In Research Of

Jeb and Blake continue their coverage of the influential film Raiders of the Lost Ark. Part two of this session is exclusive to our wonderful Patrons.   Full show notes includes additional images and material with background on the science and nonsense behind this movie. Quftis: "men from the Upper Egyptian town of Qift who were trained and became skilled excavators and foremen who went on to work for other foreign missions in Egypt, as well as in Palestine" From OxfordHandbook article on Egyptian Archaeology and the Museum. Building the Ark today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGcdE5RllG0+ https://youtu.be/enbdsdKfhFo?t=2611 - featuring "scientist" John Hutchison of Canada. (Creator of "The Hutchison Effect" fiasco…) Archaeoastronomy - how the sky is tied to ancient sites (Map Room) The art of the Ark: https://www.thepropgallery.com/raiders-of-the-lost-ark-ralph-mcquarrie-the-power-of-god Jacques James Tissot's ark of the covenant Errors Removed in Digital Versions? According to this site the Cobra reflec

Jeb and Blake tackle the Ooky world of Monster Hunters.     Nimoy in the forest shadows...   Peter Byrne and Tim Dinsdale - two legendary monster hunters meet. Monsters in the intro to this episode are from the TV film Manbeast! Myth or Monster   For reasons I can't explain, some of the images in this episode reminded me of 1970s album covers...   Arch Buckley 2007 Obituary  Warren Thompson 2013 Obituary  Al Berry 2013 Reminiscence   Ron Moorhead (Sierra Sounds)   We have more material on Doc Shiels but that will be a different post for Patrons.  Scientific American discussion on Bigfoot Language (by MonsterTalk co-host Dr. Karen Stollznow) Some supportive analysis of the Sierra Sounds recordings that we discuss in the episode.   Another paper from Dr. Kirlin  Ook Ook in Sierra Sound paper  The most annoying font ever at the Oregon Regional Primate Research Center?

Jeb and Blake discovered that S03E08 - The Great Lakes Triangle - has disappeared into a temporal anomaly. But we dare not leave you adrift in Lake Eerie, so instead we usher you through a mysterious temple to a VHS tape on a stone pedestal... as we go in research of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. Discussed in this episode: The story conception tapes of Raiders (Lucas, Spielberg, Kasden)  Same thing, but performed by actors  Secret of the Incas (Affiliate Link) Whole film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K02U0CVoutE Map Room https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZJaIc1SDbQ The big scene https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzl4_ytmxDs The real Aztec Sun Stone  The "protection of antiquities" act wasn't real yet when the film is set. The Nazis and the occult stuff alluded to the Ahnenerbe.  Discussed on MonsterTalk before.  Turkdean Barrows mentioned in the film were not a real place but during and after the filming, two barrows in similar area were excavated. Retcon doesn't work in real life guys. The Pan American sea p

Jeb and Blake consider the possibility that the Tunguska Event was caused by an extraterrestrial  atomic craft.  An old friend returns. A SciFi icon cameos. Atoms are split.    Mr. Leonard Nimoy!   Charles Cole   Ronald Oriti   And Dr. Isaac Asimov   News about Golden Globes scandals Asteroid Monitoring (NASA) Tunguska in Pop Culture (Wiki) Basic coverage of Tunguska and theories (Wiki) Leonid Kulik  Thomas R. Atkins (A Fire Came By) Amz Author's Page (Affiliate Link) The Jomon Period (Japan) and some amazing Jomon Masks (3D Print) Henry Gris ("Psychic" author and early member of Hollywood Foreign Press Association) Alexey Zolotov Permafrost Links: https://spookygeology.com/the-hellmouth-batagaika-crater/ https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/07/siberia-s-gateway-underworld-grows-record-heat-wave-thaws-permafrost https://www.thearcticinstitute.org/blessing-curse-melting-permafrost-russian-arctic/ Finally - and I'm definitely not recommending this video to you - but am sharing it because it might be the d

AIPT Comics - is putting on a free online convention Sunday July 18th.  The online convention starts at 10 am and I'll be participating in a couple of ways if you're interested. At noon, I've got a special interview with Stephen R. Bissette.  You might know him as a key artist on Alan Moore's run of Swamp Thing in the 80s - but if you've been subscribing to BIG FOOTAGE the Patreon bonus cast, you'll know him as the author of CRYPTID CINEMA. I'll also be on at 3:30 pm with Jeb Card to discuss conspiracies and comics. Other guests include paleontologist Jim Lehane, psychologist Craig Foster, paranormal investigator Kenny Biddle, artist Celestia World, archaeologist David Anderson, and Matt Brady. author of THE SCIENCE OF RICK AND MORTY.   A link to Cryptid Cinemais here:  http://bit.ly/CryptidCinema   The convention details are here:  https://aiptcomics.com/2021/06/28/aipt-sciphi-fest-science-skepticism/   The direct ZOOM link is here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86109451697   I hope you can catch the show tomor

Jeb and Blake head into cold as we look at the episode titled "Cryogenics."  Yes, there is a lot of legitimate discussion of the science of freezing - but there's also a lot of optimistic coverage of "Cryonics," the much more questionable idea of freezing people for a later thawing and restoration.   CONTENT WARNING:  This episode contains images of dead people, frozen semen, animal harm, terrible puns, and some naughty curse words.  (You're welcome.) Discussed in this episode: Cryogenics is NOT Cryonics Difficult early history of Cryonics (via Alcor website) The first US successful use of insanity plea (Sickles) The Artists Statement video that Jeb talked about The Cryonics Institute (in Michigan) Robert Ettinger - father of Cryonics Alcor Life Extension (Arizona) American Cryonics Society (formerly Bay Area Cryonics Society) Frozen Bovine Semen (History of) The history of alleged "eating ancient mammoth" stories   This animal was revived using ratsuscitation.   Dr. Paul Segall makes a return visit to In

Jeb and Blake crawl through the cobbled streets of 1978 television to find out what was going on when IN SEARCH OF went looking for Jack the Ripper.  A lot of this episode is about "The Royal Conspiracy" - the idea that Prince Albert Victor (aka "Prince Eddy") was secretly Jack the Ripper.   This was largely derived from a book called Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution, an ironic title since it turned out to be neither final nor the solution.  This was written by Stephen Knight, who appears in the episode. Shortly after this he will develop brain cancer and pass away. The story also involves Prince Albert Victor's surgeon, Dr. William Gull.  We discuss the "modern plague" of Gin in London at the time. (That link is to the Pub Map.) Alert listener Dr. David Cockcroft sent us a link to the 1886 London Poverty Maps of Charles Booth. It's a treasure trove of information contemporary to the time of this case (and the upcoming Sherlock Holmes episode as well). Nimoy Fashion Alert! Did you notice that big book ly

Jeb & Blake discuss the ways that Jack the Ripper has been adapted in fiction and documentary over the years. The strange convergence of Jack the Ripper, Sherlock Holmes, and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde merge into a weird mix of fact and fantasy through the decades. A variety of media are discussed. And you can be sure that in the foggy gas-lit, cobbled streets of London there lurk some puns as well.  A few references we'll hit in the show (with affiliate links): Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper by Robert Bloch  YouTube (Thriller! adaptation)  Time After Time  Jack the Ripper (1959)  6-Part BBC Jack the Ripper series (Amazon UK - Region 2) Read about it here The Lodger (1944) Gotham by Gaslight (Batman) From Hell (comic) Letters from Whitechapel mystery board game Bridge Across Time aka Terror at London Bridge - featuring The Hoff Wolf in the Fold - Star Trek S2 Michael Caine in Jack the Ripper (1988) Murder by Decree (1979) Sherlock Holmes vs JTR   Jeb has some Ripper-related photos which I w

Grab your sticks and join Jeb and Blake as they go looking for water flowing underground. Same as it ever was? Not hardly. Special content in this episode courtesy Sharon Hill. Be sure and check out her article on dowsing for water at Spooky Geology. The "earth, air, fire, and water" idea comes from Empedocles.  Early in the episode Francis Hitching holds up a stack of paperbacks. I looked them all up (affiliate link to Amazon). The stack of books he puts down includes: Dowsing: One Man's Way by J. Scott Elliot Dowsing, Water Witches, and Divining Rods for the Millions by Howard V. Chambers Modern Dowsing: The Dowser's Handbook by Raymond Willey Practical Dowsing by A. H. Bell Pendulum Power (1977 edition shown) by Greg Nielsen and Joseph Polansky And finally: Dowsing: The PSI Connection by Christopher Hitching Tom Graves Author of "The Diviner's Handbook: A guide to the timeless art of Dowsing" (1986) Book online https://leanpub.com/needlesofstone/read He's still alive, still writing, and has a Twitter ac

We'll be taking a look at ISO's coverage of cloning in this episode. We'll be taking a look at ISO's coverage of cloning in this episode.  Content warning (for ISO watchers) there is animal experimentation and surgery video in this TV episode.  Jeb asked me to include a gif of the "groovy" 1970s video effects from this episode: In the 1970s the idea of "test tube babies" was still quite controversial, as evidenced by this opinion piece in the Berkeley Gazette (1978).  The Weibe Twins (Josephine and Rozzalyn) appear prominently in this episode. Their shop (Twin's Armoire Boutique) shut down last year during the pandemic.  Their outfits threw some serious Boohbah vibes my way. Nimoy fashion alert! We meet the Beernink Twins - brother gynecologists. They both passed away but former patients posted heartfelt remembrances of them.  This look at twin gynecologists brought up the memorable film Dead Ringers and the strange, sad tale of the Marcus twins that inspired it. Learn to pronounce axolotl!  (sounds lik

Get to your shelters and turn on your weather radios as Jeb and Blake watch IN SEARCH OF...'s episode on Tornadoes.  Discussed in this episode: NOAA  Dr. Ernest Agee  National Severe Storms Lab (NSSL) Twister (1996) - Amazon Affiliate Link  John Weaver   Bob Davies-Jones   Kelvin Droegemeir   Edwin Kessler   Poorly lit Nimoy Fashion:  

Jeb and Blake have a close encounter of the In Search Of... kind.  We look at two UFO abduction cases that you may not have heard of - and that definitely have more details to them than ISO covers. Flying Saucers and the Three Men (Amazon Affiliate Link) Communion (AAL)  King Kong 76 animatronics  Above Top Secret - Isaac Koi (UFO Barrister) Catalina UFO Case on YouTube   APRO  CUFOS  NICAP  MUFON  They're not in the episode but if you'd like to learn about Betty & Barney Hill, Blake highly recommends checking out the podcast Strange Arrivals.   We also talk a bit about the Travis Walton case.  Nimoy Fashion Alert: Our weird "alien abductor" in this episode:

Season 2 of IRO is over and we take a few hours to talk about the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind.  There's three more hours of discussion beyond what's in this preview and you can get access to that as well as our other Patreon exclusives by subscribing here.

Jeb and Blake stare at spreadsheet graphs - and what could be better? Fashion Forensics. A look at  season 3. Tease of our next Bonus Episode.  And more!  Note:  The fashion forensics segment needs visuals. Those are in the attached PDF but if I can make time I will knock together a little video to make it better.  If I manage it, you'll know first.    

Jeb and Blake go looking for The Garden of Eden and bring along professor Nathan French of the Miami University, Ohio to shed some extra insight during the journey. Nathan is the author of And God Knows the Martyrs (affiliate link) and is Associate Professor of Comparative Religion at Miami.    Meanwhile back in Eden...     Nimoy walks in the Garden with a bible and his wholly white vestments.     The Tomb of Eve  Jedha in Star Wars Ashurban-appalling?     Bahrain: Independent since 1971. UK Protectorate in 1892, with decades of playing Ottomans, Persians, and British off each other. Archaeologist P. B. (Peter Bruce) Cornwall “The first excavation at the site was carried out by a Danish archaeological expedition led by Geoffrey Bibby between 1954 and 1972, and later by a French expedition from 1977”   Archaeological Excavations -- Bahrain Bahrain & WWII Bahrain experience of WWII US in Bahrain Post-WWII   Maybe one of YOU good people can make sense of this?     Technical Consultant was Gerald A L

Jeb and Blake are joined by climate scientist Dr. John Cook to discuss this infamous episode of In Search Of... You may have noticed that since the 1970s we did not descend into a frozen ice age. In fact - quite the opposite. Dr. Cook was kind enough to join us to talk about both the history of the science discussed in this episode, and the many challenges of dealing with science denialism. It's a treat of a discussion. In addition to his work teaching at George Mason University, Cook is also the author of the delightful science book CRANKY UNCLE VS CLIMATE CHANGE. (Amazon affiliate link) If you like John's work like this or his science advocacy, you can support him here financially. He's worked to provide a tremendous amount of clear and accessible science advocacy in this field and it is expensive and only funded through donations.  Now let's get to the episode goodies: The episode may be available at YouTube but Discovery is working to take them all down and the few examples we've seen for this episode

Jeb and Blake discuss ants and the "deadly" fire ant invasion of the southern United States. Jeb struggles with ANTipathy towards the topic despite being an ANThropologist. (If you're looking for more wordplay like this in the episode, you'll find it ANTiclimactic.)  It probably won't last but you can currently catch this episode of ISO on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXpM23ikcx0   Nimoy, outstanding in his field. The episode has some really nice photography, and I especially liked this shot of the ant battlefield at dawn.     Show Topic Links: Footage of Azteca Ants in a Cecropia Tree YouTube of people moving a cecropia tree and the ant results. Smithsonian article talking about the similarities b/w ant war and human war. Huffpost article about documentary deception A map projecting what researchers think the likely spread of these ants could be in the US. AntWiki article on E. Burchellii - the Army Ant of South America The Ants by Holldobler and Wilson NYT Bugpocalypse Article Ed Yong r

You can catch this episode of ISO on YouTube (for the moment). Warning: This episode contains major spoilers for the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.  Let's be honest - this episode of ISO wouldn't exist if it weren't for the classic film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. - certainly ended up with a bitter attitude towards them and accused them of all manner of shenanigans. Butch doesn't favor Paul Newman much, but it's good acting in the film.  Here's Butch's mug shot: And here's Sundance and his girl Etta Place:   History of Raindrops Keep Falling on My Headand its role in BC&TSK. We joke but you can actually get Manos Hands of Fate in HD streaming now on Amazon!? And you can catch the MST3K version (with all hilarity included) on YouTube. We talk a bit about the Pinkerton's and James McParland.  There is a very, very mixed history around this company with some viewing them as heroes and others as despicable villains. The agent who hunted Butch & Sundance - Charlie Siringo - certainly

Jeb and Blake watch In Search Of's take on the world of traditional medicine through the lens of "Witch Doctors."  We were pleasantly surprised at what we found. YouTube continues to crackdown on "In Search Of" episodes.  You can get the DVDs (just like Jeb and I use to make the show!) on Amazon.  (Affiliate Link - a small % of sales from using this link goes to support my crippling coffee habit.) We're slapping an explicit tag on this one because we have potty mouths. If you'd like to look around a museum with lots of relevant materials, Jeb recommends the Pitt-Rivers 3D virtual tour.  (It's amazing.)  This episode has more guinea pig magic than any ISO episode so far. Nimoy is in a museum, safari as we can tell.   We identified the town at the beginning of the episode as Oxkutzcab.  The Yucatec Maya language is used frequently in this episode. The Badianus medicinal text - America's earliest medical text A lot of history on Aztec medicine Plants have long been the source of medicines. Aspirin, Digitalis

Jeb and Blake tackle the history of Heinrich Schliemann's legendary search for the ancient city of Troy.   Content Warning - this episode of In Search Of contains footage that may be objectionable to some viewers. Viewers should be aware that A&E is pulling episodes of In Search Of... down off YouTube quite frequently. At the time of posting, you can see Part 1 of the episode  here. Part 2 is here. Getting the DVD set is the best, legal, highest-quality route to watching these episodes. (That's an affiliate link to Amazon and in theory we get a small % of sales if you use this link.) Discussed in this episode: The Iliad  The Odyssey  The Aeneid  Virgil  Troy  Hisarlik  Heinrich Schliemann   Sophie Schliemann    Sample problems with the In Search Of special effects.  A few flying ships is all. And some small issues with the sunbeams. Nothing weird to see here. I'm sure this is perfectly normal for ships left on the beach too long. Heinrich's Naruto Run... Schliemann did at least sometimes wear a pith