Gods, Ghosts & UFOs

Welcome to season two. This week: a dad in North Yorkshire set up CCTV after his cat refused to go downstairs. The footage is pretty convincing — toys moving, doors swinging, skateboards clattering. Except he’s a video game developer. And it’s 2026. And we genuinely cannot tell anymore what’s real on the internet. Which is the actual problem. Not whether this particular video is real, but the fact that we’ve reached a point where even governments are using AI-generated footage to prove their leaders are alive. And then of course there's the deluge of predictions, prophecies, and institutional claims that 2026 is the year everything changes. SLASH IS ALREADY CHANGING. So okay, what do we do with that? The answer is boring. And also the only one that works. Highlights: Bunch of interviews coming up, and then a GGU summer break — details TBA Story of the father of two in North Yorkshire who fled his home after a bunch of poltergeist incidents But also he’s a video game developer? AI has permanently broken video evidence The Netanyahu coffee shop video, etc The Princess Kate Photoshop incident Jordan’s essay on 2026 predictions Dozens of unrelated sources pointing at 2026 as a turning point: Carl Nell, Gary Nolan, Lou Elizondo, John Ramirez, Chris Bledsoe, the astrological community, Ray Kurzweil Most predictions are unfalsifiable or already wrong — the more dramatic the claim, the vaguer it tends to be The Bledsoe prediction (Easter, “a new knowledge”) and the Regulus-Sphinx alignment But 2026 actually is extraordinary: AI, UFO disclosure, potential WWIII, deepfakes dissolving consensus reality, globalism fracturing, religion surging back Maybe the seers are just seeing reality as it really is Brené Brown on parenting (it relates!) The collective ego story Whatever you’re procrastinating, stop On finally starting a daily meditation practice (good job, Jordan! Mal has thoughts) Kelly Chase on control systems Economic anxiety is Jordan’s personal vulnerability, but everyone has a soft spot where apocalyptic messaging hooks them Viktor Frankl Learning unconditional kindness for the present moment You can’t future proof your life. Lots of coders who future-proofed by learning to code are out of work right now What do we do??? The boring answer is the right one And in the epilogue… Squaring Mormonism with…everything else Does religion lead to or protect against spiritual enslavement? (Yes.) The correlation between certainty and death *** SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On March 17th, a seven-ton space rock broke apart over Ohio. A week later, a guy named Jeff had a dream that told him exactly where to go to find a piece of it. Nothing about this meteorite is special other than that Jeff really really wanted to hold a piece of space in his hands, and a dream showed him where it was. But what about all the people who dream about something for years and nothing ever happens? Why do some prayers get answers and not others? We don’t have the answer. But the question gets us to suffering as a teacher, to the Hebrew origin of the word “Satan” (which just means impediment), and to the idea that maybe wanting something your whole life and never getting it is its own form of divine expression. Also: this is Tom’s last episode. He’s leaving the show to pursue something that’s, in his words, something calling him imperiously. He read us the opening of The Wind in the Willows to explain why. He says the show transformed him. Likewise, Tom. And the show will go on. Our mission will be the same: to joyfully explore all the things they said weren’t real. And in the open epilogue… How an abusive inner critic won’t let you accept compliments The relationship between shame, addiction, and problem-solving Why holding two contradictory truths at the same time is the path to a higher vibration existence Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mal’s roommate Candice is the kind of person you kind of just believe, even when she’s telling you about seeing literal ghosts and UFOs. Which makes her the perfect guest on this week’s episode of Gods, Ghosts & UFOs, the podcast about all the things they said weren’t real. Highlights: Candice Gutierrez, Mal’s roommate and longtime friend An amber orb sighting near BYU, around 2010–2011, the night before finals Other witnesses Strange, impossible, perspective-breaking movement Trying to explain it to other people The Phoenix Lights connection Working on the show Ancient Aliens, who told her to self-publish a book if she wanted to get on the show Similarities to Brown Mountain Lights in North Carolina Real UFOs always get weird “Welcome to adulthood. Here are aliens.” Tom notices the Lotería cards on Candice’s wall, and has a wild story about them Candice’s bonus story: A Disneyland teenage girl ghost Tom invites Emrys to tell her Disneyland story (Space Mountain, hooded figure with black eyes, time dilation, violent visions, eery silence, many witnesses) It was “something wearing a child” Tom reiterates his Disneyland theory And in the open epilogue… GGU origin story Our faith so-called journeys Deconstructing the problem of evil *** SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Highlights: How the Mexican City Mannequins inspired this episode Ushabtis: ancient Egyptian figurines (2600–2100 BC) placed in tombs to do labor in the afterlife, in place of killing servants The Louvre Doll: a bound female clay figure pierced with 13 needles Kolossoi: ancient Greek defensive effigies designed to contain hostile spirits Victorian mourning dolls: wax effigies made at funerals with the dead child’s hair and clothing What did Mal do to her Cabbage Patch doll? Robert the Doll “It was like a metal bar running down my back... That doll was listening to us” The connection to an apparition of a biracial girl Robert exhibits both Type A and Type B inhabitation, and he might be the only one Thousands of apology letters at the museum from visitors who took photos without asking permission Poppets The Nkisi tradition from the Congo Connection to the movie Weapons How Robert the Doll became haunted (possibly) — he might be a mourning doll? The Free Robert the Doll campaign The Kuleshov Effect Projecting consciousness onto human-shaped forms Tsukumogami and vengeful yokai The Hyakki Yagyō, the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons Djinn in Islamic tradition The etymology of pandemonium Michael Singer on not resisting the snake Knowledge vs respect And in the epilogue… Mallory’s gluten-free experiment Suspicious exercise equipment at the gym Pros and cons of Western vs Traditional Chinese Medicine Some of the grossest words we know To help you share this episode, we picked out three moments we all loved and tied them up with a little copy/paste-able bow. “Mal made herself a poppet” (~9:40) — Mal put a lost tooth into her Cabbage Patch doll’s mouth as a child, and Tom points out she was accidentally participating in an ancient ritual of fixing a part of yourself into an effigy. “Don’t go up the stairs!” (~12:12) — Why Victorian mourning dolls never seemed to get haunted, and how human carelessness drives the plot of every horror movie. “It’s not a monster story. It’s an ecosystem.” (~58:11) — Tom’s synthesis after connecting Mexico City mannequins, the Night Parade, jinn, and tsukumogami: when humans leave, something adjacent that was always there fills the space. And then of course there’s this neat little thing we made, if you want to send someone one of our more popular past episodes: The Sharing Kit *** SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Business! Our SECOND EVER Open Epilogue! Monday, March 23, at 1pm PST / 4pm EST. All paid supporters will get an email invite with a link. Be one of them! Episode highlights: Mal watched 2001: A Space Odyssey for the first time, and talked about it every day for three weeks Stanley Kubrick’s astonishing team and the mind blowing scale of the project He tried to purchase preserved human embryos from a Chicago biological supply company for research He applied for insurance from Lloyd’s of London against the discovery of extraterrestrial beings before the film’s release The movie came out in 1968, a year before the moon landing, with basically two pictures of Earth from space to work from Shots that still hold up 60 years later What makes this movie transcendent Why Kubrick told actors not to emote The book and the movie were written simultaneously by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, then diverged at the end Clarke was a techno-optimist atheist who envisioned transcendence through technology; Kubrick saw something darker The bad news monolith Also: the phone in your pocket Is evolution terrifying? Is it good? Kubrick collapses linear time Moon landing was…probably real 97% of people can’t identify human-made vs ai-gen music A friend who spent 20 years making about 500 songs — AI makes a thousand in an afternoon The communal difference between art and AI slop Provenance is the point The porn-pocalypse — news, politics, food, music, everything is porn now When we dehumanize art we don’t experience anything Why the viola is out of tune on purpose The Great Man theory of history is stupid The idea that you can’t make art because you don’t meet criteria for profitability is “the worst way to treat yourself” Idolatry is worshipping the thing you make The two basic human needs Speaking of which… another Open Epilogue on March 23rd! And in the epilogue… Grand Theft Auto cheat codes How to achieve the bliss of absolute focus A fierce and exhausting debate about patriarchy We picked out three moments we all loved and tied them up with a little copy/paste-able bow. “Everything is porn now” (46:18) — Jordan defines porn: taking something real, subtracting everything except one sensation, and reproducing it at scale for profit — and applies it to news, politics, food, movies, music…everything. We’re living in a porn-pocalypse. “The viola is slightly out of tune” (49:39) — Tom explains that orchestras sound beautiful precisely because they’re not perfectly in tune, in a gorgeous defense of imperfection as the actual source of beauty. “Is the terror because it’s bad, or because everything has to die?” (~28:00–27:20) — Mal wonders if maybe the dissonant horror the monolith inspires isn’t a warning, it’s just what evolution feels like from the inside. Or just open up The Sharing Kit *** SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you love this episode and want to share it with someone, we made it easy. Just scroll down to “Share this episode…” and pick a great moment to courageously copy and paste. Highlights: Rabbi Rami Shapiro is the author of nearly 40 books and co-director of the One River Foundation — find him on Substack “Religions are like languages. No language is true or false. The more languages you speak, the more nuanced your understanding of life becomes. Yet it is silence that reveals the ultimate truth.” Rami’s spiritual journey through Zen Buddhism and how he became a “zen rabbi” Why ten years of meditation practice didn’t work You already have it The point isn’t to be enlightened, it’s to be a decent human being Genesis 12:1 in Hebrew is telling the reader to journey inward and free yourself from conditioning “be a blessing to all the families of the earth” Narratives as addictions, Overeaters Anonymous, and Purim cookies “Narratives Anonymous” anyone? “Who’s craving the cookies?” (hint: not the one who’s aware of the craving) Heschel’s architecture of time Space is about having, time is about being “Being is infinite.” Good luck selling The Gospel of Thomas Tom’s researching and writing a book on the suppressed non-dualism running through all Abrahamic religions The divine feminine: wisdom (Hochma) in Hebrew, Dao in Chinese, Mary as Theotokos Rami’s constant mantra How the ego gets in the way writing Rami moved to Nashville and his ego told him to stop playing guitar The spiritual insights of Rami’s 10-year-old grandson And in the epilogue… The true Hebrew translation of what the burning bush said to Moses How your body literally spells the name of God What Jews and Coca-Cola have in common We picked out three moments we all loved and tied them up with a little copy/paste-able bow. “Because it doesn’t work” (~11:00) — Rami tells his Zen teacher he’s been meditating for ten years and nothing’s happening. The teacher says “because it doesn’t work.” Rami: “Why didn’t you tell me that ten years ago?” Teacher: “You wouldn’t have believed me.” “Who’s craving the cookies?” (~25:13) — Rami uses his Overeaters Anonymous experience and a kitchen full of Purim cookies to demonstrate self-inquiry in real time. “We’ll just keep waving” (~58:20) — Rami’s ten-year-old grandson processes the idea that God is like an ocean and arrives at his own theology of death and hope in about thirty seconds. Also, if you want to send someone one of our more popular past episodes, here's a Sharing Kit we made just for you. *** SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Real quick real fast — You know how we're basically betting the farm on people who love the show sharing the show (hint hint nudge nudge THAT’S YOU RIGHT??), well, we’ve done our best to make that even easier with this episode. After the bulleted list of episode highlights, you’ll see a section called “Sharing made easy!” If you want to share this episode with someone, all you gotta do is copy and paste one of those suckers. So please do that! And thank you! Highlights: Beth Williams is a professional psychic energy healer - find her on Instagram @psychicintegration Mal’s seen several energy healers over the past 8–9 years, and Beth is her favorite Growing up deeply religious, and the framing for mystical experience Panic attacks in the middle of the night Yoga produced mystical experiences Cognitive dissonance - “Why now, when I’m doing nothing?” How “doing nothing” can be the thing you need to do the most The correlation between trauma and psychic ability — ”There is no healer who has not first been wounded” (Brother Richard) Quitting the job, leaving the religion, becoming a psychic healer Her husband and kids told her to go to all the yoga she wanted because she was so much easier to be around afterward Discovering that healing can feel easy is almost universal, against the common instinct is that growth is supposed to be hard Training in Reiki, and Beth’s first “clients” Her psychic massage therapist mentor The difference between feeling someone else’s energy and your own A message too private to share, and the realization she should have shared it anyway Saying what comes through, ignoring personal cost Three messages to a banged up mountain biker, who admitted to one, denied the other two, and then later called to confirm Psychics are only right 70% of the time. Discernment is important. It’s messy — real info has to get through the psychic’s own mind, then the client’s, with layers of assumptions and self-deception on both sides Western medicine saved Tom’s his son’s life, and his own vision, but traditional Chinese medicine saved his mother’s vision Messages seem adapted to clients’ existing belief systems: Jesus shows up for Christians; for non-Christians, he doesn’t How being Christlike is asking what the other person actually needs, which may not be what they want and may not be what you want to give them What Beth gets out of her own work How being yourself is the answer to the question of what you’re supposed to do with yourself And in the epilogue… Spiritual direction Mal’s own feet gave her Whether there are overlaps between Mormons and psychics (yes (many)) The prosperity gospel of art — craft still matters more than divine inspiration alone Sharing made easy! “Why am I experiencing this when I’m doing nothing?” (09:36) — Beth describes the cognitive dissonance of having mystical experiences in yoga after a lifetime of trying to earn them through religion, and Jordan reframes it: you weren’t doing nothing, you were finally doing the thing. “Psychic confirmation” (27:33) — After Beth delivers three very personal messages to an injured mountain biker, he denies the first two and confirms the third. Days later he calls to admit she was right, and that her advice saved his relationship with his daughter. “You’re not doing the science anymore” (46:18) — Mal’s observation that you’ve gotta stay open to do real science. And then of course there’s this neat little thing we made, if you want to send someone one of our more popular past episodes: The Sharing Kit Energized,Jordan, Tom, & Mal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Benedictine monk with training in quantum physics, Gregorian chants, and exorcism claimed to have built a device that could see into the past. This man was Father Pellegrino Ernetti, and he assembled his Chronovisor with a secret team high-profile scientists that allegedly included Enrico Fermi and Wernher von Braun. Fifty years ago, they told everyone they took pictures of Christ’s crucifixion. Unsurprisingly, the evidence didn’t hold up. But that didn’t stop the story from getting stranger. The Vatican itself refused to confirm or deny rumors that it had ordered the device dismantled, and Ernetti died without fully recanting. Maybe the problem with any supposed means of looking into the past is that you have to answer the question of who’s holding the camera, and how. Regardless of whether the thing ever actually existed, the Chronovisor did successfully get us talking about the Scole Experiment, Edison’s spirit telephone, and why the past might be genuinely incomprehensible even if you had the means to look. Welcome to episode 50, everyone. Highlights: An introduction to Father Pellegrino Ernetti (1925–1994), a “Renaissance monk” Ernetti’s music scholarship—reconstructing ancient sounds—led him to believe every event leaves behind energy traces, reminding us of the Akashic Record A secret team of 12 scientists (that makes a quorum, folks) began work around 1952 at the Catholic University of Milan The “chronovisor” was reportedly an array of specialized antennas tuned to “historical frequencies,” combined with cathode ray tubes and oscilloscopes Ernetti even claimed it could pick up thoughts What they allegedly saw Story went public in 1972 in Italy Ernetti presented a grainy black-and-white image he said showed Christ’s face during the crucifixion But the image matched a wooden crucifix sculpted under the direction of a mystic named Mother Speranza When confronted by his friend Father François Brune, Ernetti admitted the published photo was of the sculpture, but never explained why he let it circulate Also claimed he was forbidden to talk about it In a letter before his death, he said “everything about the device and Christ’s passion was the sacred truth” The Vatican has never confirmed or denied the Chronovisor’s existence Comparisons to this now-mythical device and remote viewing Perception is never objective (see: our conversation with Mark Turner in Episode 30) Is this why the sculpture of Christ inspired by Mother Speranza looks like a guy from 1960 instead of a first-century Jew? The tension between mystic technology and material technology: two different means of achieving the same ends, maybe? Tom wonders, offhandedly, Why the crucifixion? Why not the resurrection, or better yet, the Beatitudes? The Cottingley Fairies The Scole Experiment in the 90s (wild) Thomas Edison believed similar things to Ernetti, and also proposed a device “Physics is broken” This is not going to work the way you think it’s going to work An old filmmaker who had his actors wave their arms around nonsensically to represent the incomprehensibility of the past We end with some behavior calculated to baffle far-future audiences And in the epilogue… We’re joined by listener Brendan McKinney to talk about his experiences with synchronicities, which he wrote about here: https://ggupodcast.substack.com/p/authorial-intrusions *** SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Way back during the COVID lockdowns, when the streets of Mexico City were quiet and empty of people, something else started walking them. Multiple witnesses reported encounters with humanoid entities that moved like mannequins. With stiff limbs, and lifeless arms, running on their tiptoes. Backwards. One guy got chased. Another got followed to a bus stop. Someone else watched one of these things lift a sewer grate like it weighed nothing and climb inside. After looking at three independent accounts, Tom gives some historical context, including the Golem of Prague, and a bridal mannequin in Chihuahua that stood in a shop window for almost a hundred years. It turns out there’s real science way down in Uncanny Valley, and it doesn’t make us feel any better about it. Neither does a certain “fantastic” YouTube video. No more almost-faces, mmmkay? Highlights: Mannequin-like entity encounters during the COVID lockdown in Mexico City A woman-shaped entity running backward on its tiptoes, arms outstretched like lifeless prosthetics, later appeared in the second-floor window of a derelict house A mannequin in an empty commercial space with its hand extended, then reappearing down the boulevard A mannequin-like figure crossed Reforma with clumsy steps, then lifted a sewer grate like it weighed nothing and climbed inside All three accounts independently describe unnatural movement Mexico’s most famous “living mannequin” was a bridal figure in a Chihuahua shop window from 1930 to 2024, rumored to be the embalmed body of the shop owner’s daughter The Golem of Prague, a 16th century clay entity brought to life with God’s name Talos, the bronze giant of Greek mythology European chess-playing automatons (which actually had a small person hidden inside) The term "uncanny valley” was coined by Japanese robotics professor Masahiro Mori in a 1970 essay published in an obscure journal called Energy Mori believed our affinity for humanoid things increases as they become more realistic, then plunges into revulsion when they’re almost human, then recovers when they’re indistinguishable from human Mori noted zombies are scarier than corpses because they move The pandemic was a perfect storm for uncanny encounters Spring-Heeled Jack was a Victorian London entity that assaulted people, breathed fire, and leapt over 10-foot walls Brother Richard’s idea that paranormal entities “clothe themselves in our imagination” makes us wonder if mannequins were the imaginative “clothing” available to people surrounded by empty shops and display windows Our revulsion to almost human things might be adaptive, helping us identify the diseased and dead Could also imply the existence of a predator that mimicked humans (good luck sleeping tonight!) The mountain lions that cry like human babies “I Feel Fantastic” - an impromptu watch party That track Tom mentioned at the end And in the epilogue… Monster mannequins in pop culture How 28 Years Later’s psychedelic zombie twist mirrors real-world partisan dehumanization “Playing in the ruins” when the systems around us are broken Subscribe now PS - If you want to join us on our no-kill run, we made this for you: Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A former analyst for the Bank of England just warned that alien disclosure could throw global financial systems into crisis. Tom and Jordan can’t stop laughing. We’re already in financial crisis, aliens or no aliens. And if there was some official disclosure tomorrow, people would just go back to work and worry about groceries. Unless the revelation materially changes people’s lives, they won’t care that much. But what if there’s free energy technology? The analyst worries that would be a disaster. But, uh, for whom? ExxonMobil? Probably. You and me? No. The materialist scarcity mindset is transactional. If you get something, it must be taken from me. But there’s a more efficient way to structure our communities, and it’s about building for mutual benefit. Not easy, but definitely not impossible. Anyway, we’re still pretty sure we’re headed for calamity, thanks for a broad cultural inability to accept reality, which turns out to not care very much about our ideas about what it should be. The highlights: Helen McCaw, former Bank of England policy expert, warns that revelation of aliens could throw global financial systems into crisis The cases for and against this prediction Tom reads part of McCaw’s letter to Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey urging contingencies for alien disclosure (from The times of London article) How she even came to care about UFOs Internal memo from British Defense chiefs from 1997 discusses “technology acquisition” from alien tech Basically, same as America What if there’s free energy technology? For whom would this be a disaster? Where Lord of the Flies got it wrong (the real life kids who went through it) Materialism leads to scarcity mindsets and zero-sum transactional societies How mutual benefit structures the most efficient social models Buddha in the Dhammapada: “Therefore Ananda, be ye lamps unto yourselves, clinging to no external refuge, clinging to the truth as a refuge” Regardless of anything, we’re basically headed for disaster Why suffering and the acceptance (or rejection) of reality are closely correlated A practice of presence with the expectation of imminent cataclysm The Honey Doctrine Mindfulness and presence are the last words on living the fulfilled life After recording this episode, we did our very first Open Epilogue, which we unfortunately were not able to record. Don’t worry! We’ll do another one very soon. Don't miss the next one! PS - If you want to join us on our no-kill run, we made this for you: The Sharing Kit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brother Richard Hendrick is a Capuchin Franciscan friar and Celtic mystic. He comes from “a people who embrace faith but did not let go of magic and understand that one completes the other.” When Tom asks how to deal with anger and powerlessness in the face of cruelty, Brother Richard offers this: “Anger externalized is actually internalized fear.” Those moving in hatred WANT hatred in return because it justifies their action. They push and push waiting for the explosion. So the hardest practice is maintaining compassion even for those who hate you—because that’s when the other is actually disassembled and overcome. Three practices: Hold yourself in compassion. Take refuge in great teachers—we’ve done this before over thousands of years. And manage basic human needs—no good decision is ever made at 2am. Also, how can we grow up? Our culture is bad at helping people make the transition from adolescence into adulthood. What if the big missing piece in our development is transcendent experience? Are we doomed? Brother Richard says no! But you’re gonna have to start meditating. The good news is that he has some things to say that might help you finally start the practice. Brother Richard’s sternly non-political take on what’s going on in Minnesota Most hatred and anger comes from fear Choosing compassion means accepting vulnerability, even and especially when your compassion is rejected Hate wants hate, anger wants anger — it’s cyclical justification “No matter how much hatred they are pouring on me, fundamentally I have a brother or a sister in front of me” Three practices for holding compassionate solidarity People full of compassionate energy can often forget their own needs—they become tired, worn, anxious, and then make bad decisions How Brother Richard became a friar Celtic mysticism maintains the sacred nature of both the subtle world and ourselves, plus our venerable relationship with it What to look for in a good spiritual teacher The icon of the Ladder of Heaven shows monks climbing to heaven, and at the very top, just as one steps in, he’s falling Saint Augustine: “God wrote two books—the book of Scriptures and the Book of Nature. We have not read His word if we can’t read both.” When we’re in relationship with nature, the transcendent begins to happen The Dalai Lama: “Meditation over thousands of years becomes a laboratory of the mind and soul” If meditation stretches you with compassion and bestows peace, it’s real; if it makes you think you’re superior, it’s egoic The muscle of focus and inner attention is atrophied in the Western world Start with basic stillness practices, even just two minutes, because most people haven’t done it before Distraction is literally half of the practice of meditation And in the epilogue… What the Fae actually are (hint: it’s complicated!) Why believing everything a non-human intelligence tells you is dangerous Brother Richard’s take on a particular passage from the Gospel of Thomas (because of course Tom had to ask him) PS - We’re on a no-kill run. If you want to help, we made this Sharing Kit for you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Most people believe in ghosts. Always have. Always will. EJAE, the lead vocalist from K-Pop Demon Hunters, told a ghost story on Jimmy Fallon and nobody questioned her sanity, because it turns out people who DON’T believe in ghosts are the minority. Tom recorded in one of the most haunted studios in New Orleans in the ‘90s. And boy does he have stories. A distorted face in a window. A badly burned little girl pleading for help. A late night tryst with an apparition… Do artists see ghosts more often? Or does making art make you more sensitive to what’s already there? Regardless, when you make the effort to really say something—to write, to record, to create—there’s magic in it. Maybe you’re more that thing than you are the relentless cyclone of anxious thoughts you live with the rest of the time. Ars longa, vita brevis. Art is long, life is short. We’re here to play the long game. IMPORTANT UPDATE We promised to have our first virtual hang this week, but then we made a scheduling mistake, and so now it will officially be NEXT WEEK. Monday, February 2 1pm PST / 4pm EST. Do you see that? That’s an actual date, and an actual time. Which means it will be WAY MORE EMBARRASSING if we have to reschedule again, which we will not. All paid Substack and Patreon supporters can expect to get the link within the next couple of days. (And a quick reminder that the 1st 100 people get Founder status for $4/month for life — and not all those spots have been taken yet.) Okay, enough of all that. On to the highlights: The vocalists from K-Pop Demon Hunters saw a ghost and told Jimmy Fallon about it People who don’t believe in ghosts are in the minority—always have been, always will be Mal always asks people if they believe in ghosts at parties We love people who say “I don’t believe in ghosts, but I saw a ghost” Tom’s was in a swing band in the 90s and has lots of other recording studio ghost stories King’s Way Studio in New Orleans was (is?) famously haunted by Germaine Cazanave Wells, Queen of Mardi Gras, total party girl from the 1950s/60s who fell, hit her head, died, never left Tom’s friend saw a distorted, glaring face appear in the window Tom made deals with Jermaine in the clawfoot tub: “Listen, don’t show up now—I don’t want to slip and fall while naked” Another band’s bass player (an EMT) was awakened by a young woman badly burned, pleading for help—turned out to be Jermaine’s daughter who died in a fire And, uh, another story, which you’ll have to go ahead and just listen to Tom tell it Creative people seem to encounter ghosts more often—artists, musicians, people in heightened emotional/creative states Are ghosts attracted to creativity, or does creativity make people more sensitive to what’s already there? What it’s like to re-read own old writing Maybe we’re more than the stuff that constantly spins in our brains The more you create, the more you pin down and make substantial, the more that you ARE There’s a magic to making the effort to really express yourself in some tangible way, going on the record, so to speak, even if you’re wrong, even if you’re full of crap Tom loves himself and his friends as individuated people, even while recognizing we’re expressions of Brahman He also talks to his peach trees, so And in the epilogue… What it’s like to prank a prankster That one time Mal got kicked out of girl’s camp A truly horrific story about fried chicken *** SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, we’re doing something ambitious and maybe a little bit stupid, but hopefully the right kind of stupid. We’re rejecting the algorithm. No clips for the feeds. No farming for engagement. Because social media is antisocial. Tom wrote a book about the Chapel Hill music scene in the ‘90s. Before discoverability tools and doomscrolling. Before music became something you listen to by yourself. Back when people listened together, and told their friends. After all, word of mouth is the OG algorithm. So that’s how we’re gonna do it. It’ll be slower, but it’ll be better. So go tell your friends, and come on up to the house. ~~~NEWS!~~~ We’ll be having our first virtual hangout next week for all paid subscribers and Patreon supporters — speaking of which: THIS IS THE LINK TO OUR PATREON1st 100 people get Founder status for $4/month for life. You might be wondering what the difference will be between Patreon and Substack.Here’s the breakdown: Paid supporters of either will get access to ad-free episodes and epilogues. For the Patreon folks, there will be more bonus video content, as well as access to a private Discord, which we will be launching as soon as the first 100 people sign up. On Substack, there will be more written work (essays and supplements), some of which will be behind a paywall, as well as access to a paid-subscriber chat, which will go online once we reach 100 sign-ups there. The world is full of people asking for your money. Anyone who supports this show with actual dollars will have our undying gratitude, and we’ll do everything we can to return the love. Highlights: The algorithm is killing us. We have the data. Social media melts attention and connection How and why Jordan got into podcasting Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History proved millions of people will listen to 4-hour deep dives, despite the TikTok-ification of everything How do we produce stuff that earns thoughtful attention without marketing it on platforms that absolutely ravage attention How posting on socials violates the creative instinct If you build your platform on social media, you don’t get to leave David Foster Wallace’s “This is Water”: we’re all actively worshiping something—the passive viewing sneakily changes our personalities Tom’s book (A Really Strange and Wonderful Time) about the Chapel Hill music scene in the 90s became a manifesto for “scenius”—Brian Eno’s term for the genius of community, not individual artists We used to listen to music publicly, with friends, talk about it Now music is private, instantly available, and we listen alone The Great Deceleration: we’re trying to build something that encourages depth over virality, connection over “engagement” (whatever the hell that is) We can’t fail. We’re already on the path. First 100 Patreon supporters get Founding Member status at $4/month for life If we can grow successfully without bowing to the algorithmic feeds, it’ll chart a path for other creators Complete transparency and monthly updates (at least) on the numbers, tracking the OG algorithm of word of mouth If we’re not giving you what you want, tell us If we ARE giving you what you want, tell your friends And in the epilogue… Tom’s dog chorus What the word “whoredoms” really means (and why the world is full of whoremongers) The implications of a theory that ancient pyramids started as industrial chemical factories Once again, here's a link to our freshly-minted Patreon. And a reminder that the first 100 supporters will get Founder status for $4/month, forever. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Most (most!) people report having noetic experiences. Knowing who’s calling before you answer. Predictive dreams. Feeling someone’s presence. Gut feelings that turn out to be true. The Institute of Noetic Sciences was founded by Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell, and it just released a study about twelve unique “noetic signatures” based on deep survey data from over four thousand people. Some of them know things in their bodies. Others get mental, emotional, or spiritual downloads. Everyone has a different signature. But what are the hazards of personal revelation without coherent social support? And what will happen to us if we keep replacing our latent human superpowers with technology? Still, we have high hopes for 2026. Maybe this is the year we heal from screen addictions. Maybe we’ll finally get some kind of blockbuster disclosure about non-human intelligences. Or maybe, if we all pull together, we can finally break free from the algorithm and move back into our enchanted world. Highlights: The Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) was founded in 1973 by Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell They study consciousness, human potential, and the intersection of science and subjective experience “Noetic” comes from Greek “noesis” meaning “inner knowing” that transcends the five senses and conventional notions of time and space (Examples: knowing who’s calling before caller ID, predictive dreams, feeling someone in the room, gut feelings that prove accurate) Most people report having these experiences, but they’re still stigmatized The Noetic Signature Inventory is a 44-item questionnaire measuring individual’s unique pattern of intuitive experience Four primary intuitive pathways: body-based (gut feelings), mental (sudden knowing), emotional (feeling into situations), spiritual (mystical experiences) Is “inner knowing” reliable without the support of a community? Why it’s so hard to balance social coherence against mystical experience Robin Lassiter said in the last episode that patriarchy and materialism might not have just been huge mistakes—we got amazing stuff from them, and now it’s time to turn the wheel In what ways are we trying to replace our noetic abilities with technology? Jordan abashedly hopes this is the year UFOs, NHIs, etc stop being laughed at on on CNN Mal hopes we heal from screen addiction (it’s actually possible!) Tom hopes we can free ourselves from the fetters of the algorithm and move back into an enchanted world The real magic is in interaction, intuition, knowing, and the gorgeous unpredictability of ourselves and each other And in the epilogue… How algorithms actually steal your personality A pretty MASSIVE decision about the future of the show Our first progress report on Jordan Crowder’s Law of Probability course *** SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Roman concrete has been healing itself for thousands of years, surviving earthquakes, volcanoes, the ocean… As she’s actively recovering from surgery, Mal has lots of questions about self-healing. And also why her dad keeps telling her to use colloidal silver. Jordan Crowder has a lot to say about how the body heals, it turns out, having survived some major, life-threatening health crises himself. We ask him lots of questions, and he offers insights that synthesize science and spirituality in a way that is just exactly our vibe. Finally, we’re gonna hear about something he calls probability engineering. Your future is a probability cloud. Every decision collapses some outcomes and expands others. Agency is your power to project new pathways into your future that didn’t exist based on your past. But no, you can’t manifest a million dollars without becoming the kind of person who would have a million dollars. Change requires energy, and the universe resists it just like people do. We talk about how you can do it anyway. Welcome to 2026. Highlights: Jordan Crowder from Conscious Observers doubles the number of Jordans on today’s episode Mal shares a story about Roman concrete that survives earthquakes, volcanoes, and millennia under the sea because it literally heals itself over time The whole Nature Communications article is basically about a possible misreading of an ancient concrete recipe Why Mal is being drawn to things with “self-healing” in the title Her dad keeps trying to make her spray colloidal silver on her surgery wound The placebo effect works even when you know it’s a placebo Cellular communication How to help your body do what it’s spent millions of years evolving to do (hint: get out of the way) Thoughts create reality through quantum probability cloud engineering (an introduction to Jordan Crowder’s Law of Probability) Your future is not one predetermined path (obviously), it’s a cloud of potential outcomes You can project entirely new pathways into your future probability field that didn’t exist before based on your past Agency maxxing Getting a millions dollars (as a, ahem, for instance) probably means changing behaviors you’ve never changed before People generally don’t like to change—and neither does the universe, because change requires more energy Also/related: dumping a million dollars on a someone who isn’t ready for it is usually calamitous What is a Minimally Viable Manifestation? Ellen Langer says procrastination is not the problem, mindlessness is The real work is increasing awareness and “awakeness” to your decisions and choices Jordan and Mal commit to starting Jordan Crowder’s 21-day probability engineering course And in the epilogue… The overwhelming evidence of reincarnation overcomes Western skepticism Without humans, who would care about beauty? We’re not here just to collapse wave functions. Jordan Crowder’s 90-year-old Jesus hypothetical *** SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Norwegian physicist just published a peer-reviewed paper that mathematically describes consciousness as a fundamental field that existed before space and time. She proposes testable predictions—including the possibility that if consciousness differentiated itself into structured reality through something like universal thought, it might have left detectable patterns in the cosmic microwave background. This is ancient scripture overlapping with cutting-edge physics. “Thou Art That” from the Upanishads. “I AM that I AM” from Exodus. The earth was formless and void, then God said “Let there be light.” Consciousness precedes manifestation, thought is a collapse mechanism. Everything happens in cycles. We went out to do science in a universe of strict materialism, and now we’re coming back, changed, to the wisdom of mystery and consciousness. Finally, we talk to Robin Lassiter about her new Mystery School for the Brokenhearted. Here’s to the end of a fraught and beautiful 2025, and a 2026 which promises to be no less complicated. Highlights: Norwegian physicist published a peer-reviewed paper treating consciousness as a fundamental field rather than an emergent brain phenomenon Mathematical integration with quantum field theory Testable predictions involving quantum field interactions, neural coherence patterns, and cosmological signatures in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) Tom connects this to the Chandogya Upanishad: “Thou Art That” The Abrahamic analog: “The earth was formless and void” (undifferentiated potential), “I AM that I AM” (consciousness preceding manifestation), “Let there be light” (universal thought as collapse mechanism) From 2nd century BCE scripture to modern testable mathematical physics of universal consciousness Everything goes in circles. Going out into the “billiard ball universe” of strict materialism, now we’re coming back around Robin on discovery through experience itself What is the relationship between us (personality, body, experience) and the unifying field? Evolution of grief in community The healing that can only happen in the presence of others The Mystery School for the Brokenhearted: the mutual capacity to hold grief without trying to fix or rescue What makes this era of human history unique Robin’s “big yes” to the ampersand universe *** SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Let’s talk about drugs. This week we learned that some doctors have figured out how to make DMT trips last as long as you want. They can dial it up or down, or turn it off if things go south. And in the ultimate hack to do this legally, they formed an actual church, and they’re recruiting members for what they call “expeditions.” Their stated goals are to develop therapies, solve advanced problems, explore consciousness, and build something called “the Matrix Machine.” Probably a long shot, but maybe this is how we’ll find out who and what DMT aliens really are. And speaking of non-human entities: it turns out there’s a mushroom in China that makes pretty much everyone see itty bitty little people. And this thing has absolutely no relation to psilocybin, if you can believe it. In fact, it doesn’t contain a single psychoactive compound that we know about. So, once again, we’re left wondering if these are hallucinations, or…something else. Highlights: The Extended State DMT program (DMTX) has figured out how to stabilize and extend DMT experiences The International DMT Church Consistency of DMT experiences Jordan conjures a comically horrible mental image of people handcuffed to beds with IV drips, trapped in thousand-year experiences they can’t escape Are we exploring the architecture of the human mind, or accessing something external to ourselves? Most psychedelic insights are “just vibes” (Paul McCartney, for instance) A mushroom that makes 96% of people see tiny people or elves, often dancing, jumping, or marching (the story) Reports span Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and a third-century Taoist text about a “flesh spirit mushroom” that lets you “see a little person” The mushroom is genetically closer to porcini than to psilocybin—contains NO known psychoactive compounds Chemical analyses reveal nothing Experiments on mice Does this explain why every culture throughout history has legends of fairies, elves, and sprites? Are the mushrooms making you hallucinate little people, or only allowing you to see the little people that are already there? (Picture a Lovecraftian world full of squirming horrors just outside our normal perception) Victorian art depicting sprites smoking pipes while sitting on mushrooms No epilogue this week. Blame the holidays. But also, if you’re not one of the handful of heroes with paid subscriptions — well, now you’ve got time to catch up, don’t you? godsghostsUFOs.com *** SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens after we die? It’s one of the fundamental questions that drives all human interest in religion, philosophy, and science. But while it might not conform to strict materialism, we actually do have a huge body of evidence about what the so-called afterlife might look like. You’ve heard of near death experiences, but you might not know how rigorously they’ve been studied. There are thousands of documented cases that reveal remarkably consistent patterns. So that’s what’s up for today — NDEs, afterlife cosmologies, how the James Webb Space Telescope is breaking Big Bang theory, and what the handprint of God might look like to someone trying to build a religion. Oh, and a few hours before we started recording, I heard about Robert Monroe’s visit to the afterlife, so we talk about that, too. In other words, if you can only listen to one more podcast before you die, you could do worse than this one. Highlights: Growing up Mormon meant growing up with a rich afterlife cosmology NDE stories as religious confirmation bias Ancestors and experiences with people who’ve passed on People get too comfortable with their pictures of reality in both science AND religion Is the James Webb Space Telescope breaking the Big Bang theory? (that Kurzgesagt video) In every generation, you can find prominent scientists who say we’ve figured pretty much everything out, right before some major paradigm collapses Christian Wiman: “If you believe at 50 what you believed at 15, then you have not lived, or have denied the reality of your life” (from My Bright Abyss) The large and rigorously studied body of NDE evidence (Jeffrey Long’s work, in particular) What Robert Monroe saw in his trip to the afterlife (ht Jordan Crowder’s podcast, and Ultimate Journey) Hell as a lower-dimensional experience Can a higher-dimensional God manifest as a lower-dimensional being? Would that lower-dimension being not be God? Bad branding for universal consciousness Samuel Norton’s Come as You Are, and the hotel analogy for final judgment And in the epilogue: Why God might call most Christian creeds “an abomination” The real definition of moral courage How social media is like carbon monoxide, lulling doom-scrollers into the sleep of death. SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nick Cook is a British aviation journalist turned consciousness researcher. We discuss his take on the Age of Disclosure documentary, why the UFO conversation has become impossible to have like adults, and how simulation theory might be the most grounding framework for understanding reality (no but really). Highlights: Nick’s storied career, from winning four Royal Aeronautical Society Journalism Awards to investigating Nazi anti-gravity research (Hunt for Zero Point) to consciousness studies (Bigelow essay contest winner) His “Age of Disclosure Challenge”: trying and failing to have actual conversations with skeptics about the documentary’s evidence We’ve lost the ability to hold adult conversations about polarizing topics Back to the co-creative nature of the phenomenon Nick’s simulation theory framework: consciousness is non-local, not generated by individual brains but expressed through them We’re all nodes of a larger consciousness system, constantly feeding data back Simulation theory might sound meaningless, but it actually doubles down Truly understanding consciousness totally recontextualizes human hierarchies The great secret of disclosure isn’t about NHI technology, it’s about how governments have weaponized this for 80 years with Cold War mentality Nick’s approach is the least horrifying version Mal has ever heard Someone please come up with a better name for “simulation theory” And in the epilogue: Nick shares his perspective on human agency, or “free will” Why our souls might have dreaded coming to Earth School What the Belgium drone mystery proves what intelligence agencies know (or don’t) *** SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kicking us off this week, Mal takes us through the complete James saga—a YouTuber whose mysterious “UFO” turned into toxic performance art. After that, a high-level conversation about The Age of Disclosure, before Tom finally gets to share a wonderful update from Loch Ness. It’s good, guys. It’s real good. Highlights: Recapping and then tying off the story of James the UFOtuber How he started off, what made him compelling, etc That time a couple weeks ago when he maybe faked his own death? His half-hearted attempts to keep the mystery alive The big reveal that it was all a hoax A lively conversation about the crappiness of this whole thing, and what it reveals as an artifact of our culture Weaponized sincerity, parasocial manipulation, and other fun ideas to enjoy Jordan’s meta-review of The Age of Disclosure (including a quick recap of his experience attending a screening in LA) A stupid review from the New York Times that we refuse to link to A Bug’s Life as a labor organizing manifesto Go join Citizens for Disclosure (after you hear an impassioned pitch for civic engagement) Something is shifting, people are tired of the same things, conversations are bending differently News from Loch Ness - researchers used underwater drones to capture very boring footage and very interesting SOUNDS Very much also: charming Scottish narration and infectious enthusiasm The lake monster laugh is going to be our new ringtone And in the epilogue Why being deceived doesn’t make you a chump How caveman stereotypes were reflections of mid-century misogyny and violence The study that shows how shame causes repeated bad behavior while self-acceptance corrects it. *** SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices