It is said good things come for those who wait, and for me the wait was over last Tuesday night, when I finally got to have a long chat with paranormal podcaster extraordinaire: The one and only Tim Binnall, who invited me to his Binnall of America Live show.
For me it was something of a dream come true, because I’ve been a fan of Tim’s for almost as long as I’ve been involved in the Fortean blogosphere. Back before I was only listening to a handful of podcasts –and when I actually had TIME to listen to podcasts! one of the few things I actually miss from my former job– his was one of the few I’d re-listen more than once; among my favorite episodes in his vast catalog is his 2-part interview with Canadian UFOlogist Grant Cameron, his also 2-part conversation with Peter Robbins in which they discussed the Rendlesham forest incident in great detail, and many others. His recurring season-opener shows with Jim Marrs, the Christmas specials with Stanton Friedman, and the traditional ‘Ruxgiving’ episodes with Bruce Rux are also a delight, for both the old fans and the newcomers who are just starting to get their feet wet in the swampy waters of the Paranormal pond.
I think what I’ve always liked about Tim is that his passion for the Fortean stuff is both evident and contagious. It is this passion and the desire to learn more about these mysteries the very driving force behind his ten-year podcast, which makes him a true ‘grey beard’ in this field –even though he’s about 10 years younger than me.
As Tim said during the interview, we both had a similar start by jumping from hardcore fans of the Fortean stuff, to becoming producers of content. As such, its inevitable how the long run of involvement in this community will bring about a certain amount of disenchantment –how could it not, when so many cases you once believed to be genuine turned out to be hoaxes, and we are still talking about f$%#ing Roswell in 2015??– so as the years progressed Tim has grown a little older, a little wiser, and perhaps a little more cynical –especially with the so-called Disclosure movement.
This is not only understandable, but in fact maybe necessary in order to retain your critical thinking –and your SANITY– in this arena. I myself acknowledge that I’ve become much more skeptical about many things I used to believe about UFOs, Cryptozoology and other islands in the Fortean continent. Like uncle Keel used to say: “Belief is the enemy” –alas, the kiddies never listened…
Still, Tim’s heart remains in the right place after all these years, and that’s why he keeps soldiering on. Because he knows it’s not about the fame, and it’s certainly not about the money –he’ll be the first one to confirm that! Given how BoA is completely subscription-free and ad-free, and relies solely on listener donations to stay in the black. If BoA has stayed online for so long, when so many short-lived podcasts wither away, is because Tim knows making hard questions is always more fun than getting easy answers; perhaps that’s the real purpose behind UFOs and all these enigmas.
Hope you enjoy the show as much as I did.
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Oh, yeah! One more thing: On Tuesday, the day I was scheduled to have my chat with Tim, I received a very nice synchronistic message from the Universe, confirming beforehand it was going to be an epic broadcast.
That morning I grabbed my tablet to check on my e-mails and such as I always do, and what was my surprise when I found that the ‘word of the day’ in the Dictionary app I have installed was none other than “Foison.”
Now, as with all synchronicities, this requires a bit of ‘splaining: You see, my good friend and colleague Joshua Cutchin, the author of ‘A Trojan Feast’, wrote extensively about this archaic term in his research regarding the food exchanges with humanoid entities; one of the things Joshua found out, is that in European folklore it was believed the fey folk would take the ‘foison’ –also spelled ‘foyson’– or ‘essence’ of food stuffs, because that was what they would nourish on.
Joshua was one of the latest guests in Binnall of America prior to my appearance. In fact, his was the LAST live broadcast Tim had on Blogtalk Radio before my own, which was also live. I listened to that episode that night, and I vividly remember how Tim was particularly interested on the ‘foison’ term, and how the two of them devoted several minutes discussing it.
Now, that particular app is fond of picking all sorts of obscure terms as “word of the day.” Still, what are the odds that, of all the words in the English dictionary, the word ‘foison’ –which I personally had never heard of, prior to reading Joshua’s book– was the one highlighted on the day I was going to appear on BoA??
Coincidence? Maybe. Me, I like to think of it as the Universe giving a preemptive two thumbs up to my debut at Binnall of America. Hopefully, I raised to such cosmic expectations 😉
