Sunday - August 19, 2018
Classic Contact/ Scientific Spiritualism
GUESTS
Jonathan Berman, James McClenon
First half: George Van Tassel, a one-time Howard Hughes confidante, created one of the first UFO cults - combining aliens with outsider science to build a rejuvenation machine. Filmmaker of a new movie exploring Van Tassel, Jonathan Berman, will join George Knapp to discuss how FBI agents tried to halt the army of eccentrics who gathered in the desert to create a collective with Van Tassel, all while waiting for their spaceship.
Second half: A years-long sociological investigation of a sitter group witnessed table movements, table levitations, poltergeist phenomena, earthquake effects, and other startling physical events. James McClenon, a sociology professor and licensed clinical social worker, will discuss how the group hoped to replicate Spiritualist phenomena to increase scientific understanding of psychokinesis including spirit-written messages found within a sealed container, exploring the idea that these kinds of experiences shaped ancient religions.