Episode 6 - The Strangers Came Today Artwork

Professional Weirdo Podcast

Where I research strange stories and tell them to you. Because, let’s face it, I’m gonna research this anyway and blurt it to someone, might as well be a willing audience. Some of these stories might get dark, morbid, murdery…. so listener discretion is advised.

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Professional Weirdo Podcast

Episode 6 - The Strangers Came Today

May 28, 2025 • Anonymous Narrator • Season 1 • Episode 6

We're getting "far out" and talking about UFOs. What’s your theory? Weird weather phenomena? Experimental, top-secret military aircraft? Little green spacemen?

Songs I recommend with today’s episode can be found on the Spotify playlist:

Outer Space by John Grant
3rd Planet by Modest Mouse
Oh! You Pretty Things by David Bowie - because of course Bowie is gonna be recommended for the UFO episode

Sources:

Sound mixing performed by Brother Jay from The Rule of Scary podcast - check that out if you’re a horror movie fan! And hey! Thank you for listening to my stories. Keep it weird out there.

To find song recommendations for this podcast, check out the Spotify Professional Weird playlist

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5jIkaamOZlCwtd2peUk9lF?si=0238d524a374492d

Email me at professionalweirdopodcast@gmail.com

Hello again. Welcome back to the Professional Weirdo podcast. In the last episode we talked about strange things dropping from above. Keep your eyes skyward, because we’re still looking up there, just a little farther out. And for being so “far out” this episode has maybe the most official list of sources of any of my previous episodes - National Geographic, the CIA, the National Archives, the US Department of Defense, the FBI, the NSA - that’s right, kids! We’re talking about UFOs!

This is episode 6 - The Strangers Came Today

Welcome weirdos, to the Professional Weirdo podcast, where I research strange stories and tell them to you. Because, let’s face it, I’m gonna research this anyway and blurt it to someone, might as well be a willing audience. Some of these stories might get dark, morbid, murdery…. so listener discretion is advised.

One day my doorbell rang and I answered, finding a sales person on my doorstep looking at my doormat. It has one of those old-school flying saucers on it and reads, “Get in, Loser.” As I opened the door he was chuckling about it, starting to tell me he thought it was funny, but then paused as he looked at me, his face turning contemplative. I realized he was looking at my t-shirt. Coincidentally, that morning I had grabbed a t-shirt that has the same image on it as Agent Mulder’s poster in the X-files. Above the words “I want to believe” hovers an old school flying saucer. It seemed one UFO reference is funny. Two UFO references led to a quick sales pitch, an easily accepted “no thank you” and a hustle on down the street. Maybe to that nice home with a regular welcome mat. And to think he didn’t even know that my shower curtain features a design showing flying saucers in the sky over what looks like maybe some 1950’s poolside sun bathers in Palm Springs. It’s not that I’m obsessed with UFOs. And the proper term nowadays is Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena or UAP. I just think those wobbly pie pan flyer saucers are really funny. Today I’ll be rating the stories on a scale of 1-5 flying saucers.

So far in 2025, the United Kingdom has the most UFO sightings, followed by the United States, then Indonesia. But they’ve been seen far and wide over time, with an account dating back to 1450 BC, when a written description told of a star coming down during a military battle and setting fire to one of the waring parties. Let’s just hop, skip, and jump through a few sightings over history to warm things up a bit.

In 740 AD there was a sighting in Ireland, Teltown in County Meath, that described when (quote) “ships with their crews were seen in the air” (unquote). Again, that’s 740 AD and they are talking about ships in the air.

Taking a big jump forward to April 1897, the local news in Aurora, Texas reported that an airship had crashed and the alien piloting the craft had been killed and was buried in the local cemetery. While unsubstantiated, the residents of Aurora celebrate the story.

In 1907 in the Ottoman Empire, one account described when fighters were stationed at the top of a high mountain and saw a shiny object flying in front of them. They said it stood suspended in the air for several minutes and then disappeared.

In 1933 during an expedition up Mount Everest, Frank Smythe said he witnessed two spots hovering and pulsating in the sky.

Jumping to World War 2, when Allied fighter pilots encountered colorful lights that seemed to follow their planes. It happened so much that they created a new term for them - foo fighters!

Now we’re landing in July 8th, 1947 when a US Army Air Force spokesperson issued a press release saying that a flying saucer had been captured in Roswell, New Mexico. However, quickly after a new announcement came out saying that it was a crashed weather balloon. Speculation and conspiracy have fueled the story ever since, with different accounts coming out producing proof toward the weather balloon story, or accounts of the weather balloon being a cover-up to hide the original story of a UFO crash.

Moving to Jan 6, 1969 in Leary, Georgia. A report was submitted by Jimmy Carter while he was the governor of Georgia. In the written report he said the light was “luminous, not solid”.

Now in 1978, In Victoria, Australia, pilot Federico Valentich was flying in a Cessna 182 Skyline. He reported a strange craft to air traffic control in Melbourne shortly after 7:00 pm. His last words were (quote) “that strange aircraft is hovering on top of me again… it is hovering and it’s not an aircraft.” Unquote. Frederick and the plane were never found.

Jumping to Halloween, 2004. Residents of Tinley Park near Chicago, Illinois had quite the boost to their trick or treating when red lights were seen in the sky above them. It was witnessed by thousands of people, also being photographed and filmed. Now if candy had been dropped from the sky that night, I would have given that collection of stories 5 out of 5 flying saucers, but going with only 4 out of 5. And if you saw a UFO on Halloween and then candy fell from the sky - would you eat it?

What’s your theory? Weird weather phenomena? We learned from the last episode that all kinds of strangeness can happen in the sky when the right elements come together. Or do you think experimental, top-secret military air craft? My dad served in the Air Force as a mechanic and told the story of being awakened one night when he was stationed in Alaska. It was explained to him that there was an air craft that needed immediate repair and maintenance and on the way to the hangar he was told his new level of security clearance, which shocked him. Upon entering the hangar he said he took one look at the craft in front of him, explained he wouldn’t have the first idea how to repair it, and was quickly exited from the building, with his original security level restored. I think because of that story, I always assumed at some of level of the world’s governments and militaries, the answer to “What’s out there?” has been well known. That’s why, aside from my slight obsession in the humorous visual of flying saucers, I haven’t really paid it much mind. That is, until the United States government itself began revealing that they have also been asking themselves, “What’s out there?”

Let’s step back and talk about the Roswell incident again. I’ll start by saying a person could do an entire podcast about all the information out there on Roswell. I certainly haven’t been deeply intrenched in the topic - I mean…. I had things like spontaneous combustion and doppelgängers distracting me. And, dear listeners, if you came here for weird stuff, I’m betting many of you know more about Roswell than I do. But on the topic of what the US military knows, and holds secret, we can’t talk about Roswell without talking about Project Mogul. This top-secret project ran from 1947 to 1949 and its goal was to use sound waves in the upper sound channel high up in the atmosphere to determine when the Soviets were testing atomic bombs. Because high up in the atmosphere sound travels more slowly due to air pressure and temperature, so if you can hold a consistent spot at a high enough altitude for a long enough time, you can capture and transmit the sound back down to the ground, where the sound patterns of atomic testing can be identified. But how to get up there? With balloons. Annnnddd also materials that were NOT used in weather balloons of the day. Weather balloons at the time were made of rubber, and Project Mogul started with those, just at an enormous size, but they didn’t hold up and maintain the altitude that was needed to pick up the sound waves. So polyethylene was used instead, which had never been used for balloons before this time. So those metallic film balloons that you might see at birthday parties? Yeah, those started with Project Mogul. Now you have a random nugget of information to share at your next birthday party. Let them know those balloons have a connection to Roswell. We gotta keep it weird out there.

So Project Mogul has giant balloons using a metallic foil material that no one has ever seen used for balloons before, with reflectors, lightweight sticks, and other equipment and they are launching them from places where they won’t be spotted, because hey - this is top-secret. This next part is what stands as the official explanation today. Several of these balloons were launched June 4, 1947, but one crashed into the desert outside of Roswell. The materials from the crashed balloon were discovered by Mac Brazel on his ranch. But Mac had no idea about the flying saucers that were beginning to be talked about at the time and it wasn’t until his uncle visited, and knowing about all the latest chatter in the media about “flying discs” that were possibly from the Soviets, he suggested that what Mac had found could be one of those. So Mac drove into Roswell to notify Sheriff George Wilcox, who called the Roswell Army Air Field to report what had been found. They sent a Major and Captain to go to the ranch and collect the materials. Then on July 8th, the Roswell Army Air Field’s public information officer issued a press release which stated:

The many rumors regarding the flying disc became reality yesterday when the intelligence office of the 509th Bomb group of the Eighth Air Force, Roswell Army Air Field, was fortunate enough to gain possession of a disc through the cooperation of one of the local ranchers and the sheriff’s office of Chaves County. The flying object landing on a ranch near Roswell sometime last week. Not having phone facilities, the rancher stored the disc until such time as he was able to contact the sheriff’s office, who in turn notified Maj. Jesse A Marcel of the 509th Bomb Group Intelligence Office.

George Walsh, the radio station director for KSWS in Roswell, broke the news on the station and relayed it to the Associated Press. And then things went wild. So many calls were coming in from media all over the world that he was unable to get any calls out to the Sheriff for updates on the situation.

Quickly after, a press conference was held identifying the debris as actually being a weather balloon and explaining that several of these types of weather balloons are used by weather stations. It’s known now that officers intentionally gave false explanations of the debris, explaining how it was used to gather meteorological data, so they could maintain the secrecy around Project Mogul.

So let’s set any theories about a true UFO crash aside and run with these two stories released by the military…. One of the top secret spy balloons crashed and is found by a civilian. In fact, multiple civilians know about it before it’s reported to any type of military, so the existence of this thing is out. And what I really want to know is…. Did the team at the air field, not knowing about Project Mogul and maybe now seeing a bunch of material they’ve never seen before, really believe this was a flying disc? Did they think they were giving a truthful press release? Or, and this would be my preferred version because it’s the funniest - Did someone think the best cover for the crashed spy balloon was to lie and say it was a flying disc, and then when they saw how much MORE attention that was getting, they came back in to say “Everyone calm down! It’s just a regular weather balloon, idiots.” Which of course, it was not. Maybe in this day saying that metallic foil was a balloon would work, because hey, I saw those the other day at Party City. They wrap pop tarts in that stuff, right? Sure. But in 1947? In 1947 I can’t imagine anything looking more extraterrestrial than a light as air silver foil. People were looking at the debris, knowing it was unlike anything they had seen before. And maybe not everyone knew what actual weather balloons looked like, but there were several weather stations across the country staffed with people who did know what weather balloons looked like. People sensed the lie in the weather balloon cover story, so I think they naturally defaulted back to the first thing they had been told - a crashed flying disc. Could it be that all of the hub Bub around Roswell - the books, the articles, the TV shows, the interviews, the online articles, the speculation, the whole town of Roswell with their museum, and souvenir shops, and themed restaurants… Could it all be from a goofed cover story, followed by a new cover story that smelled of bullshit? How much of our collective UFO interest was spurred by possibly a really bad PR choice? Without Roswell, would we have the X-files? E.T.? Alf?!

The fallout from this incident just continued to grow. Some of the people involved in the initial media clean-up have retracted their statements saying the materials were extraterrestrial. More stories follow explaining how those retracted statements are still wrong. There are so many layers now I’m not sure it will ever be definitively settled.

But back to Project Mogul. Other technology using seismic detectors and air sampling for fallout was cheaper and more successful at detecting atomic bomb testing. I’m guessing another benefit is those methods were discrete. Project Mogul only lasted 2 years. Or so they would have us believe…. 5/5 flying saucers.

If it was a poor choice of communication during Project Mogul that kicked up all the interest in UFOs, then the Air Force made quite a bit of work for itself. Sightings and interest became so great that it spurred Project Blue Book, which was a study conducted by the US Air Force that ran from 1952 to 1969. It had two goals: to determine if UFOs were a threat to national security, and to analyze UFO-related data scientifically.

It studied 12,618 reports over the 17 years it ran, and ultimately was closed down, summarizing that there was no evidence in the UFO sightings that indicated a threat to national security, that nothing in the evidence showed technological advancements beyond modern understanding, and that none of the evidence in the sightings of unidentified origins supported that it was extraterrestrial vehicles. It indicated that most sightings were natural phenomena, or the misidentification of conventional aircraft. Some reports were thought to be sightings of formerly secret planes. In all, the 12,618 UFO sightings were whittled down to 701 reports that were categorized as unexplained. These can be pulled through the Freedom of Information Act, although names and identifying information in the reports have been redacted. Most of the archive is written text, but in the collection are 18 home movies filmed between 1952 & 1967. On the National Archives website, six are available to watch. And I did. Of course I did! Most are dark, shaky, with a lot of visual noise - kind of what I would expect of something shot at that time. But two struck me, not because of the suspected UFO activity that was ultimately shown - pretty much just unfocused lines or dots within a dark screen, but for what proceeded it. One shot in Colorado Springs, Colorado starts with flowers. Clearly someone filming their garden. It continues with another flower bed, then people in the garden practicing archery, then a toddler standing by some flowers, feeling them, then toddling off on unsteady steps. Then darkness for a long time, followed by a dark screen with white streaks, as if several comets had streaked through the sky at a diagonal angle, but if their tails remained bright for most of the path. It’s very shaky and quickly switches to another dark scene with dots that - I wasn’t sure if those were supposed to be UFOs or just visual noise within the filming. Another home video featured what must have been a noteworthy snow. From Galesburg, Moline, Illinois, it shows a man standing in the distance, next to a snow drift against a building. Then it switches to a road, with snow banked up high on the side. A car drives by and the camera follows it, showing more of the road, snow tall on either side, and snow-covered trees in the distance. Then a couple of people shoveling a path in the snow. Then again, a dark screen. Full darkness for a long time, until light blooms a bit from the bottom corner and a single, blurry dot sits in the middle of the screen for a bit until the movie ends. I think for me the normalcy that proceeds the UFO scenes gets me the most. Someone adept at using their camera, using a somewhat steady hand, following a wobbly toddler or a car going down the road. Then a dark and shaky mess of something that was reported as UFO activity. It really makes me wish these home movies had sound. What were they saying while trying to capture this on their camera? Probably a cuss. I bet it was a lot of cussing. Maybe they didn’t want all that foul language in the National Archives. Anyway, if you want to watch the home movies yourself, I’ll put the link to that specific page in my notes. Look for the one with “home movies” at the end of the URL. I give Project Blue Book 3 out of 5 flying saucers.

This next bit comes not from Project Bluebook, but from the files of the CIA. This was declassified and its origin was a 250 page KGB report acquired after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The report includes pictures and eyewitness statements of an incident that occurred when Soviets in a training exercise in Ukraine saw a spaceship flying above them. They fired a surface-to-air missile which hit the craft causing it to crash. Witnesses reported that five humanoids with “large heads and large black eyes” came out of the crash. Two soldiers later described that the beings came close together and “merged into a single object that acquired a spherical shape.” It became a bright white while buzzing could be heard until it flared and exploded. It’s reported that 23 soldiers that were within the light flare turned to stone. The two left to be interviewed for the report had been shaded from the light. All evidence of the UFO and “petrified soldiers” were collected and taken into KGB custody. None of that evidence was recovered by the CIA - just the KGB’s report of the incident. Or so they would have us believe. 3 out of 5 flying saucers.

There were a lot of things to worry about in 2020, so it was easy to miss that on Aug. 4 of that year an announcement went out explaining that Deputy Secretary of Defense David Norquist had approved the establishment of an Unidentified Aerial Phenomena or UAP, Task Force. Its mission is to detect, analyze, and catalog UAPs that could potentially pose a threat to US national security. What I notice about this, and some of the carefully-worded statements coming out of Project Blue Book, is they aren’t saying if they’re going to determine what these UAPs are, or if aliens are real, but rather study if they might be a threat.

Related to this effort, there’s an annual report that comes out from the Pentagon and the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office. The latest report from March 2024 covers incidents reported from May 2023 to June 2024, but also reports from 2021 & 2022 that were reported later. The total number of reports came to 757, an increase from the year before at 281. The official explanation for the increase is that there’s better awareness around reporting UAPs. Throughout all of the years of analyzing these reports, AARO states they haven’t discovered any evidence of extraterrestrial beings, activity, or technology. However, there are 21 incidents that fall short of explanation. The head of AARO is quoted as saying “There are interesting cases that with my physics and engineering background and time in the I.C. I do not understand, and I don't know that anybody else understands them.” These incidents had multiple witnesses and were captured on video or other sensors, and happened near national security sites, but, of course, that evidence is secret. 1/5 flying saucers.

However! Let’s talk about some information shared by former military personnel to Congress in 2023 and 2024. At a House Oversight subcommittee meeting held on UAPs, these former military personnel, now being called “UFO Whisteblowers” gave testimony stating that the US government is holding back the information it gives to the public and that the US government is in possession of “nonhuman” biological matter. These meetings where held because many in the House, on both sides of the aisle, felt that the UAP Task Force was spending a lot of money, and stressing the importance of the task force, without producing evidence of the need. Kind of like the task force was saying, “We’re really, really important, but we aren’t finding anything.” But it was suspected that there is an actual need and they aren’t be transparent with their findings. Retired US Navy rear admiral Tim Gallaudet stated in his testimony “We know from last year’s UAP hearing and recent statements and publications by credible whistleblowers that UAP, NHI (non-human intelligence), and their technology of known origin represent a new realization that we are not the only advanced intelligence in the universe.” He went on to say that UAPs represent “non-human higher intelligence.” Former NASA Associate Administrator for Space Policy and Partnerships (good grief, no way this guy’s title is fitting on a business card) Michael Gold testified saying that the stigma around UAPs blocked proper scientific inquiry. He also suggested that because the data around UAPs was so large, we could use AI to sort through it. Dude. No. Absolutely not. Listen, I’m not NASA-smart, but I think it’s a very bad idea to give all the alien data to the robots to learn from. Geez. Do they not watch sci-fi movies at NASA? In other testimony, journalist Michael Shellenberger claimed that there is a secret program in the government called “Immaculate Constellation” and its goal is to gather UAP reports from military personnel and sensor data and quarantine it from the rest of the government. A former US intelligence official named David Grusch was really spilling some tea, saying that he’s gathered information that the US government is in possession of UAPs, having collected and reconstructed them. It’s claimed that for decades the US government has been reverse engineering recovered vessels. And that non-human biologics have also been recovered from crash sites. While Grusch said he himself has not seen an UAP, he’s interviewed several credible witnesses over years and has had colleagues injured due to UAPs. He claims all of this work to hide the existence of nonhumans is covered through the misappropriation of funds that is above congressional oversight. Former Navy pilot Ryan Graves stressed the need for transparency so that military and commercial airline pilots can be prepared, both for reporting UAPs and for awareness when flying. It’s true that the Federal Aviation Administration has no formal reporting process and instead directs those wishing to report a sighting to civilian groups. Yeah, that feels legit. Graves founded Americans for Safe Aerospace to support aviators who have reported UAPs. He stated that what has been witnessed by these pilots “are performing maneuvers that are unexplainable due to our current understanding of our technology and our capabilities as a country.”

In other testimony, a former Navy commander said that in 2004, while he and 3 other military pilots were flying over the Pacific Ocean, they saw an object hovering below their jets. It was white and shaped like a Tic-Tac. He descended to get a better look, but then the craft started to rise toward his fighter jet. And then - it vanished. Within a few seconds it was spotted 60 miles away. His ominous statement was “The technology that we faced is far superior to anything that we had. And there’s nothing we can do about it. Nothing.”

5/5, totally friendly flying saucers, piloted by, I’m sure super great, kind, understanding, beings with, just, no nefarious or evil plans.

That’s a wrap for today! If you are hungry for more, the FBI has a website that holds scans of reports from when they helped the Air Force investigate UFOs between 1947 and 1954. I’ve looked through a few - no X-files level stuff in here, but it does appear that the FBI was discreetly attending meetings or looking into people who were reporting on UFOs during that time. I’ll put the link in the show notes. Another link I’ll drop in there is for the UFO and UAP section of the National Archives. There are more documents, photos, other stuff related to reports. Heads up, the photos are of both unexplained UFOs AND test photos that are intentionally trying to get a convincing UFO photo. For fans of those old school flying saucers - they are fun. So what are we thinking about UFOs…. Weather phenomena? Top-secret military aircraft? Misidentified common aircraft? Or highly intelligent visitors from outside our solar system, checking in on us? If that’s the case, I think it must be like those native tribes that we’ve left undisturbed (or at least, most of us have). We might be in their airspace, snapping a few photos, but keeping our modern technology and contagious diseases away from them so they can go about their business. Maybe it’s like that - UFOs are just cruising by, checking in, seeing us commuting, and looking at our phones, and all the ways we spend our time. Then they fly back home and tell the others “You’ll never believe what they are doing now. Some of them are putting little clothes on dogs!” Maybe some of them find us cute. Maybe others find us ridiculous. Could we be their reality TV show? Tune in next week for… the Earthlings! It’s something to think about the next time you’re standing out under a quiet night sky. Listen very carefully. You might hear a laugh track.

And for your entertainment, I’m on Instagram under professionalweirdopodcast where I’ll share more fun stories related to this episode. Follow me there to add a little weirdness to your Instagram feed. And if you haven’t already, please follow the podcast and tell your friends about it. And you can email me at professionalweirdopodcast@gmail.com

Songs I recommend with today’s episode can be found on the Spotify playlist I made to accompany this podcast. For each episode I’ve done or will do, I’ve pulled together a few songs. The ones for this episode are:

Outer Space by John Grant

3rd Planet by Modest Mouse, and

Oh! You Pretty Things by David Bowie - because of course Bowie is going to be on the UFO episode so my list.

I’ll list these, along with the link to the playlist, in the show notes.

Nanu nanu.

That’s a wrap! Sources used for this episode can be found in episode notes. Sound mixing performed by Brother Jay from The Rule of Scary podcast - check that out if you’re a horror movie fan! And hey! - thank you for listening to my stories. Keep it weird out there.