Somewhere in the Skies - Return of Euphomet

Episode Date: June 4, 2018

On episode 59 of SOMEWHERE IN THE SKIES, Ryan starts things off with a portion of his recent appearance on the Hound Tall Discussion Series with Moshe Kasher. Along with Moshe was Irish comedian, Aisling Bea, and the Oscar-nominated husband-and-wife duo, Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon. Recorded live at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, the four discussed over seventy years of UFOs with Ryan to a sold-out audience. Were they convinced of a legitimate UFO phenomenon and cover-up? Then, Ryan speaks with podcast host, Jim Perry, about the surprise return of his highly acclaimed show, Euphomet. Euphomet is a podcast about occulture, the esoteric and the enchanted. We are in search of the other side…the thing under your bed…that signal of unknown origin…and the true stories behind the strange phenomena that are outside the sphere of popular consciousness. They discuss this and so much more in this week's episode. Today, we talk all about the return of the show, along with its parent company, Gnomish Hat. We also talk about Jim's other endeavors while Euphomet was on hiatus, including starting DEFY Wrestling and visiting the enigmatic and UFO-infested mountains of the Eseti Ranch. We then hear exclusive audio from the all-new Euphomet episode, "Possession". We cap things off getting deep into the occult and lifting the veil on spiritualism and science. Special thanks to Moshe Kasher, Nerdist, Euphomet, Gnomish Hat, and to all the listeners!  Patreon: www.patreon.com/somewhereskies Official Store: CLICK HERE Website: www.somewhereintheskies.com Order Ryan's Book by CLICKING HERE Twitter: @SomewhereSkies Instagram: @SomewhereSkiesPod Opening Theme Song, "Ephemeral Reign" by Per Kiilstofte Closing song, "Hourglass" by S U R V I V E  SOMEWHERE IN THE SKIES is produced by Third Kind Productions, in association with eOne Entertainment  Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/somewhere-in-the-skies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is Somewhere in the Skies with Ryan Sprague. Welcome to Somewhere in the Skies. I'm your host, Ryan Sprigg. Before we get to this week's interview, I wanted to share a really cool experience I had here in Los Angeles a few months ago. I had the amazing opportunity to take part in a very cool panel discussion at the comedy venue, a Bright Citizens Brigade Theater. The panel was hosted by stand-up comedian Moshe Kashar for his acclaimed podcast,

the Hound Tall discussion series. Joining Moshe was Irish comedian Ashling B. An Oscar-nominated husband and wife duo, Kumail Nanjiani, and Emily V. Gordon. The topic was UFOs. Naturally. And along with these brilliant comedians, I helped navigate the panel and the sold-out live audience

through over 70 years of UFO history, starting with the Battle of Los Angeles of 1942 and working our way all the way, the way up to the recent secret Pentagon UFO program with special permission by Moshekashir. He allowed me to share with you a small portion of our discussion that night. I hope you enjoy. So Project Blue Book was shut down in 1969. Why did they shut it down?

Because they decided there was no credible threat, whether that was true or not. They shut it down and they said, or did they find it enough to realize that they had to start hiding it? By the way, I do want to say that the government's secrecy around it. I understand that and I support it. What do you think that is? I think if they were like, oh, we don't know this, spacecraft coming and going, we have no idea. That would be horrifying. I wouldn't know.

I wouldn't know. But what do you think would happen? In a world where we're living in a reality that's terrifying on a daily basis, like, what would really happen if the government was like, yeah, there are UFO? It wouldn't even move the needle. Yeah. No, but that's from... We elected Trump. It's all good.

Yeah, but that's now. I'm saying like before that. No, I agree with that. And I think that the era that these craft came out, that's post-World War II era, people were really paranoid about the end of the world nuclear weapons. Now, we just accepted that it's definitely going to happen and it's not a big deal. So it doesn't, so it explains why they covered it up in the first place. It doesn't explain why they continue to do so today if it is, in fact, a cover-up.

And I think the evidence shows that it is, in fact, a cover-up, whether they're covering up their own technology or not. We don't know. But what happened when they shut down Project Blue Book? Did they stop researching UFOs? Apparently, that was their official statement on it. a story came out, you know, maybe a month ago, where we learned that that certainly was not the case. What was that story? So this happened about a month ago.

The New York Times came out with an article about a secret Pentagon program that had been going on for about five years where they were secretly investigating UFOs. You mean the last five years, there's been a program at the Pentagon study of UFO? This was from about 2008 or so to now. So a little longer than that. Did they discover anything? This is what you were talking about, Camel. Yeah, it's really great stuff. Yeah, it was, I mean, for like eophologists who were screaming, you know, for vindication that these things are real.

And by the way, to your point, Moshe, this story came out and did not move a needle. Exactly. Everybody's just like, what did Trump tweet? Yeah. There's alien life here right now. But what about Trump, though? Did he fuck Stormy Daniels? But do you think that's why certain things take off because they kind of capture.

a mood. Like there are certain times when collectively we're humans are more like bees. Like we all sort of are afraid of the same things at the same time whether it's terrorism or UFOs at the time or or mad cow disease or whatever it's going to be. We all get afraid at the same thing and it takes attention away from

something else. At the moment in the world aliens are the least of our fucking problems. So we're like oh come and bomb us or do something it'll be better than what's going on now. But tell us it with the Pentagon guy. But before you do that actually speaking of terrorism just real quick What's your favorite terror attack?

Oh, I don't know. I mean, the IRA had some real doozies during the 80s. No, I wasn't trying to distract from what you were saying. I was just saying, in terms of it going quiet, it's because the fear has been sort of pushed somewhere else. So I'm not surprised there was no big, like, kind of like hitting the news about it because people are so overwhelmed by everything else that's going on. But also, a rival came out right after the election,

and I sobbed like a baby during that movie. So what? What was the Pentagon store? What did we learn from that? So the head of the program, his name was Luis Elizondo. He'd worked for the Department of Defense for a really long time. He was hired to head this project by, I believe, was Senator Harry Reid. Yes, it was.

Harry Reid. He's the one who got the money to do that. What are you, a hip-hop hype man? The super... Harry Reid! I just mean, it's not a crazy guy. It's a guy we know. Well, that's what I kept coming to with the stuff that you sent me was like, yes,

are crazies out there that are saying that they were getting alien anal probes. But a lot of the people that are cited in your book and in this documentary are like, you know, Air Force General, majors, Air Force pilots. Jimmy Carter, right? Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Harry Truman. So what

Morris Day Morris Day and the Time Life Books, pages missing, etc. I'm getting too old for the shit. So Harry Reid had hired this guy. Yeah, he hired this guy and he got the funding to do this project. because Harry Reid was very interested in the topic. And so it was something like $22 million, which to me seems like a lot.

But in terms of like government funding, it's nothing. And I think that was the purpose was it was so lowly funded that it was, you know, under the radar. So, you know, they could do this secretly and keep investigating UFOs. So wasn't he involved with another guy who was like an entrepreneur? Yeah. What's that? So, Harry Reid was directly involved with Robert Bigelow. This guy is an entrepreneur.

He started the budget hotel suites. So this dude's a billionaire, and he's had a strong interest in UFOs for many, many years. He is convinced that we've been visited by something otherworldly, non-human. And he had been helping to fund this project as well. So any information that was going into this Pentagon story was then getting funneled the Robert Bigelow. Wait, so this is a private citizen that's funding a Pentagon

inspection unit? And was he legally getting the information or was the guy just passing it to him? See, that's where I, it gets very, interesting. Supposedly, Bigelow has wreckage from UFO craft in his possession.

In one of those budget suites. It's crazy. And he has a brother named Deuce, who's actually a male Gigolo. I don't know people know about that, but just looking for a joke. All right, I see your disappointment, and I accept it. Did you find one? You're right, you're right. Did you find a joke?

Yeah, when are you going to find it? Yeah, let me know when you find a joke. You know what? The joke is out there. The joke and truth are out there. And as you can tell, it was a light-hearted conversation that took many turns throughout the night and more X-Files quotes than you can possibly imagine by Kumal Nogiani, which I appreciated more than you know.

But what I really appreciated was how serious Moshekashire was. about this discussion. Toward the end of the night, Moshe asked the audience if anyone had been convinced to believe in the UFO phenomenon or look further into it. The response both surprised me

and left me truly inspired. But you'll have to hear the whole episode for that. The Houndtall discussion series is available on all major podcast outlets and can also be streamed directly through the Nerdist website at nerdist.com. Just search for the Houndtall.

tall discussion series. My special thanks goes out to Mosha for having me and for really doing his homework on this one. It was an informative, hilarious, and even serious discussion I won't soon forget. And now, let's get to this week's interview. There are few podcasts that really catch my attention. As a rabid podcast consumer, I am always on the hunt for high production value, informative content, and a host who can hold their own and bring something unique and fresh to my earbuds. And I can't think of a better culmination of all these traits than Euphimet, hosted by Jim Perry. I've had the absolute honor and pleasure to have been on Euphomet in its original form, talking all about UFOs and contact experiences. Jim's list of guests was incredible, and the stories he told

blended seamlessly with atmospheric music and sound bites that left chills up and down my spine. His ability to craft a narrative in every episode set him apart from your run-of-the-mill podcast concerning the esoteric, the occult, the paranormal, or the euphological. And after a lengthy hiatus, I was so excited to learn that euphomet was coming back, bigger and better than ever. So today we are going to talk all about the euphemat of the past, what exactly Jim kept busy with during the hiatus and the all-new version of the show

that is surely going to perk some ears to the strange world around us. So, without further ado, here is my conversation with Jim Perry. Jim, thanks so much for joining me today on Somewhere in the Skies, man. Super excited to be here with you. You're one of my closest friends within this community. Although we have never met, we're very, I feel, spiritually connected into this realm. And it's great to really have one of my first conversations since the relaunch with you. I am so honored, man.

And yes, I agree. Like, there's definitely a connection there, mutual respect. I've been following your work. I'm a huge, huge fan. Ever since we reached out to each other and kind of bounced ideas off of one another. And it's funny, I remember one of the last times you and I spoke, you were interviewing. me from the outskirts of Tillamook Air Force Museum. Oh, yeah, that's right.

Yeah, you were investigating the airship flap of the 1980s. That's how dedicated you are to your work, brother. So we have so much to catch up on in terms of Euphamette, what you've been up to and all that. But before we dive into that, you have to catch me up on this other amazing endeavor you've been tackling. And that's Defy Wrestling. My God, I was a huge wrestling fan growing. up and when I saw you were doing this, I was just like, how many hats does this guy wear?

So please, tell me all about how this got started before we even get into the crux of the interview here. That is awesome. I'm glad you asked. It's interesting because it's, it's, it's, wrestling is very divisive, right? It's, um, you either like it or you don't kind of thing for a lot of folks. And I, and I think one of the reasons is that folks have like sort of a expectation that wrestling, is the WW after the WW, right?

That is Hulk Hogan, that it's Steve Austin, whatever it is. That's what it is. And truly it isn't. It's wrestling is just like music in the sense that there are all sorts of genres, all sorts of tempos, tones, characters, styles. We now go to Defy Wrestling in Seattle, Washington, where Sammy Callahan is going one-on-one with Randy Myers. Defy Wrestling.

You can check out coming soon to the Global Wrestling Network app, featuring some of the biggest names in independent wrestling. You know, J.B., have you noticed the change in attitude of OBE of Dave and Jake Chris since the arrival of Sammy Callahan? These guys are more dangerous than ever before. We love taking you around the world, showing you action from all over the planet. Callahan is a brawler. He's a fighter.

And is single-handedly changed the line. landscape of the tag team division. Look at this. Callahan. Myers needs to be careful. And this is what I love about Impact. Like J.B. said each and every week, you never know what you're going to see. Defy is the biggest pro wrestling promotion in all of Washington State.

You get to see it here on Impact. For me, what was interesting about launching Defi was that in this area, there was no one really doing these sort of punk rock wrestling shows where they're really actually you know there's wrestling sure but it's really a like a true nightlife alternative in particular for folks our age you know these are the same folks that one night they're going to go and see a hip-hop show you know the next they're going to be at a bar the next they're not to say that this is my life because it's not yeah sure way too busy yeah but um you know and then they're like going to the debut of Deadpool 2 and then the next night they're going to go

check out wrestling. So it's essentially really built around this aspect of let's have a fun show, let's create a really good experience and a good vibe. And it's really paid off. Like Defy has become one of the sort of the most well-known independent wrestling organizations now in the world at this point. And we're working with some of the best talent. And they're so fun. It's such a great experience and such a great atmosphere that I almost like can't believe I'm involved in. And folks can look at more, like defy-wrestling.com. We have everything up there. But it's one of the reasons I had to step back from Euphemat.

It's not the exclusive reason. But one of the reasons was I got into this other rabbit hole. And it took me like completely for a ride in all sorts of different ways. I can only imagine, man. Yeah. I mean, just looking at the website, I'm like, this is super slick. This is the kind of wrestling. Like I would go to.

You know, we kind of, we lived in that, you know, golden age. silver age of WWW, WCW, ECW, ECW, but like you said, where you're located and what you guys are striving for at Defi seems very unique. And that seems to be your bag, man, being unique. You're doing things that maybe there were predecessors before you that tried these things, but they're not landing it like you are. And I think that's what's most important. And that's kind of what drew me to Euphomet as well. But again, like you said, there was the hiatus. Defy came around. Wasn't the only reason that Euphimed had to take a little break. But you also did some other cool stuff while you were on break. And that was attending the East Sedi Ranch. For those

who may not know what East SETI is, I met the dude who owns the ranch a couple times. He's a trip. I'd love to hear about, you went there more than once, right? I did. I've been there twice. Okay, okay. Each of those experiences were pretty unique. They were both during parts, different parts of the year. And so essentially, you said anyone can camp there. Just like a, this isn't sort of well known, but you can go online, you can reserve your camp space, just like a K-O-A or whatever else. And, you know, instead of, hey, there's a water park five miles down the street near this K-O-A, like, why don't you come? It's like, hey, why don't you come? It's like, hey, why don't you come? and have some of the most unbelievable, you know, aerial phenomenon take place in front of your eyes. Oh, yeah. That's a ship. Whatever's in the middle of my camera is moving. See it? That is a ship. I've got it right in the middle now. I'll tap it. That's weird because we can't see it with the naked eye. There. That's one that's one you can only see. It's moving slow. It's like a ball, see. Oh, I see it now. Yeah. I'm holding the camera still and it's moving from my right to my left.

Well, whatever that is. Oh, right there. Oh, whoa, baby. Oh, that came right up. Oh, that was bitching. Oh, there it is. There it is. Yep, there it is. And in fact, like, I can confirm that's essentially what happened while being there. There was, each time I was there, unbelievable lights and phenomenon that happened in that field, looking up towards Mount Adams, things that I can't explain, things that were not satellites, things that were not.

planes. Were they drones? Maybe. I don't know. But whatever it was, whatever these things were, whatever these lights were, very, very alarming. And for whatever reason, that space is special. You know, I have, like many of us, I'm sure you're the same way, Ryan, you know, we make it a point to look up all the time, right? A lot of people forget about that, but we're looking up. We're like, what's up there? Am I going to see something? It's tonight the night? Am I going to be lucky? I think there's a part of us that even if we do or do not believe, we like the idea of that and we're looking for that connection perhaps, right? But there's those places where you don't see anything.

You know, and this is what it is. Two weekends ago, I was in Joshua Tree. And we were there at night. Me and my assistant producer, Tyler, were just up on the top of his car and looking up, just seeing if we could, you know, hey, here we are. Are we going to experience anything? We weren't looking, but we're just trying to let it all in, especially in the environment, and nothing. You know, this is just a night where there was nothing there.

And that's fine, and that's typical of almost anywhere. E-SETI is different. E-SETI you go there and you tell yourself, well, okay, well, I heard the stories. I'm not going to try to build it up. I'm going to have as little expectations as possible because I don't want to be just completely disappointed. And you go there and then it accepts. your expectations. You see the lights. You have those experiences. And both times that happened. And where exactly is this located? So it's located about five miles outside of Trout Lake, Washington,

which is fairly close to the Columbia River and the Columbia River Gorge. It's on the eastern side of Washington State. And it's essentially towards the foothills of Mount Adams, which is this volcanic behemus that kind of really places its stake high in the skyline and the experience there. And so you're surrounded by trees, surrounded by forest, surrounded by this really majestic volcanic mountain. And the places itself geographically, aside from any sort of supernatural or anomalous activity is absolutely stunning. It already does such a good job of putting you into a state of kind of empathy towards your surroundings. I would suppose some would say maybe it raises your vibration perhaps, you know, just in terms of your perspective of where you're at in the world

and your relatively small size. Yeah, that's a good point, man. I think like, you know, just being in that atmosphere and feeling that around you, it has to have some, some sort of influence on your perception of the phenomena that may be occurring there. What it is, I'm sure we will never know. It reminds me a lot of the Heseltine lights that we hear about. I'm telling you, man, Washington, the birthplace of flying saucers, there's got to be something to that. And that's so cool.

I mean, just experiencing that, the both times, what did it make you feel? I always have to ask witnesses who experience UFO phenomena, aerial anomalies. What would you say was like kind of the gut reaction to experiencing these things? It made me change my perspective on like our reality in a way. And I think that was also informed and influenced by Euphemette in itself. So going there as a podcast host and someone that was very deep into researching these topics and essentially kind of losing himself in these conversations with these folks in this never-ending rabbit hole, whether it be on the mystical tip or, you know, aliens as technology ambassadors or what have you. You know, this paranormal, this esoteric, this occult shit just keeps going and going and going. and a guy can kind of, especially if it's in the right time of the person's life, a person can essentially kind of spin out.

And we hear that, right? We hear people that are kind of sinking or they get into this stuff. And then there's that spin out moment where they're like, oh, okay, like there's a paradigm shift, I think. And it sort of affects you in a bunch of different ways. For me, it was like, hey, I got to change my life. Like, this, like, sort of high pressure atmosphere that I put myself under other people to do work for them is not working out well. That's, like, now my calling. And also, like, I'm kind of like digging dangerously close into things that I don't have enough sort of respect and responsibility to know about was my feeling.

And so when I saw all this stuff, like, actually manifest itself, all this stuff that I've been reading about and, and watching TV shows and listening to Art Bell about for years, when I finally started to see these lights and have these sort of very, you know, there were other experiences while there that were very sort of spiritual in nature. And I'm not really a spiritual kind of guy, but they sort of changed my perspective on life and they made me take a step back. And I think a part of that, like I'm just putting these pieces together now. I've never thought about it in this way.

but I think that influenced me stopping Euphamette at that time too. As soon as those experiences happened, that's when sort of the work stopped on that. And it certainly coincided with some other things going on, the pursuit of launching Defi and some of these other things. But essentially that's where I almost, I feel, subconsciously had to change my gears just to ground myself in reality again after kind of having my mind blown. Wow, man. That's incredible. It is. It's a recalibration after you have one of these experiences. And you know, you're on your own personal journey with this. And that's that's a feeling that none of us will ever feel. We were not in your shoes. We were not seeing it through your eyes. But you had your own experience. And that that's what I love about this stuff is no matter what you tell me you saw, no matter what a witness tells me, what they saw, I'm never going to know what they felt or what they experienced or how it truly changed their life. And that's a journey I'm on too, man, is just, you know, interviewing as many people as I can and just seeing how it affected them, the implication to having a UFO

sighting, a paranormal experience. And what that can mean in terms of humanity, too, like, collectively, it's just, it's exciting that each person can have their own personal discreet, of these things and move forward with their life. Maybe in a different way or maybe not. I mean, you know, I've spoken to many witnesses who said, yeah, saw it, don't care, doesn't bother me moving on. And that's totally fine. Like, you can't force that on anyone.

And I think that's the beauty of it too. Like, whatever lay at the source of these things, they will throw it in your face, kind of like they did with you, you know? Stop you from that right now. You know, reassess your life and start. and new, and I think that's really cool, and that's kind of what you've done. But before we kind of get to the new version, the born-again version of Yovimed, if you will, I'd love to maybe reminisce about maybe one or two of your favorite experiences from the

past version of Yufamette. You had some really interesting guests. You could kind of see the evolution of the show in what it is. today in the newer version, but are there any experiences with the original version that really stick out to you as being like, oh, I am on the right track or, oh, this is really cool. I'm glad I did this. Anything really stick out to you? I think in general, you know, I've referred to the original series as sort of the longest pilot ever. You know, I had the freedom and the opportunity to experiment with so many different formats, while the audience followed along with it.

That's what was amazing to me, is that the audience followed along with all that stuff, and they grew as well, and I was changing things left and right all the time. You know, I had points was very consistent with drop dates, and I even went live at a point. But there were other times where I had to step back, and I did not put out as much,

and then I would switch it up, and I would, you know, throw a radio drama in, or I would throw in a retelling, like sort of investigation deal. We did some awesome stuff with the Newkirks. I think some of those episodes really stand out in terms of some of the audio storytelling we did. Right. And I think any episode that gave me the chance to explore,

I really felt connected to any of the dispatch episodes and any of the conversations where I was outside of the studio space, which is my dining room area. And I was out of the field, I was talking to people, and I was getting as many chances as possible to essentially represent the environment I was in to the listener and make them feel like they were there. So we did some really fun stuff

where we did a live show with Tim Rothschild, and during this live show, it was essentially our road trip through the Cascade Mountains. We were coming back from this sort of journey, you know, in other parts of Washington State. And it was a fun talk and it was really cool. But at the same time, when we were playing it live, we were also posting video, photo, other resources, elements at the same time. And we had folks tweeting, engaging, calling, texting. It was like this weird, live paranormal jam band thing going on between us and the audience.

everything else. And it was at that moment, I felt, I felt like, oh, this is just a fraction of probably like what Art Bell felt like. When he's doing these conversations, they're going through middle of the night. The fax machine is just overheating. It's just shooting out hundreds of pages a minute. And he's answering calls and he's getting emails and all these different things. And I think that like sort of visceral nature and connection that the show was able to provide sometimes was still leaves a very distinct feeling and and uh and it's sort of a residual like hey I want to go back to that at some point I want to find a way to connect to the audience in that in that sort of visceral way but per guess in certain moments it's kind of like I guess I've been going

so fast I haven't had a chance to like sort of properly uh reflect on some of those things but I but I think anytime we were able to to really feature the radio dramas and create a space where they were the highlighted piece were really my favorite, some of my favorite moments because I felt like it wasn't that that we were able to communicate these stories, these real stories from folks in the most emotive earnest ways. And that was always the goal from day one was to, to feature radio diaries and radio stories every single show and then provide some sort of backfill in terms of information, whether it be an expert or another experiencer. And when we did that right, I felt like we did it really well. Yeah, I knocked it out of the park. And those were my favorite

episodes. And that's kind of why I'm so excited that you're coming back because this is kind of the approach you're taking now with a newer version, which we'll get into. But I'd love to know, now that you've from that is coming back, you have a very interesting company behind all this. So I'd love to hear. Could you tell us a little about Nomish Hat, what they do and how you got involved with them? Yeah, absolutely. Nomish Hat is a parent company to several creative projects. One of them being this subscription box game called Hunt a Killer. And it's like incredibly fascinating what these guys have been able to do and how much dedication and sort of creative thought has been invested into this super successful, super successful game.

You essentially, you're sent a box of clues and all this sort of fictionalized material that looks authentic, like 100% authentic. And you put together the scraps, man. You put up, you put up your board on the wall. Yeah. Or you just have a bunch of it. And you're connecting, you know, you're connecting the dots. they've created a really great system to engage folks online in terms like there's community groups and secret message boards and all these really esoteric ways of communication that allow folks to get to essentially complete these together.

So it's very community oriented. So yeah, so they have that going on and now they are emerging into the podcast space and they come from a real place with an authority to publish. You know, they've been, especially in terms of this realm, launching with something like Euphemat, I think, is brilliant. Because that's a space they're familiar with. That's a space they respect. And I think it only is going to grow from here in terms of what we're going to be able to do together in collaboration and what may lay next. You know, we're interested in telling stories and in all different types of ways. And they resonate with that very much so. And, you know, I respect. their creativity and their business very much. So EufaMet could not really be more excited. It is a match made in heaven for sure. A weird heaven, but a heaven nonetheless.

But speaking of weird, man, I have to ask, you know, before we get into your first couple episodes here, your logo, the new logo, whoo, that kind of blew people away. So interesting. So how did that come about? What does that represent to you? And what does it convey to your listeners? Yeah, so it was very important to me that we did do something different with the logo.

You look at sort of the market today and you look at some of the stuff that Gemlett is doing and some of these other podcasts where, you know, it's very important. It's like it's your album cover. You know what I mean? It's it's the first contact of your brand and your content and your tone and your vibe and everything else with the audience in a lot of different ways. So, you know, I typically I typically design a lot of my own stuff. But this time I really wanted an outside resource. I wanted to collaborate with someone. And I had been following this work of this guy, Simon Marchner.

He is a German graphic designer, a poster designer. He's done work for some super huge bands and some indie bands and just does great print gig posters and such. And so I approached him with the notion of doing this and explained to the show. And it immediately resonated with him. He started to immediately sort of close. craft some ideas. And we landed on this idea of using the moth. The moth is interesting, I think, subconsciously for a lot of different levels. I think that it's, of course, in a lot of regards, a nocturnal animal that is like compelled by the light. And so I think even with the name

euphemate, which is like sort of a, is sort of a word derived from a euphemistic boffamette, you know, like a polite devil. I've never asked you that. That's really. Euphemism on its own? Yeah. So it fits very well with the name itself on a base level, but I think that Tales of Transformation and using the symbol of the moth is, it resonates with that message. So that's where a lot of that came from. Perfect. Yeah, I couldn't think of a better way to convey that. That's so cool. Well, let's sort of get to what the new version of Euphemat has to offer. You spoke about, real stories, like talking to these people, having their voices be a part of this. And I think that's the way to go. Focus on real people, real stories. And that really came across with your,

one of your two premiere episodes here. And that was possession. Holy hell, man. I listened to this this morning. It was so incredible and creepy. So what made you want to take this approach with, uh, with the show? kind of in specific with this episode possession. Well, I think in general what draws me to using radio stories to illustrate these stories, you know, they haven't been done this way. We haven't heard a lot of these supernatural, paranormal experiences told in that form with those voices, with that level of sort of production, finesse, and tone applied to it.

There's folks that have done pieces and have started to do pieces in this way. but back when we first started experimenting within the show, it really wasn't done, right? So it was important for me to continue doing that in a very almost cinematic way. Like sonically, it should feel like a film, like you're watching a documentary or a science fiction film or a horror film. So that's the tone we want to establish is leaning into cinema and theater of the mind. Secondly, you know, I'm a big fan of where radio producers, you know, get their ideas and their sort of ideas from and their process of connecting real humanistic stories to extraordinary events. And that's one thing that we really focus in on is really connecting the human stories, you know, to such things as, you know, UFO encounters or exorcisms or, you know, hauntings.

It's important to us that whenever we find stories, the event, the experience is one thing, but it's never enough. Okay, so my dad bought this house in the 70s. We're in Eagle Rock, California. He met my mom here in Eagle Rock and been living here ever since. He documented things meticulously. meticulously. Like books he's read, music, events that have happened, things that have happened in the neighborhood, on the street, interactions with neighbors. Yeah, no, it's almost, almost to

a ridiculous amount. And I didn't appreciate it until he passed away. So my dad passed away about three, four weeks ago. So very recently. So we've just begun to go through his things, barely. Like, we've just started. But through going through his things, We came across one notebook titled, the Exorcism. So it says, Exorcism, the date 722, 2011. It says, I made a police. Oh my gosh, Dad, I can't read your handwriting. I made it a policy many, many years ago to never interrupt an exorcism.

Okay, so I should just stop here. My dad had a sense of humor. Which is why, okay, so I should back up. I don't think a lot of people's natural reaction would be to, like, document it to this extent. So, I can keep going. That is why I called the LAPD a couple of nights ago to do my dirty work. Part 1. 12 midnight to 12.50 a.m. Wife and I are sleeping in bed.

Window open about six inches. A woman began screeching, a guttural sound, and then it would go quiet. And then I could hear water as if someone was being dunked in the bathtub. There would be a low growl sometimes after the dunk. Something about being scared. He was scared. I was scared at coming upon a creature. He's talking about getting goosebumps.

Which is interesting to me because it's really, it's weird hearing. about how he felt about it. Because I think, like, you know, he's my dad, you know, he's never scared of anything. And the fact that he's writing about getting goosebumps and, like, thinking that this was, like, a really scary thing. And also him being, like, an atheist. I mean, this is something that he felt very strongly about. He doesn't, he doesn't believe in that kind of thing.

So he talks here about more about to the woman saying push it, push harder, or something about the demons and the spirits leaving the woman. I thought to myself, fuck this shit. And I called 911. Dad. Okay, so my dad's told us that's humor. Oh my gosh, dad. We're looking for that human element.

We're looking for that connection, whether that's transformation or however. It goes back to some fundamental story elements, right? Like, you're a student of theater. You understand that in scripts, you're going on the hero's journey. And there's, you know, there's challenges and ultimately there's transformation, perhaps, or there's not. But whatever, there's, there's an arc. And it's really important for us to find those characters for those, for those people, and find those stories.

And that's, honestly, it won't be as big of a challenge as it seems because everyone has a story like this. I'm sure you encounter it. Everyone has a story like this. They may not remember it right away, but if you're talking to someone, back of their mind, it invariably always pops up. Oh, yeah, I did have this thing that I can't explain. Oh, yeah. Oh, my uncle, you know, had this, this, and this.

So within their own selves or within their lineage or within their friends, these occurrences, these unknown experiences, this anomalous activity, really does touch us in a much broader way than just culturalism. It, like, touches us in a personal way. And so our hope is to just really mind those stories and find those fascinating voices and do it in a very tasteful, refined way as well. It's very important that we're not playing Halloween music, right? Like, it's very important that we, you know, come from a place of respect, you know,

as a member of this community myself, you know, why do you, like, we can't characterize it in that way anymore. You know, it doesn't do anyone a service. Absolutely, man. And I mean, that respect is there, even in this episode possession, where you spoke to a young woman, you know, weeks after her father passed away. I mean, how much more vulnerable can you get in terms of interviewing someone who had a strange esoteric paranormal, euphological experience? It's crazy. And I think that's what connected me immediately to this structure you're doing. Everyone does have a story to tell, no matter how crazy it may sound, no matter how life all.

or not life altering it is, it's going to resonate with someone in a way that they may never expect it and you may not as well. So I think that's really cool the way you're doing this and how it's going to connect to people in very different ways. Thank you. And it's an opportunity to bring new voices into the fold that have different perspectives. The story you're mentioning was produced by James Kim and Robert Gerova. And there's these fantastic story producers based out of LA, have contributed works to public media for years now and creating some of the most kind of like groundbreaking radio stories there are. And they also have an interest in telling these type of stories.

But they are not within the community. And that's what's fascinating to me and interesting to me about this whole project is that there are a lot of great storytellers that have an interest or a fondness to this material that have not spun out, that essentially are able to sort of keep a human grounded perspective, but to tell these stories in new ways. And that's our opportunity here. I couldn't think of a better way to get an outside perspective

with the skill set of telling a story to really give the respect to the witness or experience there that they deserve, other than just, you know, like you said, just this date, it happened, weird, moving on. So, well, yeah, you know, and that stuff's great, but we really, like within our community, we live within an echo chamber. And that's not dissimilar to any other sort of niche community, you know, for lack of better terms. That's, that's, that's everywhere. That's every sort of industry.

That's every sort of community. But I think it is important that we don't ostracize and we don't exclude those others that may have different perspectives that may not even believe any of the shit at all. but have some sort of interest, you know, have some sort of notion that they can contribute or a story that they want to share and to really open it up into a comfortable space where we have this opportunity, I think, especially per, you know, sort of folks our age, they're like sort of at the end of that millennial bump, right? That we look at disseminating infargeons about ourselves, especially personal things, in a much different way.

we're in one sense more private yet of the same like much more exposed and we actually leave much more of our emotion exposed i think than generations in the past we're very open to share our opinions we're very open to share uh what's really kind of in our heart and i think that you see that like sort of represented in like sort of this new spiritualism community right like the the new yoga edm mysticism kick right yeah it's You know, it's revisiting these old platforms in terms of building community through some of these thoughts. But I think we have an opportunity to now tell those stories in a more rich and enthralling way and an honest way without any of the shade that would formerly be attributed to it. Exactly. And you mentioned spiritualism. And that's something I want to get into you here in a moment here, Jim, is in one of your original episodes, you interviewed. Carl Fyfer, the paranormal investigator. And I was so enthralled by the stories he was telling. I had to have them on my show, of course, during the Halloween season. But what we talked about towards the end of our conversation a lot was this idea of science and spiritualism. And that's something you kind of tackle in your premiere episode here of Beyond the Vail. And I'd love to discuss that idea of the veil with you. You and I have talked about this in the past. And

You've been telling me about this idea of a veil being, you know, quite thin in the past as opposed to today. And you brought up the name John D, someone I'd never really heard of. So I'd love if maybe just for a few moments here, you could tell us a little about John and this whole idea of science versus spiritualism. I firstly am so excited that you don't have very much familiarity with them. No, I can admit that. I love, you know, just the other night I started going on. about this. I'm talking, like, just a preface, I'm not an expert at John D. You know, there's some other great resources that I'll mention. But just having a really late dinner with some folks that started

to ask a little bit of questions. I'm sure you've had this, have you had this experience where you're like sort of catfished into divulging a little bit more trippy stuff than what they're maybe ready for? Have you had that experience? They ask leading questions and then you start going into something and then it gets way too deep, too quick. Oh, yeah, man. I never in my life have I experienced that more than when I moved here to L.A. because they embrace this stuff so much. Why the hell I'm moving back to New York City?

I couldn't tell you. But yes, I've had that experience where, like, it just, it's like a full-on car crash where it goes from zero to 80 immediately. And it's great, like, if you come out on the other side and you guys are like, whoa, that was cool. Like, I want to. But sometimes in this, like, this conversation the other night was like, oh this i don't know where i want to go with this that was their reaction we don't know what we want to do with this

and so yeah good times but uh you know essentially before i like share anything with john d and in particular your um your question about like what what i think in regards to to this thinning of the veil jason lou does he did a great book john d in the empire of angels really fascinating book about john d and his cultural effects. But, you know, like, some would actually say the relationship between the occult and science is strong right now, actually. There are kind of forces outside of the mainstream narrative, perhaps, that are perhaps covertly or unknowingly using occult technique or information while practicing scientific method right now and engineering. Some would say things like CERN, like D-Wave quantum computing, things like that are actually an expression of that, are actually an expression of occult engineering.

You know, and in the most recent past, you know, there's been pioneering forces in science, technology, rockets, weaponry that have been completely immersed in magic and the occult. And many would kind of say that, greater than that, greater than D in his early contemporaries even, in terms of terms of how far they went. But essentially, John D, he was, we have to go back to the 16th century to the Elizabethian age. And that was a time that, you know, when I was mentioning this earlier, it was kind of in response to this, because that was, that was sort of a time where science and magic intersected, even for scientists at the time. Dee, he was a Cambridge educated scientist. He was Queen Elizabeth, one scientific advisor. She kind of relied on him mostly for his skill in math. He was an expert mathematician, but he was also the definition of a Renaissance man.

He provided astrology. He consulted on mapmaking, in which actually really allowed the British Empire its conquest, was a direct result of sort of his consult through the map making. D was also, he was the real 007. He coined that name for himself. As he at the time, he helped create the first network of spies and code breakers. He several times he thwarted attempts by the Catholics to the throne of the queen. So he did all this, but he was essentially, he's essentially been left out of history and science books because in addition to all of his work within this realm, the occult was intimately woven together with his investigations. Whether it be through religion, mathematics, natural science, etc., the occult was like sort of ever-present and all of that stuff.

And it's because Dee claimed to speak to angels. And so, like, D, like other scientists at that time, he used the occult as a way of gaining insight in the world, right? So it was still controversial, but very much less so than now, in particular, like, whatever the mainstream narrative was at the day. It was common. And this was before the modern Western methodology had taken shape. So before the scientific method had really created that stronghold in terms of how we view the world. At this time, that sort of, for lack of better words, the tail of the tape didn't indicate whether we were going to go the way of D, which was magic and science and ritualism, communication with the other side, or if it was going to go like with Francis Bacon, who, you know, created the scientific method. And they were, you know, sort of contemporary.

So we didn't know which way that was going to go, and it was all used at the same time. So at that time, the veil, in regards to the veil, the separation between us and the other was much thinner. And our acceptance was granted for that in the allowance to discover methodology or secrets that were left in ancient texts. That was like sort of the main calling point. D had one of the largest libraries in Europe at that time. And his angelic communication with occultist Edward Kelly was born through alchemy investigation. They at some point, they at some point reported to begin communicating with these angelic beings who essentially imparted them a language, the same language used by Adam and Eve. So imagine that you're dipping your toes into this.

You are the chief scientist for Elizabeth I. and you're also unlocking a secret language, then this language would essentially unlock secrets from the book of Enoch, allegedly. So that's the story of D. You know, all that to be said, there's this other entire angle, which is that Kelly was a con man,

D was just after gold and sex, naturally. And they both, yeah, and they both sort of died unceremoniously. and not the most ideal conditions. But D's journals contained the Inocyan script and the tables of correspondence that went along with it. And they really did believe that their visions, at least what they reported,

they really believe their visions, was giving them access to secrets contained in the book of Enoch. But D really was a man of the time. His viewpoint and work sort of mixed, he sort of mixed facts and fiction to make things like astronomy and astrology work together and to also help snoop out enemies of the state, which kind of makes me think of Tom DeLong a little bit.

I was just going to say that. Wow. You know, so there's like this, yeah, there's this weird kind of thing going on. But, you know, essentially their work inspired Rosicrucians, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, you know, some of these hermetic orders from around the world. And one of the most interesting influences for me personally that I've been learning about is the inspiration on guys like Jack Parsons and Ron Hubbard and their Bambalong working experiments and polling directly from the Inokian text to put together really these Anokian rituals that the Anokians themselves allegedly had told D to not participate in, but to just kind of make record of.

So a lot of these very strange kind of sex magic rituals and stuff that they were uncovering in these texts. Allegedly they, Kelly and Dee didn't even participate in. They were like, no, we're just like going to write it down. We're just going to talk to the angels. We're not going to be, you know, sharing our seed with like tablets and stuff, which is a thing, I guess. But guys like Jack Parsons, the founder of Jet Propulsion Laboratory, one of the inventors of modern weaponry. He did, I guess. Him and Hubbard were all about it. So they were out in the Mohavi messing around with that stuff. And so, you know, in addition to that, you know, more recently,

a guy like Anthony Patch, who's this fantastic writer, and I've talked to him several times, he has it in his ideas that like all this relates to CERN, D-Wave computing and is very fundamental in some of these organizations and some of these non-mainstream entities. that are in fact propelling some of the most cut against science and technology, but also have their foot as firmly placed in the occult as anyone ever. I mean, look at like the opening ceremonies when CERN came around. Oh, my God, dude, it was terrifying. Yeah, yeah.

All the occult imagery and, oh, man. No one knew what to expect from them. Oh, absolutely. And even, you know, after that, you know, the weird videos and stuff like that of, of rituals that were purported to be hoaxes and all these, you know, but we're captured by like sort of of official cameras, I think. All of these things they really do, they blur that line between fact and fiction, and that's very D, I guess.

That's so D is what, I think that'll be my new podcast. That's so D. So it's very interesting and it, I think, does relate very much to what we're experiencing right now, especially in terms of the recent information that has come out in regards to anomalous aerial activity, etc.

And it's going to be interesting to see how much further some of these, you know, alleged purported forces blend fact and fiction, blends whatever they're working on with a more mainstream narrative and, you know, what all this

means, you know, so it's kind of a head trip. It is, man. And I know, I know you're going to be tackling all of that. What do you have coming up next for the show? You dropped these two surprise episodes on us, blew my mind. What's coming next for you from that? Well, so we're working on our full slate of radio stories right now. We have some, I'd say we have a really great mix of unheard voices and then voices that are going to be more familiar to people within the community and then even people within entertainment. And so I think it's important to have a great spread of these more familiar voices and then voices that are like, you know, this could be my friend from next door.

And we have some very exciting stories in those regards. We are covering some of the standards in a new way, I think. Some of these stories that we've been exposed to that we've heard, we're going to be covering those in a new way. And of course, right now it's a matter of digging through material, digging for those stories. And one of, I mean, I love talking with you on this episode. and I hope one of the like sort of the benefits of this selfishly is that folks will reach out

and want to tell their story on Euphemette. So if they have an experience, if they have a story they want to tell that, you know, that's esoteric in nature, that's supernatural, that has changed their lives, that's touched them,

that's unexpected. Let us know at the show. Right, absolutely. Where can they reach you for that? They can reach me directly, Jim atufemet.com. and we're at Euphimed on any of the social channels, and they can reach out there as well.

Awesome. And I know you also, you have a survey up on the website, too, that people can help sort of shape and mold the show with you as you go along on the journey, which I think is a really cool opportunity as well. You know, it's, we want the listener to help shape the show. We want their feedback because this is a different type of show, but this type of material being displayed so intimately, has never been done in this way.

And so we know that it's not going to be perfect right out of the gate. We know that there's going to be changes that we can make to make the experience even better because we're just getting started. And so it was very important for Euphimed to put that out there to solicit some feedback, to solicit some ideas because ideas come everywhere. And our listener base, especially the ones that have been along for the ride so far, know me more than I even give them credit for, I think. I think that we've had years and years and years of sort of being friends through this show.

And so I'm really hoping those folks as well as new listeners, you know, kind of lean over, give me a nudge, you know, let me know what they think and how we can improve the show or if it's just perfect already and we just need to make more. Which would also be fine, I guess. What good only dream? Yeah, dude, your ambition and your dedication has always impressed me, and that's why I've been there since the beginning. And I can't wait to see what comes next. And that intimacy you spoke of, that resonates with me as a playwright, you know, and just as a human being, more than anything, is getting to know people on such a visceral level through these weird, weird experiences in their life.

I can't imagine a better premise for a show. So everyone, please check out Euphamette. euphemat.com. And Jim, thank you so much, brother, for coming on today. And I can't wait to see what comes next. Thank you so much for having me, Ryan. I appreciate and I look forward to our adventures to come, my friend. They've only begun. All right, that's it for this week's episode. Again, you can subscribe to euphamette on all major podcast outlets and stream directly through the website, euphomette.com. Somewhere in the skies is brought to you by the E1 podcast network and can also be heard on the KGRA

radio network. To learn more, visit Entertainment1Podcast.com and KGRA Radio.com. We're on Twitter at SomewhereSkies and Instagram at SomewhereSkies pod. To help support the show and receive bonus content and rewards, consider becoming

a Patreon subscriber today. To learn more and to contribute, visit patreon.com slash SomewhereSkies. All past episodes, articles, and contact information can be found at the official website. somewhere in the skies.com. Thank you so much for listening, and I'll see you here next week. And remember, keep your feet on the ground, but never stop searching somewhere in the skies.

In The Skies is produced by third kind productions in association with the Entertainment One podcast network. To learn more, visit Entertainment One Podcast.com. Welcome to the CryptaNodot podcast, host by Mark Stores. Chris Connocelli. Rob Morphy. Join us weekly as we explore everything from Alien, Cryptozoology, the occult, ghosts, paranormal phenomenon, euophology, and unsolved mysteries, all while keeping a close eye on our reptilian overlords that dwell in the flat, hollow, robot-infested Earth. This is the Cryptonaut Podcast.

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