Stay ConnectedMonsterTalk: The Science Show About Monsters is a free audio podcast that critically examines the science behind cryptozoological (and legendary) creatures, such as Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, or werewolves.
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Copyright: © Copyright Monster House LLC
UAPs, “Disclosure,” and the Influence Machine 🔦🛰️
This episode looks at the latest UAP theater around Rep. Eric Burlison’s congressional presentation of the “Hellfire vs. orb” video, how it intersects with long-running media and funding networks (Skinwalker Ranch/NIDS/Las Vegas circle), and why skepticism and provenance still matter. We discuss the hearing, witness line-up, and the ecosystem that amplifies these claims—along with grounded, testable explanations where available.
With Matt Baxter.
🎥 Primary Items from the Episode
• Eric Burlison’s Congressional Presentation of Video (with George Knapp testimony)
• Eric Burlison’s UAP DISCLOSURE ACT
🧪 Skeptical Takes & Analysis
• Mick West’s take — It’s a balloon again
• Hank Green’s take — Seriously — it’s just a balloon
🎧 Related Listening from the Episode
• Strange Arrivals podcast
• Toby Ball’s visits to MonsterTalk
📚 Books & Authors Mentioned
• Sarah Scoles — They Are Already Here
• Sarah’s visits to MonsterTalk
🧩 Quick Reference: Acronyms, Players, and Context
• AATIP — Pentagon program often associated with Luis Elizondo
• TTSA — To The Stars Academy (Tom DeLonge, Hal Puthoff): company, Tom DeLonge, Harold Puthoff
• UAP — Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (newer terminology): overview
• UFO — Unidentified Flying Object (classic term with cultural baggage): background
• Robert Bigelow — hotelier, space entrepreneur, longtime funder in the anomaly space: bio
📰 Key Reporting That Shifted the Conversation
• The New York Times story that broke AATIP publicly: read
• The 2020 follow-up from two of the authors (Kean & Blumenthal): read
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This week Blake Smith and Karen Stollznow are joined by clinical psychologist Dr. Brian A. Sharpless, author of Monsters on the Couch, to discuss cannibalism—what it is, why humans have done it, and how the taboo shows up in archaeology, medicine, psychology, and horror cinema. They cover definitions (endocannibalism vs. survival cannibalism), prion diseases such as Kuru, criminal and paraphilic cases, and pop-culture touchpoints from Ravenous to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, plus legend-tripping at Lovelock Cave and the “giants” folklore around the Mound Builder myth.
Don't forget to grab Karen's latest: Bitch: The Journey of a Word
🔎 Quick Links & References
• Cannibalism (overview) — Wikipedia: Cannibalism
• Kuru & prion diseases — Kuru (Britannica) • Prion
• Survival cannibalism cases — Donner Party • Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571
• Medicinal cannibalism — Mumia (medication) • Hand of Glory
• Criminal/forensic examples — Albert Fish • Jeffrey Dahmer
• Paraphilias mentioned — Vorarephilia • Autosarcophagy (self-cannibalism)
• Films discussed — Ravenous (1999) • The Hills Have Eyes • The Texas Chain Saw Massacre • A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors • Cannibal Holocaust • The Green Inferno (2013)
• Legends & sites — Lovelock Cave • Paiute people • Mound Builder myth • Wendigo🧾 Episode Breakdown
• 🍽️ What counts as cannibalism? Clear definition limited to consumption of human flesh; distinctions from blood drinking and other bodily materials.
• 🗺️ How widespread is it? Cross-cultural evidence, past debates in anthropology, and the modern scholarly consensus that it occurred in multiple contexts (ritual, survival, criminal, etc.). See the overview above.
• 📚 Ten motives framework (from Dr. Sharpless’s work): survival, ritual/endocannibalism, exocannibalism, benign/unwitting, criminal/cover-up, gastronomic preference, medicinal, and more—with historical examples. (See Monsters on the Couch)
• 🧪 Prions & Kuru: funerary cannibalism among the Fore in Papua New Guinea, transmission via neural tissue, and broader prion disease context. See links above.
• 💊 “Medicinal” cannibalism in early‑modern Europe: mummy powders, fat, and other preparations; “hand of glory” magical lore. Folger Shakespeare Library entry on corpse medicine.
• ⚖️ Forensic & clinical angles: overlap with antisocial personality disorder, psychosis in some cases, and how/when behaviors rise to diagnosable paraphilias.
• 🎥 Horror on screen: from Ravenous and The Hills Have Eyes to Texas Chain Saw Massacre, plus genre riffs on “taking the victim’s traits.”
• 🧸 Vorarephilia & internet subcultures: “hard” vs. “soft” vore, online communities, and clinical caution about distress/impairment.
• 🗿 Lovelock Cave & the “giants” stories: local legend‑tripping, Paiute lore about cannibal enemies, and a skeptical look at Mound Builder/“Smithsonian cover‑up” narratives.
• 📖 Reading & viewing: Dr. Sharpless’s Monsters on the Couch; films noted above; folklore touchpoints like Wendigo.
• 📖 Bob Burns Disambiguation: Texas Chainsaw Bob (Robert A. Burns) and Tracy the Gorilla Bob (Bob Burns III)📚 Books Mentioned
• Brian A. Sharpless, Monsters on the Couch
• Richard J. Dewhurst, The Ancient Giants Who Ruled America (decidedly NOT skeptical)
• Jason Colavito, The Mound Builder Myth: Fake History and the Hunt for a "Lost White Race"
Affiliate disclosure: Some links above are affiliate links that may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. This helps support the show’s production. Thank you!
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🎙 MonsterTalk — The Cult of Moloch
Show Notes · Hosts: Blake Smith & Karen Stollznow
In this episode, Blake Smith and Karen Stollznow explore the history, mythology, and propaganda surrounding the idea of the Cult of Moloch—a figure long associated with child sacrifice and moral panic. They trace Moloch’s biblical origins in Leviticus and Kings, the contested archaeological claims from Carthage’s Tophet, and Roman accusations against rivals such as the Celts and Druids. The discussion moves through how child-sacrifice narratives have been weaponized across history—from Rome’s propaganda and medieval blood libel to the Satanic Panic and modern conspiracy culture—while separating those myths from documented, contemporary abuse scandals.
Topics in this episode:
🔥 Moloch in Scripture and History
⚱️ Archaeology of Carthage & the Tophet Debate
🪵 Celts, Druids & the Wicker Man
🎃 Samhain, Halloween & Sacrificial Myths
🗡 Accusations as Propaganda
😈 Satanic Panic & Modern Moral Panics
⚖️ Real Scandals & Institutional Abuse
🧠 Critical Thinking & Evidence
⚠️ Content Warning:
This episode includes discussion of child sacrifice, infanticide, sexual abuse, religious violence, and moral panics. While handled through a skeptical and historical lens, some material may be distressing to listeners. Parental discretion is advised.
🔥 Moloch in Scripture and History
• Hebrew Bible: Leviticus 18:21; 20:2–5; 2 Kings 23:10.
• Further reading:
— John Day, Molech: A God of Human Sacrifice in the Old Testament
— Jewish Virtual Library — “Molech”
⚱️ Archaeology of Carthage & the Tophet Debate
• Quinn & Xella (2014), “Carthaginian Child Sacrifice: Reassessing the Evidence,” Antiquity
• Lawrence Stager, “The Rite of Child Sacrifice at Carthage,” Biblical Archaeology Review
🪵 Celts, Druids & the Wicker Man
• Miranda Aldhouse-Green, Human Sacrifice: Archaeological Perspectives (affiliate link)
• BBC History — “Who Were the Druids?”
🎃 Samhain, Halloween & Sacrificial Myths
• Ronald Hutton, The Stations of the Sun (affiliate link)
• History.com — “Samhain and the Origins of Halloween”
🗡 Accusations as Propaganda
• USHMM — “Blood Libel”
• Tertullian, Apologeticus (English)
😈 Satanic Panic & Modern Moral Panics
• Skeptical Inquirer — “The Return of the Satanic Panic”
• FBI (1992) — “Satanic Ritual Abuse” report
⚖️ Real Scandals & Institutional Abuse
• Rotherham CSE — Alexis Jay Report (2014)
• Jimmy Savile — BBC Inquiry Findings
• Jeffrey Epstein — BBC Timeline
• Catholic Church — John Jay Report (2004)
🧠 Critical Thinking & Evidence
• Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World
• The Foundation for Critical Thinking
📚 Bonus:
Don’t forget Karen’s latest short story, The Walsingham Ghosts — available as text or audiobook exclusively from Amazon!
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We finish up Season 4 of MonsterTalk, not with a bang - but a chuckle, as we welcome Science Comedian Brian Malow to talk about using humor and science to entertain.
https://sciencecomedian.com/
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We take a look at a fascinating slice of paranormal history in the form of a 1975 BBC documentary The Ghost Hunters. How much has changed in paranormal research since 1975? Not much, after a fashion…
Anybody know something about these plastic pub barrels from the 1970s?
Show Notes:
Benson Herbert - ghost hunter
Andrew Green - the Spectre Inspector
John Cutten (SPR, Inventor)
Watch this masterpiece on YouTube here.
Yes - the Ion Gun is, in fact, a device for cleaning vinyl records.
Hugh’s other paranormal doco - "Out of this World" from 1977
The Three Horseshoes Pub (Wiltshire)
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Some product links may be affiliated with Amazon revenue sharing.
Blake catches Karen up on his current research projects: The four-wall tour dates of the PGF, and a contextual look at the Van Meter Visitor. Neither of these projects are finished but he is excited to share what he's been working on.
Dolemite is mentioned favorably.
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Some product links may be affiliated with Amazon revenue sharing.
Blake is joined by regular contributor Matt Baxter, and special guest Kara Van Hoose from the Colorado Department of Parks and Wildlife to discuss the (not that mysterious) outbreak of "tentacle bunnies" in Colorado this summer.
News reports of "rabbits with tentacles"
Deer wasting disease (zombie deer)
"Colorado Cannibal" Alfred Packer
Colorado Parks & Wildlife
Colorado Parks & Wildlife Karl Shuker's blog about Jackalope
99% Invisible episode on Jackalope
Wall Drug
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Some product links may be affiliated with Amazon revenue sharing.
Karen and Matt are back from their book tour in the UK and they got to have some real MonsterTalk moments! Loch Ness, Boleskine House and more plus Blake wrestles with gremlins!
More photos will be available on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/137274189?pr=true&cr=true
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Some product links may be affiliated with Amazon revenue sharing.
It's Hollow Earth, UFOs, the birth of Sci-Fi, and more wierdshit than you can believe as we present a super-cut of our 2-part interview with Jerry Drake and Jeb Card about one of the foundational stories of "weirdshitology" in a new ginormous single episode.
And there's a little bit of reading if you want to follow us down the rabbit hole...
EXTENSIVE show notes freely viewable at Patreon.
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Some product links may be affiliated with Amazon revenue sharing.
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