The What If? Podcast

We hosted a little live hang out with friends and listeners to discuss the balloons and objects that have been spotted (and shot down) over North America recently. We also talked about Warped Tour, Gucci's Loose Wings, and DJing middle school dances. 

On August 16, 1942 a U.S. Navy blimp took off from Treasure Island, just outside San Francisco. Five hours later it crashed 11 miles away in Daly City, CA with no one aboard. The two men aboard the blimp were never found.  We're doing a live "call-in" show on Monday, 2/13. Join us! 

Spencer is using his penchant for conspiratorial thinking for good and trying to find buried treasure in St. Paul. Ryan is cold. No one is talking about blimps.  We're doing a live call-in show on Monday, 2/13! Join us here! 

Last year, Filippo Bernardini was arrested at New York's JFK airport and charged with wire fraud and aggravated identity theft for stealing over 1,000 unpublished and draft manuscripts from authors and publishers around the world. Strangely, it doesn't appear that Bernardini ever tried to profit from the thefts–the works were never leaked or sold, and no clear motive has been identified. Lucky for you, your two favorite dum dums are on the case!  References:  The Bizarre, Unsolved Mystery of Filippo Bernardini and the Stolen Book Manuscripts Literary mystery may finally be solved as man arrested for allegedly stealing unpublished books | Publishing | The Guardian Italian Citizen Pleads Guilty To Multi-Year Manuscript Theft And Impersonation Scheme | USAO-SDNY | Department of Justice The Talented Mr. Bernardini Italian Citizen Arrested In Online Impersonation Scheme... The End of a Book World Mystery: A Suspect in Manuscript Thefts to Plead Guilty Ryan's new record, Before What Came After, is out now. Go give it a listen! 

Sali Sheppard-Wolford really went for it with her 2006 book Valley of the Skookum: Four Years of Encounters with Bigfoot. There's bigfoot, sure, but there are also UFOs, government conspiracies, poltergeist activity, time travel, astral travel, men in black, psychic warfare, flying tombstones, and phantom trains. This book has it all!  Ryan's new record, Before What Came After, comes out this Friday! 

We're joined by Rob Kristoffersen of Our Strange Skies to break down the latest documentary from our least favorite investigator, Davey Copface.  References:  S.J. OFFICER ACCUSED OF FALSE SOLICITATION AUTOGRAPHS Assault Suspect Says S.J. Police Beat Him Bay Area Reporter, 4/28/83 Ray Salmen: Family of B.C. drowning victim turns to recovery team from Idaho for help Man declared missing after campsite found abandoned Idaho couple hired to find missing Kitsilano man DeOrr Kunz:  Kunz investigator: Jessica Mitchell knows where DeOrr’s body is Private investigator issues lengthy report on DeOrr Kunz case Carl Higdon:  Our Strange Skies Ep. #85 Alien Abduction of The Wyoming Hunter Charles Gustafson: Beltrami man missing after hunting trip Mark Strittmatter:  Remains of Elk Hunter Missing Since 2019 Recovered in Wyoming Reinhard Kirchner:  Missing Person / NamUs #MP35447 EXPERIENCED HIKER GOES MISSING IN REMOTE SECTION OF NAVAJO WILDERNESS Hypnotic recall:  Scientific Status of Refreshing Recollection by the Use of Hypnosis Hypnosis and memory retrieval Hypnosis, Delayed Recall, and the Principles of Memory The use of hypnosis to enhance recall Other:  German-Americans make up the largest self-reported ancestry group within the United States A list of Missing 411 deconstructions 

Some people thought the world was going to end on December 21, 2012. Ten years later, we're taking a look back at what people were expecting.  Check out Ryan's new EP, Before What Came After, releasing January 20th.  Watch The Race to Alaska (with an original score from Spencer). “Bracing, immersive and wonderfully congenial, this film is a tribute to the spirit of adventure.”  - Vancouver International Film Festival

The first three episodes of Spencer's new podcast, Dang! That's Weird are out now. Enjoy this episode with the one and only Rob Kristoffersen of Our Strange Skies, and subscribe to Dang! That's Weird on your favorite podcast app.  Some things just can't be explained. Like a bipedal human-sized lizard carrying an orb through the Adirondacks. Today we're talking with Rob Kristoffersen, host of Our Strange Skies, about one of the stranger stories I've ever heard. Have a story you'd like featured on the show? Send an email to spencer@dangthatsweird.com or leave a voicemail at ‪(612) 208-2744‬. Dang! That's Weird is a production of Du Vide Media. Check out all our great shows here!

The Layers Lair is back for season 2, and that means the GBBO competition is back too! Spencer and Katie break each episode of the Great British Bake Off, try to understand British slang, and have a dang blast along the way. Check out this first episode, subscribe to The Layers Lair, and get your entries in for week 1 of the competition!  Subscribe to The Layers Lair: Spotify | Apple Week 1 entry form 

hi! we recorded a new episode!  This week we're talking about Google's LaMDA language program and Blake Lemoine, the Google engineer who thinks it's sentient. 

Last January, we recorded an episode about a weird movie called Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey. We took it down after about a week because we decided to do a bigger project about it. That project turned into a podcast called Finding Quantum Quest. Now, more than a year later, we look back at that original episode to see what we got right, what we got wrong, and where we just missed the mark completely.  Note: This episode contains TONS of spoilers for Finding Quantum Quest. If you haven't listened to Finding Quantum Quest yet, but intend to, make sure to do that first. 

OH BOY. We have a very special episode for you this week. We're returning to the Tingleverse and we brought a few friends with us. Ryan and Chance York are reprising their roles as Young Baby Sir Plinkington the bad boy unicorn and Scaly the Blue the velociraptor wizard, and they're joined by Lydia Liza aka Smorgas Bord the true buckaroo and Eric Mayson aka Lump T. Brandon the charming bigfoot.  Please check out Lydia Liza on Patreon where she's releasing a song a day all throughout 2022, listen to Eric Mayson's incredible music, and watch Chance York's new TV show Outside Chance on TPT Twin Cities. 

We're selling houses, watching 90s movies, and reading books about dinobeavers! This week we're discussing the new book from George Knapp, James Lacatski, and Colm Kelleher, Skinwalkers at the Pentagon.  Make sure to check out Finding Quantum Quest. Episode 4 drops tomorrow! 

Jack Parsons had a hell of a life. He summoned the devil into his bedroom when he was 13, helped invent modern rocketry, performed sex magick rituals with L. Ron Hubbard, and then blew himself up in his garage. He also co-founded JPL.  Episode 3 of Finding Quantum Quest drops tomorrow! Go listen and subscribe right the heck now! 

Some people just gotta dig!  Seymour Cray dug tunnels so the elves could finish his coding. William Lyttle said of his tunneling "there is great beauty in inventing things that serve no purpose". Elton McDonald was "getting away from regular things, away from life. Nothing in particular. Just life itself.” Episode 1 of Finding Quantum Quest is out now, and episode 2 drops tomorrow! Go listen, subscribe, and share!