The Paracast Newsletter
February 2, 2025
www.theparacast.com
Filmmaker Darcy Weir and UFO Author Dr. Irena Scott Reveal Shocking Secrets About the 1973 Pascagoula UFO Abduction Case on The Paracast!
The Paracast is released every Sunday and available from our site, https://www.theparacast.com, your favorite podcast app, and the IRN Internet Radio Network. All episodes from 2022 and later now feature better audio and fewer ads. We are also re-releasing some of our most popular classic episodes.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU HAVEN'T SIGNED UP FOR THE PARACAST+ YET? PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE PARACAST+ SO YOU CAN SUPPORT THE SHOW AND ENJOY THE ULTIMATE PARACAST EXPERIENCE AT A SPECIAL LOW PRICE! We have another radio show and we’d love for you listen to it. So for a low subscription fee, you will receive access to an exclusive bonus podcast, After The Paracast, plus a special version of The Paracast with all the ads removed, when you join The Paracast+. We also offer a special RSS feed for easy updates of the latest episodes on your device. Episodes for subscribers to The Paracast+ are now released 24 hours earlier. Flash! Take advantage of our lowest rates ever! Act now! It's easier than ever to susbcribe! For the easiest signup ever, please visit: https://www.theparacast.plus
This Week's Episode: Gene and cohost Tim Swartz feature filmmaker Darcy Weir. He’s on a mission to bring the world’s most captivating mysteries —UFOs, Cryptids, and beyond into the spotlight. Over the past two decades, he has crafted over 15 feature-length documentaries, making these enigmatic topics more accessible and shedding new light on them for the general public. Weir’s eye-opening series “Pascagoula 73” explores the shocking UFO abduction in 1973 Pascagoula of Charles Hickson, Calvin Parker, Maria and Jerry Blair. A gripping tale of alien encounters, fear, and resilience that changed their lives. A true story blending mystery and humanity, in this documentary series. Our second guest is Dr. Irena Scott, whose work experience includes the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), which employed her in Ph.D. level (GS-11) research in satellite photography, including its Air Order of Battle section. Dr. Scott served on the MUFON Board of Directors (1993 to 2000) and is a MUFON consultant in physiology and astronomy as well as a field investigator. She was a volunteer astronomer at the Ohio State University Radio Observatory “Big Ear” (noted for the WOW SETI signal that might be humanity’s only signal from ETs). Her books include: “Aliens And The Apocalypse: The Meaning of Alien Messages,” “Beyond Reasonable Doubt — The Pascagoula Alien Abduction” (with Philip Mantle) and “Beyond Pascagoula: The Rest of the Amazing Story.” Her website: irenascott.com
After The Paracast — Available exclusively to Paracast+ subscribers: Filmmaker Darcy Weir continues to talk with Gene and cohost Tim Swartz about the 1973 Pascagoula, MS UFO abduction. Over the past two decades, he has crafted over 15 feature-length documentaries, making these enigmatic topics more accessible and shedding new light on them for the general public. The four-part miniseries, “Pascagoula 73,” explores the shocking UFO abduction of Charles Hickson, Calvin Parker, Maria and Jerry Blair. He also talks about the “tools” he uses to make his documentary films. With expensive cameras in his arsenal, is it at all possible to use a 4K smartphone, from Apple, Google Pixel and Samsung, for movies? Dr. Irena Scott continues the discussion about the Pascagoula case, comparing it to the Roswell, NM UFO crash. Dr. Scott served on the MUFON Board of Directors (1993 to 2000) and is a MUFON consultant in physiology and astronomy as well as a field investigator. She was a volunteer astronomer at the Ohio State University Radio Observatory “Big Ear” (noted for the WOW SETI signal that might be humanity’s only signal from ETs). Her books include: “Aliens And The Apocalypse: The Meaning of Alien Messages,” “Beyond Reasonable Doubt — The Pascagoula Alien Abduction” (with Philip Mantle) and “Beyond Pascagoula: The Rest of the Amazing Story.” Her website: irenascott.com
Reminder: Please don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: The Paracast Community Forums. And look for @theparacast on Bluesky Social, Facebook, Threads and X.
The Not-Fed-Up Report
By Gene Steinberg
The other day, an old friend in the UFO field told me he was “fed up” with the subject and was returning to “civilian life.” Indeed, as with many of my fellow travelers, I have had a love/hate relationship with the UFO field.
So I got started as a preteen. I was 11 when I read my very first UFO book, only they were mostly known as flying saucers in those days. I also reached the oh-so-common conclusion that we were being visited by extraterrestrials and that their motives towards us were unknown.
The book? “Flying Saucers From Outer Space” by Major Donald Keyhoe, and the ET explanation was pretty much the solution he stuck with then and thereafter.
Well actually I didn’t ponder the implications of being visited by spaceships all that much in the early days. Despite sci-fi movies that mostly depicted visitors from outer space as horrible monsters, “real” UFOs by and large didn’t seem hostile.
Other than abductions, where, if they are as described, represent the acts of a species that doesn’t’ care about the pain and trauma it inflicts on innocent people.
In any case, I stuck with UFOs, more or less, till 1975, while at the same time working as a radio newscaster for several local and regional stations.
I had discontinued my paranormal/counterculture magazine, Caveat Emptor. A new business, some personal reverses (especially a divorce) caused me to change my focus, and the search for the unknown wasn’t helping my bottom line. So I set it all aside.
I had taken a hiatus from broadcasting, and focused on another creative field, graphics and prepress. This involved using phototypesetting equipment to prepare text for documents of one sort or another. I didn’t realize, at the time, how soon this profession would change. In the 1980s, everything changed as the result of the desktop publishing revolution, led by the Apple Macintosh, PageMaker and the laser printer. The older, expensive equipment rapidly faded from the scene.
In any case, in the late 1980s, as I spent more and more time following the goings on in the UFO field, I took the plunge and did a reboot of Caveat Emptor. Evidently there was pent-up demand, because virtually all of our former contributing writers returned. Even my ex-wife, Geneva.
At least for a few years, after which I set it aside for good.
Through the 1990s and the early 2000s, I earned a decent living as a freelance writer. I wrote some 30 books, largely computer-related. My best-selling title, surprisingly enough, was “Using AOL.” I couldn’t imagine people needing instructions for the world’s simplest online service, but there it was, and it brought me the largest paychecks of my life.
As fewer and fewer people bought books and manuals about their gear and Internet services, I realized the market was changing. I had appeared on several tech radio shows, and by 2o02, I was invited to join a new online network, MacRadio. With it I debuted a new show, The Tech Night Owl LIVE.
We were ahead of the game with podcasts. Apple first began official support in its iTunes app in June 2o05. It gave us a new outlet for the show. While MacRadio didn’t survive for long, iTunes brought me enough downloads to keep going and then some.
The world of the paranormal was just around the corner, though I didn’t realize it at the time.
In late 2005, I was having a brief conversation with a frequent guest on my tech show, one David Biedny. A technologist, David gained a solid reputation as a writer for the very same computer publications I contributed to, such as Macworld. He was also admired as an Adobe Photoshop guru, and boasted of a stint as a movie special effects artist. Indeed, the end credits reveal David as being part of the team that did the CGI for Steven Spielberg’s Peter Pan flick, “Hook.”
That brings us to that fateful conservation, where David revealed his intense interest in UFOs. Bingo! Within minutes, the concept for a new show, The Paracast, was developed.
It premiered in February, 2006. David left the show in 2010, saying it was hurting his “legitimate” business as an artist and graphic designer. Sadly he died in 2024. Over the years, we’ve had several cohosts, including Christopher O’Brien, who left us in early 2025.
In the meantime, I was full-on as a paranormal talk show host in the tradition of Long John Nebel and, later, Art Bell. The Paracast took a different approach in many respects, though. So we didn’t succumb to the “cracked” side of the saucer, as it were, and we become famous — or notorious — for asking unexpectedly tough questions of various guests.
Indeed, we even brought on one guest with the intent of exposing his suspicious behavior that included a penchant for endless lies. That character, Bill Knell, eventually took the hint and hung up.
It wasn’t long before Knell, and his wife, Catherine, faced serious charges of child neglect. He also was accused of copyright infringement by publishing and marketing videos without permission, and selling pedigree dogs and failing to deliver them to customers.
Fortunately, most people who explore the paranormal aren’t quite as ruthless. Still some are eager to make money at the expense of gullible customers, pandering to their belief systems with questionable content.
Here in 2025, The Paracast is still active. We have released episodes each and every week, now, for 19 years. The show has transitioned through different types of distribution. It has always been available as a podcast from the various services (such as Apple, Amazon, iHeart Radio and Pandora), but for 14 years it was also carried on terrestrial radio stations courtesy of the GCN network.
Reflecting the ongoing changes in radio, GCN closed up shop in May of 2024, and The Paracast soon moved to Spreaker, a division of iHeart Radio, for online hosting and distribution.
The Tech Night Owl LIVE has been retired.
While being on regular radio represented a dream come true — since I started my broadcasting career that way — it had its downsides. The biggest: Loads of commercials. Indeed, over a quarter of the show was confined to ads, and we didn’t have a choice as to which ones. GCN’s focus on conservative talk meant that some of the advertising was downright wacky. But we persevered. You’ll notice that the latest episodes of The Paracast contain fewer ads, most mainstream more or less.
As for the paranormal field, I’m here for good this time. So long as my mind doesn’t turn to “mush,” I’ll continue to host The Paracast. We’ve had lots of twists and turns over the years, and I have gotten fed up from time to time as how things are going.
But I remain ever optimistic about exploring the fascinating world of the strange and the unknown. I’m not convinced there will be any final answers, but the search is itself rewarding.
Copyright 1999-2025 The Paracast Company. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy: Your personal information is safe with us. We will positively never give out your name and/or e-mail address to anybody else, and that's a promise!
February 2, 2025
www.theparacast.com
Filmmaker Darcy Weir and UFO Author Dr. Irena Scott Reveal Shocking Secrets About the 1973 Pascagoula UFO Abduction Case on The Paracast!
The Paracast is released every Sunday and available from our site, https://www.theparacast.com, your favorite podcast app, and the IRN Internet Radio Network. All episodes from 2022 and later now feature better audio and fewer ads. We are also re-releasing some of our most popular classic episodes.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU HAVEN'T SIGNED UP FOR THE PARACAST+ YET? PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE PARACAST+ SO YOU CAN SUPPORT THE SHOW AND ENJOY THE ULTIMATE PARACAST EXPERIENCE AT A SPECIAL LOW PRICE! We have another radio show and we’d love for you listen to it. So for a low subscription fee, you will receive access to an exclusive bonus podcast, After The Paracast, plus a special version of The Paracast with all the ads removed, when you join The Paracast+. We also offer a special RSS feed for easy updates of the latest episodes on your device. Episodes for subscribers to The Paracast+ are now released 24 hours earlier. Flash! Take advantage of our lowest rates ever! Act now! It's easier than ever to susbcribe! For the easiest signup ever, please visit: https://www.theparacast.plus
This Week's Episode: Gene and cohost Tim Swartz feature filmmaker Darcy Weir. He’s on a mission to bring the world’s most captivating mysteries —UFOs, Cryptids, and beyond into the spotlight. Over the past two decades, he has crafted over 15 feature-length documentaries, making these enigmatic topics more accessible and shedding new light on them for the general public. Weir’s eye-opening series “Pascagoula 73” explores the shocking UFO abduction in 1973 Pascagoula of Charles Hickson, Calvin Parker, Maria and Jerry Blair. A gripping tale of alien encounters, fear, and resilience that changed their lives. A true story blending mystery and humanity, in this documentary series. Our second guest is Dr. Irena Scott, whose work experience includes the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), which employed her in Ph.D. level (GS-11) research in satellite photography, including its Air Order of Battle section. Dr. Scott served on the MUFON Board of Directors (1993 to 2000) and is a MUFON consultant in physiology and astronomy as well as a field investigator. She was a volunteer astronomer at the Ohio State University Radio Observatory “Big Ear” (noted for the WOW SETI signal that might be humanity’s only signal from ETs). Her books include: “Aliens And The Apocalypse: The Meaning of Alien Messages,” “Beyond Reasonable Doubt — The Pascagoula Alien Abduction” (with Philip Mantle) and “Beyond Pascagoula: The Rest of the Amazing Story.” Her website: irenascott.com
After The Paracast — Available exclusively to Paracast+ subscribers: Filmmaker Darcy Weir continues to talk with Gene and cohost Tim Swartz about the 1973 Pascagoula, MS UFO abduction. Over the past two decades, he has crafted over 15 feature-length documentaries, making these enigmatic topics more accessible and shedding new light on them for the general public. The four-part miniseries, “Pascagoula 73,” explores the shocking UFO abduction of Charles Hickson, Calvin Parker, Maria and Jerry Blair. He also talks about the “tools” he uses to make his documentary films. With expensive cameras in his arsenal, is it at all possible to use a 4K smartphone, from Apple, Google Pixel and Samsung, for movies? Dr. Irena Scott continues the discussion about the Pascagoula case, comparing it to the Roswell, NM UFO crash. Dr. Scott served on the MUFON Board of Directors (1993 to 2000) and is a MUFON consultant in physiology and astronomy as well as a field investigator. She was a volunteer astronomer at the Ohio State University Radio Observatory “Big Ear” (noted for the WOW SETI signal that might be humanity’s only signal from ETs). Her books include: “Aliens And The Apocalypse: The Meaning of Alien Messages,” “Beyond Reasonable Doubt — The Pascagoula Alien Abduction” (with Philip Mantle) and “Beyond Pascagoula: The Rest of the Amazing Story.” Her website: irenascott.com
Reminder: Please don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: The Paracast Community Forums. And look for @theparacast on Bluesky Social, Facebook, Threads and X.
The Not-Fed-Up Report
By Gene Steinberg
The other day, an old friend in the UFO field told me he was “fed up” with the subject and was returning to “civilian life.” Indeed, as with many of my fellow travelers, I have had a love/hate relationship with the UFO field.
So I got started as a preteen. I was 11 when I read my very first UFO book, only they were mostly known as flying saucers in those days. I also reached the oh-so-common conclusion that we were being visited by extraterrestrials and that their motives towards us were unknown.
The book? “Flying Saucers From Outer Space” by Major Donald Keyhoe, and the ET explanation was pretty much the solution he stuck with then and thereafter.
Well actually I didn’t ponder the implications of being visited by spaceships all that much in the early days. Despite sci-fi movies that mostly depicted visitors from outer space as horrible monsters, “real” UFOs by and large didn’t seem hostile.
Other than abductions, where, if they are as described, represent the acts of a species that doesn’t’ care about the pain and trauma it inflicts on innocent people.
In any case, I stuck with UFOs, more or less, till 1975, while at the same time working as a radio newscaster for several local and regional stations.
I had discontinued my paranormal/counterculture magazine, Caveat Emptor. A new business, some personal reverses (especially a divorce) caused me to change my focus, and the search for the unknown wasn’t helping my bottom line. So I set it all aside.
I had taken a hiatus from broadcasting, and focused on another creative field, graphics and prepress. This involved using phototypesetting equipment to prepare text for documents of one sort or another. I didn’t realize, at the time, how soon this profession would change. In the 1980s, everything changed as the result of the desktop publishing revolution, led by the Apple Macintosh, PageMaker and the laser printer. The older, expensive equipment rapidly faded from the scene.
In any case, in the late 1980s, as I spent more and more time following the goings on in the UFO field, I took the plunge and did a reboot of Caveat Emptor. Evidently there was pent-up demand, because virtually all of our former contributing writers returned. Even my ex-wife, Geneva.
At least for a few years, after which I set it aside for good.
Through the 1990s and the early 2000s, I earned a decent living as a freelance writer. I wrote some 30 books, largely computer-related. My best-selling title, surprisingly enough, was “Using AOL.” I couldn’t imagine people needing instructions for the world’s simplest online service, but there it was, and it brought me the largest paychecks of my life.
As fewer and fewer people bought books and manuals about their gear and Internet services, I realized the market was changing. I had appeared on several tech radio shows, and by 2o02, I was invited to join a new online network, MacRadio. With it I debuted a new show, The Tech Night Owl LIVE.
We were ahead of the game with podcasts. Apple first began official support in its iTunes app in June 2o05. It gave us a new outlet for the show. While MacRadio didn’t survive for long, iTunes brought me enough downloads to keep going and then some.
The world of the paranormal was just around the corner, though I didn’t realize it at the time.
In late 2005, I was having a brief conversation with a frequent guest on my tech show, one David Biedny. A technologist, David gained a solid reputation as a writer for the very same computer publications I contributed to, such as Macworld. He was also admired as an Adobe Photoshop guru, and boasted of a stint as a movie special effects artist. Indeed, the end credits reveal David as being part of the team that did the CGI for Steven Spielberg’s Peter Pan flick, “Hook.”
That brings us to that fateful conservation, where David revealed his intense interest in UFOs. Bingo! Within minutes, the concept for a new show, The Paracast, was developed.
It premiered in February, 2006. David left the show in 2010, saying it was hurting his “legitimate” business as an artist and graphic designer. Sadly he died in 2024. Over the years, we’ve had several cohosts, including Christopher O’Brien, who left us in early 2025.
In the meantime, I was full-on as a paranormal talk show host in the tradition of Long John Nebel and, later, Art Bell. The Paracast took a different approach in many respects, though. So we didn’t succumb to the “cracked” side of the saucer, as it were, and we become famous — or notorious — for asking unexpectedly tough questions of various guests.
Indeed, we even brought on one guest with the intent of exposing his suspicious behavior that included a penchant for endless lies. That character, Bill Knell, eventually took the hint and hung up.
It wasn’t long before Knell, and his wife, Catherine, faced serious charges of child neglect. He also was accused of copyright infringement by publishing and marketing videos without permission, and selling pedigree dogs and failing to deliver them to customers.
Fortunately, most people who explore the paranormal aren’t quite as ruthless. Still some are eager to make money at the expense of gullible customers, pandering to their belief systems with questionable content.
Here in 2025, The Paracast is still active. We have released episodes each and every week, now, for 19 years. The show has transitioned through different types of distribution. It has always been available as a podcast from the various services (such as Apple, Amazon, iHeart Radio and Pandora), but for 14 years it was also carried on terrestrial radio stations courtesy of the GCN network.
Reflecting the ongoing changes in radio, GCN closed up shop in May of 2024, and The Paracast soon moved to Spreaker, a division of iHeart Radio, for online hosting and distribution.
The Tech Night Owl LIVE has been retired.
While being on regular radio represented a dream come true — since I started my broadcasting career that way — it had its downsides. The biggest: Loads of commercials. Indeed, over a quarter of the show was confined to ads, and we didn’t have a choice as to which ones. GCN’s focus on conservative talk meant that some of the advertising was downright wacky. But we persevered. You’ll notice that the latest episodes of The Paracast contain fewer ads, most mainstream more or less.
As for the paranormal field, I’m here for good this time. So long as my mind doesn’t turn to “mush,” I’ll continue to host The Paracast. We’ve had lots of twists and turns over the years, and I have gotten fed up from time to time as how things are going.
But I remain ever optimistic about exploring the fascinating world of the strange and the unknown. I’m not convinced there will be any final answers, but the search is itself rewarding.
Copyright 1999-2025 The Paracast Company. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy: Your personal information is safe with us. We will positively never give out your name and/or e-mail address to anybody else, and that's a promise!