SHOW 777 NOTES: U.S. Air Force Pararescueman (ret) Scott Gearen

Simulcast on YouTube, Facebook & Twitter | Tuesday, August 25, 2026 @ 8:00 PM EDT (GMT-4)

What did retired U.S. Air Force Pararescueman Scott Gearen photograph in the sky over Florida, and could something extraordinary be hiding in plain sight?

Scott joins Martin Willis to discuss his books, *Hiding in Plain Sight* and *Hiding in Plain Sight Volume II*, which document a mysterious aerial phenomenon he witnessed and photographed during a 2019 speaking engagement in Panama City Beach, Florida. Scott believes his series of photographs captures something genuinely unidentified. We’ll examine what he saw, how the images were taken, what they reveal and whether more conventional explanations can be ruled out.

Scott brings an unusually grounded perspective to the subject. He served for more than 22 years in elite U.S. Air Force special operations as a Pararescueman and Special Tactics pioneer. His career included service with JSOC, training in Rendlesham Forest, leading the first MH-53 penetration into Iraq at the beginning of Desert Storm and helping rescue two downed pilots from enemy territory in the Balkans.

We will also discuss the catastrophic 1984 parachuting accident in which Scott fell more than 3,000 feet beneath a destroyed canopy and struck the ground at approximately 100 miles per hour. During the ordeal, he experienced a profound near-death experience that transformed his understanding of consciousness, energy, human connection and what may happen at death.

Does Scott’s military experience make him an especially reliable observer? What exactly appears in his photographs? Could the object represent an unfamiliar aircraft, an atmospheric phenomenon or something even more extraordinary?

Read more

Show 778 Notes: Grant Lavac

Simulcast on YouTube, Facebook & Twitter | Thursday, August 27, 2026 @ 8:00 PM EDT (GMT-4)

Australian UAP researcher and activist Grant Lavac returns to Podcast UFO for a wide-ranging discussion about Australia’s surprisingly limited public response to the UFO phenomenon. While the United States treats UAP as a potential aviation-safety and national-security concern, Australia has no dedicated reporting system for its military or civilian pilots. According to Grant, Australians who witness something unexplained may simply be advised to contact the police or a civilian UFO organization. Yet documents obtained through Freedom of Information requests reveal a more complicated story. Australia participated in the inaugural Five Eyes UAP Caucus Working Group alongside the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. Is Australia privately more engaged with the subject than its officials acknowledge publicly? Grant also discusses: Australia’s lack of a formal UAP reporting and investigative system The classified Five Eyes conversation about UAP What Australian defence and intelligence officials may know His Freedom of Information discoveries The 60th anniversary of the 1966 Westall UFO incident Newly reported information involving missing police records The unexplained disappearance of pilot Frederick Valentich The need for firsthand witnesses and physical evidence Growing “disclosure fatigue” within the UFO community Whether witnesses should receive immunity to testify Preparing the public for potentially world-changing disclosure Grant is the host of The Unexplained Rundown, where he reports on Australian UAP policy, government documents and his continuing efforts to obtain greater transparency. What do you think: Is Australia genuinely ignoring the UAP issue, or is a very different conversation happening behind closed doors?

BIO:

Grant Lavac is a UAP (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena) researcher, activist, and podcaster based in Melbourne, Australia. Fascinated by the UFO mystery since childhood, he describes himself as “an ordinary guy who believes in extraordinary things.” Lavac is a prominent advocate for greater transparency and accountability in how governments, particularly Australia’s, investigate and communicate about UAPs.

 

Through persistent Freedom of Information Act (FOI) requests, he has sought to uncover official records and shed light on Australia’s involvement (and lack thereof) in global UAP research efforts. He hosts The Unexplained Rundown podcast, where he discusses UAP developments, government policy, and disclosure initiatives, while also engaging with leading voices in the UFO community.

 

Lavac has appeared as a guest on podcasts such as That UFO Podcast, Somewhere in the Skies, and Inside The Black Vault with John Greenewald, Jr, where he continues to promote informed public dialogue and responsible investigation of the UAP phenomenon.

776. Jacques Vallée

Legendary UFO researcher Jacques Vallée joins Martin Willis to discuss Forbidden Science 7: Final Report, the concluding volume of his journals covering 2020–2025. Vallée reflects on today’s disclosure movement, his own unexplained 1955 sighting and missing memory, the dangers of amateur hypnotic regression, alleged structured contact with an unknown intelligence and a database containing approximately 260,000 UFO cases. After nearly seventy years of research, he leaves us with a profound question: Are we living in a reality that can be manipulated—and are our present scientific methods capable of recognizing it?

SHOW NOTES

Show 776 Notes: Jacques Vallée

Simulcast on YouTube, Facebook & Twitter | Thursday, August 20, 2026 @ 8:00 PM EDT (GMT-4)

Veteran UFO researcher, scientist and author Jacques Vallée joins Martin Willis for an extraordinary conversation about his newest book, Forbidden Science 7: Final Report—The Journals of Jacques Vallée 2020–2025. The seventh and final volume of Vallée’s remarkable journals chronicles a pivotal five-year period in the history of the UFO phenomenon—one marked by government hearings, whistleblower allegations, growing public discussion of UAP and renewed demands for disclosure. But after more than six decades of investigation, Vallée continues to caution that the phenomenon may be far stranger and more consequential than the conventional idea of extraterrestrial spacecraft visiting Earth. In this conversation, Jacques discusses what he witnessed behind the scenes during the rapidly changing years from 2020 through 2025, what the public still misunderstands about UFO disclosure and why revelations surrounding the phenomenon may carry profound scientific, cultural and spiritual implications. We also explore the patterns that have shaped Vallée’s work: physical evidence, close encounters, consciousness, secrecy, deception, folklore and the possibility that the phenomenon has influenced humanity throughout history. Is society prepared for what may be revealed? What have governments learned and what remains genuinely unknown? After a lifetime spent pursuing forbidden science, how does Jacques Vallée now interpret the mystery?

Official WEBSITE

BIO: Jacques F. Vallée is a principal at Documatica Financial and a diversified investor with a passion for technology startups in space development, medical equipment and information management. He earned a Bachelors Degree in mathematics from the Sorbonne, a Masters Degree in astrophysics from Lille University and a PhD in Computer Science /AI from Northwestern University (1967).

Based in Silicon Valley, Jacques has served as a founder and general partner in five venture funds, including NASA’s “Red Planet Capital”. Among the companies for which he spearheaded early-stage financings, fourteen achieved IPOs, notably Electronics for Imaging, Accuray Systems (developers of the “Cyberknife” for cancer surgery), NeoPhotonics (Nanotechnology for optical networks), Mercury Interactive, P-Com, Isocor, Regeneration Technologies, Harmonic Lightwaves, Ixys, Integrated Packaging, E.Piphany, Sangstat Medical, Com21 and Synaptic Pharmaceuticals, specialized in neurotransmitter biology. He served as a member of the Board of Directors of many of these firms.

Other companies financed by Jacques (in particular, HandyLab that produced an instrument recognized as “transformative for oncology”) were successfully acquired by Becton-Dickinson, Intel, Lucent, AOL, Cisco, Wilson Greatbatch and Intuitive Surgical.

In his early career Jacques worked at Paris Observatory and at the astronomy department of the University of Texas in Austin, where he co-developed the first computer-based map of planet Mars. Moving to California after management positions with Shell and RCA, he implemented (with Jake Feinler) the first Network Information Center on the Arpanet and later served as a principal investigator for DARPA and NSF. Jacques has published several textbooks about computer networking and has maintained a long-term interest in unidentified flying objects, currently (2020) serving on the expert committee of the French CNES tasked with studying such reports. He received the Jules Verne Prize for his first science-fiction novel (in French). He resides between San Francisco and Paris. He has two children and three grandchildren.

Mail may be addressed to Jacques Vallée P.O. Box 641650 San Francisco, CA 94164

775. Christopher Noël UFOs & Consciousness

What if UFOs do not defy gravity through advanced propulsion, but through consciousness itself? Yale-trained philosopher and author Christopher Noël joins Martin Willis to explore his proposal that consciousness may be an undiscovered field of nature capable of interacting with physical reality. They discuss the Oz Factor, altered perception, missing time, unexplained cold and silence during encounters, electromagnetic disturbances, psychokinesis, orbs, UFO propulsion and the similarities connecting UAP, ghosts, Sasquatch and other high-strangeness phenomena. Christopher also shares his provocative theory that apparent alien beings and craft may temporarily manifest from an unseen level of reality rather than simply traveling here from distant planets. The conversation also touches on the Buga Sphere, Nazca mummies, the Ariel School encounter and whether UFOs use consciousness to manipulate matter. Christopher Noël is the author of The Anatomy of Thin Air and Homegrown Monsters.

SHOW NOTES

A 1964 UFO and Humanoid Report

by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear 

On April 24, 1964, in Socorro, New Mexico, Sgt. Lonnie Zamora of the Socorro Police reported seeing an egg-shaped object and two small humanoids dressed in white coveralls. On April 24, 1964, in Newark Valley, New York, farmer Gary Wilcox reported seeing an egg-shaped object and two small humanoids dressed in white coveralls. The difference is, Wilcox claimed he talked with the creatures he saw.

The first investigator on the scene was Wilcox’s neighbor, Priscilla J. Baldwin. She had an interest in UFOs and spoke with Wilcox on April 28th. National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena advisor Walter Webb interviewed Wilcox on November 8, 1964, and there is a NICAP file on the incident.

Dr. Berthold Eric Schwartz investigated this case extensively and wrote an article (page 20 of the pdf) about it headlined, “Gary Wilcox and the UFOnauts,” published in the September 1969 Flying Saucer Review Special Issue 3. According to him in his article, material from Baldwin and Webb was made available to him, and he interviewed Wilcox along with his wife, friends, neighbors, and members of his family. Read more

Show 775 Notes: Christopher Noël

Simulcast on YouTube, Facebook & Twitter | Tuesday, August 18, 2026 @ 8:00 PM EDT (GMT-4)

What if missing time, telepathy, synchronicities and distortions of reality are not side effects of UFO encounters, but clues to their true nature? Yale-trained philosopher Christopher Noël, author of The Anatomy of Thin Air, joins Martin Willis to explore the “Oz Factor” and his recently published Nested Field Theory. Could consciousness function as a field, and could its interaction with physical reality help explain some of the high strangeness associated with UFO encounters? WEBSITE

BIO: Christopher Noël holds a master’s degree in philosophy from Yale University. His books explore a wide range of phenomena and attempt to understand them under one umbrella as manifestations of consciousness. His most recent releases are The Anatomy of Thin Air and Homegrown Monsters.

774. Professor Matthew Bowman

Martin Willis speaks with historian and author Matthew Bowman about the 1961 Betty and Barney Hill UFO encounter and his book, The Abduction of Betty and Barney Hill. Drawing upon archival papers, personal correspondence, early Air Force and NICAP reports, hypnosis transcripts, and John Fuller’s research files, Bowman discusses official interest in the case, Dr. Benjamin Simon’s conclusions, the reliability of hypnosis, Marjorie Fish’s star map, the influence of race and religion, and the case’s lasting impact on UFO culture. He also shares his own view of what the Hills may have encountered and why conventional explanations remain unconvincing.

SHOW NOTES

Show 774 Notes: Professor Mathew Bowman

Simulcast on YouTube, Facebook & Twitter | Tuesday, August 11, 2026 @ 8:00 PM EDT (GMT-4)

Martin Willis welcomes historian Matthew Bowman, author of The Abduction of Betty and Barney Hill: Alien Encounters, Civil Rights, and the New Age in America. Published by Yale University Press, the book examines the famous 1961 New Hampshire encounter that became the model for the modern alien-abduction story. Bowman explores the Hills’ reported experience, the controversial role of hypnosis and the case’s connections to civil rights, religion, government secrecy and America’s growing distrust of institutions. Was this an extraterrestrial encounter, a psychological event or a mystery that remains unresolved? The book’s distinctive angle is excellent for your interview: Bowman treats the Hill story as both a UFO case and a window into American history, without making the conversation depend entirely on proving or disproving an abduction. Yale University Press describes the Hills’ experience as the template for later alien-encounter stories and emphasizes their lives as an interracial New Hampshire couple and civil rights activists.

Upcoming Virtual Zoom Lecture August 18th: https://portsmouthhistory.org/event/lecture-three-ways-of-looking-at-ufos/

BIO: Matthew Bowman is Associate Professor of Religion and History at Claremont Graduate University, and was appointed the Howard W. Hunter Chair of Mormon Studies, with a joint appointment in history and religion, in 2019. He is a specialist in American religious history, with particular interests in Mormonism, new religious movements, and the development of the concept of “religion” in the United States. He teaches courses on North American religions and Mormonism in the department of religion, and on the history of the United States in the department of history.

Prior to his arrival at CGU, Bowman held positions at Hampden-Sydney College and Henderson State University. He received his PhD from Georgetown University in 2011, and has regularly appeared in the national media to comment on Mormonism and American religion. He has written for the Washington Post, Slate, The New Republic, and the Huffington Post, and has appeared on MSNBC and NPR.

A 1988 Report of a UFO Landing on Frozen Lake Erie

by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear 

At the top of the first page of National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena 1988 Chronology on the NICAP website, there is an illustration depicting what witnesses said they saw land on a frozen section of Lake Erie in March of that year. The report comes from Eastlake, Ohio, and witnesses include members of the Coast Guard. Under the illustration is a link to the NICAP Case Directory page covering the incident along with this brief description: “Coast Guard witnesses, large illuminated ellipse hovering over Lake Erie, landing on ice. Smaller triangular objects emerged, zipped around independently.”

The Case Directory page has a brief summary by webmaster Fran Ridge of events which began at 8:35 p.m.  According to Ridge, this case, which is “one of FUFOR’s (Fund for UFO Research) top cases,” had a possible “nuclear connection” (a nuclear power plant was nearby), and involved a “huge, gunmetal gray, football-shaped object that was rocking back and forth” which “was first observed by five people.”

Below the summary are links to “detailed reports and documents” which include the report from FUFOR, the partial transcript of an interview with the primary witnesses, the Coast Guard report, an email thread, and correspondence from the researchers. Read more

773. Rabbi Michael “Moshe” Rothschild UFOs and Religion

Rabbi Michael “Moshe” Rothschild joins Martin Willis for a thought-provoking conversation about UFOs, extraterrestrial life, disclosure, and what confirmation of nonhuman intelligence could mean for religion. Rothschild recounts his own close sighting of a bright orange plasma-like object and explains why he believes some UFOs may represent nonhuman intelligence. They explore whether extraterrestrial life would challenge Judaism, possible interpretations of Ezekiel’s wheel, Kabbalah, consciousness, alleged abduction experiences, government transparency, whistleblower protections, and former Israeli space security chief Chaim Eshed’s controversial claims concerning a Galactic Federation and extraterrestrial cooperation. The conversation ultimately asks whether humanity is ready for disclosure and why an advanced intelligence might choose ambiguity instead of unmistakable open contact.

SHOW NOTES

772. Filmmaker Luigi Vendittelli, and Martin Deabte The Bob Lazar Story

Filmmaker Luigi Vendittelli, director and producer of S4: The Bob Lazar Story, joins Martin Willis for a spirited and sometimes heated examination of Bob Lazar’s extraordinary and controversial claims. Martin remains deeply skeptical, while Luigi spent four and a half years working with Lazar and believes important parts of his story deserve serious consideration. They discuss Lazar’s disputed education, Los Alamos employment, alleged security clearance and work at S4, inconsistencies in his descriptions of the Sport Model, Papoose Lake, Element 115, the reported test flight, the lack of independently verifiable evidence and whether Lazar should truly be considered a whistleblower. It is a candid conversation between two people with very different perspectives who are willing to challenge one another without pretending they agree.

SHOW NOTES