AP welcomes folklorist and writer Paul A. T. Wilson to the show to discuss the fantastically weird case of Sam, the Sandown Clown- an entity reportedly encountered on the Isle of Wight in the early 1970s by a pair of young children. Listeners familiar with the story will undoubtedly be thrilled to learn that further encounters with the entity variously called the Ghost Clown or All Colours Sam have come to light. Through Paul's work in finding and interviewing "Fey", the young girl in the original story, he has documented her several later meetings with Sam and shared them in a series of presentations for the first time. In this conversation, Wilson discusses these later meetings with the motley being, how he came to uncover them, and the nature of storytelling and reporting weird tales.

Paul lives on the Isle of Wight and has a background in pre-medieval history there, as well as with writing and sharing tales of wonder related to the island. He talks about his longtime fascination with the Sandown Clown story, which has for decades been frustratingly limited in scope. In uncovering these further stories from the anonymous witness, new dimensions to the legend of Sam are brought to light which raise a panoply of new and exciting questions. Also discussed is the importance of honoring stories and the people who tell them, and respecting their wishes in regard to anonymity. He and AP also talk a bit about the island itself, and its enchanted history with dragons, mystery fogs, and more!

Check out Paul's work on Isle of Wight folklore here: https://www.wihtlore.uk/

This week, cartoonist and ultimate Creative Weirdo Todd Purse joins AP for an inspiring and fun conversation about art, imagination, and the power of bringing ideas to life on the page. Todd makes his living, as he says, by "drawing pictures on coffee bags"- but he also consistently produces whimsical and positive paranormal themed art which he shares on instagram (@toddde85), and publishes zines and prints of his work as well. In conversation, AP and Todd get into some of his early influences, talk about the wonderful medium of comic books and comic strips, and the intersection of paranormal concepts and the creative process.

This lends itself to a lot of geeking out about everything from Calvin and Hobbes to the Loch Ness Monster, from Star Wars to Mothman, and the various trickster masks of the Kentucky Goblins. Other themes explored include parenting, the timelessness of some forms of media, humor, and underlying faith in humanity despite the horrors of the world.

Todd also contributes to the comic book adaptation of Illuminatus!, which was discussed in episode 28- Hailing Discordia with Bobby Campbell- and is the artist behind Welcome UFO People, a collaboration with Rob Kristofferson of Our Strange Skies fame.

Todd is always a pleasure to talk to or hear in conversation- and his work is highly recommended! Check it out here:

https://www.createmagicstudios.com/

Michael M. Hughes joins AP this week to discuss the proliferation of AI technology and the impact it's having on every aspect of society. Michael is an author, a journalist, a tarot reader, and teacher, and his recent writings include a "Humanifesto" which promotes biological intelligence and resists the artifice being sold to us by the tech industry. In both his written work- regularly updated to reflect new insights- and in conversation here, the necessity of so-called AI applications is called into question, leveraged against the very real harms it causes in the human psyche and to the environment.

From AI slop to plagiarism issues, broligarchs and enshittification, and what Hughes refers to as the "coprophagic ouroboros", the facade of the allegedly monumental shift in tech- not to mention the economic bubble it creates- is revealed for what it is. The conversation is far from being all doom and gloom, though, with plenty of laughs and some uplifting suggestions about how to gently work one's way back to creating, living life, and connecting with the beauty of art, literature, and community.

Read MIchael's humanifesto here: https://medium.com/@michaelmhughes/kill-the-robots-7bad904e3c9e

and check out his website here: https://www.michaelmhughes.com/

For this week's Third Time's the Charm (3xtC) presentation, Icy Sedgwick joins AP to venture into the realm of found footage horror movies with a look at Paranormal Activity 3. As it happens, Icy was the perfect guest to have on for this subject, as she has an honest-to-goodness doctorate in horror movies and used the Paranormal Activity series for her Ph D! In this discussion, she and AP get into the benefits and drawbacks of found footage as a genre, what it says about our perception of paranormal events, and even some of the folklore and tropes that pervade these narratives.

Icy is also a former ghost hunter, a folklorist, and a dark fantasy writer- and these rarified talents and experiences lend themselves well to discussions around the paranormal in both fictional and allegedly true accounts... and everything in-between. The conversation covers everything from how ghosts and demons are portrayed in media, the differences in these portrayals in British and American productions, and the ways in which horror narratives mirror the popular consciousness more readily than other forms of fiction.

They also briefly discuss Icy's book, Rebel Folklore, which is available for purchase on Amazon. She also hosts the wonderful podcast Fabulous Folklore, which you can check out here: https://pod.co/fabulous-folklore-with-icy
And for her writings and other works go here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/

This week AP sits down to talk flying saucers with UFO buff, author, playwright, and blogger Charles Lear! Charles is the author of The Flying Saucer Investigators, a book detailing the early history around the personalities who made UFOs a cultural phenomenon. It serves as an excellent primer on the origins of modern UFOlogy, following the storied paths of people like Jim Moseley, Ray Palmer, John Keel, and others- with a lot of classic cases covered as well!

Charles and AP dig into some of the particulars, and the circular nature of the UFO narrative down through the decades. Along the way, they run afoul of the MiB and share some laughs over the absurdity of it all. They also discuss Charles' second book, Crashed Saucers and Malevolent Aliens: The Emergence of the Popular Modern UFO Mythos in the Late 20th Century, and his work blogging for Podcast UFO. There's even a ghost story or two!

Check out Charles Lear's books on Amazon
and his work for Podcast UFO here: https://podcastufo.com/

This week, AP sits down with filmmaker and artist Tess Martin to discuss her recent works, and what they have to say about time, memory, and meaning. Tess is a visual artist based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands with a background in classical fine art and animation, and her films are a unique marriage of the two disciplines that get to the heart of the bigger questions in our perceptions of the world and our place within it. In particular, they discuss her film currently being exhibited, Still Life with Woman, Tea, and Letter, and an earlier work called 1976 - Search for Life. Both films use animation of photographs within settings in a way that pulls moments out of time, in a profound and moving way.

In talking about these works, AP and Tess discuss the nature of time, how limited our concepts of it tend to be, and how through art and creative endeavors one might gain mastery over it. It was a fascinating conversation which will leave the listener with much to think about!

Check out Tess Martin's wonderful art here: https://www.tessmartinart.com/

Steve Mills, aka the Reverend StarDoG, returns to the show this week to discuss the festival scene throughout the U.K. in the 1970s into the 1980s. Steve had previously been on for a Third Time's the Charm episode to discuss Halloween III, but this time he and AP get into the music, culture, and adjacent wyrdshit of the free festival movement he was part of.

Starting with a bit of history in the early 70s, they discuss a festival in the Queen's backyard, the infamous Wallys of Wessex court trial, the concerts at Stonehenge, the Battle of the Bean field, and more- including the social and political implications of the hippie caravan lifestyle and its portrayal in popular media of the time. Groups such as the Dwarves, Hawkwind, and the Pink Fairies provided anthemic soundtracks to the scene, and Steve makes a case for these festivals as being a template for later events such as Burning Man.

He also talks about his band Tubilah DoG, opening for Hawkwind, playing onstage whilst "off his tits", and various ways the music industry is a thing apart from the creative forces it depends on. Of course, it wouldn't be a whibble with StarDog if the conversation didn't involve the influence of Discordianism and the wyrdshit that attends it- including possible time slips, mystery fogs, and UFOs.

It was a wild conversation. If you'd like to hear the DoGs' 1996 album, In Search of Plaice, check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPXLWky7d9s

This week AP has a chat with his old friend Michelle Elmquist about The Simpsons- its cultural impact, the weirdness involved in some of the episodes, and how the early seasons captured a particular essence of the 1990s. Michelle had been the host of The Eternal Void, But With Jazz podcast for which AP was sometimes a guest host or cohost. The current show now owes much to Michelle in getting AP into podcasting!

They discuss themes of the ufological, cryptozoological, and conspiratorial within the first ten or so seasons of the classic show, how much people of a certain age are mentally wired by Simpsons references, and also explore some of the alleged predictions of future events that occurred in the series. It was a fun conversation, full of heart and laughs.

"A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man."