Tales from the Rabbit Hole is an interview-style podcast focusing on people whose lives have been affected by the conspiracy theory rabbit hole. Guests will include both former and current believers in a variety of conspiracy theories, as well as debunkers, skeptics, and the investigators of those t…
The Tales From The Rabbit Hole podcast is a fascinating and thought-provoking show that explores the world of conspiracy theories, paranormal phenomena, and pseudoscience. Hosted by Mick West, this podcast delves into the rabbit hole of wild discussions happening on the internet in a respectful and confrontational manner. In an increasingly unstable world, this kind of respectful confrontation is needed to shed light on these topics and encourage critical thinking.
One of the best aspects of this podcast is Mick West's ability to calmly and effectively converse with people who hold unconventional beliefs. He approaches each interview with respect and understanding, even when he disagrees with his guests. This creates an atmosphere where both sides can engage in meaningful dialogue without resorting to condescension or hostility. Mick's assiduous approach to debunking is also commendable, as he prioritizes verification, research, and self-validation rather than quick thrills or "gotcha" moments.
However, one potential drawback of this podcast is that at times it can leave listeners feeling unsatisfied or lacking concrete answers. The interviews with UFO enthusiasts often lead to intriguing possibilities but fail to provide definitive evidence or clear explanations. This can be frustrating for those seeking more concrete information or looking for definitive debunking of certain theories. Additionally, some guests may not resonate with all listeners, as their ideas can be challenging to comprehend or accept.
In conclusion, The Tales From The Rabbit Hole podcast offers a unique and valuable perspective on conspiracy theories and paranormal phenomena. Mick West's approach to respectful confrontation promotes critical thinking and encourages listeners to question their own beliefs. While it may not always provide clear-cut answers or definitive debunkings, it serves as a reminder of the importance of rationality, skepticism, and self-reflection in an increasingly irrational world. Overall, this podcast is a great listen for those interested in exploring the real-world implications of skeptical thinking and debunking prevalent myths and misconceptions.
Peter Bergen is CNN's national security analyst, a vice president at New America, a professor of practice at Arizona State University, and the host of the Audible podcast “In the Room with Peter Bergen.” He...
Alex Dietrich served a 20-year career as a Naval officer and fighter pilot with two combat deployments. She was also deployed to Afghanistan as an Infrastructure reconstruction engineer. She then transitioned to academia, serving as...
Robert Bartholomew has a PhD in Medical Sociology, and is an Honorary Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. He's an expert in Mass Psychogenic Illness...
What is a University professor doing investigating UFOs? Professor Avi Loeb of Harvard University heads the Galileo Project, which seeks (in part) to identify the nature of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena by establishing a network of...
Mia Bloom is Professor of Communication at Georgia State University with a PhD in political science from Columbia University. Sophia Moskalenko is a research fellow at Georgia State University and a researcher at the National...
Jason Colavito is an author and journalist with a focus on “alternative archeology” and, more recently, the UFO cultural phenomenon. In May 2021, he wrote the article: “How Washington Got Hooked on Flying Saucers” in...
Luis Elizondo is a former senior intelligence official, a disclosure advocate, a national security expert, and the former director of the Pentagon’s UFO/UAP Program (AATIP). We talk about his work in those capacities and also...
Michael is a “follower” of Q, in what is commonly known as the QAnon conspiracy theory. I first talked to him one year ago, February 2020. We met on Twitter discussing UFOs, but had a...
Alex was raised by conspiracy theorists. This makes him different from most people who end up down the rabbit hole in that assuming nefarious plots were going on was never a surprise to him. Indeed,...
QAnon is a very American conspiracy theory, focussing upon a supposed plan by a mysterious entity named ‘Q’ who was working with Donald Trump to rid the US of a corrupt elite. But despite this...
My guest this week thought all was well when she started dating a handsome intelligent man. But then a few things he said, particularly about “the Jews” started to seem like something more than just...
Sarah’s ex-partner seemed like a normal person, but a few years ago he discovered conspiracy theory videos. Starting with claims that the Moon Landing was fake he quickly progressed to Flat Earth and eventually ended...
Ryan became a conspiracy theorist at age 15. He spent five years solidly down the 9/11 conspiracy rabbit hole, believing that the World Trade Center buildings were destroyed with pre-planted explosives. As he grew older...
Brandon Fugal is a prominent business leader based in Utah and is the current owner of the mysterious Skinwalker Ranch, which is the focus of a wide variety of reported strange phenomena, from supernatural visitors...
Steven Hassan is an expert on cults. A former high ranking member of the Unification Church, aka the “Moonies”, he’s been helping people escape the rabbit hole since his own escape in 1976. Now he’s...
Investigating UFOs presents a number of challenges, many of which are not immediately obvious, but swiftly rear up to impede progress. There are straightforward issues, like military secrecy and people being afraid to talk because...
Does a Flat Earther react to world events differently to other people? When you think the world is flat, then you think that the mainstream view of the world is very wrong. Does this carry...
Johnny Orbital is a rare breed – a former genuine believer in the Flat Earth theory who is willing to talk about his experience. When I was writing my book Tales From the Rabbit Hole,...
Jeremy Rys has gone by “Alien Scientist” for over ten years. His primary interest is in independently researching exotic technology like anti-gravity and warp drives. Some people speculate that such technology exists and comes from...
DJ Thermal Detonator was heavily involved in the Los Angeles 9/11 Truth scene in the late 2000s. At that time, local activism centered around the We Are Change group. DJ attended meetings, helped out with...
In this second part of my chat with UFO experiencer Michael, we talk about his interest in the QAnon theory. He firmly believes we are on the verge of a storm of arrests of people...
Michael posts on Twitter as “UFO Today”. For most of his life, he’s had experiences that seem to him to be some kind of alien visitors. We talk about these, starting with his first experience...
Gary Voorhis was a computer technician on the USS Princeton during the 2004 "Tic-Tac" UFO incident (commonly referred to as the "Nimitz Incident" after the aircraft carrier heading the strike group.) He thinks what he saw was some kind of advanced technology, possibly alien technology.
Mike is a member of the 9/11 Truth community. He thinks there might have been explosives used on 9/11 to cause the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings. He does NOT think that a cruise missile hit the Pentagon, and considers that, like some other common 9/11 beliefs, to be "B.S."
Stian is someone who has been quite deeply involved in the 9/11 Truth community and the UFO community. He also just read my book: Escaping the Rabbit Hole, and has a few questions for me...
Anthony Magnabosco is the most well-known practitioner of the craft of “Street Epistemology”, which he defines as: “a dialog where you use questions to explore somebody’s claim to see how they concluded that it’s true.”...
Phil is a former conspiracy theorist in Northern Ireland who got into conspiracy theories aged 18, around 14 years ago. Going to university exposed him to a variety of people and to new ways of...
Elizabeth Loftus is an expert on memory. We discuss how that sometimes relates to the world of conspiracy theories.
Tom has dabbled in a few conspiracy theories over the years, and still thinks there are some significant questions that have never been answered about why the World Trade Center buildings fell down the way...
Geoff says that six years ago he was “as normal as everyone else,” but when he was caught up in the manhunt for the Boston Marathon bomber (Dzhokhar Tsarnaev) he took an interest in the...
Brian Dunning is a prolific skeptical podcaster with his award-winning show "Skeptoid" coming up on its 700th episode.
Dr Michael Shermer is founder of The Skeptics Society, and editor-in-chief of its magazine Skeptic. He's written several books on science and skepticism and his latest work is an audio-only 12-part course on Conspiracies.
UFO Jesus is a popular advocate of UFO “disclosure”, the belief that the US Government is close to revealing that it knows that some UFOs actually are the result of alien visitors. We talk about...
Jason Bermas is a producer, writer, and YouTuber, best known for conspiracy documentaries such as Loose Change, Fabled Enemies, Shade, and Invisible Empire. Loose Change was a seminal documentary for the 9/11 “Truth” movement, and...
Nick Pope is a journalist and media commentator who writes and talks a lot about the UFO phenomenon. He is perhaps best known for a role he undertook for the British Government from 1991 to...
Ian goes by the name TheoryQED on Metabunk and his YouTube Channel, where he posts about UFOs. Unlike me, and definitely unlike my last guest (Seth Shostak), Ian thinks there's something highly significant to the UFO phenomenon
Seth Shostak is the Senior Astronomer for the SETI Institute and former Director of Center for SETI Research. A popular science communicator, Seth has hosted SETI’s weekly radio show (and now podcast) Big Picture Science...
Donald Friedman, P.E., F.ASCE, is a professional engineer with more than 25 years of experience in the investigation, analysis, and restoration of landmark buildings. He has taught engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the University of...
JM Talboo runs the web site http://911debunkers.blogspot.com subtitled "Debunking the Debunkers of the 9/11 Truth Movement". His focus is on debunking people like me.
Mike Rothschild is a writer who is an expert on a variety of conspiracy theories, in particular QAnon. We discuss the drawn-out decline of the QAnon theory, prosperity scams, and the theories around the death...
Paradigm Shift had made many posts about 9/11, and the need, as he sees it, for a new investigation to look into the possibility of explosives being used to bring down the twin towers.
Willie was one of the first people that I interviewed for my book Escaping The Rabbit Hole. He’s a former believer in theories from 9/11 being an “inside job”, to chemtrails. His story forms the...
Adam Taylor was very active in the 9/11 truth movement for ten years from 2007 to 2017. He's still very much in favor of a new investigation and thinks there are many unanswered questions about the events of 9/11.
Brad is an electrical engineer and an expert in mathematics. He also likes to consider that an idea might be true before rejecting it, no matter how extreme. This led him very briefly down the rabbit hole of checking to see if the earth was actually round like a ball, or might it possibly be flat.
Rory has an extensive series of videos on YouTube debunking Flat Earth, focusing on simple ways of demonstrating that there’s a curve. But he’s also got a very interesting life story as a traveler, both...
Professor David Keith is a well-known expert in the largely theoretical field of geoengineering (deliberately modifying the Earth's climate) who has become an often demonized target for conspiracy theorists who think that the climate is actually being secretly modified using "chemtrails."
Paul is a former promoter of the Planet X conspiracy theory. Planet X (or Nibiru) is a supposed rogue planet that some people claim they can observe near the sun. Supposedly the existence of this planet is being covered up by the government because it's about to cause the end of the world.
Jim Lee used to be a fairly hardcore conspiracy theorist, deep into things like Chemtrails and doomsday comets. Now he’s less deep down the rabbit hole, but has managed to create one of his own....
Jen Senko is the director of the documentary film The Brainwashing of my Dad, released in 2016. The film tells the story of how her father had a drastic change in personality after slowly getting sucked into a rabbit hole of conservative talk radio
Joe is someone I’ve known online for nearly ten years, back when he was a believer in the chemtrails conspiracy theory. Over a few years, I managed to talk him out of that one. He’s...
I met Sasha at the Flat Earth conference a couple of weeks ago. During the debate she asked an interesting question about the moment that made us commit to the Earth being flat (or, in my case, a globe).