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BOA : Audio

5.23.12

Jason Offutt

(2 Hours, 55 Minutes)


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BoA:Audio welcomes our old friend Jason Offutt back to the program for a lengthy conversation covering the many odd and creepy stories found at his blog, From the Shadows. We'll be hearing tales of wicked priests, harlequin entities, gnome-like creatures, black eyed kids and people, a Fae Girl, time travelers, a haunted shopping mall, Gravity Hill, a man who dated an 'alien,' and much, much more.

It's an absolute barnburner edition of the program packed with creepy stories and plenty of laughs, the perfect companion to your Memorial Day festivities, Summer barbecues, or nights around the campfire.

Full Preview: We kick things off by getting an update from Jason on what he's been doing since his last appearance on BoA:Audio back in the Spring of 2010. From there, we dive right in to our list of odd stories chronicled at From the Shadows, beginning with the Tale of the 'Wicked Priest, which details a woman's terrifying encounter with a mind reading entity dressed as a priest in San Francisco. Jason recounts this bizarre story and reveals how he has since learned of other encounters, in the same area, with the priest, who appears to also transport himself, somehow.

Next we jump to the stories of the Harlequin entity that Jason has filed many reports about in recent months. He recounts how he first heard of this tale from a man who was being visited by an entity with a face like a Harlequin. Jason shares stories of numerous sightings from the witness and his acquaintances who also saw the entity walking down the road and even appearing, at random, in a kitchen. We speculate on what this Harlequin could be, including an elemental or an alien, and also find out about how the Harlequin has made other supernatural appearances to additional, unrelated, people. The story of the Harlequin culminates with a chilling conversation that one witness had with the creature.

Following that, we return to Jason's proverbial wheelhouse: the shadow people and we find out what the latest developments in shadow people lore. We hear some stories about a woman who 'adopted' a shadow kid and a pair of brothers who were visited by the infamous 'Hat Man' shadow person. We also learn about people who talk to shadow people and what kind of reaction they get from the entities. Then we return to an old, but infamous, favorite: The Black Eyed Kids and get an update from Jason on the latest tales of these truly eerie entities. We also talk out about Black Eyed People and find out if they are different from their more diminutive counterparts.

The next tale we cover is the story of the 'Evil Little Man,' a diminutive gnome-like creature that tormented a family in California. Jason also recounts how he has heard additional tale of gnome encounters that happened to another family in the area. This leads us to reflect on how weird, and unbelievable, it is that these tales of gnomes and other 'mythical' entities are actually out there and not just from the world of fiction.

We then hear the story of the 'Fae Girl,' which is about a man who developed a relationship over the internet with a woman who claimed to be descended from a faerie. Jason tells us about what happened when these two met and the strange abilities that this girl seemed to possess. This leads to some discussion on fae people, an alleged fae community in Missouri, and how the relationship between the man and the fae broke down leading to weird things happening to the man.

Time travelers are the next realm of the paranormal which we explore, hearing various tales of people who are seemingly out of time and place, such as a man in an out-of-date suit emerged from a bathroom asking what year it was and another man who may have slipped backward in time. We also go in depth on the story of the 'Time Traveling Tourists,' where a man encountered what may have been time travelers on two consecutive weekends at a bookstore. Bringing things to a meta level, we talk about the Binnall connection to this story and how it also includes some weird time travel elements.

This leads to some additional discussion the inherent problems associated with time travel and Jason shares his own time slip story. Staying within the time travel genre, he also provides an update on the Madman Markham story as he was actually in contact with the alleged time traveler after writing about him in What Lurks Beyond. Jason tells us the stunning story, told to him by Markham, about how he ended up creating a machine big enough to facilitate his own trip through time.

Getting into ghostly encounters, we then hear the story of the 'Terror in the Shopping Mall,' where a presence tormented one particular store in a shopping mall. Jason recounts how weird events seemed to escalate from little prank-like moments to unsettling physical interactions with the staff. Looking at another story, Jason details his trip to Gravity Hill to investigate the stories that cars put in neutral on the hill can roll upwards. Jumping to another tale, we hear the story of a man who heard Roswell secrets when he was a child and confided them to Jason in a strange fashion.

Next we learn about another tale of paranormal love as Jason shares the story of a man who believed he dated an alien. Jason talks about the weird courtship, romance, and break-up that this man experienced while 'dating the alien.' Following that, we hear the story of a man from Missouri who was struck by lightning and, subsequently, could no longer feel cold and his body could not be harmed by it. Jason explains how this is not just an urban legend or paranormal story, since the man's abilities have been well documented in the media over the years. Wrapping up our list of odd tales found at From the Shadows, we hear about the Kalanaro, bizarre grey apes said to lurk in Madagascar.

Heading towards the close, we turn our gaze towards perhaps the most devious creature that Jason has encountered: the man who plagiarized his humor writings and actually won an award using one of Jason's pieces. Jason details the story of how this plagiarist was caught and the status of Jason's quasi award. As we near the end, we begin to segue into talk about the Mayans, the debate over whether or not the new millennium started on 2000 or 2001, and William Shatner's Aftermath. And, finally, we find out what Jason is working on for the rest of 2012 including a new humor blog and potential new books on the horizon.




Jason Offutt Bio

Jason Offutt is a writer and college journalism instructor. At various times in his career, he has also been a newspaper editor, general assignment reporter, photographer, newspaper consultant, bartender, farm hand, and the mayor of a small Midwestern town. His books include Haunted Missouri: A Ghostly Guide to the Show-Me State's Most Spirited Spots, and a collection of parenting humor entitled On Being Dad. He has been named humor writer of the year multiple times by the Missouri Press Association. He lives with his wife and children in Maryville, Missouri.

His website is from-the-shadows.blogspot.com


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