HBM155: Ghosts Aliens Burritos

Here Be Monsters

Here Be Monsters Podcast

Science, Society & Culture, Social Sciences, Personal Journals, Documentary

4.6 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 24 August 2022

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Content Note: pervasive language, brief mentions of bigotry.

Alex Greenfield says that there was no such thing as a normal day when he was a kid. His dad (Allen H Greenfield) self describes as a “researcher in the shadow world.” And his mom soon grew tired of her husband’s lifestyle, which included a lot of time on the road: chasing rumors of cryptids, ghosts, and aliens.

But after his parents split up, Alex, his dad, and an ever changing cast of motorcycle gang members and step-moms kept seeking the occult.

Some of the topics discussed in this episode: St. Simons Island in Georgia (and reported hauntings), The Okefenokee Swamp (and the ignition of swamp gas), The Three Mile Island Nuclear Accident (and subsequent protests), Mono Lake in California (and the UFO sightings there), and a movie called Being There (wherein the character played by Peter Sellers appears to walk on water).

Alex Greenfield is the writer of The Sand, 10.0 Earthquake, and other movies. He also used to be the head writer for WWE Smackdown.

Alex’s dad, Allen H Greenfield (aka. T Allen Greenfield), is a UFOlogist and occultist. He is the author of Secret Cipher of the UFOnauts, The Story Of The Hermetic Brotherhood Of Light, and other books.

Unrelated to this episode, but do give a listen to the limited series that Jeff’s been mixing for Crooked Media. It’s called Another Russia, and it’s about the assassination of Russian dissident Boris Nemtsov, as told by Ben Rhodes and Zhanna Nemtsova. Available now on every podcast app.

Also, Jeff’s headed back to Berlin, Germany for about a month. If you know any good stories/interviews he should record while he’s there, send a DM on Twitter or Instagram, or use the contact form.

Here Be Monsters is an independent podcast supported by listeners and sponsors.

Producer: Jeff Emtman

Music: The Black Spot, Circling Lights, August Friis

Sponsor: is / ought books is / ought books is a publisher of spiral bound self help manuals, art books, and non literary works on paper.All titles from is / ought books are available to buy online via the link below. is / ought books are also distributed via Small Press Distribution (SPD).

Thank you is / ought books for sponsoring Here Be Monsters.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	From the lake shore, this is your be-monsters.
0:31.0	What exactly does your dad do for a living?
0:35.0	A grifter is too strong a word because that implies stealing.
0:40.0	My dad is very good at working the system.
0:44.0	You know, he cobbles together a living is what he does.
0:50.0	What's his name?
0:52.0	Alan Greenfield.
0:56.0	Look, how do you think he describes what he does?
1:00.0	He has described it as he is a researcher in the shadow world.
1:07.0	And he's written a bunch of books.
1:11.0	So it's sort of admirable, but also when shit wasn't clicking,
1:16.0	when you're a kid, it's not as much fun, you know?
1:21.0	You said your parents split up when you were pretty young, right?
1:27.0	Yeah, yeah, I was six years old, I think.
1:32.0	It came like a bolt in the blue from my perspective as a kid at that point.
1:38.0	What happened? Is that too personal?
1:41.0	No, no, no, not at all.
1:43.0	I heard them arguing. I was outside playing.
1:46.0	Saw my mom's talk outside with my dad running after her yelling and screaming in his bare feet.
1:53.0	She jumped in a van and drove away in a cloud of dust.
1:58.0	At the time, it felt like, oh, here's another day.
2:02.0	Here's another day of crazy shit.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in -950 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Here Be Monsters Podcast, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Here Be Monsters Podcast and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.