Here Be Monsters

n the midst of a stressful move, HBM producer Jeff Emtman finds comfort in the phasing techniques developed by minimalist composer, Steve Reich [https://stevereich.com/].  Note: this episode contains sounds that cannot be accurately represented by speakers.  Please use headphones.   Steve Reich compositions excerpted in this episode:  Clapping Music [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH1j06bMHDQ], performed by Steve Reich and Wolfram Winkel Violin Phase [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF479y9Gsr8], performed by Jonathan Morton  Pendulum Music [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU6qDeJPT-w], performed by Joan Cerveró, Víctor Trescolí, Isabel León, and  Estefanía Sánchez Here Be Monsters is an independent podcast supported by listener donations.  If you’d like to make a small monthly contribution, visit patreon.com/HBMpodcast [https://www.patreon.com/HBMpodcast].  Producer: Jeff Emtman [http://jeffemtman.com/]

Allen H Greenfield is a UFOlogist and occult researcher.  He’s also a father of three.   His first child, Alex was the subject of HBM155: Ghosts Aliens Burritos [https://www.hbmpodcast.com/podcast/hbm155-ghosts-aliens-burritos].  In that episode, Alex tells stories from his childhood of chasing strange phenomena with his father.  In this episode, Here Be Monsters host Jeff Emtman talks to Allen to get the “fatherly perspective” on UFOs, black lodges [https://www.wondriumdaily.com/the-link-of-theosophy-to-occultism-and-espionage/], tarot, The Day the Earth Stood Still [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043456/], and (most of all) how to be a good parent.  Allen Greenfield is currently working on the final installment of a trilogy whose first two entries are Secret Cipher of the UFOnauts [https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/1940959.Secret_Cipher_of_the_Ufonauts] and Secret Rituals of the Men in Black [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2541438.Secret_Rituals_of_the_Men_In_Black?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=BivSwCPDhb&rank=1].  The forthcoming book is yet to be titled.  Also heard on this episode: Rick Emtman, who is Jeff’s dad. Content Note: Language Producer: Jeff Emtman [http://jeffemtman.com/]Music: Serocell [https://serocell.com/], The Black Spot [https://theblackspot.bandcamp.com/]Sponsor: Pal’s Plants [https://www.palsplants.com/] Pal’s Plants is a Flatbush, Brooklyn based subscription service for potted plants and intriguing zines.   Plants can be delivered to the 5 boroughs of New York City.  Zines can be delivered anywhere in the USA.   Pal’s Plants is customized to your preferences.  They’ll have you fill out a short survey when you sign up so that you can be sure to get something you like each month in the mail.  Pal’s Plants makes a great gift.  Use offer code HBM50 at signup to get half off your first month’s subscription.   Thank you Pal’s Plants [http://palsplants.com/] for sponsoring Here Be Monsters.

Berlin’s Schwerbelastungskörper [https://www.visitberlin.de/de/schwerbelastungskoerper] is a massive concrete structure that, today, is hidden in plain sight between a railroad and an apartment building.  It’s one of just a dozen remaining pieces [https://www.exberliner.com/politics/nazi-architecture-in-berlin-germania/] of Nazi Architecture in Berlin.  And it’s not much to look at. It was built in 1941 as a test structure for a triumphal arch [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Triumphbogen_by_Hitler.jpg] that Hitler wanted to build in that spot.  The Schwerbelastungskörper (“heavy load-bearing body”) is the arch’s test structure.  It weighs about 12,650 metric tonnes, or about 28 million pounds, and it’s the equivalent weight of one of the four massive legs of the never-built arch. This plan was abandoned as World War 2 accelerated.  And the structure remained, slowly sinking [https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/apr/14/story-of-cities-hitler-germania-berlin-nazis] into Berlin’s marshy soil, providing proof of the arch’s impossibility.  In this episode, HBM host Jeff Emtman visits the Schwerbelastungskorper, records some impulse responses [http://bit.ly/HBM144] in the structure’s single room and reflects on his discomfort in finding beauty in another Nazi structure nearby, Tempelhof Airport [https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20221031-tempelhof-the-single-site-that-embodies-berlin] (now a public park and refugee camp [https://www.npr.org/2018/08/11/634394533/the-site-of-the-berlin-airlift-now-serves-as-refugee-shelter-and-big-open-park]).  Also mentioned on this episode: The Berlin Airlift [https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/berlin-airlift], Austrian Tyrol [https://www.lonelyplanet.com/austria/tirol], The Little Mermaid (1989) [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097757/], and Der Herr Der Ringe (Lord of the Rings [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120737/] movies dubbed in German).   Here Be Monsters is an independent podcast supported by listener donations.  If you’d like to make a small monthly contribution, visit patreon.com/HBMpodcast [https://www.patreon.com/HBMpodcast].  Registration for the Here Be Monsters Art Exchange [https://hbmpodcast.com/art/] is open until November 10th, 2022.  Sign up: https://HBMpodcast.com/art/ [https://hbmpodcast.com/art/] Producer: Jeff Emtman [http://jeffemtman.com/]Music: The Black Spot [https://theblackspot.bandcamp.com/]

The Here Be Monsters Art Exchange is back! It’s a really simple and wonderful thing where you, gentle listener, can mail a piece of art to a stranger and get a piece of art in return. It’s open to artists of all experience levels from around the world. The deadline to sign up is November 10th, 2022. Sign up and more info here: https://www.hbmpodcast.com/art [https://www.hbmpodcast.com/art] The art exchange is made possible this year by HBM listener Devon Sherman [https://masterofliterature.com], who’s offered her time and expertise to help with communication between artists. Thank you Devon. Devon is a past participant in the art exchange, and has an ongoing project [https://www.instagram.com/devon_isadevon/] where she illustrates Robert Burton’s The Anatomy of Melancholy [https://digital-delivery-services.lnk.to/I4iUI997WE]. Another listener, known as “Endless_Want [https://www.instagram.com/endless_want/]”, also helped out by making the Art Exchange’s promotional video, which you can see on the sign-up page [https://hbmpodcast.com/art]and on our Instagram [https://instagram.com/HBMpodcast]and Twitter [https://twitter.com/HBMpodcast]. Music: The Black Spot [https://theblackspot.bandcamp.com], Robbie Quine—Glitter Rock Werewolf [https://digital-delivery-services.lnk.to/I4iUI997WE]

Content Note: pervasive language, brief mentions of bigotry. Alex Greenfield [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1899619/] says that there was no such thing as a normal day when he was a kid.  His dad (Allen H Greenfield [https://darkbooks.org/articles/Allen-Greenfield.html]) self describes as a “researcher in the shadow world.” And his mom soon grew tired of her husband’s lifestyle, which included a lot of time on the road: chasing rumors of cryptids, ghosts, and aliens.   But after his parents split up, Alex, his dad, and an ever changing cast of motorcycle gang members and step-moms kept seeking the occult.  Some of the topics discussed in this episode: St. Simons Island [https://stsimonsisland.com/] in Georgia (and reported hauntings [https://www.hauntedplaces.org/saint-simons-ga/]), The Okefenokee Swamp [https://www.fws.gov/refuge/okefenokee] (and the ignition of swamp gas [http://ashleyburton.com/will-o-the-wisps-strange-lights-glowing-in-the-swamp/]), The Three Mile Island Nuclear Accident [https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/3mile-isle.html] (and subsequent protests [https://tucson.com/thursday-march-front-page-radiation-leak-at-three-mile-island/article_250978f0-705c-11ea-91fd-f35403d64350.html]), Mono Lake [https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=514] in California (and the UFO sightings  there), and a movie called Being There [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078841/] (wherein the character played by Peter Sellers [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000634/] appears to walk on water). Alex Greenfield is the writer of The Sand [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3399484/], 10.0 Earthquake [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3488056/], and other movies.  He also used to be the head writer for WWE Smackdown [https://www.wwe.com/shows/smackdown].  Alex’s dad, Allen H Greenfield (aka. T Allen Greenfield [https://www.coasttocoastam.com/guest/greenfield-allen-71440/]), is a UFOlogist and occultist.  He is the author of Secret Cipher of the UFOnauts [https://www.amazon.com/Complete-SECRET-CIPHER-UfOnauts/dp/171864535X], The Story Of The Hermetic Brotherhood Of Light [https://www.amazon.com/Story-Hermetic-Brotherhood-Light/dp/9188708039], and other books.  Unrelated to this episode, but do give a listen to the limited series that Jeff’s been mixing for Crooked Media [https://crooked.com/].  It’s called Another Russia [https://crooked.com/podcast-series/another-russia/], and it’s about the assassination of Russian dissident Boris Nemtsov [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Boris_Nemtsov], as told by Ben Rhodes [https://www.benrhodes.info/] and Zhanna Nemtsova [https://time.com/5538047/zhanna-nemtsova-boris-nemtsov-putin/].  Available now on every podcast app.   Also, Jeff’s headed back to Berlin, Germany for about a month.  If you know any good stories/interviews he should record while he’s there, send a DM on Twitter [https://twitter.com/hbmpodcast] or Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/hbmpodcast/], or use the contact form [http://hbmpodcast.com/contact]. Here Be Monsters is an independent podcast supported by listeners [http://patreon.com/hbmpodcast] and sponsors [http://hbmpodcast.com/sponsor].  Producer: Jeff Emtman [http://jeffemtman.com/] Music: The Black Spot [https://theblackspot.bandcamp.com/], Circling Lights [https://circlinglights.bandcamp.com/], August Friis [https://www.lydfil.dk/] Sponsor: is / ought books [http://is-ought.info]  is / ought books is a publisher of spiral bound self help manuals, art books, and non literary works on paper.All titles from is / ought books are available to buy online via the link below. is / ought books are also distributed via Small Press Distribution (SPD) [https://www.spdbooks.org]. Thank you is / ought books for sponsoring Here Be Monsters.