The AP Strange Show

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...

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...

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. 

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...

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...

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...

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 o...

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...

On this week's show, the documentary series Strange Magick is discussed with director Bill Darmon and researcher and author Dave Goudsward. The film explores the connections between sites in New England, the odd connections between the magic of places and larger-than-life figures such as Aleister Crowley and H. P. Lovecraft, and even espionage during World War I.
In this conversation the focus is more specifically on Lovecraft and his likely connections to Mystery Hill, also known as "America's Stonehenge" in Salem, New Hampshire. Dave had been the manager at the site, and is also a historian of Lovecraft's...

Fred Andersson returns to the show this week to discuss some wild cases from his home country of Sweden, including sightings of mummies, gnomes, and lake monsters! Fred had previously appeared on the show to discuss Jaws 3-D for one of the Third Time's the Charm (3xtC) episodes, but he just has too many cool stories to share to not have him back on for that. In addition, he's a wonderful researcher and just an absolute pleasure to talk to or listen to.

He and AP also get into "phantom stranger" encounters, with each sharing personal tales...

Robert Guffey joins AP in this episode for a lengthy and mind-bending chat that covers a lot of weird ground. Robert is a well-known writer and author of both fiction and non-fiction, and in this chat the difficulty in telling the difference between the two is well illustrated. One of his books, Chameleo, is discussed at length- in particular, how much of what seemed fantastic or crazy in it when it was released ten years ago now seems eerily prescient.
In addition, Robert discusses his newest book, The Expectant Mother Disinformation Handbook, and his short stories from Cryptopolis...

Viva Las Vegas! This week AP chats with Jeff Knox, a wonderful UFO researcher and cohost of the YouTube show Ufo Sunset, about Leprechaun 3. AP had come up with the idea of a Leprechanathon- that is, watching all of the Leprechaun movies in a row, and being the madman that his Mr. Knox actually did it! In keeping with the Third Time's the Charm formula, the chat focuses on the Vegas-set third installment but the conversation goes all over the map. From struggles to find internal consistency in the franchise to attempting to understand the dynamics of leprechaun magics...

This week's episode is a journey through sound and melody, as AP talks with Mike Fiorito about the interrelation between music and the Phenomenon. Mike is a musician, and a freelance music journalist, and also an award-winning author. His latest book, UFO Symphonic- Journeys Into Sound delves into the complex relationship between creativity, the unknown, and consciousness, and specifically the role music plays in all of it. Being a combination of speculation and personal accounts, both his own and those he collected from a variety of musicians, his "polyphonic" approach to the mystery of UFOs and other unexplained phenomena...

All Hail Discordia! On this episode, comic book artist Bobby Campbell joins AP to discuss his ongoing project to adapt the Illuminatus! Trilogy into comic form. The classic of 1970s high weirdness written by Robert Anton Wilson and Bob Shea is a centerpiece in the world of Discordianism, and adapting it to other media is no small task. Bobby talks about collaborating with others, such as Todd Purse, to bring the story to life on the page in Tales of Illuminatus!

He and AP go all over the weird map in this chat, covering not just Wilson...

Maevius Lynn joins AP this week to explore the living tradition of Thelema and discuss the complicated legacy of Aleister Crowley. Lynn is a practicing Thelemic ceremonial magician, a writer, an artist, and a lecturer who offers a unique perspective to an often misunderstood realm of the occult and religious thought. She has a knack for explaining advanced theory in a way that is easy to understand, and does so in her published articles and on her YouTube channel in a way that is inviting, encouraging, and informative.
In this episode Lynn shares parts of her own story...

This week, AP and guest co-host Blackwolf John Oates chat with Aaron Gulyas about Star Trek III: The Search For Spock! Setting phasers to "snark", they boldly go where many nerds have gone before in dissecting Star Trek as a franchise, focusing on the original cast and the motion pictures they appeared in. The conversation takes a lot of turns and goes in many geeky directions, including (but not limited to): the dynamics of the original crew, nostalgia for movies with old guys running around, cavalier methods of time travel, whether Bones was a swinger, Roddenberry's many shortcomings, and...

Journalist and author Doug Brod joins AP in this episode to discuss his recent biography Born With a Tail: The Devilish Life and Wicked Times of Anton Szandor LaVey. Doug is currently an editor at the Toronto Star, and was formerly editor in chief for SPIN and TV Guide. He has also written for The New York Times, Billboard, Hollywood Reporter, and Fangoria.

Doug's entertaining narrative of LaVey's life and works fills in a lot of gaps left by previous writings on the man, and gets to questions about the nature of truth with larger-than-life figures such...

For this week's show, the inimitable Stephanie Quick joins AP for a look at the cultural context around the San Francisco Bay area and her lived experience there. Offering context for a variety of personalities and organizations tangential to weird studies, the artistic and political movements of the area from the 1960s to the present are examined. 

Stephanie is one of AP's favorite people to chat with, a notable fortean, synchronicity explorer and self-described Julia Child of Sex Magic. She brings a wealth of knowledge and lived experience from her decades living in and around the Bay A...

This week's episode has the one-and-only Loyd Auerbach, aka Professor Paranormal, sharing his thoughts and observations from his decades-long career in parapsychology. He is a mentalist, author, investigator of paranormal claims, a chocolatier, and teaches parapsychology courses at the Rhine Education Center and Atlantic University.
He and AP get into the nitty gritty of mentalism and stage magic, and where it overlaps with the ghostly and psi research. From there, they discuss everything from PK effects on machinery, Stupid Psychic Tricks, ghost planes, and spoon bending.
Also discussed is the role of humor in investigation and in...

This week's episode is a Third Time's the Charm (3xtC) offering featuring zombies!

Bryan White drops into AP's underground bunker to talk about Day of the Dead, the third installment of the George Romero zombie flicks that began with Night of the Living Dead and more or less kicked off the whole genre of zombie movies. Bryan co-hosts the horror movie podcast Bring Me the Axe! with his brother Dave, and the two of them also host the shows 99c Rental and an X-Files rewatch podcast called Do You Think I'm Spooky? In addition, Bryan also has...

Solomon Pakal joins AP this week for a far-ranging discussion of occult concepts and strange phenomena, with a focus on Meso America and the Maya roots of ideas still prevalent today. Solomon is a historian, a practitioner of magic, an author, and just generally an amazingly knowledgable researcher and seeker after mystical truths. 
He talks a bit about his story, his lineage of Guatemalan brujeria and upbringing in Washington, D.C. and how they informed his studies in the ancient practices and history of Maya. He breaks down a lot of misconceptions, the complicated effects of colonization and h...

AP is joined in this episode by the one and only Professor WHAM for a tribute to, and exploration of the life and works of David Lynch in honor of his passing from this realm in January of 2025. They focus in particular on the esoteric and mystical aspects of his movies and Twin Peaks, while also touching on his visual art and music. A lot of ground gets covered here, including (but not limited to) allusions to The Wizard of Oz, Lynch's decades-long practice of Transcendental Meditation, synchronicity, overlaps from UFOlogy into his work, and comparisons to themes found...

Blackwolf John Oates returns to the show to discuss the baffling life and times of Ted Serios, Thoughtographer. Blackwolf first appeared for a Third Time's the Charm (3xtC) episode about RoboCop, but this time he and AP get into more paranormal subject matter.
Ted Serios is a fascinating character, and a case study of just how wacky paranormal phenomena and the personalities that instigate it can be. He was reportedly able to psychically project his thoughts onto film, taking polaroids of images from his mind's eye with the aid of his "gismo"- all of which was studied...

On this week's show, Walker Jaroch joins AP to discuss some of the ideas he poses through his writings on the paranormal and to share some spooky stories he's uncovered in his home state of Wisconsin. Walker is the founder of Driftless Times Media, a website which he started in Spring of 2024- and for only having been online for less than a year, he's already produced some really thought-provoking and interesting work. 
Drawing on a background in journalism and publishing, as well as critical film analysis, he has pulled as nuances in paranormal storytelling through factors such a...

For this week's Third Time's the Charm (3xtC) presentation, Alexx Bollen joins AP to discuss the 32nd Marvel Cinematic Universe movie Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. III. They talk about Marvel movies more broadly, the attitudes of movie-goers around them, the work of James Gunn and his Troma origins, how underrated the Zune was, and the spiritual implications of being Groot.
Alexx is the longtime co-host of the movie review podcast John and Alexx Hate Stuff, and of the magical Adventure Time themed Wiz Biz, and formerly hosted the long-running podcast The Alexxcast. He is also a wonderfully...

Super Inframan, aka Saxon, joins AP on this episode in an exploration of media that is traditionally considered geeky such as comic books and kaiju movies and how these forms of media overlap with high strangeness and real world weirdness. He is an honest-to-goodness super hero, a semi-regular co-host on Where Did the Road Go?, and a martial arts instructor. He and AP discuss a wide range of fun topics, starting with the wild story of Count Dante and the dojo wars of Chicago and ending in Middle Earth.
Along the way are discussions about the mystical side...

It's another Third Time's the Charm episode of The AP Strange Show, and this one is a doozy! This 3xtC episode enters the third dimension of terror for a disaster of a film called Jaws 3-D. 
Joining AP in jumping the shark, as it were, is none other than paranormal writer, researcher, television professional, and connoisseur of schlocky cinema Fred Andersson! Fred and AP are unafraid to go back into the water, analyzing this third installment in ways that most people wouldn't dare, or for that matter, care to. Conversation naturally meanders into a lot of tangential territories, a...

Kicking off 2025 for the show is a wonderful guest in the form of the one-and-only Tim Binnall!
Tim is the longtime host of the OG paranormal podcast Binnall of America, as well as the news man we count on for the straight dope on weird news over at Coast to Coast AM.
He and AP start off talking about weird crime stories, but naturally wandered all over the weird map. Clowns, Elvis impersonators, professional wrestling, Mystery Houses, the internecine struggles of Nessie sighting verification, drones, and more!
Talking with Tim is always a blast, enjoy the...

As 2024 draws to a close, it seemed only appropriate to enjoy a Twilight Zone marathon as a sort of New Year's Eve ritual. Joining AP as he explores the dimension between light and shadow is none other than writer, artist, and host of the 6 Degrees of John Keel Podcast Barbara Fisher!
Barbara and AP discuss their favorite episodes, in particular focusing on ones which seem to illustrate elements of real-life reports of high strangeness, as well as the social messages which are eerie in their continuing relevance today. It's the kind of chat that was bound to go...

Magic practitioner, sometimes actress, small business owner and experiencer Lindsey Sokol drops by to discuss a variety of cool things- her recent appearance in the short film "Monochrome Menace", her journey with magic and the books that inspired her, her own personal encounters with anomalous entities, and her business venture Roadside Apothecary. 
It was a fun conversation, and even has some bathroom ghosts at the end!
More about Monochrome Menace here: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt31104208/
(We had mentioned during the show that you could view the film through the film festival website, but unfortunately th...

Douglas Batchelor of the What Magic Is This? podcast brings his wealth of knowledge and perspective to the show for a rather philosophical discussion about the weirdness out there in the world and how that's actually a pretty cool thing. He and AP get into the nitty gritty of what constitutes intellect, truth, and belief; fictional realities and how they relate to magical and material reality; approaches to magic and initiation, important books, World Peace, and more!

Douglas is an amazing voice and champion for all things magical, and you are highly encouraged to check out...

Peter C. Hine, co-host of the Vayse Podcast, drops by to discuss the third movie of the Ghostbusters franchise with AP... They chat about nostalgia, the annoying tropes that tend to appear in modern reboots and late sequels, and generally geek out about the best parts of the franchise. Also discussed is some of the real-life weirdness which may have inspired elements of the movies, or are just eerily similar to them, and also ideas about how to revisit some of these properties in a fun and imaginative way.

It's a fun conversation with plenty of laughs...

Author, paranormal investigator, UFOlogist, and witch Susan Demeter joins AP in a discussion about a dizzying array of fun and paranormal topics- pop culture influences on high strangeness, varying approaches to magic, tea time with demons, the Phillip Experiment, J. Allen Hynek, and more!
Susan brings a wealth of knowledge and a refreshing outlook on the weird.

You can check out some of her investigations here : https://paranormalstudiesintuition.wordpress.com/
And check out her book here! https://www.amazon.com/COSMIC-WITCH-magic-witchcraft-supernatural/dp/B08FP12XFR

It's another Third Time's the Charm (3xtC) edition of the AP Strange Show, with Steve Berg joining AP to discuss 1983's Superman III. Steve is an actor, comic, and Fortean weirdo up there with the best of them, and hosts the Hi, Strangeness podcast. Recorded the day after election day, Steve and AP soldier on to bring you some laughs in the form of nostalgia, super heroes, and the comedic acting of Richard Pryor. We also discuss Superman as an archetypal ideal, the accident-pronedness of the citizens of Metropolis, and the legacy of Christopher Reeve.

Steve's entertaining...

Fortean artist, writer, thinker, and podcast personality Red Pill Junkie drops in for a freewheeling discussion about a variety of subjects, chief among them UFOs. He and AP talk about those numinous saucers in relation to politics and culture, in terms of art, and humor, and how they relate to consciousness in a world increasingly drawn to "AI".

Be sure to keep up with RPJ at https://www.dailygrail.com/
If you need to commission some awesome artwork, like the image used for this very podcast, contact Red Pill at https://absurdbydesign.wordpress.com/

The Most Reverend StarDoG Steve Mills drops in to discuss a Third Time's the Charm selection, namely Halloween III: Season of the Witch. StarDoG and AP are both time travelers, and have used their technology to extend Halloween this year for the listeners in order to showcase this cult classic.
StarDoG focuses on the writer of the Myers-less installment of the Halloween franchise, who chose to go uncredited: British sci-fi and horror writer Nigel Kneale. The conversation covers a good deal of his career, the Quatermass movies, and his influence on both the fiction genres he worked in...

AP and Sequoyah Kennedy discuss the influential and profoundly stupid book Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon: Laurel Canyon & the Dark Heart of the Hippie Dream by David McGowan. This episode might ruffle a few feathers, but with cast iron bullshit detectors firmly in hand Sequoyah and AP navigate the weird scenes only to find that they really ain't that weird.
Sequoyah is a musician, writer, and had been the co-host of the mind-expanding podcast The Nonsense Bazaar and has a uniquely fine-tuned mind for untangling ill-conceived narratives. This chat ran a bit long, but there's just so much t...

Blackwolf John Oates drops by to discuss RoboCop 3 in this edition of the Third Time's the Charm series of episodes, but he and AP got a little carried away talking about the whole original trilogy. They discuss Paul Verhoeven and his non-involvement with the sequels, interesting casting choices, RoboCop religious imagery, fictional drugs, and of course RoboCop commandeering a pink Cadillac from a pimp.
This is Blackwolf's first podcast appearance, and you can find him writing about his hair metal trading card collection on Twitter or Instagram (@BlackwolfOates and @blackwolf_john_oates respectively).

Happy Halloween, my friends!

As the holiday approaches, I thought I'd cook up a special episode for your spooky season enjoyment about the Universal Monsters and their connections to the Occult and real life wyrdshit...

Enjoy, and thanks for listening!
Love and Donuts, 
AP

Pleasant Gehman joins AP in this episode to share stories from her multifaceted life as an author, tarot reader, rock musician, burlesque dancer, energy healer, and witch. They discuss phenomena like electro psychokinesis and synchronicities, tarot, ghosts and other entities, and rock and roll ducks. Yup, you read that right!

Find out more about Pleasant, and while you're at it buy her book Rock'n'Roll Witch or get a reading from her at https://pleasantgehman.com/tarotreadings/rocknroll-witch-book/