By Tim Binnall
Lake Superior legends and lore, the influence of disinformation on UFO history, and the legendary Phoenix Lights were among the fascinating topics explored this past week on Coast to Coast AM. Meanwhile, here at the C2C website, we told you about a possible Bigfoot flap in Ohio, a triangular UFO filmed in Slovakia, and two separate cases of people mistreating their pet birds in rather unusual ways. Check out our round-up of highlights from the past week ... In Coast You Missed It.
The impact of disinformation campaigns on UFO lore was explored on Sunday night's program by fringe-culture historian Adam Gorightly, whose work is explored in the new documentary Saucers, Spooks, and Kooks. He specifically cited the case of Paul Bennewitz, who filmed unexplained aerial phenomena at New Mexico's Kirtland Air Force Base and was subsequently fed phony 'alien insights' to protect the secret military technology he had witnessed. Gorightly also detailed how the legendary tale of a battle between ETs and humans at an underground base, known in UFO circles as the Dulce Base conspiracy, can be traced back to similar disinformation efforts.
Easily the most eyebrow-raising story of the week came by way of Ohio, where it would appear that a bona fide Bigfoot flap had broken out. The curious case began when Sasquatch researcher Jeremiah Byron received reports from two separate witnesses claiming to have seen the legendary creature in the same town over consecutive days. To his astonishment, three more people soon came forward saying that they had encountered Bigfoot a few days later within the county. By the end of the week, Byron's list of possible Sasquatch sightings in the small stretch of Ohio had ballooned to a whopping eight in just a few days. However, as of yet, none of the witnesses have managed to snap a photo or film the elusive cryptid.
Legends and lore surrounding Lake Superior took center stage on Wednesday night's program as researcher of the strange, Chad Lewis, discussed the location that he believes to be a "window area" for weirdness. To that end, he marveled at the sheer array of phenomena reported at or around the side, including UFO sightings, ghost ships, cryptids like werewolves and mermaids, and even mysterious portals. Among the eerie Lake Superior tales Lewis shared during the evening was that of a spirit said to haunt the Marquette Harbor Lighthouse, appearing only to women and children before vanishing by walking into a wall.
Proving once again that the UFO phenomenon is global in nature, this past week featured a pair of international stories involving mysterious aerial anomalies. In Slovakia, a baffled witness heard a strange sound in the sky, but observed nothing when he looked overhead. Later, upon checking his home security footage, he was astounded to see that it captured a triangular set of lights at around the same time his 'aural sighting' occurred. Meanwhile, in Mexico, a witness filmed a massive cigar-shaped object, estimated to be around 300 feet long, flying from one volcano to another before ultimately disappearing.
The legendary Phoenix Lights incident was revisited on Thursday night's program as witness and documentarian Dr. Lynne Kitei recounted the case that occurred 29 years ago this week. Noting that there were multiple mysterious moments that occurred over the course of the evening, she estimated that a staggering 10,000 to 20,000 people across four separate states likely caught some sight of the 12-hour-long event. While the mass sighting was initially downplayed by the media, Kitei noted that a subsequent USA Today article sparked global headlines and, nearly 30 years later, the Phoenix Lights incident is considered by many to be one of the most significant UFO cases of the modern era.
This past week was a particularly bad one for pet birds, of all things, as there were two weird cases involving miscreants allegedly abusing their feathered friends. First, in Pennsylvania, cops arrested a man who strolled into a bar with an injured parakeet and bragged about how the unfortunate animal subsisted on a diet of beer and marijuana. Understandably concerned staff at the watering hole commendably called the cops, who arrived on the scene to seize the bird, which sported a badly broken leg, and arrest its owner for animal abuse. Later in the week, an Illinois man also wound up behind bars after he admitted to beating up his pet rooster in what he later told police was a misguided attempt to teach it how to fight.
Coast Insiders can check out all this week's shows as well as the last seven years of C2C programs in our enormous archive. Not a Coast Insider yet? Sign up today.