Wide Atlantic Weird

Latest Episodes:

For Fear Of Little Men: Euhemerism and Secret Fairy Peoples (with Justin Mullis) Dec 02, 2022

Show notes

What if 'fairies' are a memory of a squat race of mysterious pre-humans who lived in Europe before modern humans arrived?

Justin Mullis brings a LOT to the cabin in this episode. We cover: the origins of euhemerism and 'explanations' for Norse gods. Bernard Heuvelmans and euhemerism, our first (but not last!) connection to cryptozoology. Early famous supporters of a mystery race include Sir Walter Scott! Euhemerism used to explain troll legends in Sweden. Disenchantment and the changing attitudes towards folklore in the 19th century. David MacRitchie and the idea of the mystery fairy race. Encounters with African pygmies giving confirmation to this idea later in the 19th century. Connections to fantastic Victorian literature. Our boy Sabine Baring-Gould claiming the fairy race still exists. H. G. Wells' use of the trope. Madison Grant and the Passing Of The Great Race. E. F. Benson and (my favourite) The Horror Horn. And finally a deep-dive into the use of this trope by the heavy-hitters Arthur Machen, Lovecraft and Robert E Howard. The Hobbit, Homo floresiensis, and more connections to modern cryptozoology. You won't want to miss this one!

LINKS & REFERENCES

-Justin Mullis on Academia, including Cryptofiction and other writings

-Kaiju Transmissions (Podcast)

-Arthur Machen: Critical Essays, Antonio Sanna

-Conan And The Little People, On An Underwood No 5, Bobby Derie

-Deep Cuts In A Lovecraftian Vein, Bobby Derie

-The Paranormal And Popular Culture, edited by Caterine & Morehead

-Strange and Secret Peoples, Carole Silver

-Goblinlike, Fantastic: Little People and Deep Time at the Fin de Siecle, Emily Fergus

-Pallinghurst Barrow, Grant Allen

-Fians, Fairies And Picts, David MacRitchie

Abduction Recall: A Visit To The Betty & Barney Hill Archives (with Dr Edward Guimont) Nov 11, 2022

Show notes

The 1961 Hill abduction is usually considered the 'ground zero' of the entire 'genre' of UFO abductions. It's been pored over by UFO believers and skeptics for decades; been the stuff of TV movies and comic strips. In short, it's been done to death. So I didn't want to return to the subject without a fresh take or some new research. Dr Edward Guimont, having been hard at work at the Betty & Barney Hill archives at the University of New Hampshire, returns to the pod to furnish fascinating new details and connections that make this famous case exciting all over again. Amongst other things, we cover:

-Betty and Barney’s civil rights work

-Betty’s interactions with other famous UFO personalities

-Betty’s reactions to traumatising 80s abduction lore

-the possible influence of the Villas Boas encounter

-Betty’s paranormal family happenings & interest in psychic powers

-Parallells to ‘yellow panic’ tropes and Native kidnap stories

-Finding the original drawings associated with the encounter

-Lovecraft as a UFO debunker, reading Donald Kehoe science fiction, and phantom airships

-Betty’s interest in pseudoarchaeology

-Evolution, the Dinosauroid and the origins of the Greys

Links

Buy Me A Coffee

Contingent Magazine Article -Edward Guimont's 'From Outer Space'

Edward Guimont's Twitter

Twitter thread about the Hills

Strange Arrivals

David Halparin, Intimate Alien

Ancient Stone Relics in New England, David Goudsward

The Paleocast Podcast and the Dinosauroid

Our Strange Skies Podcast and Russian UFOs

The Automatic Writer: The Ghost Of 'Patience Worth' (with Lisa Grimm) Oct 27, 2022

Show notes

Lisa drops into the cabin with a Halloween tale ... the story of Pearl Curran, a woman who channelled a spirit calling herself 'Patience Worth.' As Patience, Pearl wrote books that gave her a new life among the literati, and eventually adopted a child who she raised as Patience herself.

Sources:

The Case Of Patience Worth, L. Gilman, 1916

The Patience of Pearl: Spiritualism and Authorship in the Writings of Pearl Curran, Daniel B. Shea, 2012

Ghostwriter and Ghost by Ed Simon, Public Domain Review

Patience Worth, A Psychic Mystery, Caspar S. Yost, 1916

The Case Of Patience Worth: A Critical Study Of Certain Unusual Phenomena, Walter Franklin Prince, 1927

Lisa on Twitter

The Beer Ladies Podcast

Worker’s Cauldron episode, Gay Liberation and Witchcraft

Buy Me A Coffee

Haunted Generation: Lost Memories of the Uncanny 70s (with Bob Fischer) Oct 08, 2022

Show notes

Bob Fischer, creator of 'Haunted Generation,' joins us for a wide-ranging chat about Hauntology, and how ‘Haunted Generation’ feelings of an uncanny childhood differ around the world. We cover Arthur C Clarke’s Mysterious World and the how the paranormal was presented in the 70s. We cover memories of a pre-digital age, Alan Garner and the Owl Service, Nicholas Fisk and ‘Grinny’ and a few of our favourite 'Paranormal Ambient' albums. There are warm Fighting Fantasy memories, Bob talks about meeting Ian Livingstone, and we reminisce about visiting Fighting Fantasy Fest, and even cover Cian's childhood 'House Of Hell' imitation!

Links

Buy Me A Coffee

Haunted Generation Website

Haunted Generation on Twitter

Ghost Box Records

Electronic Sound Magazine

Spurious Transients

Night Monitor

Grey Frequency

Mombi Yuleman – Beneath Bridgewater

House of Horror on Felt Trips

Correction to Witchcraft Murder episode

Obsolete Spells: The Life and Work of Victor Neuburg (with Justin Hopper) Aug 15, 2022

Show notes

For a ramble through the life of a person who made old, wyrd England the focus of his occult writings and poetry, Cian invites Justin Hopper to the cabin. We cover the life and times of Victor Neuburg, the now-obscure creator behind the Vine Press. A man who knew Aleister Crowley intimately, discovered Dylan Thomas, took part in the infamous Paris Working, and became the local eccentric publisher in a small English town. The book Obsolete Spells is out August 15th, 2022.

APOLOGIES to all the lovely folks who commented on the witchcraft murder episode, and has great suggestions for further reading. Most of them came in AFTER I recorded this, and then I went on a little holiday. I'll read your great suggestions on the next ep!

NOTES

Obsolete Spells, Justin Hopper, 2022

http://strangeattractor.co.uk/news/obsolete-spells/

Room For Romance: Playing with Adventure in Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World, Ross Forman, 2010

https://www.academia.edu/41452198/Room_for_Romance_Playing_with_Adventure_in_Arthur_Conan_Doyles_The_Lost_World

The Lower Quinton 'Witchcraft' Murder (with Dr Jeb Card) Aug 06, 2022

Show notes

Jeb Card joins us to discuss the supposed witchcraft connections to the murder of Charles Walton on Valentines Day, 1945. Important players include (returning podcast fave) Margaret Murray, Egyptologist and writer of 'The Witch Cult In Western Europe' and Robert Fabian, Detective Superintendent of the London Met and early true crime tv celebrity. Both took the murder as a clue that something sinister, long-lived, and magical was brewing in the rural English countryside. And of course we can't get to them without covering Flinders Petrie, James Frazer, The Golden Bough, Dennis Wheatley, and Victorian ideas about witchcraft, archaeology, and the supernatural. There's also pagan survivals, magical peer-review murder, and a sidetrack about Night Of The Demon!

*NOTE: for extra details on the connections between the novel Ritual by David Pinner and the Wicker Man, wait till the end comments

LINKS

Buy Me A Coffee or I'll curse you with a bit of runic parchment. You have three days!

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wideatlantic

Spooky Archaeology, Dr Jeb Card

Jeb Card on Twitter

Murder by Witchcraft, Donald McCormick

Under The Shadow of Meon Hill, Paul Newman

The Case that Foiled Fabian, Simon Read

A Colder War, Charles Stross

The Witch, Ronald Hutton

Triumph Of The Moon, Ronald Hutton

Witchcraft Murders, Library Of The Occult

Britain’s Wicca Man documentary

Cryptid Chat (with Truth Is Scarier Than Fiction) Jul 20, 2022

Show notes

Cian is joined by YouTuber 'Truth Is Scarier Than Fiction' to discuss the making of the Cryptid Iceberg videos and more!

NOTES

Buy Me A Coffee, or I'll wood knock-you out!

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wideatlantic

Truth Is Scarier Than Fiction Youtube

https://www.youtube.com/c/Truthisscarierthanfiction/videos

Truth Is Scarier on Twitter

https://twitter.com/TruthScarier

The Allure of Vintage Dinosaur Artwork by HoopsandDinoMan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKXokoLHXQI

The Many Faces Of Fawcett 4: Never Say Fawcett Again Jul 15, 2022

Show notes

Could this be ... the Final Fantasy of Fawcett? In this last episode of Fawcettmania, Cian sits by a stream and flicks the pages of 'Brazil That Never Was' by A.J. Lees, as well as articles by arch Fawcett-dismisser John Hemming. In an episode as thrilling as a mid-Victorian face-off between rival explorers at a packed RGS debate, we conclude:

-confirmation (probably) of the date when Conan Doyle attended Colonel Percy's lecture!

-tangents about John Hanning Speke and a descendent at a London punk gig

-Fawcett writes for Occult Review and uses his Ouija board in the trenches of WW1

-John Hemming says Fawcett discovered nothing; Brian Fawcett says Jack Fawcett is a waster who 'reads Fu Manchu novels!'

-Fawcett describing a real tribe as Bigfoot-like savages is pretty horrific

-Cork mystic Geraldine Cummins makes an unlikely return to the show

-Fawcett is (maybe) seduced by a fairy woman in Carrigaline; Brian is (definitely) seduced by a fairy woman and sees miniature UFOs

Links:

Buy Me A Coffee, you swine!

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wideatlantic

Brazil That Never Was, A.J. Lees, 2020.

https://www.nottinghilleditions.com/product/brazil-that-never-was/

Lost City Of Fantasy, John Hemming, The Spectator, 2017

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/lost-city-of-fantasy

Mutant Museum reading 'The Monster Of Partridge Creek!'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWI3yYe7s6s

Dr Edward Guimont visits the Betty & Barney Hill Collection

https://twitter.com/edward_guimont/status/1544711639999676418

The Many Faces of Fawcett 3: Veil Of The Primeval Jun 22, 2022

Show notes

So there's a lot of Lost World in our Fawcett this episode, but it's not my fault that the two won't stay a Stegosaurus length apart! In this episode, our boy Percy gets down on the British Empire following the First World War, is quite polite about a certain odious British biologist, hints at sightings of living dinosaurs yet again, and lays out his alternative history of South America before going missing for good. It's good for what ails ya.

Buy Me A Coffee!

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wideatlantic

-The nature references at the beginning will be quite dated by the time you hear this. A lot of this was recorded back in early summer.

SOURCES:

-Exploration Fawcett, Percy Fawcett, 1953

-Goblinlike, Fantastic: Little People And Deep Time at the Fin de Siecle, Emily Fergus, 2019

https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/40443/1/Emily%20Fergus%20MPhil%202019.pdf

-Conan Doyle: The Man Who Created Sherlock Holmes, Andrew Lycett, 2007

-The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle, edited with Introduction and Notes by Ian Duncan, 1998

-The Lost White Tribe, Michael Robinson, 2016

-Danny Vendramini’s 'Them + Us’ Neanderthal page

https://themandus.org