This Paranormal Life - #272 The Mantell Incident - Was a US Fighter Pilot SHOT DOWN by a UFO

Episode Date: July 19, 2022

We've all heard stories of UFOs, floating in the distance, drifting elusively in the night sky. But what happens when you try and chase one down? Well, in 1948, Captain Thomas F. Mantell uncovered the answer to that question... and it cost him his life.VOTE FOR THIS PARANORMAL LIFE IN THE IRISH PODCAST AWARDShttps://www.theirishpodcastawards.ie/vote/Support us on Patreon.com/ThisParanormalLife to get access to weekly bonus episodes!Buy Official TPL Merch! -  thisparanormallife.com/storeFollow us on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTubeJoin our Secret Society Facebook CommunityAdvertise on This Paranormal Life via Gumball.fmResearch by Amy GrisdaleEdited by Louis BlatherwickIntro music by www.purple-planet.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are there lava monsters living on the surface of the sun? If a wooden stake can destroy a vampire, what can destroy a wooden stake? Answers to these questions and more on this episode of This Paranormal Life! Hello everyone and welcome to This Paranormal Life, the comedy paranormal podcast hosted by me, Rory Powers, and the gentleman that sits across from me, Kit Greer Mulvena. Thank you. Thank you. I'm glad I'm getting the respect I deserve. I am a gentleman, actually. We both are. We've been investigating the paranormal for more years than many of you have been alive. We went straight out of high school into the exclusive and elusive, because it's hard to find, Harvard Paranormal,

a university that accepts only the highest promising students that show promise in the world of the paranormal. Yes, did turn out to be run by a con man who was stealing gullible children's student loans. In retrospect, we shouldn't have believed that university admissions actually worked like the letters from Hogwarts, not how UCAS works. But today, that's not what we're talking about. We're here, of course, to investigate a brand new paranormal tale and come to a conclusion as to whether or not it truly is paranormal. Today's story begins on January 7th, 1948.

The location? Godman Army Field. Just a stone's throw away from Fort Knox in Kentucky. Hopefully quite a good year to be in the army, given that the war... Wait, I don't remember what month it was, but it ended around this time. It did. The Second World War had just ended. I will say that there was still a ton of military action in full swing across the US, but I think more in terms of just staying alert. Yeah. After that first world war, they thought it was over and number two came around. They got real laid back about the whole concept.

They thought, they were like, man, that was crazy. Good thing that won't happen again. Let's just not even think about it. And then things kicked off again. So when World War II wraps up, don't take the bullets out of that gun just yet. Don't decommission those missiles too quickly because number three could be around the corner. That's right. If you get

COVID once, you know, shame on you, whatever. I don't think that's... Get it twice. Once you recover from round two, don't start licking lampposts and handles on doors. Yeah, keep your mask on because you can get it again. Soldiers were told to stay on high alert, to expect the unexpected, but nobody expected the events of January 7th to unfold the way they did. It was a typical day at the airbase. Operators of the air traffic control tower are going about their business as usual, tracking pilots all over the skies, giving aircraft clearance to land, and giving the go-ahead for takeoffs. giving aircraft clearance to land, and giving the go-ahead for takeoffs.

But while they were working away, something appeared in the sky. Something they didn't recognize. Hmm. Whoa! Do you guys see that? A bright, shining object had popped up above the horizon. It was the strangest thing they had ever seen. It didn't appear to be moving, just hovering in the sky,

almost menacingly. As they stared open-mouthed, a senior officer snapped to his senses and tried to get everybody back on schedule. All right, all right, boys, come on. It's got to be a trick of the light or something. I mean, sure. From here, it looks pretty convincing.

Really convincing, actually. But it's nothing, boys. Probably just an eagle. A giant metal eagle. Whatever it is, it doesn't matter. Has he ever seen a plane before? Even though he's a little worried himself, he tries to encourage the soldiers to carry on with their work. Sir, we have an incoming message. Ah, perfect timing.

Forget about whatever that thing is. There's news from the outside, boys. Let's see here. We have a report from the local highway patrol. Ta-da. Something about a mysterious object in the sky. A bright light glowing. Oh, oh my God.

Sir, another incoming message. Actually two. No, wait. Within minutes of the initial sighting, the tower received confirmation from more than two dozen credible sources. They had no idea what they were looking at, only that there was something there. Kit, what are you doing in this situation?

You're in a tower filled with men who are supposed to understand the sky. That's their whole job. And this thing's making a laughing stock. I'll tell you what I'm doing. I'm getting the keys to the war room and I'm opening it back up. The war might have ended, but the next war is about to begin. And it might be a war with another galaxy or universe or I don't know what. But something is happening and it ain't good yeah this is just after world war ii so they immediately converted the war room into a touring museum where locals could come and see relics of the old war and on the first day it opens to the public you're pushing children out

of the way get the out of here world war here! World War III's starting! You break the glass, smash the alarm. I would also, ideally, in this general's position, I will be queuing up some kind of dope movie quote. Something to the effect of, men, the war for America has just ended, but the war for Earth is about to begin. Oh, that's sick. That is fully sick. I don't even know who you are, but I would fight and die for you if you said something that cool. Sure, right. As if it wasn't enough that they didn't know what this object was,

it was moving strangely too. The thing shifted around in straight lines, either vertically or horizontally. And whatever direction it was going in, it was going fast. Okay, so its ability to change direction rapidly in kind of, as you say, vector directions such as up and down, left and right, quickly would indicate it's not your typical propeller or jet fueled plane which just has a direction it's flying in and it can just curve up or down or left or right exactly this is moving like nothing we've ever seen before everyone's attention was completely focused on this bizarre floating object but there were still planes in the sky that needed to land at the base.

Tower, this is Golf Tango India, requesting permission to land. Four pilots were headed for Godman Airfield, ready to land. One of these airmen was Captain Thomas Mantell. He was a decorated war pilot that had clawed his way to captain's rank by the age of 25. here. Is it a hot air balloon? A penguin? Can penguins fly? I don't remember. Tower. Sorry, sorry. No permission to land just yet. We'll update. Say, why you boys are up there in the air? Do you see that object out to the west? Captain Mantell and the other pilots looked out, and indeed, there was an unfamiliar something hanging in the afternoon sky. Would you boys mind inspecting it for us before you come in? Copy that. Come on, boys. Let's move out.

The jets ripped through the sky, peeling off in the direction of the object. Aviators on, Top Gun style. Sure. I, of course, right now would love to play Danger Zone by Kenny Loggins, but as to not breach any copyright laws, I will instead play this royalty-free song that I wrote called Motorway to the Risky Area. Take it away, boys.

The boys is you. You're the band. boys the boys is you you're the band put on the gas jets ripping through the sky just a couple hot dudes trying something new tonight motorway to the risky area The jets blasted through the sky, hot on the heels of this strange floating blob. That was the worst music I've ever heard in my life. Cause these dudes are pretty hot. And I'm probably gonna take one of them home and have sex with them. That was the worst music I've ever heard in my life. I do not endorse this.

Frankly, terrible, lazy rendition. All right, well, it's hard because you're treading a fine line. You got to imitate the song, but also you don't want to step on anybody's toes. So I don't think anyone says it has to be shit. Legally. Can't say danger zone, so I had to tweak anyone says it has to be shit legally can't say danger zone so I had to tweak that one it's a risky area and highway oh that would flag some shit up I'm going to jail if I even say the word highway I don't have to say motorway it's a bit more British I think I hit a lot of the themes though that the original song hit like being a badass and being unstoppable

some ones they I think intentionally left out of the movie i don't remember the original version being that homoerotic well it's it's a sexy song and flying a jet is like a sexy thing to do so like all those lyrics like oiling up your buddies wow i gotta there was shirts off in the sun wasn't the original song. You must know that. You gotta get it on. We're talking about men doing a very dangerous, lethal job. Yeah. A blow job.

Obviously not. I misinterpreted the original song, apparently. Apparently? What movie did you watch? What movie did you watch? Top Gun. No. You should know it C**k Gun. No!

You should know it was called Top Gun. Hard cut to you walking out of a cinema in 2022. Everyone walking out of the Top Gun screening just like smiling, all talking about the movie. You're just walking out confused expression like, that wasn't how I remember it at all. Yeah. It didn't even include the original cast of **** Gun. All right. I think we're getting a little bit distracted there.

I'll probably be playing the full version of Motorway to the Risky Area on the outro of today's podcast, so stick around for that. That's going to be released on atlantic records as well later this week it's really exciting time to be a fan of gun uh back to our story sorry let's get the music firing up again the jets blasted through the sky hot on the heels of this strange floating blob the thing is this weird shiny object was really far away, and not to mention high up. The pilots had already been at the end of their journey. That's why they were trying to land in the first place. But now suddenly they had another entire mission to complete.

Possibly against a goddamn TIE fighter. Uh, yeah, we have no idea what this thing could be. The jets pushed on with their mission, but after just a few more minutes, one of the pilots radioed the team. I'm too low on fuel squad. This one isn't for me. Godspeed, boys. He peeled away and headed back to base while the others continued. Then another pilot radioed. The oxygen in my cabin's dropping. I gotta call it here. I'm heading back too. And you know all these guys have f***ing sick nicknames.

Of course. Tags? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Iceman. Beast Fist. Gunface. Big b***h. Big b***h.

Sorry, I'm getting confused with b***h gun again. The Dong. Magnum. Yeah, again, Trojan. Yeah, again, weirdly sexual names to have. In the end, all of the pilots turned back. Iceman, Slippery Nuts. Tight Tushy 69. They're just gamer tags.

They all turned back except for one, Captain Mantell, the maverick of the squad. The brave captain sped towards the unknown craft, trying to get a better look. But the thing was now moving too fast. It was hard to catch. When he climbed to 15,000 feet, he got in touch with air traffic control and said, The object is directly ahead of and above me now, moving at about half my speed, 180 miles per hour. It appears to be a metallic object or possibly reflection of sun from a metallic object, and it is of tremendous size. His next transmission came into the tower at 3.15pm. The object is going up and forward as fast as I am, now 360 miles per hour. tower at 3.15pm.

The men on the ground were relieved to hear it. Mantell was a skilled pilot, but a chase like this, at this speed, already at the end of another mission, was dangerous even for the most skilled of pilots. Be careful up there, Mantell. I'm still in pursuit of the object. I think I'm going to try and find something going wrong. Mantell? What's wrong? Mantell! Then, the signal went dead. Soldiers rushed to the scene where they'd lost contact with Captain Mantell.

And there, they found him. Or what was left. His plane lay destroyed on the ground in a fiery pile of wreckage. Oh boy. Something had taken him out of the sky. I mean, this is crazy, right? This might be one of the first cases we've investigated where some kind of UFO appears. I'm not saying TIE fighter, but something shows up.

It is a UFO in the purest sense of the word. This shit's unidentified. It's an unidentified flying object. And this might be the first time where we have a documented incident where a US craft crashes out of the sky in pursuit of the object. You know, we have a lot of stories where we see jets or planes, you know, following the objects or taking videos or reporting information back to some sort of control base. We've never had a ship just go down, go down and explode on the earth. Absolutely. I mean, it makes your mind run wild because, you know, if you just see something and you're a fighter pilot and you just come back to base and say, I think I saw something. Well, it's easy to just write that off and say that was an illusion of some kind or you don't know what you saw.

But we don't know what's happened here yet. But, you know, check the wreckage for laser blasts of some kind. At the very least. I feel like UFOs are kind of like, uh, the tigers from Tiger King. You know, they're just there and you can kind of feed them a bit and hang out with them a little bit. But now and again, someone's getting their arm bitten off. And when it happens, you're going to be like, yeah, of course, it was only a matter of time. If there are UFOs hovering in the sky and every time one appears, we're shooting missiles at it and chasing it with helicopters. It's only a matter of time before it scratches someone and sends a plane going down.

Absolutely. scratches someone and sends a plane going down. Absolutely. I mean, if we are, let's cut the shit here, really insinuating that these UFOs are in fact of extraterrestrial origin, that they are from civilizations from other worlds and that they are technologically capable, this should happen more often in our UFO stories. Why should it be that they always just placidly kind of exist or run away or whatever? Why shouldn't they interact with us and sometimes violently? Yeah, to them, it's probably just like swatting a fly. Sure. There was like six planes chasing after them and the other ones left.

And it's like, OK, there's still one here. Get the f*** away from me. And just smack them down to earth. Let me end this man's whole career. Investigators at the scene figured that the plane must have crashed at 3 18 p.m. as that was the time that was shown on the stopped watch that was on Mantell's body. The interior locks of the plane were untouched, suggesting that he died too quickly to even try and bail. Yeah, of course, he could have just evacuated.

Yeah, popped the little ejector seat, which I assume is not just something from James Bond movies. It's got to be a real thing. Pretty sure it's real. Now, of course, an incident like this is front page news. It wasn't long before, quote, the Mantell incident was being reported by newspapers around the nation. Because so little was known about the crash, crazy rumors began circulating. According to UFO historian Curtis Peebles, among the rumors...

He's not a f***ing maverick. He's not a fighter pilot. Curtis Peebles? You don't become Mav when you're called Curtis Peebles. I think maybe you can, but it's a harder fight. Yeah, right. You've got to have twice the chin, twice the muscles. Yeah. And f*** it, I'll come out and say it. Twice the c***.

Yeah. Whereas like private Chad Knuckles, he's first in line to become Maverick. To be honest, he could be a weedy little sob but he's still getting the purple heart on day one because the colonel's like i don't know who you are where you came from but i know you're gonna do some heroic shit knuckles and i don't mean the hedgehog from sonic no one was thinking it sarge sure as i said, according to UFO historian and possibly one day, Chad Curtis Peebles, among the rumors were claims that the flying saucer was a Soviet missile. Okay.

The strange craft was actually an alien spacecraft that shot down Mantell's plane when he got too close. Let's go. Some said that Captain Mantell's body was found riddled with bullets. Whoa. Others said the body was missing entirely and the plane had completely disintegrated in the air. All right, well, someone's lying.

How does that make sense? How did they find the... So they found nothing? Bring it up with Peebles, all right? I'm just the messenger. Don't shoot Chad Knuckles over here. Some say that whenever they found the wreckage, there wasn't a plane. Okay, well, what did they find then?

He just went up and didn't come down? What does that mean? Some people say he died so fast the body disappeared. And other people say that the wreckage was radioactive. Okay. That's a cool one. Something we've heard from other episodes, sure. That's like some shit from Stranger Things when a plane crashes and you go to look at it

and people in those like hazmat suits show up and they're like, clearly area. It's either from Stranger Things or Monsters, Inc. I don't think Monsters, Inc. had such dark themes. It was pretty dark stuff. A lizard that can talk? That's some freaky shit. A little kid with a monster for a best friend? That's pretty f***ed up.

The military obviously had to come out with an official story of what happened, and why it happened. So when the press asked, this is what they said. Look, some of you may have heard about an incident that took place earlier this week involving one of our pilots charging after an object in the sky. Funny thing is,

uh, we actually... There's nothing funny about it at all, sir. No, no, no, no, no. No, of course not. Tragedy. God bless him. Um... Funny thing, though, is... This is in per taste. I understand, but, is... This isn't per taste. I understand, but there is a funny thing. There is.

Sure, you mean strange or different? Not ha-ha funny, but we actually sent him after a weather balloon. So... Yikes. Stop. Yikes on me. That's what you have to say about all this it's not funny and before you say anything yes i know that the object was glaring like a bright light but we believe that this light was

actually a reflection from uh f**k it venus um f**k it yeah just making it up on the spot no no i just i forgot my words um i mean my i mean i i mean i i'm gonna take a minute to compose myself here i wasn't trained for this we can hear we can hear the voice in your earpiece ranting furiously, telling you what to say next. Wrap it up. Wrap it up, chief. Long story short, Mantell simply ran out of air, blacked out, crashed his plane. There will be no questions. Soldiers, escort the men away.

Questions. Get him out of here. What do you think? Even though I delivered that in a jokey tone, that is the genuine explanation by the military. We sent him after a weather balloon. That it was a weather balloon. And in the process of chasing it, he went too high, blacked out, and crashed his plane. Now, as I said, this is a man who's been flying for many years, regarded as one of the best on the squad.

It seems a little bizarre for him to make such a rookie error. It's at this point that I realize that I have at least heard the concept of this story. I didn't know it was called a Mantell UFO incident or anything like that. Yeah. Or any of the other details, but I have heard this. This is one of the more famous historical UFO sightings, right? Because it actually resulted in the death of a man. Yeah, there are, you know,

I don't have to tell you guys, throughout human history, there are many famous UFO sightings, but very few, if any others, have involved an actual death of a human involved in some sort of dog fight. And most interestingly of all, that it was a man who was tasked

with finding out what it was. This wasn't like a hick drunk on moonshine fell off a cliff trying to find Sasquatch. Yeah. This was someone doing what they do best. Yeah. An experienced fighter jet pilot trying to track down a UFO.

It's true. And, you know, I don't want to say that that that i believe this explanation that they gave but i actually a few years ago i did fly a prop plane for the first time in my life with with uh another pilot uh in the back and uh we did the whole thing where he's like hey you want to know what it feels like to hit like three g forces or whatever i don't know what they call it there's probably a better technical terms geez um and i was like absolutely uh so he peeled up into the sky and it's pretty wild when you feel that sensation on your body especially when you're moving in a direction

that sensation on your body especially when you're moving in a direction i literally felt the the blood inside of me shifting to the back of my body as we went upwards into the sky it's a very you feel like your insides moving it's a very weird sensation to describe uh and towards the the end of that climb i almost blacked out my My vision like literally was going darkness from the sides into a pinpoint. Like the end of a Looney Tunes cartoon where the circle just turns into a pinpoint and then completely black. I turned to the pilot and said, that's all, folks. And then went completely numb and pissed myself. I turned to him like that's all folks!

Speaking in tongues he's like that shouldn't happen. I haven't even pulled up yet. He just started the rebellers. Ab-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da! That's all, folks.

I pull the ejector seat still on the runway and get tangled in the propellers. They're like, I'm talking to you on the radio. Rory, what happened?

I'm hunting wabbits. I'm just descending 30,000 feet. Pull your f***ing parachute, man. What a wild thing to hear in the radio. But granted, I'm a very inexperienced pilot. As in, that was the first time I'd ever flown a plane.

This person, it sounds like Mantell should know better. This is his job, his profession. And that doesn't really back up their other claims either. The fact that this thing was allegedly a weather balloon that they didn't know about on the radar. It's so true because, okay, we could get into the weeds of would Mantell have really done this as an experienced pilot when it's tricky because human error is a thing,

no matter how experienced you are uh but it's as you say it becomes more interesting when you consider the other plot holes here could this thing really be moving at 360 miles per hour moving in all different directions yeah and not be just immediately identified as the mundane thing it really is yeah i will say that our researcher amy went as far to figure out the top speed of a weather balloon she went like f***ing tom cruise in the top gun reboot she learned to fly an f-16 full method i love it allegedly according to her weather balloons can travel at 1 000 feet a minute which sounds pretty fast but actually equates to only 11 miles per hour

i can't be bothered doing the math that's insane okay certainly not what did what did mantel say 360 miles per hour firing in one direction yeah i think that's the this the speed of a bullet of a loaded gun yeah unless you popped the ass end of the world's biggest weather balloon and in like a Looney Tunes episode, it zips around the sky. That's the only way it's going to pick up that speed. Oh, and by the way, in terms of evidence, I've barely scratched the surface. Okay, let's go. Usually when we do a UFO case, we'd be lucky to find a single Wikipedia entry or a crumb of a Reddit post to help out with the investigation. That's true. But in this story, it's the exact opposite. There are literally hundreds of pages of eyewitness

testimony, and they're all army men, so it's all detailed and timestamped and documented. And these witnesses weren't just at Godman's airbase. That same night, just hours after Mantell's tragic crash, the personnel of Lockbourne Air Base all the way in Ohio see the same phenomenon. Now we have multiple witnesses from two different Air Force bases all claiming that they saw something strange in the sky that day. What could be better than that? Uh, I don't know. What about a third air base? Okay, I mean, sure.

That's right, Kit. it. The very same day, the workers at Clinton County Army Airfield saw the exact same UFO, and they said it hung around for 35 minutes. Quite a while. Yeah. This is before Roswell, right? No, this is after Roswell. Was Roswell the 40s? Oh, it was one year after Roswell. Was Roswell the 40s? Oh, it was one year after Roswell. This is one year after Roswell? That's crazy. Interesting.

So there is some UFO chatter in the news recently. Yeah, I find it really interesting. Paranormal cases, UFO cases specifically, they come up around this time of the 40s and 50s. You know, I don't know. They're probably part of some kind of golden age of ufo sightings um because it was back when some of the first big cases happened um and there's a weird feedback loop effect where we today don't know if all the phenomenon surrounding the ufos was because aliens really were visiting earth throughout the 40s and 50s. Yeah.

Or if people were so kind of stirred into a tiz because of things like Roswell that they were also looking for them more often. Yeah. If there was some sort of UFO fever that was essentially affecting the public. And I mean, you know, it all goes hand in hand with even just the boom of science fiction and movies and media at the same time. Yeah. Oh, 100%. I mean, you know, it all goes hand in hand with even just the boom of science fiction and movies and media at the same time. Yeah. Oh, 100%. I actually thought that I had UFO fever a few months ago.

It turned out it was just coronavirus. Yeah, I went to the doctor coughing and sneezing. I said, doc, I got UFO fever. He's like, you have long COVID. Your lungs barely work. Fever. He's like, you have long COVID. Your lungs barely work.

On top of that, I can see from here you're incredibly malnourished and your teeth are very yellow. I got the fever, doc. I'm seeing things in the sky. Again, very malnourished. I think you might be anemic. You have floaters in your vision. You're so malnourished. You start talking like a 1940s journalist i got a fever come on doc you gotta prescribe me something for the fever um which he did he gave me a box of

pills so that i would leave his office which later turned out to be tic tacs so that bad doctor i will be i will be um chasing him in pursuit in the small claims court uh so i'll be updating you guys just on how that goes i don't think that's even in the remit never mind yeah there's tiny i don't know you didn't get any smaller now although our first witnesses weren't able to give a good description of the craft, the Clinton County Army Airfields got a much better look at this thing. They described the object as, quote, a flaming red cone trailing a gaseous green mist. Whoa. That's a little different from just a blob. Yeah. They're talking about something straight out of an X-Files episode.

Now, a problem with having so much evidence is that sometimes statements can conflict with one another. The unknown aircraft was also described by witnesses as pear-slash-bulb-shaped, a round ball of fire resembling the canopy of a parachute and red flaming and cone shaped hmm well you know it's not as different as i was expecting they're all saying it's flaming and whether it's cone ball or pear shaped yeah it's all much of a muchness although i am a little worried about the canopy of a parachute yeah because that sounds a little bit like a weather balloon. That one's a little problematic. But I don't know how that gets tangled up with the other things. You know, it kind of looked like a parachute,

a little bit like a weather balloon. It was on fire and leaking green gas at the same time. It's like, okay, well, how does that overlap? Because there's a picture of a weather balloon. I don't know what they looked like back in the day, but it is a big f***ing parachute. Can you Google Skyhook weather balloon and see if that comes up with something different?

Because I believe that was the name of the weather balloon that they were saying could have been the one they were chasing. For sure. Also, so dumb. So dumb if it was a weather balloon and they sent fighter jets to go investigate it let's send our top man apparently this is what it looks like it's pretty paranormal looking i'm not gonna lie that looks it is a flaming green orb uh it looks like the ghost of a cloud i mean it doesn't help that it's a quite grainy creepy black and white photo we're looking at yeah i'm gonna google one last thing at the risk of a cloud. I mean, it doesn't help that it's a quite grainy, creepy black and white photo

we're looking at. Yeah. I'm going to Google one last thing at the risk of being very distracted, but I promise you it's relevant.

Okay. Kids on the IMDB for cock gun. I just need to know the cast for personal research purposes. Check out my review. Five stars. I was just Googling

when did humanity discover jet streams and things like that yeah because it might be more believable uh that these weather balloons if they were really weather balloons were moving in mysterious ways uh if we didn't already know about the existence of these like weird high altitude currents but after taking a look, it seems as if they were mostly discovered in the 30s. Wow, so not even that far back. Yeah, by people working with things like weather balloons. That was how, I guess, they got around and stuff. Now, I don't know what jet streams are,

but I'm assuming you're saying that there is some sort of Star Wars-like force up in the air that is pushing shit in directions. No, not at all. This is, we don't need to get carried away with such ideas. This is very down to earth. It is high altitude, very cold streams of air that move things incredibly quickly across the globe.

Right. And it's invisible? Some sort of cloaking device air well no cloaking because air is normally see-through i guess so i guess you could say it's invisible right and it's like but it's like a ghost hands pushing shit like i don't i just i'm struggling to see how this works okay i think there might be a necessity to bring this more down to earth so imagine like a little what's wind let's start small right so it's like you actually kind of got me is the thing let's touch an intro question is wind paranormal is i don't know where it comes

from uh that's yeah i don't know if even uh a weather balloon in a jet stream can uh fit the profile of this craft people are saying it's shiny. People are saying it's leaking gas, that it's moving at 360 miles per hour. I don't know. I just don't see how that could be the explanation. The colonel of Fort Knox himself, Colonel, you're going to love this for a Chad name, Guy Hicks, gave a statement saying that the craft was, quote, Interesting. This is insane. I mean, he's saying that he had a full, clear view of it through binoculars.

Yeah. It wasn't an optical illusion. It wasn't a blur. He was just sitting looking at the thing for an hour and a half. It's so strange to think that people could be looking at something for so long and never clock that it was a weather balloon. Yeah, and might I remind you, this is daylight as well. This isn't that creepy midnight story where it's 3am

and a diamond craft comes down to earth and melts a man's face. Now, of course, we know that a UFO case isn't properly authentic until a very certain man and a very certain organization

shows up. Which is why I'm happy to say that in 1952, Dr. J. Allen Hynek, ring the bell, and the government's Project Blue Book investigated the incident. Of course. That, boom, is your stamp of paranormal approval when my boy DJ Allen Hynek shows up. No, approval when my boy DJ Alan Hynek shows up. No, it doesn't mean it's real. No, but it does mean it was legitimate enough to be a flag for this agency to come and investigate it. Yeah.

Hopefully, listeners, if you are a fan of this show, you know about Dr. J. Alan Hynek. You know about Project Blue Book. But if you don't, he is the guy. He is the man. He has been hired to investigate every one of the biggest UFO incidents in American history. And Project Blue Book was the official agency tasked with investigating all of these incidents too. So if they appear in a story, you pretty much know that this was on the government's radar in a big way. 100%. And I will say that obviously the information about his investigation is limited, but on the records, he has spoken out against some of the claims that were made by the government about what this thing was. Oh, really? So they were saying that there's a weird kind of theme in this story about the fact

that this object was glowing. Some people say that it was the reflection of like Venus on the craft. They were saying that was an official explanation. And he kind of came out and was like, no, no, I've looked into it. I think this is wrong. That's the kind of cool thing about Project Blue Book is now that all of that stuff is declassified, you can kind of read about everything that they investigated and their conclusions. So they're, if you'll pardon the pun, quite an open blue book yeah absolutely all these conversations that were well not supposed to but they were i guess assumed to be pretty much just internal for the longest time are now able to be torn apart by the average joe in the street

aka us very interesting to hear he would disprove that bit it It all just points towards a certain level of interest. Whether he was able to actually prove it as true or not, or whether he really believed it, he at least didn't believe the entire official story. Frustratingly, because of the time this incident took place and how quickly it was over, even though it was at military bases, there really isn't much physical evidence in terms of photo or video. But what we don't have in photos and videos, we more than make up for it with legitimate and trustworthy testimonies from men of the force, army men, military men. And as I said, a lot of this information is documented, heavily timestamped, has been immortalized in

paper form. So we're not just reading theories on the back of a cereal box. This is legitimate paranormal testimony. And that is where we end our case today. That is all the information that we really have on the Mantell UFO incident. Kit, I know that this is a difficult one. Where's your head at? God damn it, Rory. It's so frustrating that there's been so many in recent years, U.S. military, U.S. Air Force experiences with UFOs, but frustrating that this one,

one of the most famous through history, was at a time when they didn't have cameras or video equipped with these planes. Whereas some of the more recent ones are, let's face it, a little less interesting in other ways. I mean, there's a lot to go on here, lots of testimony. But at least the modern ones, we have videos we can look at the things that these planes saw yeah i mean that's been a big thing recently is the pentagon just releasing videos where they're like yeah that was actually real uh i know that got leaked that was real and we still don't know what that is the pentagon just doing the equivalent of like a gen z style instagram photo dump just like lol recent ufo sightings and just a 10 slide video reel of like inexplicable UFO sightings.

Yeah, breezing over the fact that any one of these shatters the entire knowledge of mankind. Yes. Yeah, it's a little frustrating. I mean, I think ultimately what we're going to have to decide today is, I mean, the crash happened. This poor son of a bitch, Mantell, did die. He did crash his plane. It was tragic. And whether or not that was because of an unidentified flying object interfering with him,

whether or not that was just him chasing after an unidentified object, and then he accidentally crashed his plane, an unidentified object, and then he accidentally crashed his plane. Or whether or not we truly believe it was some sort of weather balloon or other object, not paranormal, that caused him to crash back down to the earth. There's a number of different options. As you say, the crash happened. There is clearly a cause and effect here. Mm-hmm.

Do you want to do conclusions? I'm ready. Why don't we count down? You want to count down from three? Are you ready for your conclusions? Do you need more time? Okay. All right, let's do it, folks.

Three, two, one. Yes! Oh, no! We have a rare disagreement here on This Paranormal Life. Which, of course, as you know, means we go to the pits. Kit and I can choose one weapon each in a fight to the death. I'm sorry. Is this new?

As the host, I get first choice of knife, gun or bo staff. Kit, being the guest, gets a choice between teddy bear cushion. It's not first and second choice from the same list of weapons. It's just, I don't get any weapon and you get whatever you want or pool noodle. Choose your weapon. So the fact that there's a pool noodle, if anyone's listened to the after parties indicates that Rory himself was

personally curated this list of weapons. No, no. These are just the way it works. If this was your episode, you would get to choose the weapon that you want. Well, that's f***ed because I see there's a timer

on the wall. Is that for us? It's for us, brother. So you better grab your f***ing noodle because I'm about to get that gun. Okay, f***. Can someone... Oh my God.

I see the communer sitting around us in the arena. Can someone toss me a f*** a penknife or something? Christ. Wow. A rare disagreement. You're not feeling this one? You're not feeling it?

You know, I'm going to sum it up as best I can. There's a lot I am feeling, of course, with this episode, but there's something today. It's just hitting my instincts in a certain way where something to do with the era that this took place in, the naivety of what was possible with, like we talk about the Earth's atmosphere or even the technology that other countries had. For some reason, with the modern experiences of equipment that's out there, maybe that's bias. But I just believe today more so when the military say hey we know what's possible and this shit is not possible on earth whereas when people say that back in the 40s i'm like i don't i don't know yeah they didn't even know what was possible on earth at that point right and maybe it does come down to things just like photographic and video evidence maybe that would

swing me more but i gotta go with my gut today uh what are you thinking that's fair enough man um look whether or not i am a little bit closer to this case being the lead investigator of course whether or not i'm just the more experienced paranormal investigator uh it's hard to tell no i wouldn't go out for but as a professional you know i have to respect you're a pilot even the most I'm not an official pilot. So. Oh, just you told a story where you piloted a plane. Very briefly, as I said, I blacked out, made a series of Looney Tunes noises. And you are wearing a bomber jacket, though.

Yeah. That's not a bit. Well, that doesn't mean I'm a pilot, actually. In fact, after the Looney Tunes shit that I pulled, I've been banned from air travel for... You're on a no-fly list. How f***ed up is that? Did you know you could be a bad enough pilot that you get added to a no-fly list? Like, I'm on a no-fly list.

Oh, because of the plane shit? No, it's because of what I said about George W. Bush on Twitter. I don't know. I think there's something to this story. I think someone as experienced as Mantell shouldn't have crashed his plane. I think the fact that we've got basically hundreds of army men and soldiers all saying that they saw something that they couldn't explain is, you know, I think there's something there. I think there's something to this case and I'm ready. I'm willing to put my neck on the line and give it a yes.

We'll have to go to the Paranormal Nation on this one. What do the listeners think? Yes, let us know. Send us an email at thisparanormallifepodcast at gmail.com. Maybe we'll throw up one of those old fashioned Twitter polls like we used to do. That would be a great idea. Thank you, of course, to our researcher Amy Grisdale for researching this week's episode. And thank you to Louis Blatherwick for editing.

Thank you so much for tuning in to this week's episode of This Paranormal Life. Guys, there's something on the horizon. What is it? I can't quite see what it is. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it an unidentified skyhook weather balloon? No.

It's 50 plus episodes of this paranormal life unreleased to the public. Hurtling towards Earth. Flaming. About to make a giant hole in the atmosphere. And what's that behind it, Kit? Something else. Is that a sky behind it, Kit? Something else. Is that a Skyhook weather balloon? No.

It's an additional weekly show that goes out called The After Party where we talk about all of the coolest behind-the-scenes info and all the cool shit that doesn't make it into the regular episodes. How do we get access to these cool rewards? You need to get in your metaphorical F-16. You need to fly so high you black out in an attempt to get your hands on it. No, you do not have to do those things. You merely have to part with five US dollars or your local currency. This metaphor has gone on for way too long

and it's very muddy. So I'm just going to say we have a Patreon where you can get bonus audio and a bunch of cool rewards by subscribing. It's awesome. Some of those rewards include a raffle. Move quickly. Up and down, left and right. Faster than you could possibly imagine rewards could move. No, no, no, no. We left that behind.

So we're just doing a dry read now. I imagine rewards could move. No, no, no, no. We left that behind, so we're just doing a dry read now. There are hundreds of patrons who attest to their existence and quality, but is it true or not? I guess you'll have to investigate yourself to find out. That was actually pretty good. But again, a little confusing, I think, for people.

So one of the rewards we have is a raffle where you can win cool paranormal artifacts used on this very podcast. This month, we are giving away the Aura Glasses, which is a pair of glasses we used on this show to try and see ghosts and I think auras and maybe demons. Imagine a Google Glass for the paranormal realm. And the good thing about these glasses is you don't have to be trained like a professional pilot mantel okay it's back yeah i'm taking it back because i think the jet thing actually was like sexing it up a little bit so check it out patreon.com forward slash this paranormal life it is the best way

to support the show and of course one of those cool rewards that you can get is your very own custom shout out at the end of the podcast. And that's what we're going to do right now. Thank you so much to Sam Jenkinson. Kablam Sam, he is actually weirdly a top Air Force pilot. That's a cool name. Kablam Sam. Kablam Sam, known for kablamming shit out of the sky. Oh, very cool. Like even friendly targets. Birds targets birds geese i watched him kablam a goose right out of the sky trigger happy thanks to oliver bransom oliver bransom wants a ransom oliver will just kind of take your things when you're not looking and ask for a hefty reward so whether it's like your car keys for 20 grand.

This is theft. Or like a cookie for 20 grand. This is theft and blackmail. Yeah, I mean, it's not good. And every time you say you don't have the money, he's like, all right, well, just owe it to me then. He gives you my car after I said that. He did.

No, God damn it. Brutal. Thanks to William Gunther. William Gunther, rory is actually currently casting for gun 2 the the the ip has recently come up for purchase for a surprisingly low price given that no one gives a shit about this uh idea so you know there's a lot of words going around that this is like a freaking porno he's shooting. It's not really. It's just a homoerotic erotically charged drama

thriller. Can you get your top off, William? We're looking for a leading man. Thank you to Tony Isaacs. Phony Tony. This person loves disguises for no reason. You know, he'll just meet up for you

one day at the bar and you go to like grab a pint and turn around. He's wearing a mustache. Yeah. He's got a fake nose. Psst, over here.

It's like, Tony, I can, yeah, I mean, you look just like yourself. Yeah, we agreed to meet up. Yeah, you're just wearing elf ears, which is not even a thing

people have. So I can see that it's me, Tony. I know. I know it's you. I know it's you. He's like, don't look at me. Stand back back to back so it looks like we're talking on our phones call me Rodrigo I'm not gonna do that man

thanks to Jack De La Plaine Jack can you fly a plane because I'm looking for a leading man for C**k Gun C**k Gun 2 sorry I should say the sequel to a very successful sexy movie. And we do need people who can actually fly planes.

And are you comfortable with... You know, we'll talk it out on set, buddy. We'll figure it out. Thank you to Amber Rodriguez. Whoa, if it isn't Kablamber Amber. I once saw her kill a goose with a stick of dynamite. She wasn't even in a plane. It was so messed up.

I almost called the police. You should have. I was like, this is kind of like, it's kind of badass, but in a weird way, you know, like putting it in a loaf of bread and feeding it to a goose. And then, yeah, it's like, is this cool? Eat a loaf of bread all in one go this is really yeah it was kind of weird amber but again kind of cool i don't know it's a thin line thanks to lewis vera lewis vera is actually the person that gets you verified on instagram

twitter take a talk yes we gotta talk to you It's a pleasure to meet you, Sensei. My lord, sir. What can we do for you, Mr. Vera? Because I'd like to be fied. Well, apparently Rory's already linked up with Louis. No, I'm not. Have you not been verified anywhere? No, and that's.

How dare you even bring it up? Because you know I'm sensitive about this shit. Louis, buddy. We need your help. I'm sensitive about this shit. Lewis, buddy. We need your help. I thought it was just me. Twist the knife, why don't you, Mulvanna? Twist it good. Thank you to Jeffrey Hartranft.

Jeffrey, you tramped on my heart when you told me you wouldn't take a supporting role in **** Gun 2. You really did. Is there not enough sex scenes because we can add more if that's a deal breaker that's been the deal breaker for everyone we've

approached we'll take out all the plane shit thank you to will daniels will kablamber daniels uh he got the nickname it's not actually a play on his name in

any way that's how much of a psycho this guy is. He just loves blowing up geese for fun. I saw him just throw a grenade into a packed pond. He didn't... I don't know if he even knew there were geese. He didn't even look over his shoulder. Moving car, pin out of the grenade, out the window, into the lake.

So illegal. That's insane. Thank you too. Michal. You know, Michal is actually his pilot tag. Short for Me Kill. Whoa, that's hardcore. Yeah, it's pretty deadly in the skies. Is he in the

military or something? Dishonorably discharged. Not anymore. Not anymore he's on the military. Wow, my God. That's hardcore. I like it. Thank you to Jay Greasy. Jay Greasy, you are just the man I am looking for

for my new movie, F*** Gun 2. Every leading man is going to be pretty greasy and oily, so you're going to just slip right in there. Totally fine, my friend. Hope you like getting greased up. Thank you to David McCartney. David McCartney, also known as David the Hard Knee. He was a famous wrestler from the 80s whose move was the hard knee.

Similar to like the people's elbow. But that was his only move was just kneeing people in the jaw. And again, that isn't like that exciting to watch. And it's hard to fake. So a lot of the times he was just knocking out amateur wrestlers with just one knee. They couldn't have that, could they? It was pretty, it just didn't work.

So I think he does like Comic-Cons and things now. Still wears the old spandex. It's good to see you again, buddy. Thanks lastly today to Jon Bosco Lane. spandex it's good to see you again buddy thanks lastly today to john bosco lane john bosco pain also did the wwe 80s circuit with david oh yeah can you taste what the bosco is cooking it didn't it got taken pretty much word for word but it didn't have the same ring to it it's really the rock perfected that line yeah did he did he have any moves any special moves or he leaned way too heavily on the cooking thing it was like he had like a little chef hat

one time he hit a guy with a frying pan again i don't know okay that's not wrestling anymore is it it's just bodily harm wow well thank you so much to everyone who supported us on patreon again if you want your own custom shout out head on over to patreon.com forward slash thisparanormallife. Guys, thank you so much for listening to this week's episode. We hope you enjoyed it, and always remember, folks, to f***ing

fuel up that jet, shades on, blast onto the horizon, live fast, investigate, and die young baby foot on the gas jets ripping through the sky just a couple hot dudes trying something new tonight motorway to the risky area Riding into The risky area

Pig fightin' chicks Baseball, beer and guns Boiled up abs Two guys makin' love Motorway To the risky area Two guys making love. Motorway to the risky area. We'll take you right into the risky area. We're talking six foot beefcake dudes taking friendship just as far as it can go And even further cause these dudes are pretty hot

And I'm probably gonna take one of them home And have sex with them