New Mexico in search of decaying, smelly, alien corpses; tried to conjure up Tulpa-style thought-forms of Bigfoot, lycanthropes, and lake monsters in his home-country of England; and was once less-than-politely turned away from the fringes of Area 51, Nevada by a fat and humorless security guard.

His websites are nickredfern.com & ufomystic.com


Next Week :

Adam Davies

Extreme Expeditions of 2010

BoA:Audio welcomes back our old friend Adam Davies for an update on his adventures of the past year, specifically his trip to India in search of the Mande-Burung and the latest evidence gleaned from his 2009 Orang Pendek expedition.


BoA : Audio, Season Six archive