The Kristian Harloff Show - UFO/UAP Phenomenon! How does Netflix's ENCOUNTERS shine a light? | Yon Motskin

Episode Date: October 3, 2023

PATREON: Become a Patron!: https://www.patreon.com/TheBigThingShow The UAP/UFO conversation continues at an all time high. Last week Netflix released a new 4 part series about the phenomenon covering 4 different cases. Kristian had the opportunity to talk with the director Yon Motskin about how he got involved and what his experience was filming it and what he learned about the situation. Reilly and Kristian discuss the series and the claim by Ross Coulthart that major reveals will be coming by other whistleblowers in the next year or so. #uap #ufo #encounters #netflix #interview #aliens 

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begins. It is the next big thing. What's going on, everybody? welcome back to UAP Tuesday, man, big thing. And today we're really talking about this show that just debuted last week. It's on Netflix. Now it's four parts. It's Encounters. And we have the director, Jan Motskin. I had a chance to speak with Jan to the other day.

And I recorded it. I'm going to put it in the episode. And I'm going to talk. And I asked him a lot of questions. And one of the things that I saw that I saw even, we've mentioned James Fox on this show many times. James Fox watched it and he was kind of pissed off. That's the right word. About that they included inside of the Zimbabwe case,

there's a particular, you know, I guess kid at the time who said he made up the whole thing. And James Fox was like, well, wait a minute. Why would you include this to take away from everything else of what these other people said? And I actually asked Jan Moskin about that part of it. And I think you're really going to like his answer. So I talked to me about that. more about how he got involved in it, why he got involved in it. This is a documentary that is produced by Amblin, obviously Steven Spielberg, our buddy Andrew Fried from Boardwalk Pictures and

Vice. And it's been out for a little bit. It's obviously doing very well. People are talking about it. It's bringing more and more attention to the phenomenon. So we'll talk about that. But there's some other things also that's going on. Some stuff going on in Maryland about that there's some stuff, there's some sightings that are going on right now. And people are like, what the hell is going on? There's more footage out there. And this is not going away. As much as I thought, man, oh, maybe it's going to go away. It's not going away. So Mark Riley and I are going to be talking about this and more. Let's get into it. It's the big thing. It's UAP Tuesday. Here we go. What's going on, everybody? Welcome back. It is the big thing. UAP

Tuesday. I got myself. That's me. And my co-host, partner, and crime, he's Loki to My Mobius or backwards, whatever. Sure. There he is. How you doing, Christian?

Nice to have you. How you feeling? Feeling good. I watched Fire in the Sky the other night. Did you really? We've been watching a lot of alien movies and horror movies. Did you watch a new one? Yeah, it's so good.

The new one? What's it called? No one can save you. Yeah, where is that? Hulu. It's on who. Okay, so attack Peter keeps reaching out to me. He's like, dude, you've got to see it. It's. He loves it. It is. You love it? I love it. Wow. Okay. Not only is it a great horror movie. Yeah. It's a, it's a head job. It's, it's, it's so good. It's so good. It's so well done, uh, writing-wise. It's, it's, it, there's no dialogue. It's all just creepy. It's, it's, those aliens come in. Yeah. I tell you, one of them does this thing.

I'll tell me. That is, haunted. me now. I'm thinking about it. I'm like, that bad. It's, it just kind of just comes in. So you loved it? I loved it. Okay. And then I was begging my wife to watch fire in the sky. And she's like, that one I don't want to watch. Took a few days because of the...

Yeah. And she's seen it. She's seen it many times. But she was like, that scene when he's taken on the ship and then is experimented on. Yeah. If that's what's going on, the alien abduction stuff, that's a whole other... It's a whole other thing. It's a whole other thing. All right. So, like I said, We're going to really get into encounters in just a bit, but there's some other stuff that's going down.

And this is from Scientific American. And the article basically just says, it's time to hear from social scientists about UFOs. Whether or not UFOs exist, we need to pay attention on how they are influencing our politics and culture. UFOs recently renamed Unidentified Anomalous Phenomenon, UAP are attracting public attention in the U.S. in a way we haven't seen for decades.

Ex-government officials, prominent politicians, intelligence agencies, major news outlets, and civilian scientists are all looking into the prospect of extraterrestrial visitors, making them no longer seem quite so far-fetched. Even NASA once disinclined to take the subject seriously convened an independent study team to create a roadmap for future study of sightings. The team's final report, which includes this roadmap, notes there is no evidence pointing to extraterrestrials. However, the questions asked of NASA officials and their recent press conference showed that aliens, and cover-up remain firmly on the minds of many observers. Not everyone has welcomed the UFO's newfound measure of legitimacy in the meantime, and critics have questioned both the science and the money behind the resurgence.

But for all the wrangling, advocates for and against the serious investigation of the UAP share something in common, they all focus on the question of whether the phenomenon is something that exists in nature, whether worldly or otherworldly. We don't conclusively know if UAP physically exists beyond the moment. mundane, but we do know this. UFOs are social facts. Debate about them is transform our politics and culture with effects that are largely overlooked. Social scientists could weigh in on UAP now. It is a task for which they are well equipped. They not only offer effective techniques for assessing social change, but for decades, social scientists have been conducting research on such relevant

topics as human technology systems, behavioral factors in manned space travel, public attitudes towards UFOs and the and cognitive aspects of the sightings. To start, there are three pressing issues surrounding the UAP that bear serious study and discussion, intelligence trust, and research ethics. The top of intelligence turns up in multiple contexts in the UIP discussions. For instance, regarding classified military knowledge, much of the current debate and legislation revolves around the reliability of UAP information and how it is handled by government agencies. given national security needs, what appears to be part of a UFO cover-up may also be explained by Monday

and organizational failures at the Defense Department, administrations hesitants deposed to these failures, and institutional pension for secrecy and final plan old ignorance. Whatever the case, unidentified flying objects represent a challenge to governmental and military authority. This is because the state is expected to have answers to all possible threats. UAP undermined that guaranteed since they are, by definition, unknown. All right. There's a lot more in that. That's scientific American. Riley, you hear all that. It's a lot of the stuff that we've been talking about.

But I think that the major part is how they open it. And it's the fact that it is less about that thing that we kind of goofed about the, you know, and it's more about the people are talking about it more. And it's still, I'm sure, like if you brought it, if you were at a dinner with 10 people next week, you might be the only one that's talking about this. Yeah, I happened at my party with my family. Yeah. When we were telling them the sex of my baby, I got into conversation on UAPs.

I'm sure. But however, I'm sure it wasn't as foreign, though, to them because people have been talking about it. Yeah, and some of my family would, you know, they'd perked up. There was an investigation, right? No, a hearing. Right. What was that? Right.

It's that kind of stuff. And that's what that article is, and it's pushing it. And there was something in there that I thought interesting. I'm going to ask you. Yeah. In the wording of it, it was like, UAPs, do they exist in nature. It was something of that wording in the article, we could find it, but just likening it to nature, which made me think of nope.

No. And, you know. But fair to ask. Well, no. And not like an organism, like a UAP is a living organism as no. Oh, oh, I see what I'm saying. Right, right. but it did it's something that I've been thinking in the the UFOs and the UAPs and

and they're they could be around water and whatnot you know what if these things have been here for thousands of years right you know they are a part of our ecosystem they are a part of nature somehow I mean that is out there thinking maybe but I don't know it was something that I thought of that that article made me thinking and went yeah yeah because the point is this is let's get to the bottom of someone. Just keep talking about it, having these theories, throwing them out there,

going on X or Twitter, or whatever you want to call it, and getting people more aware of it. When you go back and, like, whenever, if it's 10 years, 100 years from now, when there's actually answers

of what the hell this is, the thing that people are going to really look back on history is that 2000, like, I think it was 18, whenever that New York Times article, that changed it. that changed it. It changed it for everybody

because I remember from those that are listening because again, family, remember, and I mentioned that you're talking about the Tick-Tac video and then the articles they were going with

that saying government has these things. And it was less, but it was more, went over the heads and everybody at that part. They didn't know about it. They didn't know about it. They haven't even seen the footage, which I'm caught,

it's an incredible footage. And whatever you want to call it. And there continues to be more footage. But they, because for so many years, there's just been this kind of like, as we said, the stigma behind it. And it's kind of like before that article for me,

I was always like, oh, that'd be cool if aliens or UFOs or real, that'd be cool. But I never really, like, ever thought of, wait a minute, what the hell is that? Until that footage came out. Because you have to ask that question. What, as I say in that article, if it's like, well, what is it?

It's like, I love. I love DJ. I love him. But a lot of his reasons and what he thought, I'm like, no. No. It's like it's, well, it goes fast. Sometimes, you know, it looks like it's fast, but it's really slow. No. It's, it's swamp. It's the swamp gas. No. And I love him. And if he believes that, and that's what he thinks it is, great. Yeah. But there's something else going on. Well, yeah, and for me, you know, you couple the video officially being released and the New York Times article, 2017, 18, whatever that was. Those 10 videos that came out last week. Right. All of those videos, you look at them and they are insane to behold. Yeah. You're looking at that.

And for me, in my experience, it's the same. I mean, well, not the same. What am I trying to say? Like, I had my experience in 2009, 2008, no, 2009, where I saw this. thing in Michigan. And it's the TikTok video. It's many people's own accounts. They just takes off flash of light, crazy, whatever it was. But I always had that in the back of my mind for years and years and years going. There is something out there. I don't know what you want to call it. I'm not calling it aliens either. But and then that video comes out. That is what more and more, it's the

stigma more than anything, I believe now. But it's even, it's even getting more and more people talking about it. Like, and there are, like, you, even when we showed that video last week of Neil DeGreste Tyson talking about it on CNN. Right. They're not covering it in the way that maybe you and I would hope that they would, that there'd be more of these conversations. But I will say this. And we don't really, it's not our place on this show to go full politics,

unless it's relevant to this subject matter. I do think that there is something to be said that if Kevin McCarthy, he does get tossed out of the speaker role. Right. Depending on who they get in there. Mm-hmm. Because it's Gates who's or... It won't be Gates.

No, no, no, no, no. But he's the one who's making the push to get him out. Yeah. His side hustle and... It's whatever it is. Whatever the reason. I'm just saying, I don't think they're going to oust them. But if someone else got in there on that kind of side of it, you never know if they go.

well, you know, maybe we'll approve that thing that you wanted to do in those, because that was one of the things McCarthy is not really, I don't think he's paying attention to it at all. Yeah, so you're talking about somebody that can come in and open up the door, yeah, open up the door more and get more, get some access to the skiff. Just remember, this is also a very bipartisan thing also when you look at like, Kishumer is very involved in this and everything. Like maybe, and maybe McCarthy had some good question. Yeah, maybe McCarthy is just going, I got a lot to do. I ain't dealing with us. I can't imagine any of those people right now in what they're dealing with with the verdict the shutdown last minute. This is not a priority. It's not even it's right now. If anybody

came to him right now, it's like, hey, we want to look into the UAP thing. He's like, leave me alone. Yeah. He's not going to. No, this is why, you know, the strike is almost, not almost over. It's over for WGA. We're hoping for SAG to happen. But once a sudden I'll go, it's a skit. It is like literally somebody walking in to the Senate floor with an alien wearing a U.S. C. You know, whatever. And nobody asks. Nobody asks.

Nobody has. Who's your colleague? I'm right here. I'm right here if you guys want to ask any. You know, they're talking about everything. Cats in a tree. Yeah. The election, the whatever's going on with the government shutdown.

The government shutdown and they have other things. Which I get. Like when it comes to, like, those are the types of stories that I do, like, right now, right now, I get that those are the main stories. I'm just saying when there's a hearing about all this stuff, when it's the last thing covered and not even potentially, the only reason that mainstream media is now covering this when it comes up is because you can't get away from it on the internet. Like the internet, it's where it's living, right? It's living on whether it's news outlets, like, again, I think it's the Hill News Nation. Those are the ones are really recovering it. But then there's a lot of different, whether it's a show like ours, a smaller show.

But then there's bigger shows that are covering it. I mean, shoot, Ryan Graves has his own show where he's covering it. There's way more information out there now that they can't put a stop onto it in the way. And then that kind of transitions us into now the Netflix series that they're doing. It's a four-part series. Now, what I think was important about this series, there's a lot of stuff. on this one that I now, after following this for the last couple of months, whatever we do, I've seen a lot of these cases.

I saw this in Bombay one. I saw the one. It was Stevensville, the Texas one was the first one they opened with. Texas was cool. I didn't know about the Japan one as much. I had heard about it, but I wasn't as familiar with this. So that was the one to me that I was the most intrigued with. However, I will say that they added some stuff inside of the,

because they spent about a full hour on each one. It's four that's called encounter. So they spent a lot of time. There's a lot of stuff that I think it was in that UFOs exploring the unknown or investigating the unknowns. It was the one that I got into this stuff with. And that was a four-parter also. They also covered that Texas one. But I think it was covered for like 15 minutes, 20 minutes, this is like 45 to 50.

Yeah, the encounters one. That Texas one was really, really good. Yeah. I had known about that. And then, again, the government shenanigans that they did. do is like I saw the jets no he didn't yeah I did yeah he didn't oh there were out there they oh yeah yeah yeah yeah we we were doing an exercise well that was that was that was so fascinating about that is because that one dude man it like ruined his entire life like because he was

so and I get yeah I get it like if like there's one thing like to where you had an experience right and it was like but and it stuck with you and you knew but like but I didn't make the news I didn't I wasn't in a position of power. You didn't see like a cop, maybe, a police officer. Air Force flying after it. No. And knowing clear, imagine you, imagine you see this thing. And you see these lights.

You see these, and you see it clear as day with other people. And then you see these jets. And they're in your pilot, by the way. And you see these jets go after them. And then someone goes, no, no, that's not what you saw. You're like, what? And you're just, and then you have people who are offering you to be quiet or offering you money.

It's like... I think, I mean, fire in the sky, not to bring it up again, but I think is very, very accurate. I don't know about the alien abduction scene and that becomes pure horror. But, you know, this guy played by D.B. Sweeney, right? He disappears after they see something in the sky.

And the cops immediately just go... You murdered him and buried him in the forest. That's what happened. And they're known as murderers all over town and they're walking around and they don't, this is what we saw. And then, you know, basically the story kind of resolves. He comes back that nobody believes them and they all go off into different directions. Lives ruined.

Right. Because they were looked at as crazy. Take it back. They take lie detectors. No. No. Still doesn't work. How do they all have the same story?

And that's, again, the stigma. Yeah. It is so impossible to get. through because we see it in so many different examples and in this encounters in that Texas episode of people seeing these things and then being told no you didn't right no you didn't right but I think what's so great about this because when I stumbled upon that I think it's National Inquirer not National Enquirer National Geographic um it was on Disney plus was where I stumbled upon it yeah

I know. This Netflix doc has been highly promoted. It's been, it's produced by, again. Spielberg. Spielberg, Weiss, Boardwalk. I mean, there's an episode where you get to talk to the guy that's the, the, the, inspiration for the French UFO character, UFO, all of this, in close encounters. I mean, they're pulling in.

Everybody. And that guy's, and he's a prominent figure in a lot of these, whether it is in phenomenon or whether it is in, in the doc that I watch. But like, but my point is that by bringing this to Netflix and putting this four part out, it's a good time to,

to do this because they, and I asked, I asked the director as well too, so like, they were planning on this before, like the hearing came out. They were working on this before. Oh, I'm sure.

So they were working on this for a while. And what I also thought was really kind of fascinating about this, as you'll see in the interview, is that this wasn't a guy that they found like, oh, let's, because James Fox, James Fox is like in it.

Yeah. Like he, when he does, like he's been following this for a while. So, um, when I, I was very curious is that, is that the same, is that the same thing for, for Jan Motskin who directed it and it's not. Yeah. He even says to me, he's like,

when they approach me, he's like, I don't know if I'm the guy for this. He's like, he's like, it's like, it's not that I don't believe. I just don't know anything about it. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's, I like that approach. I do too, because it's, well, it's a documentary. Yeah.

And you have to document what you're, you know, skeptics. And, but you're also, you know, you're sitting down with these people going, what happened. Right. So you have to have to have to, because these are incredible encounters, and I'm sure they've been working on it for a long time. I mean, UFO, UAPs, all of this. It's Evergreen. Yeah. We're always going to be looking up.

And I think that what we need to do is. is there are, there is literal evidence in the skies now and on, thankfully to technology in our world. We're capturing these things. It's, it reminds me of don't look up. Yeah. You know, I mean, people are just, it's all right here. And really, there is something that you can, you can not be crazy or looked at as like, what's going on? You know, if you look up and see something or just see the footage and say, what is that?

Right. Let's do something about it. Let's just get a task force going. And that's exactly what Jan essentially said. So without any further ado, I want to have you guys take a look at my interview with Jan Moskin, who directed all four episodes of encounters, which you can find on Netflix now. Here's my interview, and we'll talk about it on the other side. Support for today's episode comes from Marine Layer.

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Happy celebrating. All right, guys, as I said, I am very excited to talk to our next guest. listen you know how i've been talking to you guys about the getting more information looking at some of these cases not to just say well this this i don't know what this is so it doesn't it if they don't have all these why why are they why are they just showing up in the u.s why are they why is only one person behind a barn seeing it so before you say that look at all the actual cases and whether you're skeptical or not learn the facts about it first and then i said watch as many things as you can and then Netflix is doing and it's out right now a four-part series produced by both amblin

and boardwalk pictures Steven Spielberg himself i mean come on um but it's a four-part series and it's about encounters and it's called encounters and it's about four particular encounters that happen once some that i were familiar with some that i were not and some i got some more information about and so i want to bring in the director of the series yon mott's John, how are you? Good, Christian. Thanks for having me on. Thank you for being here today. And I am very fascinated by your story and how you got involved in this because I think we,

you know, look, we're in a place right now with everything going on with UAPs and in general where it's just part of the culture more so than it ever has been with the hearings and with NASA talking about it more and the stuff going on, the Mexico hearings and all these different things. but when did you first decide that you were even going to explore this topic? Well, here's a little disclosure. I was never an alien person. I was not really even a sci-fi person. So I had never seen or really read much about this whole subject.

And that might be good news or bad news for fans of the genre. I don't know. But I was approached by, I had done some work in scripted and documentary. And I was approached by Netflix, Amblin, boardwalk pictures, and vice. I had relationships with them all. And they said, hey, we have this project about the search for extraterrestrial life. And I said, thank you very much. But I said, I don't think I'm the right person for this.

I'm not an alien guy. And they basically said, because you're not an alien guy, we think you'd be a good person for it. I said, well, what I'd be interested in is the human story. I get the genre. I think it's fantastic. Sci-fi is really interesting. You know, can we, I think I could do it, and I'm interested in exploring the human aspect, right,

which is, can we tell it from a human perspective, a narrative-driven, character-driven, emotional story, not conspiracy, not sensationalism, you know, not sort of what is the government hiding, or not hiding. So that was my starting point. And all the partners said, yeah, that's what we want. And I said, let's make it like a detective story.

Like it's sort of a character-driven thriller. And they were all like, that's exactly what we want. Yeah, and it plays like that. Yeah, absolutely. And it's funny because there's stuff like the, it opens with the first case is the one in Stevensville in Texas. And I had seen, I was familiar with that case.

But what I liked about what you guys did in this episode, you really dove deep into it because obviously you're spending a full episode on it. But is that the first one that you shot? Or did you shoot them in sequence? Or I'm not sure how you did it? Well, what's interesting is sort of the selection process of the stories because fans of the genre of which there are many, you know, they know a lot of these stories.

So we spent about half a year researching this world before we ever shot anything before we ever talked to anybody. So we researched and we talked and we sort of did old school journalism. And we probably came up with a list of about 100 different stories. And so what were our filters, right? Well, one is we weren't interested in yesterday's story or today's story. We wanted to know what is tomorrow story. And very quickly, I realized, well, it's not an American thing. It's not necessarily a government or a military thing.

It's a story about sort of hope and possibility and wonder and awe and science. And so I was interested in showing diversity, not for political reasons, but like can we find stories that we haven't seen before in Africa or in Asia, in Europe, and obviously in America too. And so that was really important. We were also interested in finding stories across different time, eras. So for example, you know, it's great to have a story that just happened yesterday or two years ago. But we wanted to see what was happening in a certain place, in a certain time that may or may not have

impacted, right? So we found a story from the 70s. We found a story from the 90s. We found a story from the late 2000s, 2008, Texas, which you're talking about. And then we found a story from Japan in 2011. Yeah. And I think that that's what's so fascinating about it because it's just when you really go over all the different stories as you said there's so many cases to where you're like over the course of 70 80 years and even back as you as you cover in the last episode stories that yet the roswell one is the one that everyone really put it on the radar the first when and then after after oppenheimer and everything that we started hearing more and more cases that were coming out and that's when the activity really started to boost up but you you were discovering cases

that had hit way even before that, and there was always, whether you, depending on how far you go back, people didn't know what it was in the sky that they were seeing. As you said, you talked to various people who said, at the time, people,

if you go back hundreds of years ago, they thought it was angels or demons or whatever it might have been. So when you're researching all this stuff, and as you said, you went in going, I'm not an alien guy, I don't know, I'm going in. I do actually think, by the way, that it was a very smart choice

to get someone who's on the side of going, I don't know, I don't really believe this stuff. I don't know what I believe, but I'm not the guy. I think that that is exactly why you should have been the guy, because I'm curious with all this stuff in the way that it's shot, it seems like you're way more of a believer now than you were going into this thing. Well, I didn't start off as a non-believer. I just started off as somebody who didn't even think about this.

Like, I didn't believe or not believe. I just, it wasn't in my consciousness. And then when I started the project and I started doing the research, I'm very skeptical. I come from a family of mathematicians and engineers. So evidence is literally in my blood. So that was a really important factor for us when we're choosing the stories, right? Not just evidence, but more importantly, credibility. Because the reality is we're not going to find evidence, you know.

And people who are looking for an ending with where we open the trunk of a car and there's an alien with duct tape over its mouth. And that's the big reveal. Spoiler alert, it's not going to happen in our series. But what was really important was the credibility of all the witnesses. And we spent a lot of months and months and months and months talking to people. And we betted them to the best of our ability as filmmakers and journalists. Do we believe these people? And that was sort of the filter for me, which is I'm not out there to say that what happened was real or not, or whether aliens exist or not, or whether these people are telling the truth or not.

I believe that they believe. And, you know, we tried to find people that were the most credible, whether it's a bank president, you know, successful businessman, an elected. Chief of Police is one of the witnesses, right? In the Texas case. Exactly. Constable Leroy-Gate. He's an elected official. So not only are these people sort of have been vetted to a certain extent by the public and their professions, but also they have a lot to lose. There's a lot at stake.

So by them coming out, so to speak, as they call it, and saying, hey, I had this experience. Some people may think it's crazy, but this is what happened to me. they're not doing that for attention. In fact, they're motivated to hide and to not tell anybody. And that's something that I was not expecting, how difficult it would be to get all of these people to speak openly about it. Well, not only that, what you do that I thought was fascinating inside of the documentaries, you actually did a couple of reenactments with the actual people themselves.

And when they're looking up at the sky, and obviously it's years later, but they're still able to do it. Were they hesitant to do that? because there's a couple of times when they're going over the actual experience, whether it was when they were looking at the object or what they were seeing, and they just, and their faces and everything, the way that you shot it was they were in that moment again. Was anybody hesitant to do that? Not at all.

It's really funny because I find that getting real people to do their own reenactments is somehow maybe counterintuitively more authentic. than getting actors to do it. It's a funny, brief story. Years ago, I saw this great movie called The Imposter, which some of your audience members may know. It's about con man. It's a documentary, but they have these great reenactments.

And when I saw it, they did these reenactments, and I thought that, and I saw that they got the conman to do his own, the real guy to do his own reenactments. I watched that. I thought, oh my God, that is genius. And so before encounters, I made another one. I made another project and I stole that idea. I thought it was, you know, and I sort of expanded on it.

And I really, and I found that I loved it creatively because I originally come from scripted and fiction. And so working with actors and sort of with a cinematic language is very natural to me. And I'm interested in expanding fiction, but also the documentary form. And so on this project, I found that everyone not only is comfortable with it, you know, doing their own reenactments but sort of arrive on set and they see sort of the professionalism and the gear and the importance that we're giving them and their stories and they really um look they not only perform but this was a seminal moment in their lives yeah they don't need to really act they're just sort of doing the thing again yeah which is what i really i mean i really

enjoyed that portion of it because i was as i was watching that it it puts you in that scenario because as you said they really you can tell that they believe what happened to them and and look they ruined some of their lives as far as you the one the one guy who sees up top and he's and he's it it ruined his marriage ruined his business he he's he's consistently chasing it I mean he that and can you and can you his name again Steve Allen that's right so Steve I've said I've seen Steve talk before And you can just tell, like, Steve saw something. And Steve is really, really determined.

And I would be so curious to see what, how he's feeling now with all. I mean, the fact that your documentary is bringing to light these stories more so. I'm putting it on a platform like Netflix. And the stuff that's happening now more so in, in a lot of the media. And with the fact that you've got people like both AOC and Tim Burchett and all the people, bipartisan people now covering this and wanting to get answers. We're in a place now that we have not been in in a very long time. And I think that that's why you said in the beginning,

it wasn't that I was a non-believer. It was the fact that I just wasn't on my radar. And I think that because very similar to me, I always, I was never a non-believer. And when I saw this stuff, the New York Times article in 2017, 2018, whenever it came out, I went, oh, well, that's an interest. I never seen that before. I mean, that's a little bit more proof.

And then it kind of went away for a little bit. And I ran into a documentary about four months ago, five months. I was watching. I don't remember what I was watching, but I took a break for a second. And I popped this on. And it was exactly what you just said. I just didn't know a lot of this stuff. And this is just information.

And it's more questions that should be asked. And I think one of the reasons why it wasn't on our radar is because mainstream media wasn't really covering it. And you were getting things. You didn't know these kinds of facts. Like there's so many different cases. Like the, I'm very curious. Like when you were.

looking at the at these as you're going in you're listening to these people is there ever a moment of something that someone told you and you're looking at these facts and you're like holy shit like this is this is crazy like the the amount and i know that you don't want to go into whether you believe it not believe it and all that but it's just like there's got to be some moments you're like this is pretty this is pretty intense uh yeah there was a lot of those moments and it's strange it's once you're in the world right once you know i was spending a lot of time talking to people. I don't want to say that it normalizes it, but it, you know what?

I take that back. It never normalized it because people told us extraordinary stories. Some of them we included in the documentary. And some of them we didn't because it's interesting. On one hand, I know what audiences want, right? Audiences, well, I think I know what audiences. On one hand, you want sort of evidence and credibility, and you want to believe and you want to feel like it's legitimate.

Right. On the other hand, audiences want a good story. I mean, I watch movies. I watch shows. I want a good story. And what makes a good story? Well, things that we haven't heard before, things that are unbelievable,

things that could seem crazy or out there. The problem with a documentary about aliens or extraterrestrial life is that as soon as somebody starts talking about an unbelievable thing, for example, an abduction, right? And we had a number of people tell us the specific details of their abduction or the kinds of beings that they saw or encountered,

which happens in a number of episodes. As soon as audiences hear that, does that cross the line for them? I know for some people it does, and we wrestled with that. We say we want to include it because it's real and these people are credible and we believe their story. On the other hand, are we going to have the audience say, okay, you had me up until the lights in the sky, but as soon as he starts talking about a praying mantis, I'm out.

Yeah, no, I understand that. And look, from someone who does this now every Tuesday and talks about, like, I have, I'm very open-minded about a lot of it. I think that there's some things that can be explained, and there's always that what's fascinating to me about it is I was messed up the percentage, but if it's like, there's always something like 12% that can't be explained, plane. It's like, well, what is that? Right? And so when they did the bodies at the Mexico hearing, I was like, I don't know. I don't know if I'm on board for that one. And then, and to be honest,

when you in the fourth, in the fourth episode of the, the Japanese one, I did not know a lot about. And then you guys had the one drama teacher on. And she's like, I am an alien. And she starts speaking like, her, to her alien language. That was my moment where I'm like, I don't know. but it didn't discredit the other stuff that I was watching. Like the fact that you guys, what I loved is that you included is that there is some kind of connection here with the fact that every time, whether it's an actual nuclear event or nuclear plants or nuclear something,

these things, whatever they are, whether you think that they're alien or other country craft, they are consumed by this nuclear stuff. And I'm glad that you guys, did you know that? Did you have to know that going into this, that they were always related to the nuclear events and stuff? I didn't know that. We learned that sort of as we started, you know,

we spent a lot of time talking to scientists. Yeah. And sort of business people and entrepreneurs, but particularly scientists. And a lot of them did not appear in the series, partly because they don't want, you know, these are scientists. at not just credible institutions,

but some of the most well-known and respected institutions, both in the US and around the world. And they study this, they believe in this, they talk about it, they work on it, they get funding for it. And so we started to learn, for example, the nuclear connection, this idea that since, particularly since the 1930s and 1940s, till today, there's been a fairly strong,

correlation statistically between reported sightings of UAPs or unexplained activity and nuclear power, nuclear power plants or nuclear weapons and nuclear disasters. So we learned that along the way and I thought, well, that's really interesting. And then as we found out, like, that's a story that hasn't been told often in this world. And, you know, I think it's also a story of consequence, right? And it also suggests, I think, some pretty big stakes, right? Which is, it's one thing to see something in your backyard or off the coast of the UK. It's another thing when this is happening sort of in and around nuclear power. What does that say? You know, we can spin out from that a lot, but we were able to couple that story, the nuclear accident, and I was very interested in doing a story in Asia,

because we don't often see that in the genre. And unfortunately, there was this, uh, terrible tragedy in 2011, the earthquake and the tsunami nuclear panoply disaster. But that led to this extremely strange otherworldly experience. And so we were able to tell that story. Yeah, you really did. And it was, and it was, that was the one that I was really, I didn't know a lot about. And I wanted, I really wanted to, because that's, that's the thing I get on this show all the time for people.

And I think that you included is what I really liked is that it almost is like a kind religion now for a lot of people as the way that they see this. But there are people that watch this particular show on this episode that are believers, that weren't, but then, and now want to know more information. And then there's people who chime in going, it's really bizarre that only America is the only one who ever see this. And I go, that's you not paying attention because that's not, that's not the case. There are cases from all over. But the question I was, do you find this at all when you're when you're doing the investigation? because here, one of the main things is that there's this cover-up.

And you guys kind of do, it's not the focus of the documentary, but you certainly hint at it in the first episode of how they see the jets. And then they go, we didn't have any jets there. And then they said, well, we did have jets there. And that was what it was. And we just, there was miscommunication. That's why. And it's like, okay.

That just seems to be an ongoing theme here. But is that when you're doing that, the Japan investigation, Do you find that the government is trying to hold back stuff there? Is it more open? It seems like it's more open with people talking about it. And then like you look at something like the Varginia case in Brazil and people were talking about it. Like what what did you feel as far as outside of America how people talk about it? We did not have that experience in Japan.

We didn't really deal with the government there, but we at least as far as I know, we did not have any negative or positive experience with the government. So that wasn't even an aspect. What was very interesting in Japan, and part of the reason why I was very excited to do a story there, is because sort of what you just said, which is in America, people look at it as a cover-up. People look at it as the government may or may not be covering it up,

which, by the way, probably maybe is happening anyway. In Japan, people, as was explained to us, by Japanese experts and journalists that we worked with and consulted with us, the culture is one that it's more positive, looks at this in a more positive way, in a more optimistic way, in a more open-minded way. It's also one that sort of incorporates spirituality and religion into this. And so what that means is, you know, it's not just like,

Here we have humans and then extraterrestrials. And it's like you're either one or the other. And then, you know, religion or God, whatever you believe in, is sort of in another category. In Japan, as was explained to us, it's not natural or supernatural. It's just there's no even concept for that. It's all just one. And so when somebody sees lights in the sky, maybe it's extraterrestrial. Maybe it's what they call Hido-Dama.

which is souls of the dead, you know, people that were lost, whether it's a relative or a friend, and their soul is floating up, or it could be some kind of spirit. And so we tried to explore that through the people's stories. Some people in that story believed that the lights in the sky were UFOs, spaceships. Some people believed that they were souls of the dead. And other people, you know, sort of had a much more sort of spiritual explanation for it. ghosts, you know, and none of them are right or wrong. It's more about sort of what they believe.

And then in turn, we're just presenting their story with respect. And we'll let the audience decide. Yeah, it seems like the taboo is less there because you guys talk about the taboo, how it's here where, you know, it's, and I think it's one of the things that I commend very much. So what your series is doing is that you get these people who for the longest time, as you said, they were risking their jobs. They were like, they walked by to go,

that's the alien guy. But now with everything going on and how it's becoming more and more news outlets are talking about it, there are more shows that are discussing it. There are more people like yourself that are exploring it. And I think that that's really what is important about this, that it, like you said, it doesn't, we're not, not even if they're saying, well, those are aliens. It's like, I saw something. And instead of people going, no, you didn't.

It's like, well, and they said that you'd say, There's a couple of people in your show that say this that at one point they were kind of judging the people who saw it. And then they saw it. They go, well, I'm not going to do that anymore. I'm going to say, well, they saw something. And I think that that's very important to have that conversation because I get it all the time now. Even yesterday, a good friend of mine, I was telling them, I was like, say, what are you doing? UFO stuff now?

I said, what's that? What's next? Sasquatch? And that's still there. It's not going to go away until I, there's a lot. There's a lot that needs to be done in that time. But I think a show like this is very important. And I think one of the things that it's the one that the case that everyone always talks about is this Zimbabwe thing.

And you guys explore that. And these children. And what I also really like that I hadn't seen before is that you also do explore the side of it that maybe this guy says he made it up. And there's that one kind that looks like Charlie from Lost was pretty much saying. Yeah. I made the whole thing up. And they were pointing at it and they said it was a rock. And yeah, I made it up.

To me, that guy, again, he doesn't seem credible to me. That's my, from listening to him, he seems for some reason he's got an agenda, but that's just me saying that's what I got out of that particular thing. But I thought it was great that you included him because people go, you know, maybe somebody made it up and kids like to make up stories. It's funny that you say that. It's very interesting that you say that because I felt the same way. So I probably interviewed on camera over 50 people, you know, in the series, maybe 60, 70.

And the only person of all of those people that I walked away from after spending a day with them that I said, I did not believe was that guy, Dallin, in Zimbabwe. And I don't know why, but it's just, you know, we all sort of have an instinct and it's part of my job to have an instinct. But there's something about him that I didn't believe. And I actually said to my editor when we came back to start the edit, I said I gave him sort of my thoughts on how he should structure the show. And I said, I don't think the one thing I'll just note is, I don't think we should use this person. Because he doesn't feel credible.

And two weeks later, my editor came back and he sort of had put some stuff together. And he sort of used Dallon as a, a key character in the series. Yeah. My editor, Greg O'Toole on that episode, said, he's the one that sort of gives us this conflict, right? And he's like, he says, I made this whole thing up, which puts the onus on all of the other people who had this experience.

Right. puts the onus on them to tell a truthful, believable story. And if we're successful, then we're not going to believe. believe the guy who said he made it up. And I think to Greg's credit, we kept him in. And it, to me, I think it really works because it forces the audience to say, well, what if they did make it up? But then you hear the true stories, or sorry, then you hear the people that saw it and experienced it. And I at least, I believe them more. And so not only do you believe them, but you overcome this hurdle of a guy who says that he's making it all up. I agree. And I think

that that's exactly what that accomplished. Because as I was watching that, I was, is like, all right, I see, here's the one guy that says it. And then you go to another guy who goes, yeah, that wasn't a rock. I know what a rock looks like. And I think it's important to, you know, I want to keep it balanced in the sense that like, here's evidence for, here's evidence against, and let the audience decide for themselves. 100%. And that's what I thought was really great about that because it also, what it did for me is I'm going

through it because you do have accounts of people who said that they, They were visited by, you know, the men in black or whatever it is, right? The government officials who either offered money or told them to be quiet. And I'm going, who's talking to that guy? Who's talking to that guy saying, you know, when you get the interview, tell them that, whether it was to you or whoever it is, any interview that you give, let's tell me he made it up. And I think stuff like that, whether that happened to him or not, who knows. But I think that stuff like that happens all of the time.

That's the stuff that when, to me, it's a matter, as you said earlier, it's a matter of the witnesses, the people who are talking about it and their credibility and what is it that they have to risk, right? And you look at a guy like David Grush. You look at a guy like Graves and Graver and these, Fraber. And you look at these guys and it's like, why are they putting their careers out? And they can monetize through books. And it's like, yeah, but you're always going to be, that's the alien guy. You got to be credible. And I think that that's what your show does very well of putting those all together. But let me ask you this before. I let you go, do

after doing this four parts, because as you said, there's so many different cases. Is this something, are you done with the, I mean, I know that your interest is going to be there, obviously, but are you done as far as directing one of these? Would you want to do more encounters? Or is it just this is what you wanted to do. You explored it. You took the

gig, you found out what you wanted to find, and now we're doing other things. Well, I could tell you that I now have completely, I love sci-fi. Yeah. And, you know, obviously the movies of Spielberg, like sort of the earlier movies like Close Encounters and ET and sort of those formative movies and more recently something like Arrival, you know,

sort of where it's a sci-fi, but it's human-based and it's character-driven its narrative. So I would love to do more. You know, if Netflix, if people watch it and more people want more stories, we're kind of ready to go on season two and season three. So I would love to do more if there's a way that it's. can feel fresh and moving things forward. You know, I'm not so interested in doing the same thing over again, but a good story is a good story.

And so if we can explore it more, I would be very, I would like to. Are you paying attention to a lot of the stuff, like were you paying attention to the hearings, where you pay attention to the stuff going on with Mexico and the stuff that Grush was talking about? Were you kind of keeping up to date with that stuff? Yeah, kind of on the periphery. I have sort of told myself, and I'm not sure if this is good or not, but while working on this project,

I try to not keep up with the news because I don't want that to inform the process. Because I think it can be hazardous to chase news, you know, because obviously it's in the news now, but this show is hopefully a little bit more evergreen than that. So it's going to be on in six months or 12 months or in two years, and the news cycle will pass and something else will be on there. So I'm aware of it. You know, it doesn't change what the story's about, which is like, this is a timeless story, right?

This is about people who experience something extraordinary, otherworldly, and how have their lives been affected by it? And I think sort of the takeaway for me and hopefully audiences are, let's keep an open mind. Let's believe people who are credible. let's put money towards science, right? I'm not getting on a soapbox here, but I'm like, well, what should we do?

Keep it open mind. Fund scientists who are trusted and credible and let them do some work and maybe we'll not just like find stuff out, but like, can you imagine? I mean, if an one sliver of this is sort of real or happening, if there's something really out there, like it's going to change our physics,

it's going to change how we live, how we think, It's going to change everything about our world and beyond. Everything. And it's so true. I'm glad that your show is out there on the platform that it is, and people that will start asking more questions. And I get people now tweeting, hey, have you watched Encounters? Have you checked out Encounters?

You're going to talk about it? I'll do you one better. I'm going to get the director on to talk about it. And that's exactly what we did. So I wanted to thank you so much for joining us. Guys, make sure you check out Encounters four parts on Netflix right now. Jan, I can't thank you enough for joining me here today. please, if you do, do season two and three, please come back and talk to us again, because I'd love to, let's pick your brain.

Christian, it's been really nice being on. Thank you very much for having you. Thank you. All right, guys. This episode is sponsored by Fume. Bad habits, man. A lot of people have bad, bad, bad habits, and bad habits can really kick your ass, and they can mess with your health. They really can set you back. I've seen it, been around it, and I know. And when you see this, the first thing you go, what is that? The first thing you should know is that's not a vapen. It's not electronic. It's natural. That's why I'm on board in the first place. What is it then? It's a device. And it helps you quit nasty habits. And that's why I was on board right away when they reached out. At first, I'm not going to lie.

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There's my interview, and as you saw leading up to it, and afterwards, I also want to thank our sponsors there. If you are able to, I know a lot of people found this channel from this show that Riley and I are doing now, and I thank you. And one way to really support and keep us going to allow us to keep doing this is to, if you have the means, please go ahead and get one of our wonderful sponsors. I always put them in the description, but I always pin it as the first comment.

So if you're able to, please enjoy one of our wonderful sponsors. But, Riley, you know, one of the things I found very interesting is similar to what you just said beforehand, right? It was like, he told me inside of that interview, he's like, I believe that every single one of the people that I talk to believes in what there was saying. He's like, I don't necessarily know if it's my right to say whether or not I believe it or not.

All I know is that I wanted to tell the story. I wanted to make sure that it was entertaining. I wanted to make sure that it was, you know, that they really believe this stuff. And to address kind of James Fox was coming in hot the other day when he was on Twitter. You know, he wrote that he was pissed. He saw that the guy inside of that Zimbabwe case who said, I made this all up. He's like, why would you include that? And I actually think it was a great idea that they included.

I'm usually on the same page with James with a lot of this stuff too. But I'm on the opposite on that one. I think it was because I liked Jan's answer, which was. out of all the people that I interviewed, I believed him the least. And I said, because I said to him, I said, he reminded me of Charlie from Lost, this guy, right? And he was like, and he just seemed like

whether he was being paid off or he, I didn't believe him because he's like, oh, it was rocks. And then they cut to the other guy right after he's like, yeah, no, I, I know what rocks looks like. It wasn't a rock. So that's why I think. think it was important because it also shows, because a lot of times on our show, when it's you and I

who are, believe that there's something else out there, you get people going, oh, you need someone else on the show sometimes to talk about. It doesn't feel that way. And that's why we brought DJ in, you know, we had the whole thing when Brett was on. But I think it's important to bring in people like that. And I thought it was, because I had never seen, I had seen people like when I watched there's a few other shows that have covered that case. And I said, well, you know, what's also possible is the fact that the guy who, the Harvard guy who was exploring it was really into environments and wanted to push that. I get that.

I understand that. But I had never seen them interview that guy who said, I made it up. Never seen that before. I think that's important if there's somebody out there saying it. It doesn't matter if it's true or not. I mean, I think that it's important to have them there because it's the opposite side. of it, I believe the kids that were saying, they saw something. They saw something. That's what I feel about it. I feel the same thing. And, you know, with these things and these sightings and when people

have these stories, you know, you question them. Immediately, you know, and even if you believe, like I do, like, if there's a person that believes something so much, like, I'm not going to say you didn't see what you saw. Yeah, but you can have that little thing in the back of your head. Why can't we do it with the somebody that says, oh, I made it all up? Right. You can question that too. Absolutely. Did you? And does it, does it,

could it be that it's too much for him and it's like, you know what? No, I made it up. Stop talking about. Right. I don't know if that's the case or what. No, but I'll tell you what, and I said to him as you saw in the interview. I like the idea that he said,

I believed him the least. He did. It's what he said. And he also, what he said. What he said, what I that I told, like, out of all the stuff that I saw, and this is out of everything, not just this doc, out of all the stuff that I've seen, and I told them as much, the only one for me that I looked, I don't know, come on.

In Japan, they asked this woman who basically, she's talking like in this alien language, and it's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. And she said she is alien, and she's, but she believes it, right? And she's like a drama teacher, but it to me was the one like,

I don't know if I would have included that. But he is like, you know, because I asked him, I said, because one of the things I wanted to know, as you guys saw in the interview, was that there's such a stigma here in the States. And I said, is it the same in other countries? And he said, no, it's not. Yeah.

It's not the same. It's not the same. Because the way that the government shut it down in the 40s and they just changed it differently, they have a very different approach to. Because the Japan one, to me, maybe it's because I hadn't seen it before. after that tsunami and all this stuff the way that the,

because he wasn't as familiar with, as we've been covering this, we know that there's been a connection to nuclear and whatever the hell these things are. And they cover that inside of this dock within a bunch of the different ones, but mostly in this Japan one, because after that tsunami hit, you know, there was the plant that went down and there was a big surge of reports. of all these different UIP sightings during that time.

And that to me is the one that I would recommend. I don't know, maybe I'm wrong, but I just thought you didn't get a chance to watch that one round. Maybe you'll respond to the alien language lady, but to me it was like she was, she was a little much for me. She was a little much. I mean, that's when, when do we, you're talking about alien abductions and. She didn't say she was abducted. She said she was an alien. That she was an alien.

Yeah. And she could speak alien language. Yeah, you know, okay. I mean, when it crosses to, you know, contact or abduction or this, I don't know. That I have to see for context. But, you know, that's a big, I mean, I have a really close friend that I was with. Yeah, I remember you talking about this. Yeah.

He has claimed many times that he's been abducted. Does he live in L.A.? We got to get him on. Would you like to? I can get him. I mean, we've built it up now. We should definitely. What do you talk about it on air?

Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. We did it on an old podcast of mine at Collider years and years ago. So he would do it. But this, this, because it would, you know, I think it's fascinating. Yeah. What he says. And very real.

And he believes it. That's, that's, and that's what Yon said, right? He's like, it's like, the question is, do you believe it afterwards when you talk to someone? And I'm not talking specifically about you. I'm just saying, When you hear these particular cases, when you guys watch these, and even if someone who's watching this, who's like kind of a skeptic and just doesn't know, when you watch these four parts on this encounters, right? Like, do you start asking questions, though? I mean, like, you kind of have to.

You kind of have to ask questions. Like, well, what? The stuff that happens in Stevensville, the stuff that happened in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is just. Zimbabwe is out of control. Always gets me. For sure. And then I missed the third one.

I got to go back and watch the third one. but the fourth one is the Japan one. I mean, this is what I hope that this series of encounters on Netflix does, because it's Netflix, right? And so I'm curious to people who are watching this right now, can you tell me in the comments section, like if you had a chance to watch this series yet? And if so, what stood out to you?

Whether you are a full-on believer, whether you are a skeptic, whether you are on the fence, what stood out about it? and did it make you more of a believer, less of a believer? I want to hear that because, like, as I said, but I was unfair when I first watched the first episode. When I watched the first episode, I said,

I've seen this story already before. And I was like, get this some new stuff. Just another way of saying it and presented it. But then I said to myself right after I said, because it was very well done. Yeah. But I said, well, wait a minute. If this is the first thing I ever saw,

then would I be? as locked in the way that I am now. And the answer is yes, 100%. Like, this is the, I got to realize that maybe, you know, because there are people, the doc that I saw for the first time that I was promoting and telling everybody about, people are like, yeah, you got to watch the phenomenon. You got to watch a moment of contact, right?

So, and now I think encounters is going to be part of that conversation as well. It got my wife. She really liked it. Oh, she watched the one? She watched all the ones I've seen. Oh, wow. Okay.

I need to get to four. You got to leave with this. This is a big story right now. What happened? Here's what I'll say about it because when it's advertised on Netflix, she goes. Well, no, not with her. Because this is what it was. I go, I'm watching this.

You want to watch it with me. And she was like, I don't want to watch another, you know, and she looked at the queue where it says top 10 or wherever it is now in the placement. And the cover art, she's like, it's just another way. one of those things. And, you know, I'm paraphrasing again. And I'm like, yeah. And so I turn it on and it starts to present it that way of like the, not ancient aliens, but those type of things that are like, oh, it's a lark.

Let's put this on. And look at this guy. You know, and they laugh at it. But then is it, you know, unspooled for her? She was like, wait a minute, this is really good. I didn't know about that. And I'm like, that's what I was talking about with Christian on the show. You know, it's like stuff like that.

that. So I think that it's really well done, that there are stuff in there that are going to make people scratch their head and go, what? But again, it is this, the way it's, it's presented as entertainment. Right. Well, he says it much. That's where people, I think, again, I always bring up the fantasy world of wizards and dragons and whatever you want to call it. That's where they place them in this world. And our media and our movies and our television present it that way as well. Yeah. You know. It's true. And I think that, but it does prove you bringing up your wife kind of... There was some doors that opened, I think, but that's what I'm saying is that if you can actually get someone to watch it who is skeptical, to at least ask questions, right? To least go,

well, wait a minute. What is the, I don't know if I believe in little green men flying around, I don't know anything of that, but I do believe that we should be asking questions. That is a win. That's a win. Absolutely. That's a win. That is, that should be the win. Because that's like, instead of going, again, it's like, what is it? Baby steps. It's like, what is it?

And it's the fact that it's on Netflix. Yeah. No, just to look at some of the footage and to listen to what is in encounters and the people that are speaking about their stuff, I think it starts with there's more out there. Wait a minute, what? Right. So look at this.

Look at this. Look at this. Because I think so many people will go to little green men in a flying soft. Yeah, well, I asked, you know, with ray guns and whatnot. It's true, like, right away they do. And I asked you on the interview, you know, as you saw, I said, be, because he's like, well, depends on how successful it is. So I asked him if it's going to be season two or there'd be more things.

And he said, and I go, listen, it'd just come out when I did the interview. And then he's like, I just looked and it's already in the top 10 of, I said, you hit it at the right spot, brother, you know, and it's like, and now people want to know about this stuff. It's a right. Like, I think there's so many more. things he could cover, you know, as far as encounters go, like Virginia, you know, like there's, there's so many, oh, here, there's so many different places and some of these new things that

they could cover. Well, if you're talking about, I mean, the, the official Twitter account of no one can save you on Hulu, yeah, literally quote tweeted the Mexican aliens and said, oh, my God, they're here. Now you can see no one can save you, you know, it's perfect synergistic moment. They used it, right. They used it because it's out there because people are talking about it, and it's... That's got to be...

But that's the tricky part. The tricky part is capitalizing when people are trying to capitalize. And I understand it. That keeps it in the realm of fantasy and entertainment. Right. It does. And I'm sorry, but they are selling a movie, so they're going to do that. I know.

It's not like, yeah, there's some alien UFOologist on the other side of that going, I believe this. And, you know... No, they're using it to capitalize and say, look, some people are talking about aliens. They should go see our movie. Yeah. But what you can see is all four episodes. It's on Netflix right now. It's called Encounters.

And I really want to, once again, really want to thank Jan Motskin for being on the show. It was a great conversation. I look forward to seeing if there's going to be a second episode for sure. And you can, yeah, I can catch out. It's on there right now. So please leave your comments. I want to hear if you've seen it, what do you think. But before we go, I do want to talk about this other story that's going on here.

and that's from CBS News, man, mysteries in the sky, hundreds, hundreds in Maryland, report UFO sightings as Congress and NASA investigate the push for transparency. Almost 2,000 people in Maryland have reported seeing something unexplained in the sky over the past two decades. Change that headline. I know. Commonly known as UFOs, the unknown objects have a new name and new attention from the government. WJZ investigator, Mike Helgren, takes you inside the mysteries in the sky.

America has long fascinated by whether there is life outside of Earth and whether that life is trying to somehow contact us. Earlier this year, Congress held oversight hearings about what used to be called UFOs. They're called UAP's unidentified aerial or anomalous phenomenon, objects that defy an easy explanation. The UAP issue gained widespread attention for lawmakers and the public in recent years with the release of several video recordings of the encounters, which typically show seemingly nondescript objects moving through the air at very high speeds with no apparent

method of propulsion. It's heartening to me that so many people are coming forward now. We're getting significantly more reports than just six months or a year ago, said Peter Davenport, who directs the National UFO Reporting Center. Davenport has tracked hundreds of reports from Maryland on his website, the National UFO Reporting Center. And there's a whole big kind of report on this one thing here. there have been 1,923 from the state of Maryland alone. I said, I don't know what the future has in store for us, but I'm encouraged that more people are coming forward, and the government recognizes the phenomenon, and that's something worthy of their attention.

Many of the thousands of reports worldwide are centered on the U.S. East and West Coast, the Middle East, and the South China Sea. Experts disagree about whether the UIPs are extraterrestrial, but agree. There should be no stigma about reporting them. That's new. Greg Ficello of Port. deposit. Recently, went outside to plug in his car, and he saw something strange flying low over the sky in Cecil County. It went across the sky this way and only lasted for maybe 30 to

45 seconds. It was of a shooting star, a comet, some natural occurrence. I wouldn't have been bothered to send it to you, but this thing looked made by some intelligent life form. It was nothing like I've ever seen before. It broke apart and then it streamed out just faded in the sky. And that's similar what you said to your experience too. In September, NASA called for better data and more subject of these types of objects. This is the first time NASA has concerted action to take serious looks into UAP and NASA administrator Bill Nelson.

It goes deeper into the NASA stuff. But it just shows you, man. I think it goes back to what we were just talking about, Riley. That people are getting less concerned with feeling like they're all alone and feeling like people are going to laugh at them now. I feel like there's a place for them to actually now we're not we're not even nearly in a place where you can go like i'm still i still

people will katie sacca gives me shit about it all the time like you know she's like you're like you're going to talk about the aliens she's giving crap and people do it all the time but it's less now and i think that i really do think that there's going to be some kind of news i mean there's there's reports now that people think it's coming out that the news is going to come out soon i don't know what do you think i yeah well get get some of these is Maryland folk. Right. To talk.

Because that doesn't surprise me. Again, as we hear of these stories, you can go, it's funny because I say we present in media aliens as wizards and this and that fantasy, you know, no one can save you as a horror movie and it's great. But you can present this stuff on social media and get a completely different reaction. You can have. Yeah, UAP Twitter is quite the thing. but if you have footage, let's say somebody in Maryland catches something on their cell phone.

You can upload it and have a hoot on social media. You really can. And I think that that can coax some people out. Now, I don't necessarily like to post on social media and get attention on something like that. So I'm not saying everybody. But yes, this is going to continue to break that stigma down if more and more people are talking about it. And then out of those 1,900 reports or whatever, if somebody sees something,

I tell you, ever since the day I saw something, I'm looking in the sky. I know. I always look up because that's the other thing. I stand and like, wait. I'm like, come on now. But think about, though. Think about that.

You've seen some of this footage, there's a few different ones that people have not debunked. I think it was one on the beach, where a woman had her phone out with her daughter, and it was just in slow motion. And they didn't see it when it happened. And they saw it in the slow motion. Oh, yeah.

It stopped because it was going so fast. I don't know how many times I've been walking my dog and maybe something's coming about it. I didn't look up in time. I don't know. I mean, I could have very well been under, anybody could have been very well underneath it. Maybe that's what these things are banking off of it. These morons aren't looking. Yeah, well, yeah.

I mean, I saw some drone footage of somebody uploaded and said, didn't see it at the time. And the drone's coming in and it's like hovering right by the house. And then all of a sudden something just goes. Zips through. And he saw it later. I'm an avid drone flyer myself. It's a hobby of mine. And I'm like looking around because you, yeah.

I think we have that technology now that it's only going to get more and more out there. Yeah, well, here, and this is our final story of the day. So the Jerusalem Post, this is an article, says, journalists predict that UFO truth to surface soon, revealing stunning secrets. And they say, if Ross Colholtz claims about UFOs, are true, the implications could reshape our understanding of the world as we know it. Investigative journalist Ross Colhart has boldly asserted that the truth about UFOs will be unveiled to the public within a year, thanks to the multitude of anonymous insiders who have provided

compelling evidence of their existence. Colhart, a researcher, who has never personally encountered a UFO or an extraterrestrial being made this proclamation during a recent interview. After dedicating years of his life to investigate any phenomenon, he declared it the most significant story ever. The author of In Plain Sight, a book of delving into the UFO's Coalhart-Friendly believes that there is a substantial likelihood that we're not alone in the universe. Why does he think that aliens exist? His conviction is rooted in information shared by confidential informants, including David Grush, a former high-ranking U.S. intelligent official. Grush's shocking revelation included the existence of a top-secret U.S. government program

dedicated to UFOs and the possession of a non-human origin aircraft reportedly operated by a in agnagmatic pilots. Colhart contends that the American government has concealed a trove of UFO-related data for decades, but he suggested that the secrecy is on the verge of a seismic shift. If his claims are true, the implications could reshape our understanding of the world as we know it. The press is reporting Colhart's theories. In recent weeks, Colhart's assertions have garnered widespread attention from the global media. Numerous U. U.S. government officials have expressed a newfound willingness to divulge more information concerning the UAPs,

signaling a potential departure from previous policies of keeping the matter concealed. One of the reasons I wanted to bring this up is I did see Riley a lot of reports recently. This is one of the things with him is that there were a ton of new whistleblowers. Did you see this? There's a ton of new that's going to come out, whether that's from the second hearing that's going to happen or anything else. I think that's a really good place for it. It would be.

If they're able to actually get the second hearing and they get all these people who, finally see what Grush did. And I know Grush did another. Someone pointed out, Gresh did another interview. I didn't get a chance to see it, though. But if all these people kind of stood out, and then they, and apparently, these whistleblowers are first-hand witnesses to confirm what Grush said about, they did see. Remainty.

They did see the. So I went, like actual. This is actual eyewitnesses. That would be, I guess, where color is coming from, that that changes at all. There's only so much more that you can actually, you know, you can deny it now if this comes out. I saw this again yesterday somewhere. I remember it was. And it just shows you uninformed people.

It's so funny that it's all the U.S. that sees this. It's like just watch encounters and watch the last episode. That's it. And then shut up. That's the comment that drives me nuts. It's like that's just you're not paying attention. Well, that's just a example, I think, of a big swath of people that probably do that. Yeah.

You know, without digging into it. And that could be incoming in various different ways. You could see it in, I don't believe that stuff. Move on. Right. There's too much going on in our world right now. I'm looking here and not here and not really listening to the reports that are out there. The media is not pushing it there.

But it made me think of DJ's point a couple shows ago when he was on. And I believe it this way because when he was, you know, skeptical in saying like, well, If something crashed, this person would know, this person would know, like this group of people would know. And then they would tell this people, and it would spread. And it would get out there is what he's saying. I don't know about that. I don't agree with that at all. I don't agree with that either because I think that by design, what they're dealing with is so secretive.

They're in classified natures and they're going to have to. But this is where I believe that he can, that this point can resonate because there is so many, there could be, how many people? people does rush know of? How many people are there? There are, there's got to be. So with this stigma slowly lifting and whistleblowers being like, all right, all right, let's do this. He's still alive. Slowly but surely, slowly, slowly coming out of the shadows, so to speak, and saying, okay, this is what I see here because there's more recognition going. There's more legitimacy. We are doing the hearing. Maybe this is when they're right. I can. see that actually happening. Well, look, I mean, James Fox said it right after the hearing, right? He had also

predicted something similar where he said that within the next year, we're going to start getting to a lot of these experts, whether it's Fox, Colhart, I think Leslie King, I'm not sure, but a lot of these experts are predicting that it's all going to change within the next year. A lot of them. I wouldn't be surprised. I wouldn't be surprised because I said with the technology that we have, I said shared experience with everybody, but this could be the next best thing. Yeah. Is having enough people just go,

all right, you know what? Fine. We can't, we can't hide it anymore. I think that that's what I'm hoping happens. Look, it's been 80 years. We had a good run.

Yeah. Let's, let's fine. Let's see if that's the case. The main reason, though, is not because just they're holding secrets. It's, and it's not just because they don't think that people could handle the truth. It's also because they're going to be like,

wait a minute, you guys had the ability to be able to do this and help humankind with this and you didn't do it? Well, if they know what they're dealing with. But yeah, but I mean, if there's, let's say that there's certain things that, let's say hypothetically, that they have the type of technology, the kind of power that would be able to no longer need us, need oil. Right? Let's say hypothetically.

do you know how many people would want to keep that quiet? Oh, yeah. Right. A lot. A lot. Because if the oil business, if we don't need you anymore. Cold. Yeah.

You don't need you anymore? And I don't know if this is anything that's even, even, I'm just giving an example. Like if there's some kind of, let's say it's something to do with the medical industry. Clean energy, medical, cure cancer. Whatever it is. Yeah. And they had, and I'm saying hypothetically, they had this information from whatever the hell they found 60 years ago and they could have changed the world 60 years ago and they didn't

that's another reason for them to go we can't let this out because we're going to be in trouble yeah that that could be another variable we didn't know about I think that tracks I mean I think they could be like whoa we can we can't we can't release this 20 years later we need to release this 20 years later I this is like I go back and forth dude remember I told you a couple weeks ago I said, I don't think we're ever going to find out anything. And then there's times, like, when I hear this stuff now, I do, and as much, I think Ross Colhart definitely has an agenda also with his books and other things that he, everybody is. I believe that he has a passion for it.

I believe that he wants to get the truth out there. I do. I think there's a reason why Grush sat down with him in the first place. But I, you know, I don't know, man. I don't know. Him talking, and then I still got to get James Fox on this show. I got to get Fox on the show. I 100% believe.

in our lifetime, there will be something. Some kind of revelation that I think that should, that should change the way we're talking, but I don't really have a lot of faith, to be quite honest, with some of the things going on in our world, with people and just... Just in general. I mean, I think that there is a bigger world out there.

And if this thing turns out to be like, sorry, there's like, right here, there's this weird gravitational thing. What you saw was a Coke can flying a, across space. Something. Just give me something. Okay. Yeah.

And then I want to see if NASA, and same thing. NASA comes out and goes, yeah, yeah, we did the test to those bodies. They're fake. Fine. But just let's move. Let's do something. Yeah. All right.

I ask you guys, whether it's any of these stories that we covered today, your thoughts on encounters, anything in general, where do you stand here today? Be part of the conversation. I cannot thank you guys enough. When Riley and I started doing this show, we thought maybe a couple of people would be listening to us, like kind of shoot the shit. I will say it is the most popular episode of big thing that we do every week, whether our lowest episode of 20,000 is something.

We put on the stream yard last week, and we said, I don't know if we're going to be able to, if many people are going to watch next week, because we're doing stream yard, 130,000 people. So, you know, a lot of new people coming in here, and thank you for that. And we hope that you are enjoying it. And we're going to start working on something,

probably in November, that we can add something a little extra to get just the UAP crowd. and a lot of people have questions and people will DM me and Instagram and stuff too and I can never really get to it. So I have an idea that I haven't even really share with you yet,

but I will, and I'll release in November to how to get everybody kind of a little bit more involved. But for now, make sure you comment, click that like button. As I said, to all of our sponsors. Check out that book, man.

Check out AG1. Check out our friends over at Marine Layer and, of course, Fume. The links for all of our sponsors are in the description. It helps out the show tremendously, and I will also pin it as a first comment. So thank you guys very much. Thank you to my friend, Mark.

Riley, Mark, where can they find you? And I second that, by the way. Thank you, everybody, for watching and having a good time here as well. You can find me on the internet at Riley around. See you there. And for me, you can check me out, just my name, Christian Harloff,

whether it's Instagram, Twitter, anywhere. So thank you guys for joining us. I appreciate it, and we'll see you on the flip side. Once again, thank you to Jan Moskin for joining us on the show here today. And we'll see you guys. Peace out. Bye.