Aaron John Gulyas on View 902

In the debut episode of my View 902 Podcast last December, I chatted with my friend historian Aaron John Gulyas. We covered an eclectic range of subjects, including  the strange life and times of Albert K. Bender and his role in creating the Men In Black mythos (the subject of Aaron’s presentation at the 2016 East Coast Paraconference in Liverpool, Nova Scotia), why people gravitate towards the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis as the go-to explanation for UFOs, Ornette Coleman as a metaphor for consciousness, and some 19th century American history, including a debate over who really won the War of 1812. We also fielded a couple of questions from a message forum on The Paracast radio show, and conclude with a shocking revelation about President-elect Donald J. Trump.

Aaron is an historian, author, lecturer, and sci-fi nerd. He is an associate professor of history at Mott Community College in Flint, Michigan, and also serves as a faculty technology consultant for the college’s Center for Teaching and Learning. His books include The Chaos Conundrum: Essays on UFOs, Ghosts, and other High Strangeness in our Nonrational and Atemporal World, The Paranormal and the Paranoid: Conspiratorial Science Fiction Television, Extraterrestrials and the American Zeitgeist: Alien Contact Tales Since the 1950, and Conspiracy Theories: The Roots, Themes and Propagation of Paranoid Political and Cultural Narratives.

2014 Zorgy Awards

After a few years the Zorgy Awards have returned, as Aaron Gulyas joined me and Greg Bishop on Radio Misterioso to discuss the best (mostly) of the paranormal subculture in 2014, and what might be in store for the year to come. You can tune in to the podcast here.

Paul Kimball

Aaron John Gulyas on The Other Side of Truth

Historian and author Aaron John Gulyas joined me back in July to discuss his new book Extraterrestrials and the American Zeitgeist, as well as his forthcoming book The Chaos Conundrum. The conversation began with an examination of the Contactee movement, focusing on its place as a significant part of 20th century American social and cultural history. Aaron and I then engaged in a discussion about the underlying political message of the Contactees, and the differences between their more experiential and individualist approach to the UFO phenomenon as compared to the more institutional approach of so-called “scientific” ufologists such as Donald Keyhoe, and how those two divergent outlooks were often structured along class lines. The conversation then turned to a look at atemporality and how it might inform much of what we call the “paranormal”. Along the way, Aaron recounted a personal experience he had whilst investigating a haunted cemetery, and he and I worked in some observations about religion and politics.

You can listen to the episode here.

Paul Kimball