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BOA : Audio

2.20.12
Season Finale

Brad Steiger

&
A mini-interview with
Whitley Strieber

(2 Hours, 38 Minutes)


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(MP3 B : 96 minutes)

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The long and winding road that has been BoA:Audio, Season Six reaches its destination as the incomparable Brad Steiger returns to the program for our Season Finale. Over the course of this remarkable conversation we'll discuss WWII table tipping, how the Internet has changed the paranormal, 2012 and apocolyptic thinking, ancient civilizations, the Hollow Earth, and parallel species living on Earth (i.e. elementals), the UFO phenomenon and Ufology, Long John Nebel, Aleister Crowley, paranormal research in the 1960's, and the state of the world as we roll through 2012.

It's a truly is an episode for the ages as Brad Steiger makes his long awaited return to BoA:Audio and helps us close out Season Six in style.

Full Preview: We kick things off by finding out what motivates Brad to keep writing about and researching the paranormal after over 50 years in the field. Having seen the rise and fall of numerous genres within the esoteric milieu, we get Brad's take on why some fields seem to emerge and take hold of the consciousness of people. Brad recounts the stunning popularity of 'table tipping' in World War II and explains why the spiritual practice became a sensation during those difficult times. This leads to Brad reflecting on how the quest for spirituality has become an individual journey for people and how this overall concept applies to paranormal research as well.

The conversation turns to how the Internet has fundamentally changed the paranormal field for authors like Brad, who have produced a myriad of written works, and for everyday people searching for answers to these esoteric mysteries. This leads to us discussing the meteoric rise of technology, especially in portable formats, in recent years and how it appears to be trending towards a merging of man and machine. Brad speaks to the importance of keeping up with the technology if paranormal researchers are to reach new audiences, but also reflects on how the ease of publishing and broadcasting has lead to a massive oversaturation of paranormal content online.

Next we examine the frenzy surrounding 2012 and Brad reflects on the cyclical nature of apocalyptic thinking, which seems to peak at the end of each century. Brad details how the discovery of America by Columbus was actually fueled by apocalysm. In keeping with the discussion on the cyclical nature of things, Brad details his 1975 book Roadmap of Time. This leads to discussion on lost civilizations that pre-date human history and Brad talks about the importance of South America in these concepts. He also shares the story of a massive ancient city discovered in a dried lake in Russia as well as a cave found underwater which contains remarkable paintings on the walls.

The talk about ancient advanced civilizations then turns to time travel and why Brad is skeptical of the concept, in general, due to the 'Grandfather Paradox.' From there, we go down a completely different path to discuss the enigmatic Bigfoot and Brad explains why he has "mixed feelings" about the creature. Brad recounts his attempts to solve the Bigfoot riddle, how the solution continues to elude him, and why it appears to be some kind of multi-dimensional entity. This leads to us talking about companion species, such as elves and faeries, sharing the Earth with humans.

We then look at the UFO phenomenon and Brad shares the story of visiting Peru with his wife, Sherry, and being taken by a shaman to see "angels" (bright, glowing orbs of light) going in and out of a lake. This segues into some discussion on how the behavior of UFOs often suggests some kind of living creature rather than a craft. Brad recalls one of his mentors, named Fey, who was certain that UFOs were creatures and shares the story of a sighting where broadcasts from the anomaly were picked up by a radio station. Brad reveals what these messages were and why they have always haunted him.

Post-Show Bonus Interview:
Whitley Strieber

Making our Season Finale episode extra special, we've got a bonus segment of the program featuring the iconic Whitley Strieber, who talks about his new book Solving the Communion Enigma.

We begin our conversation by diving right in to the big picture ideas from the book, starting with the concept that the 'visitors' are driven by a desire to learn about the culture of the human race and, thus, cannot show themselves since it would contaminate the resource which compels them to visit us.

Whitley also reflects on push to the "mortalize" everything and how it leads to the lack of honest investigation into the esoteric by the mainstream. From there, he talks about the passivity of our culture and how it seems to emerge out of our materialism. Whitley also notes how contemporary censorship of ideas by the 'powers that be' is far more potent that in the days when the Church publicly thwarted the ideas of 'heretics' like Galileo.

Next, we discuss the concept, put forward in the new book, that the 'visitors' are trying to stimulate both halves of the brain as part of a plan to speed up the evolution of the human mind. In light of this, we get Whitley's take on the ever-increasing reliance on technology by the human race.

Heading towards the close of this brief conversation, Whitley extrapolates on the idea of 'attention as a wave form.' Finishing things up, we find out what Whitley sees on the horizon for the human race as 2012 unfolds.

Staying within the realm of UFOs, we talk about Brad's "17 Theories on UFOs" and focus on the idea that they reside within the Hollow Earth. This leads to Brad talking about Ray Palmer, who he credited with popularizing the Hollow Earth theory. He goes on to share recollections of his meetings and correspondences with Palmer and how critical the author was to keeping much of the esoteric traditions alive. The conversation then segues into discussing how it's important to have a multi-disciplinary approach to the paranormal, which leads Brad to talk about how he was vilified by much of the UFO community when he first began writing about the phenomenon, since he was seen as a ghost researcher.

Learning about more of Brad's early research into UFOs, we find out about his meetings with contactees in the United States and Canada throughout the 1960's. He shares the remarkable similarities between the messages of the contactees and psychic mediums. We also reflect on the change from the contactee era to the abduction era and Brad provides some fascinating detail about how he sees the abduction scenario as a metaphor for some kind of tribal initiation.

Given Brad's lengthy career in the world of the esoteric and his role as a player in the field in the 1960's, we have him reflect on the influence of pioneering paranormal radio personality Lohn John Nebel as well as his own appearances on Nebel's program. Talking about another famous figure in paranormal lore, we find out about Brad's relationship with Anton La Vey, including their "feud" and their meeting which ended the dispute. Brad shares his reflections on La Vey as well as Satanists as a whole and talks about La Vey's expertise as a showman. He also talks about why he has "incredible nostalgia" for the 60's, when everything about the paranormal was "new" to the mainstream.

The conversation then turns toward UFO groups and Brad talks about how the in-fighting in Ufology was happening from the very beginning of the field. He also speculates on how the search for answers behind UFOs has changed since the freewheeling days of the 1960's. He also theorizes that, beyond being unable to solve the UFO enigma, perhaps we are not supposed to solve it yet.

Heading towards the close, we talk about how there certainly seems to be something afoot, in the ether, developing as we move onward in this search for paranormal answers. Brad reflects on how, at the onset of the "New Age" movement, he and Sherry met many people who left organized religions and joined more 'progressive' organizations which, eventually, evolved into groups that were essentially similar to classic religions. He also contrasts this phenomenon with the world today, where it does appear that we are on the cusp of some kind of paradigm shift.

Closing out the program, we discuss how it appears, in 2012, that the long-discussed mental inter-connectedness that was said to be found in the 'ether' has been given a physical foundation via the internet. Brad pontificates on what this 'group mind' means for our species and the challenges that will face us as the future unfolds. Closing out the program, we find out what's next for Brad Steiger, including new books and other fun stuff.




Brad Steiger Bio

Brad Steiger is the author/coauthor of 170 books with over 17 million copies in print.

Steiger's first published articles on the unexplained appeared in 1956, and he has now written more than 2,000 articles with paranormal themes. From 1970-'73, his weekly newspaper column, The Strange World of Brad Steiger, was carried domestically in over 80 newspapers and overseas from Bombay to Tokyo.

He was born in Fort Dodge, Iowa, on February 19,1936. He is married to Sherry Hansen Steiger, a licensed and ordained minister, herself the author or coauthor of over 22 books. He has two sons, three daughters, and six grandchildren.

His website is bradandsherry.com

Whitley Strieber Bio

Whitley Strieber was a writer of horror novels, notably The Hunger and Wolfen, both of which were made into movies in the 1980s. In 1985 Strieber's Communion, a non-fiction account of his abduction by extra-terrestrials became a best-seller, and his career took an expected turn: he became a UFO expert. Since then Strieber has written several books about his own continuing experiences with aliens. His latest book is Solving the Communium Enigma & his website is uknowncountry.com.

Epilogue:

Thus concludes BoA:Audio, Season Six. One of the more difficult seasons of the program, marred by numerous scheduling issues, it was also one of most varied and ecclectic periods for the program. Over the course of the last year, we've discussed financial conspiracies, alternative Bigfoot theories, bizarre tales from history, man-made monsters, the Ouija Board, the UFO/Bigfoot flap of 1973, haunted baseball, alchemy, Mothman, behind the scenes at the National Enquirer, Spontaneous Human Combusion, Betty and Barney Hill, human mutilations, the Michael Jackson 'Death Hoax,' murderous and man-eating horses, and UFOs in Wartime.

Along the way, we welcomed back a myriad of old friends, including Jim Marrs, Brad Steiger, Peter Robbins, Tracy Twyman, the dynamic duo of Nick Redfern and Greg Bishop, Adam Davies, Loren Coleman, Marie Jones and Larry Flaxman, and, of course, Stanton Friedman.

Many thanks to all the great guests who graced the BoA stage this season. Your contributions were tremendous.

To the BoA:Audio audience, we thank you. Your tireless support and unending patience makes this program a pure joy. You understand what we are doing here and for that we thank you once again.

The BoA staff, as always, was amazing in their work behind the scenes this season. Expect some new and exciting developments for the BoA team in the not too distant future.

Yes, there will be a Season 7. Planning is already well underway. We know better than to suggest a premiere date, but it won't be too far off.

Until then, thank you, everyone, for another mindbending season on BoA:Audio.


BoA : Audio, Season Six archive