The Fortean/paranormal/conspiracy thread

[Steve Justice]

Guilty as charged. 

Anything else on the site worth reading? Or is this the best of the bunch?

[Rascall Flatts]

On 12/29/2017 at 6:04 AM, NoUseforaUsername said:

I'm not sure the Zodiac Killer fits into Fortean or Paranormal or Conspiracy but it's probably the most intriguing mystery I've ever read about.

The movie by David Fincher was very good.

Some good documentaries and theories about who it is/was online.

It's been a while since I read the book, written by the guy Jake Gyllenhaal played in the movie; I remember enjoying it but then reading that a lot of the stuff in the book was discredited.

Graysmith is his name.

There's quite an interesting theory that the Zodiac killer didn't exist at all, and the crimes were all related to local drug disputes. I don't know if I can buy that - who was the fellow in the costume after all? - but the whole thing is really interesting to a true crime fan like myself. I got a bit obsessed with it last year and went down a wormhole. Silly really, as it will never be solved. Much like Jack the Ripper!

The film is great, but it treats Graysmith's carny bullshit as gospel. Still, that Hurdy Gurdy man scene at the start - magic.

Edited January 1, 2018 by Rascall Flatts
additional thought

[NoUseforaUsername]

The cops actually stopped Zodiac after the taxi driver murder in San Francisco but they were told the suspect was black so they let him go.

[Briefcase]

That tunnel story sounds like something that would be passed through generations working on underground tunnels. I know its been proved as fiction but wouldn't surprise me if stories like that have been passed on during the years either as a wind up or hoax.  

[Drfunke]

Hi all,

 

been a while since much happened in here.

 

Signed up to Coast to Coast AM, some great interviews on there, generally on listen to anything UFO/Alien related...

 

Anyone listen to any good podcasts or recommend anyone who is worth listening to? Also quite like any remote viewing stuff

[Astro Hollywood]

1 hour ago, Drfunke said:

Anyone listen to any good podcasts or recommend anyone who is worth listening to?

I listen to a lot of Fortean podcasts, so here's a big block of text.

Bigfoot Collectors Club is a great new one that's only been around for a couple of months, co-hosted by the reverend from True Blood, with a couple of actors and paranormal enthusiasts covering a famous case, and swapping real-life stories with their guest. Last Podcast on the Left is really good too, with a huge enough archive that you're bound to find plenty of topics you're interested in, although is it primarily a comedy show where they riff on that week's subject, and the hosts might be a little obnoxious for some people's tastes. If you crave some really in-depth investigation, I'd recommend Astonishing Legends, which covers topics in lengthy 2 or 3 parters. Not Alone is quite similar, although far newer and shorter, but they talk about really interesting, lesser-known cases. The last one I listened to was about the Van Meter Visitor; a devilish pteranodon that caused mischief in a small town in Iowa in 1903.

Blurry Photos is another 'two funny hosts discuss paranormal cases' show, but again, with so many episodes in the can, you'll find plenty that grab your interest. Lore is really popular right now, and with good reason. It's more of a folklore cast, but each episode is only 20 tightly-packed, perfectly-formed minutes. The Folklore Podcast is another good one if that's what you're interested in. They did a great one about Gef the talking mongoose, and an episode about modern fairy sightings that had a brilliant story about a man who was walking in the highlands and looked down to see his shadow being rolled up and cut with a pair of sheers by some gnomes.

Monstertalk is mostly-cryptozoology centred with weekly guest experts, and perfectly Fortean in its approach where it's neither sneering sceptic nor blindly accepting of the crazy stories. One of my recent favourites is Haunted, where British journalist Danny Robins investigates a different ghost sighting every week, but with a quite Jon Ronson/Louis Theroux vibe that asks as much about why we believe as what's actually happening.

There are billions out there, but these are the best ones I've discovered so far. If you're interested in fiction, The Magnus Archives is one of the best-written paranormal shows I've ever encountered. It's basically set at a British X-Files type institute, and each episode is an eyewitness report being read out so it can be archived as an audio file. There is an overarching story, so start at episode 1 and work your way through, but it really is fantastic, so you'll probably be hooked for life within the first ten minutes.

Edited March 7, 2018 by Astro Hollywood

[Loki]

Do you still listen to Mysterious Universe, Woy?  You recommended it to me years ago, and I listened for a fair while but it really started getting on my tits.  Plus quite a few of their guests were obviously con men, and their championing of charlatans like David Paulides really started to feel in poor taste.

[Astro Hollywood]

1 hour ago, Loki said:

Do you still listen to Mysterious Universe, Woy?  You recommended it to me years ago, and I listened for a fair while but it really started getting on my tits.  Plus quite a few of their guests were obviously con men, and their championing of charlatans like David Paulides really started to feel in poor taste.

Not for a long time. Their archives don't go back very far on my app of choice, and there are so many other shows out there now, that explore specific incidents in depth, which I greatly prefer to the 'interviews with nutters' format.

[UK Kat Von D]

I’m about 95% sure Donald Trump is a time traveller. 

[Chris B]

There's evidence of that in a documentary I saw.

[UK Kat Von D]

To be fair, back to the future shows that even an idiot can become massively wealthy and successful with time travel.

However the actual evidence is far more convincing. 

Nikola Tesla had claimed to have been working on time travel and that he had been able to go back and forth in time. A few days after Tesla died on January 8th, 1943, his possessions were seized by officials from the amazingly-named government Office of Alien Property. About 3 weeks after that, all of Tesla's things and documents were given a thorough examination by a group of FBI agents that included none other than John G. Trump, the uncle of the current Republican candidate for U.S. President Donald J. Trump. 

Trump’s uncle was, by all accounts, a very accomplished and intelligent man, an M.I.T. Professor of Engineering, who helped design X-ray machines for cancer patients and did radar research work for the army during World War 2. 

John G. Trump’s analysis of Tesla’s papers concluded that:

Tesla’s “thoughts and efforts during at least the past 15 years were primarily of a speculative, philosophical, and somewhat promotional character,” but “did not include new, sound, workable principles or methods for realizing such results.”

Tesla was a bit nuts and was known to chat a bit of shit, but nothing from 15 years of work is hard to believe. Donald was close with his uncle especially during his later years, and has said in interviews about how his uncle let him in on huge secrets. If John had the basics of time travel worked out then it is easy to assume someone with a lot of money could have funded the conclusion of the research. 

The two books by Ingersoll Lockwood are absolutely mind blowing as well. Written towards the end of the 1800s they tell the story of a kid called Baron Trump, who travels from Russia to America while being guided by someone called Don. 

Donald Trump has a son called Baron.

The second book is called “the last president” and is about the downfall of America after an election due to civil war. The book gives the address of where the revolution starts, which is the current address for Trump Towers. 

Seriously, go to YouTube and fall down the rabbit hole 

 

Edited March 8, 2018 by UK Kat Von D

[BomberPat]

Checking Snopes on that, because I have nothing better to do, and the similarities all sound a bit "too good to be true".

Apparently the character in The Last President isn't really called "Baron Trump", in that "Baron" is his title rather than his actual name, and the character isn't named "Don" either; he's introduced as "the learned Spaniard, Don Constantino Bartolomeo Strepholofidgeguaneriusfum" so, again, "Don" would be his title, rather than his actual name.

[UK Kat Von D]

I’m aware of that, but it’s a pretty minor difference to say “oh that’s the title and not first name.” In the books they also had Castle Trump rather than Trump Towers. Some people dismis the books because they contain lots of strange things, like talking animals and a man frozen in time. 

Their is a massive depth of evidence though, I only typed out key points which made me want to research it 

[BomberPat]

19 minutes ago, UK Kat Von D said:

Some people dismis the books because they contain lots of strange things, like talking animals and a man frozen in time. 

Isn't that rather how these things work, though? If you only present the coincidences that fit your argument, and ignore everything that doesn't, it makes it sound inarguable, but if you bring in the talking animals and giant turtles, it's a harder sell. So you just stick with the bits that fit.

[UK Kat Von D]

2 hours ago, BomberPat said:

Isn't that rather how these things work, though? If you only present the coincidences that fit your argument, and ignore everything that doesn't, it makes it sound inarguable, but if you bring in the talking animals and giant turtles, it's a harder sell. So you just stick with the bits that fit.

Well not everything is answered for, that’s only one small part. Also it’s hardly even a proper flaw, a guy called Don guiding a guy called Baron Trump? Very reasonable to assume that they used titles so to be a bit subtle. Why else would anyone call their kid Baron? 

How much more obvious do hidden clues in history books have to be? Are they expected to have included Trump’s blood type in the book? There are still loads of things in the book which can’t be explained, like giving the address for Trump Towers being listed as the site where the revolution starts? In a book called The Last President. After starting in Russia. The President had a cabinet member called Pence. 

I read the Snopes thing the other week, and it didn’t manage to cover very much. It’s dismissal of things relies on grasping at straws for the most part. Apprently because the book has a man frozen in time it must all be a coincidence, because we can’t see a man frozen in time. Personally I can see a direct link between “man frozen in time” and “man travels in time.”

At the end of the day, if someone was going to discover time travel you’d need a mad scientist like Tesla with the backing of a billionaire like Trump. If it can be done, those two are the best bet.

Edited March 8, 2018 by UK Kat Von D