Shortly after another bombshell Congressional hearing on unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), the Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) released its Fiscal Year 2024 Consolidated Annual Report on UAP, detailing the U.S. government's latest findings on aerial mysteries with references to mysterious "green fireballs," "multicolored jellyfish," and UAP that "shadowed" aircraft.  This week on The Micah Hanks Program, we analyze key findings from the new AARO report before...

On Wednesday, lawmakers convened on Capitol Hill for the latest in a series of Congressional hearings on unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP). Testifying were Rear Admiral Timothy Gallaudet, former counterintelligence special agent Luis Elizondo, former NASA UAP Independent Study Team member Mike Gold, and independent journalist Michael Shellenberger, all of whom expressed frustration over government secrecy surrounding the Pentagon’s UAP investigations. This week on The Micah Hanks...

Throughout the history of civilization, the rise and fall of empires has remained one of the most striking phenomena that impacts societies. Ancient cultures who seemingly reached the apex of human achievement for their time could often swiftly be reduced to ashes, by factors ranging from invasions by foreign enemies, to natural cataclysms. However, there are also mysteries about the disappearances of societies throughout history, leading to unanswered questions about how civilizations can...

"Conflict with time seems to me the most potent and fruitful theme in all human expression," wrote the acclaimed writer of weird fiction H.P. Lovecraft, who noted that time was often emphasized in his stories because he viewed it as "the most profoundly dramatic and grimly terrible thing in the universe."  In this special Halloween installment of The Micah Hanks Program, we look at scientific and literary themes involving time, as well as its role in cosmic horror, theories involving time...

For decades, rumors have suggested the existence of secret U.S. government programs involved in the study and possible retrieval of mysterious craft of non-human origin. Such narratives have long maintained that the intelligence community has withheld information about these alleged UFO programs from the public, as well as from Congress. However, a less often examined question involves the role of counterintelligence and the use of deception in military operations that may have helped give...

Recently, independent journalist Michael Shellenberger reported on the allegations of an alleged U.S. government insider who claims they discovered evidence of an unacknowledged special access program, codenamed "Immaculate Constellation," which has been secretly collecting data on encounters with unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP). This week on The Micah Hanks Program, amid ongoing allegations that the U.S. government is withholding secret information about UAP programs that include...

Following the devastation of Hurricane Helene, misinformation and conspiracy theories have spread widely, hampering recovery efforts. This, in addition to new claims from independent journalist Michael Shellenberger, who has reported on an alleged whistleblower's extraordinary claims regarding an alleged secret Pentagon UAP retrieval program called "Immaculate Constellation," which we cover amid the ongoing hurricane relief effort here in Western North Carolina.  As...

In the final days of September, 2024, Hurricane Helene made landfall over the southeastern United States, causing widespread destruction that affected several states, with areas around Asheville, North Carolina, being among those most adversely impacted.  This week on The Micah Hanks Program, Micah is joined by Matthew Oakley and Christopher Heyes to provide a detailed report on the situation on the ground here in Asheville, including personal experiences in the community, commentary on the...

Between 2016 and 2019, a series of secretive tests were conducted by the U.S. Navy into a mysterious phenomenon that became known as "The Pais Effect." The experimentation stemmed from the publication of a collection of unusual patents describing UFO-like technologies by Salvatore Pais, an engineer and inventor whose work remains controversial today.  Joining us this week on The Micah Hanks Program, Salvatore Pais speaks with Micah and colleague Tim McMillan for an on-the-record discussion...

Skinwalker Ranch, located in the Uintah Basin of northeastern Utah, is renowned for its reputation as a hotspot for unexplained phenomena. The 512-acre property has garnered international attention for a wide variety of strange events, ranging from UFO sightings and cattle mutilations to paranormal activities like poltergeist-like occurrences. With the ranch's mysterious history attracting the attention of everyone from researchers and government entities, to private organizations and their...

In 2013, a feature article appeared on the website of legendary aerospace and defense giant Lockheed Martin that quickly had aviation buffs talking. The piece, titled “Speed is the New Stealth,” claimed that a new hypersonic aircraft was under development at the company’s famous Skunk Works facility, which would soon set a new standard for speed and stealth in American aerospace technologies. They called it the SR-72, an aircraft Aviation Week had already dubbed "the son of Blackbird" after...

In the years immediately following the Second World War, sightings of strange phenomena in our skies gave rise to one of the strangest developments of the postwar era: the "arrival" of flying saucers, strange objects that the U.S. government now calls unidentified anomalous phenomena.  Joining us this week is Greg Eghigian, a Professor of History and Bioethics at Pennsylvania State University. An expert on the history of the abnormal and the paranormal in the modern world, his research has...

Throughout the final decades of the 20th century, strange beliefs began to pervade the UFO research community. Ranging from stories of alleged flying saucer crashes, to strange encounters with "malevolent" alien beings, these and other controversial narratives began to predominate the minds of many in the UFO field. Where did these ideas originate, and how have they continued to shape the modern UFO narrative?  Joining us this week to discuss the origins of such ideas is Charles Lear, an...

As humans continue to search the cosmos for evidence of intelligent life from other worlds, and the UAP debate suggests the possibility that it may already have found us, legal scholars are now considering how laws would apply to potential contact scenarios.  Joining us on The Micah Hanks Program this week are Professor Michael Bohlander, the Chair in Global Law and SETI Policy in the Durham Law School, and Dr. John Elliott, an Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Computer Science and...

Over the decades, sightings of mysterious objects in our skies have been reported from all over the world. Boasting a wide range of physical features, questions about these mysterious objects which the U.S. government now calls unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) have long perplexed experts.  This week on The Micah Hanks Program, we offer a status update from the case files of the UAP Sightings Reporting System (UAPSRS), which officially launched earlier this year. In our analysis, we'll...

After the surrender of Japan that marked the end of the Second World War, American forces began to unravel clues to the existence of a disturbing secret program involving biological experiments carried out on human test subjects during the height of the conflict. Known as "Unit 731", the program has never been officially acknowledged, and although its existence is well established, the American government's secretive dealings with Japanese scientists led to an eastern counterpart to the...

In postwar America, a shocking secret program was undertaken to bring former Nazi scientists to the United States, in order to maintain a strategic advantage against the Soviet Union. Known as Operation Paperclip, the program involved hundreds of German scientists who ultimately helped give birth to the American Space Program.  This week on The Micah Hanks Program, we take a historical deep dive into the controversial program, with an analysis that also looks at the various connections the...

In the early 1940s, the world was engulfed in the Second World War. During the height of the battle, a secretive scientific endeavor began to take shape, The Manhattan Project, which would forever alter the course of history.  During this period, sightings of unidentified aerial phenomena would also begin to rise, with a concerning number occurring around sites related to the American atomic warfare complex. This week on The Micah Hanks Program, we look at what historical research and recent...

In 1996, radio host Art Bell received a mysterious package containing small metallic samples and an incredible story. According to the anonymous author of the enclosed letter, the material fragments had been collected during the recovery of an advanced aerospace vehicle that crashed near Roswell, New Mexico in the summer of 1947. Recently, the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) conducted a series of tests on the legendary material, whose unique physiochemical properties were claimed...

In the summer of 1995, following a congressional request, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigated documents related to the alleged crash of a "flying disc" near Roswell Army Air Field (RAAF), New Mexico in 1947. The result, which produced no "smoking gun" evidence of the purported crash, did reveal the mysterious destruction of records from the period, raising questions about who, and under what authority, the records might have been destroyed.  Now, new draft language...

As humanity continues its journey forward into the era of artificial intelligence, many leading futurists are looking ahead to what the following decades may hold for us. Some scientists are also questioning what the implications of the current progress with machine intelligence might be in terms of understanding mysteries like unidentified anomalous phenomena. Could AI help us solve the UAP mystery, or might some part of the phenomenon itself be related to AI, representing a kind of "UAP...

During the Cold War, sightings of strange "mystery submarines" were reported in various parts of the world, from the coastal waters of Scandinavian countries to the ocean surrounding parts of New Zealand, South American countries, and others. Although fears of Soviet espionage ran high, some of the incidents defied simple explanation, seemingly pointing to other alternatives as to what these mystery "USOs" and their origins may have been.  This week on The Micah Hanks Program, we dive into...

On June 12, 2024, a concerning situation began to unfold as an official NASA live stream featured audio that appeared to reveal a medical emergency unfolding on board the International Space Station. Although the incident turned out to be a false alarm, it served as a reminder of the dangers astronauts face while in orbit.  This week on The Micah Hanks Program, we look at several of the most alarming incidents that have occurred in the history of spaceflight, as well as occasional encounters...

In the 1980s, Popular Mechanics featured an intriguing cover story that detailed encounters with a colossal black flying wing in California’s desert skies. Throughout the decades, similar reports involving massive Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAPs) have continued, which include ongoing sightings of enigmatic black triangles reported across the globe. This week on The Micah Hanks Program, we look at some of history’s most famous cases involving encounters with “silent giants” that include...