Dark Matters Radio

Starting January 18th, 2010 on Dark Matters Radio comes a line-up of programming you will not want to miss if you enjoy a journey into the strange, weird and unusual. For my premier episode Rene Barnett is featured.
René Barnett is a veteran reality television producer specializing in entertainment specials, series, documentaries and reality-based programming. Her producing credits include some of the premiere specials and series of the reality television genre, including Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, Unmasked: Exposing the Secrets of Deception, Strange Universe, Places of Mystery, Guinness Book of Records Primetime and many others. In 2005, 1244 Films was established to produce René’s first theatrical film, Bloodline, a documentary investigation into the marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, the secret society known as the Priory of Sion and the so-called Rennes-le-Chateau mysteries. The film premiered in the spring of 2008 and has enjoyed sold-out theaters and critical acclaim.
Returning to her radio roots, René has recently established NightVision Productions and launched NightVision Radio, covering conspiracies, hidden history and the paranormal and will soon launch a new one-hour radio show in collaboration with Purple Rose Entertainment called DANCING WITH GHOSTS with renowned psychic Rebecca Fearing.
Bloodline-The Movie

Tuesday January 19th, 2010 Dark Matters Radio will have on Dr. Ed. Klein MD.
Dr. Klein is a charter faculty member (Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry), University of South Florida Medical School and is the author of Soul Search: The Healing Possibilities of Past Lives. An unlikely proponent of reincarnation, he presents a compelling case on how the subconscious can lead to past-life therapy techniques which help the patient today.
Dr. Klein\'s Website

Ms. Donna Seebo will join Dark Matters Radio Wednesday January 20th, 2010. Ms. Seebo
is a radio and television personality who is a nationally known Mental Practitioner, and Psychic and author. Beginning in April 2002 Donna began doing a daily radio broadcast that would feature people from all walks of life. She started with a local radio station and within a relatively short period of time the program attracted a large listening audience. This successful daily radio show grew and expanded to various radio stations in different markets and currently is heard around the world via the Internet on BBS Radio.
Donna Seebo\'s Website

Thursday January 21st, Dark Matters will host Herald Tribune Journalist Billy Cox.
Bill Cox is the author of the critically acclaimed “De Void” The mainstream media’s lonely UFO blog. For any years there have only been less than one handful of “straight media journalists” that dare take an honest peek at the UFO subject. Billy Cox is one of those few, those lonely few. What is it that made him take that plunge that almost all the rest refuse to take? We will find out. The lonely UFO blog can be found at
De Void UFO Blog

Friday January 22nd I will be joined in-studio by old friend and UFO researcher Rich Sarradet as we take a trip down the lonely researcher’s path. Rich goes back almost 20 years to the early 1990′s and he will discuss some of the intelligence tinged cases he was involved with. Some very dicey stuff. This was a long way from what Rich had been doing, he was a daytime Television Star appearing for a number of years as Howard Lansing on General Hospital. He also appeared in guest starring roles on a lot of television and film from the 70′s and forward. Check in Friday Jan. 22 10:00 Pacific and 1:00 AM Saturday on the East Coast.

Rich Sarradet

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It is pretty much official … Dark Matters Radio is coming back to the airwaves January 18th, 2010 on CyberstationUSA. My show will run 5 nights a week from 10:00 PM till 12:00 AM Pacific Time and 1:00 AM till 3:00 AM … Monday thru Friday.

So, what am I trying to do? Well, one thing I do know something about is radio broadcasting. My preferred beat concerns those things that are different … weird … even bizarre, and that traditional radio usually refuses to touch. Back in 1991 when I first began broadcasting there were no radio shows that routinely took on those topics; even later than King of Late Night Talk Radio, Art Bell, was still doing political talk on satellite radio. I started out taking a close look at the UFO topic, and of course other topics crept into the mix … because they were STRANGE. Conspiracy topics are a fact of life and most talk show hosts (most, not all) really don’t know how to look at the topic. Same with UFOs, animal mutilations, and the tons and tons of related and assorted topics that get swept into the weirdness mix. Why do I think I am capable of tackling this mix?

To answer the above I guess I can start by pointing to my already established track record. Having been a cop, I automatically find myself looking beneath the surface when confronted with these topics, realizing that there are tons and tons of CRAP that you must be willing to wade thru before getting to the real jewels that might be there. A case in point is my interest in “vampirism” and assorted myths and stories surrounding the topic. While writing my novel “Past Sins” I looked into a reportedly real case from England, UK that went back to 1969-70 called “The Highgate Vampire Case.”  Now, the topic has always fascinated me, and why … I am not sure. But, suffice to say it does interest me so I decided to investigate whether there was really anything there that would suggest this case might be real. There were two factions involved out of the UK with this case and when one faction REALLY went after me, I REALLY DUG IN and went for it. It turned out to be total crap of course, but until I went and dug into it I was not willing to just dismiss it because it SOUNDED LIKE CRAP.  Many radio hosts who featured these Brits with their fantastic tales of supernatural boogey-men simply took these tales at face value and didn’t question the premise of supernatural boogey-men because they were either intimidated by these guys OR they didn’t want to lose the interview. Well, Bunky, … that ain’t me. I have always maintained that a radio broadcaster, like a print journalist, has a responsibility to his audience. Back in 1996-97, that became crystal clear with the story of the Hale-Bopp Comet and radio broadcast star Art Bell. Remember the mass suicide of the “Heavens Gate” cult? For several months Art beat the gong about a spaceship (allegedly following the Comet) and all kinds of crazy stuff that cumulated in March of 1997 when that crazy group of cultists committed suicide en-masse in San Diego. Everybody went after Bell, and even though I agreed that Art had not been responsible with this info, he had no culpability in the suicide. So, what should Art have done in my opinion? Well, I believe he should have kicked some of his guests in the ass and demanded proof when they made outrageous claims. But, Art was a showman and in this case it came back and bit him in the backside, instead of Art biting the outrageous guests in the butt. That’s why Dark Matters Radio is different, I have no problem calling someone to account when they abuse my common sense. I think my audience demands it.

See you on the 18th.

This past week I found out that several people I knew from my time in UFO research died and yes, I was very upset. One I knew slightly and the other one I had known very well.

Back in 1987 when I bought my very first computer system, as I’ve stated before, I discovered the old Compuserve system and then the Issues forum on it. The Issues forum was where I first met Jim Speiser. Jim was very active there and I found out he was the founder and administrator of Paranet. When Jim decided he had other things more pressing to do, you know like eating, paying bills and so on, he turned the reins of Paranet over to Mike Corbin. Mike became the administrator and director of Paranet Alpha.

Mike Corbin & Don Ecker

Back in those days, around 1988, Paranet was a giant presence for anyone interested in the weirder side of things like UFOs, and other assorted oddities in the soon to be accessed Web. Mike Corbin and I hit it off and we became very good friends even though at that time we had not yet met face to face. I became the Paranet’s Public Relations director and later Security director for the service. We even busted some big stories like my finding the U.S. Air Forces text book that the USAF had been using at their Military Academy. USAF textbook chpt. As I became more involved in research and writing I moved to California and began my career with UFO Magazine.

Mike and Paranet became closely involved with UFO Magazine and he even wrote for the publication. When I began broadcasting UFOs Tonite on the Cable Radio Network, some of the very first guests I interviewed were Jim Speiser and Mike Corbin. In 1992 Mike asked me if I would be interested in doing a public debate with Phil Klass, (1919-2005) the noted UFO skeptic (and debunker according to some).

Philip J Klass

I knew Phil Klass and actually kept him from being assaulted by a drunk at the MUFON Symposium in Pensacola, Florida in 1990. When we weren’t talking UFOs Klass could be quite charming, talk about UFOs however and I found Phil disingenuous.

In 1992 Parnet/MICAP (MICAP was begun my Mike) flew me and Klass into Denver. There was surprisingly quite a bit of publicity given this event on local media. Also, another old friend, Russ Estes was there to film this debate.

Russ Estes & crew

Russ was a videographer then working on a massive multi-part TV series on the UFO topic and he and I first met when he had called me up about being interviewed. Russ and I also became very close.

The debate itself became very infamous because of something Phil Klass alleged. We were discussing several then well known UFO events and the case of Fredrick Valentich was raised. (Valentich on Wikipedia) Klass claimed that Valentich was smuggling drugs because he had 4 life preservers on board his aircraft. I landed on Klass Hard in the debate. This totally unsubstantiated claim by Klass was eventually discovered by Valentich’s family who were rightly outraged. Mike Corbin made all this possible and Russ captured all this for posterity.

Speaking of Russ Estes, Russ passed away in January of 2005 mostly of complications of diabetes. Russ Estes on UFO Watchdog Brash, outspoken, and not one to suffer fools gladly, Russ brought a breath of fresh air into the media and UFO topics. He was not always appreciated for that but allow me to say this because I knew Russ well, “Quite frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn!” That pretty well sums up Russ Estes. Russ, rest in peace.

Jim Speiser wrote me two days ago with an obituary on Mike Corbin. (1955-2008) Mike Corbin Obit I was shocked. I had not heard a thing about Mike’s death, which occurred in March of 2008. Mike had sort of drifted out of UFOs and landed in the even murkier field of conspiracies. According to medical reports Mike died of a massive stroke at age 52. Rest in Peace Mike.

Another Luminary passed this past week. Internationally famous author, investigator and Fortean, John A. Keel. (1930-2009)

John A Keel-1991

It was a couple of years after I returned from Viet Nam that I had read in an issue of FATE Magazine that John Keel had a new book about to be published titled “The Mothman Prophecies.” I recalled that I had even witnessed news reports in my hometown in Pennsylvania about this famous case when it was happening around 1966. I went to my local bookstore and ordered a copy. When it arrived I devoured the thing, and was very unsettled. That book later helped ignite my interest in the UFO topic. Keel was a prolific writer, “Disneyland of the Gods”, “Operation Trojan Horse”, “Strange Creaturs from Space and Time” to name a few books.

Vicki and I met Keel at some nameless UFO conference on the east coast back around 1991 or so. Later, as recounted in my last blog posting I loaned by copy of “Mothman” to my friend Richard Sarradet and Richard asked me to call John to see if the rights to it were available. Quite honestly John didn’t seem to care one way or the other and many thought John to be somewhat of a curmudgeon. I suppose John figured he had paid his dues and didn’t give a damn one way or another. Oh yes, Mr. John Keel was quite a character. I interviewed John on UFOs Tonite and will have to find that show, there are probably many who would like to hear what John Keel had to say on the UFO topic. John, rest in peace.

Wow, a posting like this one really grabs hold of you and forces you to confront one’s mortality. I recall when I first entered the UFO fray back in the late 1980’s the giants from the last generation were passing on. Folks like Donald Keyhoe and J. Alan Hynek were all leaving the stage. To be honest, right now I am feeling a bit depressed so I think I will end this post now. I didn’t mean for this posting to be a downer, but I felt I had to report on these fellows because they deserve that. Until next time, and remember to keep looking up.

PS As I was getting ready to post this entry, I decided I did not wish it to be totally a downer, so here goes. Perhaps a bit of humor is needed!

Don Ecker

Well, the 4th of July is now history. Summer moves along and Vicki and I spent the holiday with some friends from years past, Richard and Gloria Sarradet. Rich and I go way back to the very early 90’s and back in those days, Richard was getting his feet wet trying to do something in the entertainment media with the UFO subject. Richard had been a huge star on daytime TV’s General Hospital playing a lawyer  Howard Lansing.

Richard appeared with me on UFOs Tonite on a number of occasions and back in those days we had occasion to make business trips over to Las Vegas a number of times. On one of those trips Richard and I had a UFO sighting. The damn thing was flying in circles (just a pin-point white light) and during our viewing two jets from LA flew through and the damn thing stopped and froze until the jets were gone. Weird huh?

Well, back to the 4th. I had not had any contact with Rich for a long time and on July 2nd I called him. We got together for brunch on Friday (it lasted 5 hours) and he invited Vicki and I over to his beautiful home in Topanga to share the 4th with his lovely wife Gloria and family. We had a 5 Star Bar-B-Que, ribs grilled to perfection by another old friend, Steve McMahon. Damn, what a great day. But back to business ….

In my last posting I mentioned my great buddies Gene Steinberg and David Biedny over at the Paracast inviting me to make use of Paracast for my past radio programming.

Well, today, July 7th, Gene gave me a separate forum ( The Best of Dark Matters Radio ) just for those shows. My God, talk about a generous man and great friend. I just uploaded one a Magnum Opus of investigations on The Paracast, a show that I had to wade through 20 years of records, audio tapes and past issues of our magazine on a certain Milton Wm. Cooper. In just one day this two hour show has been accessed literally hundreds of times. Good Lord, I told Gene and folks I feel like jumping back into the radio fray right now. However I have hundreds of shows, which have the added benefit of being a great historical database, that I will go through and the gems I will add to the list. What a great bunch of folks are Gene and David.

Oh, I almost forgot so let me tell you now before I do. Another show I uploaded to the Paranet is one titled “VAMPIRES & Tits and Ass.” It is concerned with the Highgate Vampire Case I’ve talked about before, right here. There are some absolutely hilarious website out there dealing with this case.

The Bishop Comes Calling!!!

A couple that have featured stuff I’ve written or sites dealing with the silliness of this are John Baldry’s Cat. Silly name right? However if you are familiar with The Onion, you will have an idea. Another is Net Curtains Lurker, The Human Touch by David Farrant and finally Did a Wampyr Walk in Highgate? All great fun, much silliness AND this all details the Worlds longest running internet feud. Geeze, how can you lose with that? Okay, that is it for now, check out The Paracast and the other sites I’ve mentioned, check out some of my radio shows and please … let me know if you would like to see a continuation of Dark Matters Radio. Drop me a note here.

Until next time ……

Jeeze, I woke up this morning and it hit me … it’s 2009 … already! Man, oh man, who would have “thunk” it? On New Year’s Eve I hit the sack about 10:30 PM and never even gave midnight a thought. This morning however, I did that thing that many folks do … gave the last few years a review. Oh, Boy!

It was about October, 1995 or so, (back in my other life when I was a recognized “expert” in the UFO field – more on that later) when I got a telephone call from Paul Davids.

Paul Davids and Me

Vicki and I have known Paul for years and years, and you may recognize him as the Executive Producer of the movie ROSWELL. Roswell is the film based on the real life happenings that took place in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947 involving the alleged crash of an Unidentified Flying Object or UFO. This happened next to the only “nuclear capable” military organization in the world at that time. Roswell is synonymous today with UFOs and ETs. Back in those days, Vicki and I were “UFO Magazine,” a publication my wife and her then partner began in 1986 and that we ran almost single handedly. We had covered Paul’s movie extensively in our magazine.

On this date, however, Paul called to ask me if I would be interested in appearing (briefly) in a new film he was shooting … ” Starry Night .” I was initially flattered, thinking O-boy! Hollywood finally saw me as a “Star in the Rough” (until Paul told me it would be an unpaid spot! Of course, why change my MO now?) It seemed that he needed two reporters covering the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California on New Years Day, which was New Years, 1996. The movie plot was pretty simple … a century after his death, Vincent van Gogh magically returns to present day America, arriving at the Rose Parade, (where by the way he is hit by one of the floats) and after getting out of the hospital realize’s his art is worth millions! My role, along with Brandon Scott, was to play a reporter reporting on the accident involving van Gogh. Nah, we didn’t have a script per se, we ad-libbed our speaking parts, making it up as we went along.

Brandon Scott & Don Ecker

Making movies close to Hollywood, California can be tricky. You got to know what you’re doing … and so importantly … you gotta have all the right paperwork and licenses to film on location. At the time Paul had a budget that wouldn’t buy lunch for two at Burger King. In other words, he didn’t have the paperwork. There was the camera man filming me and Brandon, ad-libbing our sparkling commentary, and all the while the real cops were looking at us suspiciously. The Rose Parade was going on and the actor playing van Gogh popped out into the street pretending to get hit … ah hell, you get the idea.

We all met at Pauls about 1:30 or 2:00 AM, then trucked over to Pasadena looking for a spot to set up. Now, if you’ve ever gone to Pasadena just before the Rose Parade you will know that you don’t have room to even turn around, much less set up a film shoot. With all those people there you would think someone was giving away free beer and pretzels, and they get there the day before. (And that isn’t even mentioning the football game after the parade.) We schlepped around until later in the afternoon, making sure Paul got all the shots he needed. Then … years went by and nada.

I bumped into Paul at a MUFON meeting sometime after 2001 or so. When I saw him I walked up and after shaking hands and asking how he was, I asked about “Starry Night.” The film was released in 1999, and guess what? My segment (with Brandon Scott) was left on the cutting room floor … That’s when it hit me … my acting career was over … before it even began!

Flash forward to present … Here is a wish for a Happy Prosperous 2009. May Peace Reign.

Starry Night video clip