Apr 15 2009

Binnall of America Latest

Tim Binnall updates us on an excellent new edition of Binnall of America: namely, an interview with Fortean researcher, writer and good friend, Micah Hanks:

Micah A. Hanks
Esoteric Jam Session
2 Hours, 7 Minutes

Creator of the ultra-popular blog The Gralien Report, Micah A. Hanks, joins us to talk about a number of ufological and cryptozoological subjects. We’ll be discussing the recurring stories and legends of human/ape hybridization, subterranean monsters and the Shaver Mystery, the UFO/ghost connection, alternative explanations for the Travis Walton abduction, the Bigfoot body hoax of 2008, Ufology’s public relations problem, presidents and disclosure, the bizarre “bloop” mystery of the deep sea, and much much more.

It’s a wide ranging interview which covers a variety of fringe topics in the world of esoterica with rising star Micah A. Hanks.

Full Preview: We kick things off with the usual bio/background information on Micah A. Hanks and we find out how he got interested in the esoteric. We move on to talk about some of the “famous” esoteric names that Micah has worked with and befriended over the years and how they’ve shaped his research. He also details some of his work with Joshua Warren’s LEMUR team.

Looking at some of the topics that Micah has explored at the Gralien Report, we first cover his interest and research into the Human-Ape Hybridization rumours and theories that have abounded over the last century or so. Micah talks about some of the early, and bizarre, experiments by Russian scientists to interbreed humans and chimpanzees. He also discusses how the concept of a “humanzee” captures mankind’s underlying fears of a “protohuman” (a phenomenon that can also be seen in robots). This segues into some discussion on “Oliver,” a chimp featured on Monster Quest, which walked on his hind legs, vaguely resembling a archetypical “humanzee,” and Micah details what he’s learned about Oliver via his contacts.

Next we delve into Micah’s interest in stories of subterranean monsters and races and how he finds these tales particularly chilling. This leads to Micah telling us about the “Shaver Mystery,” a subject he has explored at the Gralien Report. Micah also details how this meme was featured in the book / film The Descent. We get Micah to speculate on whether the idea of a race of people living underground is merely part of the human memory (like the great flood) or if there may be races of people literally still underground. This leads to some discussion on the “Mole People” of New York City and, ostensibly, other major cities.

Following that, we talk about Micah’s article for Fate Magazine, titled “Ghostly Receptors,” which explored the uncanny trend of people seeming to be “receptors” to paranormal phenomena such as ghosts and UFOs. Micah explains how his interest in Tulpas led him to writing the article. He also muses about how communities, or even couples, seem to develop a veritable psychic connection amongst themselves. Micah also talks about the conundrum that is the UFO phenomenon and how the perception and shapes of UFOs have changed over the years.

We look at the Travis Walton case and Micah puts forth some alternative explanations for what may have happened to Walton, if he wasn’t truly abducted by aliens. He details how some of the elements surrounding the Walton case suggest potential plasma or electrical phenomena at work. Micah gives some first hand perspective on a research trip he’d made where he met someone who was severly affected by electrical waves in the air and goes on to detail how studies have been done on what happens to people exposed to large amounts of such electromagnetic energy. Micah explains why he doesn’t think the electrical shock theory is what happened, but does tell a story about someone who encountered the “Brown Mountain Lights” in North Carolina, touched the light, and was shocked. While Micah still thinks that Travis Walton was probably abducted, he explains why it is important to put forward these alternative possibilities for what happened.

We get Micah’s recollections and thoughts on his participation in an interview with former Apollo astronaut Edgar Mitchell, on Joshua Warren’s program Speaking of Strange. He shares the most memorable quote from Mitchell and how it affected him. This leads to some discussion about how the private space industry may be one of the key factors in getting UFO disclosure, simply because it will be harder than ever to cover-up in-space UFO sightings.

Micah then gives us his perspective on the Bigfoot Body Hoax of 2008, in light of his friendship with the infamous Tom Biscardi. He reflects on how he met Biscardi and talks about what Biscardi told him regarding the well-known “captured Bigfoot” incident from Coast to Coast AM in the Summer of 2005. Micah also shares details about his conversations with Biscardi during the Bigfoot Body Hoax period of the Summer of 2008. He also draws parallels from this story to the Minnesota Iceman story of the 1960’s.

Looking at the UFO phenomenon, we discuss Micah’s blog post which observed that it seems like UFOs generated much more interest in the mainstream up until around the 1970’s and, in contemporary times, the proverbial “buzz” around UFOs in the mainstream has been greatly diminished. Micah puts forth the idea that the vastly different landscape of the media has resulted in UFOs being marginalized along with just about everything else and we then discuss what binnall sees as the public relations problem surrounding UFOs and we get Micah’s take on that as well.

This part of the conversation segues into a discussion on exopolitics, Micah’s take on that “movement” and branch of Ufology, and his thoughts on how much the Presidents really know about UFOs. Micah goes through a litany of UFO-related events that have touched the political career of previous presidents. He also opines on the overwhelming buzz, in Ufology circles, that Obama will be the one to disclose UFO reality.

Wrapping up our esoteric discussion, we talk about the “bloop” mystery of the deep sea, another topic which has intrigued Micah for quite a while. Micah details the discovery of the “bloop” sound and how it ties into the stories of H.P. Lovecraft. He tells us what scientists say could have made the “bloop” sound and, also, how it has emerged in various pop culture mediums.

Closing out the show, we find out what’s next for Micah A. Hanks in 2009 and beyond, including a “2012 cruise.”

This interview was recorded on 1.16.2009.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 15th, 2009 at 2:26 am and is filed under Alien Encounters, Anomalous Phenomena, Author Interviews, Beliefs, Breaking News, Close Encounters, Evidence, Eyewitness Accounts, Guest Column, History, Hoaxes, Media Appearances, Occult/Esoteric, Strange Creatures, The Redfern Files, UFO Sightings, UFOlogists, UFOlogy, fortean. You can follow responses via RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your site.
del.icio.us Digg Reddit BlinkList Google Ma.gnolia StumbleUpon Technorati Yahoo! Help