Western Fringe

We talk about Sedalia's Brotherhood of the White Temple. Topics include: Egyptology, lizard people, hollow Earth, esoteric Christianity, and the CIA's research into Astral projection.

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[TW: Child abuse, animal mutilation]We talk about the so-called "Satanic panic," Colorado's own history of Satanic Crimes, the modern-day Satanic Temple, and more.

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Cults That Kill by Larry Kahaner

The Witch Hunt Narrative by Ross Cheit

[TW: Child abuse, child sexual abuse]

I'm back from the prolonged break with my friend/new cohost Jenna to discuss the 12 Tribes cult and their many child labor-, child abuse-, and child pornography-related scandals, but also their tasty offerings and quaint local cafes.

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[TW: Mass shooting] This episode looks at New Life Church, which waged "spiritual warfare" in Colorado Springs and abroad, worked to evangelize cadets at the Air Force Academy, and dealt with Pastor Ted Haggard's 2006 gay sex scandal. In 2007, both YWAM's base in Arvada and New Life Church were the site of a mass shooting.

This is a quick bonus episode, featuring a conversation with Jason Cordova of the Crypto Science Society about Demons.

We talk about transhumanism, Peter Thiel and Elon Musk before jumping into the history of Frozen Dead Guy Days, Nederland's annual festival.

In honor of the Days of Blood, or Trans Day of Visibility, we are exploring Trinidad's history as the "Sex Change Capital of the World." We talk about the history of trans people, in antiquity and the modern era, and the work of Dr. Stanley Biber and later Dr. Marci Bowers, as they provided gender confirmation surgery to over 6,000 trans people in Trinidad.

Robert A. Heinlein, famed sci-fi writer, lived in Colorado Springs in the 1950s. We look at the life of Robert Heinlein, his connections to L. Ron Hubbard and Jack Parsons, the Esalen Institute, and Heinlein's own connections to weird mysticism and the occult.

Is there a network of Deep Underground Military Bases (D.U.M.B.) run by Aliens and Military personnel connected by a secret underground rail network? Probably not. Is there a DUMB at Schriever Space Force Base? Also probably not. Were Air Force and Intelligence types involved with spreading the DUMB conspiracy? You betcha. Also, I talk about two of my favorite buildings in Colorado Springs.

Time to get weird about UFOs. We talk about CU-Boulder's 1969 report on UFOs, historic sightings at F.E. Warren Air Force Base (technically in Wyoming but close enough) and recent UFO sightings in Denver and Colorado Springs, including the 2020 "mystery drones" and mini-flap I covered in Colorado Springs in March 2020.

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Starting in 1975, Colorado was ground zero for the cattle mutilation phenomenon. Today we look at the reporting of two journalists, Dane Edwards of the Brush Banner and Dorothy Aldridge of the Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph, as they cover the strange phenomenon that still persists today, which the FBI dubbed the result of "natural predator activity."

We talk about Camp Hale, the Colorado Army base that was home to the 10th Mountain Division during World War II, but also home to 400 German POWs and the 620th Engineer General Service Company, a misfit unit of Nazi sympathizers. One of those soldiers would go AWOL with 2 German POWs in one of the biggest treason cases of the war.

The final installment of the Nuke-O-Rado series, we discuss the Grand Jury investigation into Rocky Flats' alleged environmental crimes, the clean-up effort, and the ongoing legacy of Rocky Flats. We're also joined by Giselle Herzfeld and Usama Khalid of the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center to discuss their efforts regarding Rocky Flats.

In this episode we talk about Colorado's Operation Plowshare projects in Rulison and Rio Blanco. Were they covers for the construction of Deep Underground Military Bases? That makes about as much sense as the stated purpose of natural gas exploration. We also look into how the rise of the Environmental Protection Agency along with local and federal health agency oversight convinced Dow it was time to pass the baton to Rockwell International, who took over in 1975, trying to reform the image of the plant and prove how safe it was while the Jefferson County Health Department conducted damning studies on cancer rates and public sentiment turned against the nuclear weapons plant.

In this episode, we dive into the history of the Coors family and the lesser known Coors Porcelain Company, which, in addition to assisting with the Manhattan Project in World War II, took part in Project Pluto in the early 60s, which was a wild doomsday weapon that thankfully was never produced. We also look at how Dow handled the ongoing nuclear waste problem at Rocky Flats, and the persistent fires.

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In this episode we take a look Colorado's role in the Manhattan Project with the Uranium mining operations in Uravan and the Uranium refinery in Grand Junction. After World War II, Colorado was chosen as the site for Dow Chemical's plutonium manufacturing plant, Rocky Flats, which had it's first series of accidents in 1957.