The Christopher O'Brien show

[Gojira2006]

Not to put down Americans. The leprechaun myth is used to sell things to American tourists when they arrive here in Ireland. It Terrible you find it mainly at Irish Airports, The selling of dolls and stuff like that.

That sounds like Maine - Everyone who comes here wants to see a Moose . . . !

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

That sounds like Maine - Everyone who comes here wants to see a Moose . . . !

And in NJ we have the Jersey Devil! No moose though.

 

[Kieran]

I'm sure that's true of any tourist area and their local customs. I'm part Irish myself. According to Wikipedia, the earliest known reference to the leprechaun appears in the medieval tale known as the Echtra Fergus mac Léti.

My point in bringing up leprechauns is humans have a rich history of interactions with non humans, and these are often in the form of a smallish being. What ever you what to call them, it's all the same thing. They are all some form of faerie, gnome, troll, sprite, etc. And they often play tricks on humans. Other Irish folklore includes the far darrig and clurichaun.



Yes, I think I agree about the "hidden" space they are existing in. I'm not sure they are aliens in spaceships. I think they look like aliens in spaceships. But before we believed in aliens and even knew what a space ship is, people reported beings and odd things in the sky. The reports haven't changed much, including the occasional abduction. Faeries used to abduct people as well. We just gave them a new name and appearance.

There is also a long history of the idea that they are from a "hidden" realm. Celtic traditions include places like Mag Mell, Emain Ablach, and the Tir na nóg.

Now compare that to other myths, such as the Djinn. The Arabic root JNN means "hidden, concealed". The Djinn are shape shifters, and often take on the form of a black dog or cat, but they also appear in human form. They are known to harass and play tricks on humans. We used to have a phantom black cat in the house where I grew up. Lots of people would see it.

The interesting thing is that the old myths say these creatures occupy a parallel world to ours. And this is becoming a common idea as to the origin of things like UFOs.

Now as far as there being something to these tales of beings and spaceships... I've seen strange creatures associated with a landed disk. Six other people were with me at the time. They didn't look like "grays", but aren't that uncommon either (small black hairy entities with large glowing green eyes). Two of my friends whom I am still in contact with also saw these beings (one was with me the first time, and another saw one a couple of years later). Another ex girlfriend also saw one. They were also always seen by a brook, and under a bridge, which sounds like the old troll tales.

One of these friends also had an encounter with a small gnome like creature with a long beard when he was younger. His young nephew also reported seeing a small man with a beard in the same house years later. The other friend had a string of encounters with a strange phantom black dog, and she also saw a glowing orange "orb" with her mom and a neighbor when she was younger. Lots of strange stuff!

So there seems to be something going on that is not much different from the old tales.

Of course these comparisons are not new, and Dr. Jacques Vallee pointed this out back in 1969 with his book Passport to Magonia, as well as Messengers of Deception.

One interesting thing I have been noticing is that different cultures have their own paranormal entities. My grandmother was from Ireland. My dad used to tell me stories of the Banshee. He said his mother used to hear it, and he did too when he was young. And he continued to know when people had died via a series of dreams. My friend mentioned above that was seeing the phantom dog, her mother was from Ireland, and once again, the Banshee seems to have followed her to the US. Then you have other localized phenomenon like el chupacabra, etc.

So it seems where ever you go, there are local legends with this odd stuff.

David your line of thinking is one i agree with. Well the Leprechaun is not really a local custom of todays Ireland, but your right every country does sell there own unique product to incoming visitors from different countries.

Small beings is common thing in all those stories, slight differences in how they look and act and how they appear to individuals.I am aware of all those stories you have mentioned.

The Tales and myths of Ireland involve the supernatural, magic is a good word. Maybe the phenomenon is same today as it was then, maybe the phenomenon has got more advanced since then. Time? after all, if they where advanced at that time surely is reasonable to assume they have become more powerful.

Fairy stories that i know. Describe human looking beings, but they where not human as we are. They where more powerful, stronger, dealt in magic and was said to inhabited a world beside us. Within this world there was places and some you have mentioned above. The tales said there was other creatures or beings there too.

Then there is other stories of battles between the Tuatha de Dannann and mortal humans long ago before recorded history. Eventually we humans won. A treaty was signed.The Tuatha agreed to go the "otherworld" and not live above like they once did.

Some of other versions of those tales, say it was underground and other tales say it was a hidden place. Strange stuff, can we prove any that? Not really because there is no historical record.

 

[Kieran]

Another thing that might be right is the idea of "windows". Places that those creatures have the ability to enter our world or something like that. The Hudson valley in New York and there is other sites of that nature around America and elsewhere around the world. It be interesting to do a study of where the phenomenon appears. Is there tales or myths of markers. If the phenomenon is appearing more frequent around in areas that where marked by ancient peoples. Could we then assume, the windows theory to be more valid then it is now.

 

[Gojira2006]

Another thing that might be right is the idea of "windows". Places that those creatures have the ability to enter our world or something like that. The Hudson valley in New York and there is other sites of that nature around America and elsewhere around the world. It be interesting to do a study of where the phenomenon appears. Is there tales or myths of markers. If the phenomenon is appearing more frequent around in areas that where marked by ancient peoples. Could we then assume, the windows theory to be more valid then it is now.

I remember coming across a reference to a place in one of Loren Coleman's books called the "Haunted Valley," & he located it in Wells, Maine, which is the next town over from where I live. So I e-mailed him & he was kind enough to give me the source for the citation. I drove to the library that contained the newspaper file that mentioned the site, & then went to the Wells Historical Society to find the actual physical location. Though not a valley, but a little hollow off US Route One that contained a cemetery, I got the definite feeling that back in the 30s, before the area became built up, that people might find the place to be a bit frightening. The newspaper article (written, I seem to recall, back in the 1930s) mentioned that a lot of strange apparitions had been seen over the years there, hence the appellation "Haunted Valley," & was thus billed as a sort of destination that brave tourists might want to visit. One sighting included what could be described as a hairy, headless creature . . .

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

The Tales and myths of Ireland involve the supernatural, magic is a good word. Maybe the phenomenon is same today as it was then, maybe the phenomenon has got more advanced since then. Time? after all, if they where advanced at that time surely is reasonable to assume they have become more powerful.

I see no reason why they wouldn't evolve over time as we did.

Fairy stories that i know. Describe human looking beings, but they where not human as we are. They where more powerful, stronger, dealt in magic and was said to inhabited a world beside us. Within this world there was places and some you have mentioned above. The tales said there was other creatures or beings there too.

Then there is other stories of battles between the Tuatha de Dannann and mortal humans long ago before recorded history. Eventually we humans won. A treaty was signed.The Tuatha agreed to go the "otherworld" and not live above like they once did.

Some of other versions of those tales, say it was underground and other tales say it was a hidden place. Strange stuff, can we prove any that? Not really because there is no historical record.

We are taught that these stories are all fictitious. But why should they be?

They are so numerous, that you have to wonder.

 

[Poi]

The hard part, at least to me, in understanding the Trickster phenomenon is that there is always a personal aspect to manifestation. I don't think it's generally a party clown, but useful to a few or perhaps one at at time.

Someone recently said to me that rather than seeing-is-believing, it's the other way around. Believing-is-seeing in a sense, but not the literal sense. I guess I mean that if you notice something off or out of the ordinary, and you give it focus, sometimes it grows strength in a way, just because you focus.

Not always of course, but sometimes conditions may be right for a personal manifestation just because the frikkin' vibes are aligned. Nebulous, yes, but I think it's true because energy vibrates and energy is abundant. Maybe vibrations attune, I don't know. I've never become attuned to the vibration of atoms that make up a chair, but as far as I can tell, the chair's atoms vibrate too slowly for me to pick up in anything other than solid form, while vibes from a violin can make me weep.

A therapist once told me that across a crowded room, two people who are suited emotionally will find each other to join in relationship. We are probably adept at reading clues to which we are unaware, but despite the outward appearances that we find appealing, we'll home in on the mate who best suits our emotional make-up, good and not so good.

There's something Tricksterish in that, isn't there? Because we often find personal relationships the most challenging, mirroring different personality aspects, good and bad, which tend to drive us nuts or make us feel complete, hence the working out, or abandonment of those relationships. The joke is always on us as individuals unless we begin to expand our awareness. Then, the joke just gets bigger and more confusing.

I don't think we can take Tricksterish stuff literally nor figuratively. It can't be just "this" and just "that" because not one thing about life is solidly black or white. Nuance happens. If we give it focus, it grows. If we don't believe we'll encounter it, it just isn't there. That's where the Trickster goes along with the game.

Madoff isn't such a stretch except that no one wants to allow for the human Trickster. It's all about the energy one commands in the first place. I think that is at least what Chris might have been implying, not that Trickster had manifested in human form, but that Madoff had the energy to command people, through his lies, to believe in him.

Toss in a lot of gullability on the other side and the joke began anew. For those of us who woudln't have believed in getting something for nothing, sure, it's hard to grasp. But Madoff is a good metaphor for such energy and the manifestation of greed on both sides of the aisle. Madoff's greed was appalling, but he mirrored the greed of his investors hoping to make enormous profit off him. The energy he generated for the exchange of money certainly had a tricksterish quality to it. At least that's how I took that part of the show. He also brought great change in their way of thinking about investing, no doubt.

I'm not condeming investors, I'm just saying they were the other side of same coin in this instance.

 

[Roro]

Moose bites can be very dangerous...

 

[Experiencer7]

Crop Circles., Kilroy was here., Cow tipping., 20 dollar bill/911., WWW/666., Constant barrage of planned idiocy.
Mister Mxyzptlk at large!

 

[7 String]

Great show, very thought provoking cetainly not the sort of show that can be wrapped up in 2 hours.
My take on O'Briens trickster would teeter more on the "spirit" of amorral hi jinx if you will. I don't think that trickster is just one single thing or entity. The face of the trickster can be seen in the many faces of powerful people through out history and in the faces of you and I.
Have you ever been asked "why in the he'll did you do that"? Only to reply,,,, "I really don't know, I must have not been in my right mind".
I think the trickster theory is an attempt to explain why random amorral events take place. Then depending on the results, the individual may either just carry on with more and more mayhem or,,,,,they come to there right mind and behave, thus the "spirit" of the trickster has gone or moved on.
Does that make any sense?

~A

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

To agree with several posts above (and you know who you are), yes, I think vibrations and frequencies is the key here.

In my encounter I was given information about vibrations and people. I don't remember what it was though.

But, when you have vibrations, you have harmonic nodes and antinodes. And waveforms rich in harmonics literally have other frequencies riding along with the fundamental. Now mix two different frequencies, and you will have nodes and anti-nodes, and these are the interference patterns you see in waves of any kind. You get phase reinforcements and cancelations.

So maybe, when two frequencies interact, and you get reinforcements of certain frequency nodes, you get a window because of the added energy of the sum of the two nodes.

It's like the electron cloud surrounding the nucleus of an atom. It's just a blur of probability really, but you can image it and see the interference patterns forming a grid of points on the surface. This reminds me of an old map I saw once regarding the Bermuda Triangle. It showed the Earth with a sort of geodesic pattern around it containing window areas where the lines met.

So this other reality might be a higher harmonic to this one... occupying the very same space, but usually not seen by us. It's probably a higher harmonic, which goes with all the teachings about raising your vibrational state, and this was the very thing told to me... that I can't remember in any detail.

Another odd thing is the many references in ancient books, like the Bible, about making a loud sound, or playing loud music. They even get very specific about the instrument used, such as having 10 strings. And you see artists and musicians often having these experiences. Like I was told to play certain notes on guitar by a voice in my head.

Maybe us making music sends vibrations to that other shell of existence. And sometimes we hear their music. I've often thought we are their entertainment!

More clues to a very large puzzle... with no straight edges.

 

[7 String]

I agree with the vibrations thing. I've heard alot of reference to frequency with the human body and the fact that so much of us is made up of water. Nice thought! The music aspect of human kind is also interesting.

I've been fascinated with music for most of my life and have always been amazed at it's effect on people. Harmony's when sang or played on an instrument have always stirred up this almost euphoric sense from deep emotion,,,, the right harony can almost leave me feeling dizzy... It's like it wakes something up inside. Crazy!

~A

 

[Poi]

Funny, kinda mushy story, sorry to the guys who cringe at mush. I usually avoid it, but have decided to let it fly and just be a girl, a more trusting girl, okay, old lady. (I can hear all the breast jokes already.)

The other day I'd made plans to see a girlfriend for lunch and some light shopping. Before I picked her up at her house, I ran mundane errands in the neighborhood just to get them out of the way. But as I started driving to her house, I felt a great relief the mundane was over with, as well as feeling a sudden sense of love for this friend. It was overwhelming and I could see her face in my mind's eye. I wasn't any longer the mechanical person, but in a new place of emotion.

The world around me does seem to change when that happens, which isn't often, but has happened enough to remember that sound seems to have been dampened and there's only a heightened sensory thing going on. It's hard to describe, but it's like a zeroing in or zooming in on the object that has seized me.

And my right breast started itching like ... I can't even describe it. There was no specific area that I could identify as the source because the whole darn breast was involved. It went on for at least ten minutes while I made the drive to her house and she got in the car. I explained to her how embarrassed I was by what was happening because I couldn't stop trying to scratch the itch.

She then mentioned it happening to her last night, same side of her body. I stopped itching the minute she finished telling me the story.

We laughed ourselves silly much later when she'd found two cat hairs in her bra. (Not so in mine.)

Call it coincidence if you will, but again, it took place during a deep emotional connection I had. Not sure I'd call it an act of the trickster, but it is a manifestation (probably in my eyes alone) of some sort of vibrational connection I've felt of late for her.

It's of the order of things that usually cause rapping on invisible surfaces in my house, however. I'm throwing off long held boundaries and with each piece I toss off, hello, paranormal. By any other name, it's still a Trickster to me.

 

[jratcliff]

I used a trickster force to power my car

I still haven't fully finished listening to this episode. I found it all rather frustrating and difficult to sit through.

The question burning in my mind, and I wondered why David or Gene didn't bring it up (and maybe they do before the podcast ends), is just exactly how does calling any aspect of the paranormal a 'trickster force' add even the tiniest bit towards understanding what is going on?

You might as well call it a 'pink unicorn' for all of the meaning the phrase 'trickster force' has.

What kind of force is this 'trickster'? Is it gravitational? Electromagnetic? I don't get it. I just looked up 'invisible forces' in my physics book and, lo and behold, 'trickster force' isn't in there at all. What is the equation? E=MC^trickster?

If I call something a 'demon', or a 'trickster force', in no way have I added even the tiniest bit of illumination towards understanding the underlying reality of the phenomenon.

In my view, people who describe the paranormal entirely in terms that are based on mythology and folklore, while they may make for entertaining stories and metaphors at times, don't do a damned thing towards helping solve the true mystery at hand.

The 'paranormal' is, most likely, entirely 'normal' once we understand the true nature behind the particular phenomenon. The 'paranormal' is only that part of reality we have not yet come up with a proper scientific understanding and mathematical model to describe. The fact that the scientific community won't study the paranormal is the real crime since they leave it to those individuals with little to no skills in the scientific method to muddle the situation. Its how come we are in the mess we are in today.

Look guys, let's just say that I'm a trickster force. Now, can we move onto figuring out what the hell is really going on?

John

 

[Frozen E.T. Burrito]

And in NJ we have the Jersey Devil! No moose though.

If I went to Jersey I'd want to see a real live Guido!

 

[davide]

The show would have been better without the all too regular swipe at the Jewish carpenter. Rather than derision toward someone who preached peace throughout the Middle East, why not step up and take jabs at the guy who subdued Arabia through raids and intimidation --whose followers have a particular hatred of the Jews? We get it that you have a loathing of Christianity, but can we stick to the topic at hand?

And snide comments at conservative commentators are fair game, but why don't we hear the same about "Tingles" Matthews who said it's "Not a Crime to Call al Qaeda" and his cohorts Olbermann, Maddow and Schultz? And when commenting about politicians with lemming followers, why didn't we hear about the guy who foresaw his election as "the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal"? For two guys claiming to seek the truth, it's astonishing that they apparently see it only on one side of the road.

 

[AdamI]

The show would have been better without the all too regular swipe at the Jewish carpenter. Rather than derision toward someone who preached peace throughout the Middle East, why not step up and take jabs at the guy who subdued Arabia through raids and intimidation --whose followers have a particular hatred of the Jews? We get it that you have a loathing of Christianity, but can we stick to the topic at hand?

And snide comments at conservative commentators are fair game, but why don't we hear the same about "Tingles" Matthews who said it's "Not a Crime to Call al Qaeda" and his cohorts Olbermann, Maddow and Schultz? And when commenting about politicians with lemming followers, why didn't we hear about the guy who foresaw his election as "the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal"? For two guys claiming to seek the truth, it's astonishing that they apparently see it only on one side of the road.

I don't know about Gene and Dave, but I sort of agree. Both the left and the right are completely full of crap, so it's not fair to just bash one side.

 

[David Biedny]

The show would have been better without the all too regular swipe at the Jewish carpenter. Rather than derision toward someone who preached peace throughout the Middle East, why not step up and take jabs at the guy who subdued Arabia through raids and intimidation --whose followers have a particular hatred of the Jews? We get it that you have a loathing of Christianity, but can we stick to the topic at hand?

And snide comments at conservative commentators are fair game, but why don't we hear the same about "Tingles" Matthews who said it's "Not a Crime to Call al Qaeda" and his cohorts Olbermann, Maddow and Schultz? And when commenting about politicians with lemming followers, why didn't we hear about the guy who foresaw his election as "the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal"? For two guys claiming to seek the truth, it's astonishing that they apparently see it only on one side of the road.

I'll be crystal fucking clear about this, so listen carefully:

At this point in my life, I essentially dislike and distrust ALL religions, for they appeal to the most base aspects of fear and ignorance. Christianity, Judaism, Islam, all of 'em - essentially all shades of the same nasty control mechanism, one that denies the reality of the Universe, that reduces humans to nothing more than pawns for pious power players. I'm sick of all of this shit, I crave a society where rationality and intelligence are the goals, where humans have some fucking humility about their origins and purpose. So don't presume for a single moment that you know exactly what I think along religious or political lines, my voice on The Paracast and Angry Human is only a sliver of who I am, there's a lot more ground to cover, and it's not like I do this stuff for a living. I'm like everyone else, I'm just trying to stay alive in this harsh world, at this point, my patience thresholds are kinda low, it sometimes comes off on the show, because, well, I'm frustrated. Who isn't?

Coming off of eight painful years of the war crimes of Bush and Cheney, seeing my world crumble so that a few rich white old guys could grab even more power and money, has left me a bit discouraged and fucking angry. Anyone who listens to Angry Human knows that I'm no fan of the Obama administration, if you're still stuck in the liberal/conservative distraction, you're not paying attention. If you knew anything about my relationship to my own Jewish heritage (and you don't), you'd think carefully before coming on my own forum and accusing me of some sort of exclusive dislike of Christianity. I'm an equal-opportunity hater, and right now, my patience for religious belief systems, ALL OF THEM, is in the red.

dB

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

If I went to Jersey I'd want to see a real live Guido!

I know exactly where you can find some... and I'm half Italian.

They used to film the Sopranos around here.

 

[Red]

Interesting show, but I wish Christopher had gone a little into to the Tricksters in myth and fiction. In the stories I remember reading, Trickster was always someone you went to as a last resort and you had to be very careful in your dealings with him.