The much anticipated second part of our episode about the portal in the Pentagon is here! If you listened to episode one and were just as intrigued about the intersections about the end of the world, aliens, demons, and the US government--then part two is definitely for you! We do a deep dive into this particularly intense conspiracy theory to talk about the ways in which these very separate beliefs can all intersect.

If you've ever wondered about the connection between UFOs, demons, the government, and witchcraft--have we got the episode for you. This week, we bring you part one of a two part episode, where Ellie and Jesse take a look at a portal that the US government opened up inside the Pentagon.

Alright, alright, we know you've been curious how we at Encounters were going to spook up your Christmas--well, with Krampus of course. We're pushing this episode out a little early in celebration of Bloomington's own Krampus parade (https://www.facebook.com/BloomingtonKrampus/). I mean, how often do you get to talk about Saint Nick's companions? Especially ones with cloven hooves and a pension for whipping children?

We recommend listening to Episode 28 before this one! Last episode, we had a series of unexplainable sounds on our audio. We think it's the result of recording in the doll room at our department--which is just as spooky as it sounds. We decided to re-record the second half of that episode so you all could actually hear us talk about one of our favorite December events--the Mothman Festival! We use this episode to think about the role of festival, commodification, and place-making.

Well, after technical snafus galore, we bring you this week's episode(s) [we're actually posting two!]. This first episode is the original recording of the our coverage regarding the Cryptid Convention in Frankfort, KY. We originally recorded the second half of this episode about the Mothman Festival, too, BUT when we went to go upload the episode the sound was super messed up. Our sound producer, Ben, noticed all these horrible popping and clicking noises. The sound, too, was cutting in and out for no discernible reason. We think the issue may be that we recorded the episode in the Folklore & Ethnomusicology Department's doll room (which is a horrible thing that exists). We decided to go ahead and upload this episode (pops, clicks, and noise reduction included!) so that all you spooky people can enjoy the weirdness.

PART TWO of our two part episode featuring a live storytelling session at the International Contemporary Legend Research Society. If you love live storytelling sessions, than this is the one for you. Most of the stories in this part of the session are centered around the Old Hag or the Mare--so listen to episode 26 for context first! This is from our first EVER live episode, so go easy on us!

It's here, it's here! The long awaited Small Town Monster's film The Invasion of Chestnut Ridge!! We're so excited to have been given early access to this documentary and we're excited to share our review with you here. We're new to this kind of thing, so be patient with us while we figure out how to go about it. We decide to implement a rating based on ghouls (out of ten). Take a listen to hear what we think about this newest masterpiece from Seth Breedlove, the creative mind behind Small Town Monsters!

New changes to Encounters this week! We've brought in a new producer, Ben Danner. Ben is helping us with our sound, including making us our very own introduction!  If you've ever woken up in the night unable to move with the feeling that there is something OR someone in the room with you--then you've most likely experienced the mara. This phenomenon, sometimes called the Old Hag, is one of the most frightening nighttime experiences someone can have. This week, Ellie and Jesse talk about the folkloristic approaches to understanding the mara, mostly through the work of David Hufford. We also look at a recent, popular example: twitter user, Adam Ellis' Dear David experience (find the link here). In two weeks, we have pt. 2 of our live episode at the ISCLR conference in June.

This is a special TWO PART live episode from the International Society for Contemporary Legend Research Conference. Part one includes a diverse set of stories told by folklorists from all over! We apologize for the poor quality at times--it was our first attempt at live episodes!

A note at the top of the episode, after much debate we've decided to take a month long hiatus. Ellie is out of the country in Iceland and Jesse is visiting some friends in Florida, making our production very challenging to complete. We'll be back in a month to continue the podcast, so don't worry! If you have any suggestions for future episodes, please tweet at us (@encounters_cast) or send us a message on Facebook! (http://www.facebook.com/encounterscast).  If you're curious about how folklorists study the Illuminati, we're here to clarify this rather confusing organization. Not only do we talk about terrestrial understandings of the group known as the Illuminati, but we discuss the reptilian elite. The reptilians are often thought to be either from below the Earth's crust or from outer space, and some believe that they are responsible for running our entire government. Along the way, we explore the names of famous people associated with the Illuminati, including those who may have been on the receiving end of a murder plot!  If you enjoy our podcast, please give us a rating and review on your favorite streaming site. It helps us out a lot and we really appreciate it! Thank you for listening!