The Nonsense Bazaar

44 - Jack Parsons Part III: BABALON

In part three of our Jack Parsons series we find Jack kicked out of both Aerojet and JPL and turning to what every red-blooded American man turns to in times of crisis: ritual magick. Jack's life is further complicated by the arrival of a smooth talking sci-fi writer named L. Ron Hubbard who quickly becomes jacks closest associate and most bitter rival. He'll also completely ruin Jack Parson's life, very, very quickly. So they do what any two red blooded Americans do: months of intense ritual magick for the purpose of incarnating on Earth the goddess Babalon, mother of abominations.  

43 - Jack Parsons Part II: IO PAN!

Continuing the saga of John Whiteside Parsons (AKA Jack), this week we see Jack and the rest of the suicide squad get their bonafides as the first official, government funded rocket research group in the USA and found both the Aerojet Corporation and Jet Propulsion Laboratories at Caltech. Meanwhile back at the ranch, Jack and Helen Parsons are officially inducted into the world of magick as Frater T.O.P.A.N. and Soror Grimaud (respectively) in the Agape Lodge of Ordo Templi Orientis. We also meet the ice cream eatin', cartoon reviewin' Great Beast 666 himself: Aleister Crowley. And all these worlds collide right in time for World War II.

42 - Jack Parsons Part I: The Suicide Squad

Pioneering rocket engineer, founder of Jet Propulsion Laboratories, occultist, and disciple of Aleister Crowley, Jack Parsons is one of the most fascinating, compelling, and misunderstood counter-culture figures of the 20th century. Over the next four weeks, we're going to be taking a deep dive into the incredible, strange, often hilarious, and tragic life of John Whiteside Parsons. In part I we learn about Jack's early life in Pasadena, blowing up rockets in the desert with fellow miscreants and maniacs Ed Forman and Frank Malina and how, despite Jack and Ed not having college degrees and despite rocketry being considered by the scientific establishment truly and completely stupid, the three men founded a rocket research group at the California Institute of Technology that, due to the nature of blowing stuff up, would earn the nickname "The Suicide Squad" and would form the basis for the American space program.

41 - Dimensional Breach in the Paris Catacombs

In 2020, a person armed with a flashlight, 4 cans of beans, two bottles of water, a bandolier of vials containing turpentine, blood, and holy water, and no extra batteries allegedly entered the Catacombs of Paris to seal a "dimensional breach" they were led to believe was the source of all the world's misery as well as the voices in their head. They were never heard from again. This week, we're putting on our detective caps and looking into the story of Reddit user u/snappedfingers and the dimensional breach beneath Paris. Is it just some troll's creative writing project? Or is it a case of anonymous trolls pushing a fragile person into extremely dangerous delusion? Or could there actually be a hell portal underneath Paris? Probably not, but you never know.  

40 - Harry Horse and Drowned God Part III: A Conversation With a Man in a Gray Suit

Way back on episode 10, when we were but babes in the woods, we covered a dude named Harry Horse and the ultra-weird pan-conspiracy adventure game he designed called Drowned God. That story has not gone away, and in fact has only gotten stranger. On this episode, the first of our likely recurring follow-ups, we're joined by friend of the pod, Drowned God expert, and absolutely lovely human being Joseph, AKA Mr. MIGS, to talk about all the things we missed in the game, correspondence he had with Harry Horse detailing the production problems and why the game is unfinished, and the broader philosophical implications behind a brilliant piece of art that hasn't yet had its real time to shine. 

39 - Eckankar Part II: The Klempdown

This week we look at the inspiring story of a man who went from stripping naked in an airport and battling demons in a psych ward to becoming not just a living Eck Master, but the last living Eck Master: Sri Harold Klemp, the current leader of Eckankar. According to former members, Klemp spends his days astral projecting himself to the other side of the world to conjure shadow demons and cause poor former eckists to poop their pants while they sleep. Nothing about that is an exaggeration, this one gets kind of weird.  At the very least we learn that Eckankar isn't nearly as squeaky clean as they like to present and demons might be real.

38 - Eckankar part I: If it Walks Like a Duck

This week we're bringing you spaghetti fights, country music, diarrhea curses, and corn-fed masters as we jump back into the world of American New Age religions and begin our look at Eckankar, which boasted tens of thousands of adherents in its heyday and continues to exist. While Eckankar shares quite a few similarities with some other groups we've covered, it's a bit different. They have Eck Masters, you see. Not ascended masters, Eck masters. And in fact they even have a living Eck Master. On the surface, they seem to be pretty innocuous and just kind of goofy, and hey, at least they teach you the magic. But dig a little deeper and things get real weird, real fast. In part 1 we learn about Eckankar's founder Paul Twitchell, a man who first incarnated on this earth thousands of years ago as an "unspecified mineral" and who owned so many hats that he lost a job because it. He also used his super special astral projection powers to scare barnyard animals as a kid. This one is both incredibly goofy, and deeply unsettling. Also incredibly difficult to summarize. Enjoy!

#37 - The Shaver Mystery

In 1945, Amazing Stories editor Ray Palmer shocked the young world of science fiction by publishing the totally, completely, 100%, absolutely-no-foolin' true story I Remember Lemuria! by the unknown author Richard Sharpe Shaver. The story was allegedly a past life recollection of one Mu-tan Mion, a citizen of the ancient Lemurian civilization some 12,000 years ago. I Remember Lemuria! told of ancient, wise titans, sexy fawn hybrid humanoids, magical "rays", and a mutated, evil race of underground goblins called the "Dero" who, even now, keep humanity imprisoned around a dying, poisonous sun.  It was a hit. Soon every issue of Amazing Stories had a story by Richard Sharpe Shaver, and people from all walks of life were writing in saying that they too remembered Lemuria or had seen the Dero and their weird machines deep inside a cave. For 5 years, the Shaver Mystery continued to spin out of control, with a group of concerned Sci-Fi writers even writing the government to get Shaver stories banned because they drove people insane.
But who was Richard Shaver? And did he really remember Lemuria? And why's that dude who was on the grassy knoll in '63 writing in saying he's had a gun fight with the Dero? All this and more (including dinosaurs with ray guns) as we tackle the weird world of "Shaverology".

36 - Journal of an Alien Abductee; or, The Iniquity of Doctor Jacobs

This week we're taking a look at a currently unfolding modern day alien abduction case. AJ is a young woman experiencing "classic" symptoms of alien abduction and currently posting about it on Gab. So we made some burner accounts and got the scoop. While it's clear that AJ has certainly experienced something horrible, what's even more frightening is the "support structure" she's found herself surrounded by. A support structure which has her wearing a chastity belt, a leather motorcycle hat, and stilettos to bed to fend off the aliens trying to make AJ a part of their secret ongoing hybrid breeding program. Chief among the people responsible for this is Doctor David Jacobs (surprise, he's not a medical doctor), a retired historian well known for his hypnotic regression sessions with alleged alien abductees.  This leads us to wonder: how many of these alien abduction cases are, in-fact, implanted memories by amateur hypnotists seeking evidence for a presupposed conclusion? And isn't that one of the most awful things you can imagine? It's a weird episode to round out a weird year. Strap in.

35 - Indrid Cold

In November of 1967, on a dark and rainy night night on Route 77 in West Virginia, traveling salesman Woodrow Derenberger had an encounter with a UFO and the odd, overly friendly pilot of said UFO. A man named Indrid Cold. Reported as a side story in John Keel's now legendary book The Mothman Prophecies, which chronicled all the high strangeness happening in West Virginia in those days, the legend of Indrid Cold has taken on a life of its own. And for good reason.
In this episode we focus on Woodrow Derenberger's own book Visitors From Lanulos, which is possibly the silliest book ever written. We learn about Woodrow's longtime friendship with Indrid Cold and his fellow Lanulessians, his visits to Lanulos itself, space-green-beans, space-department-stores, space-families, and a whole host of other nonsense. It turns out the "grinning man" of creepypasta lore is far friendlier and far more "normal" than most people assume. Which makes it all the more strange that as this beautiful friendship was developing, Woody's life began falling apart. Stranger still: there's witnesses. Sort of.