Filling in for George, guest host Jimmy Church talked with Micah Hanks,
who is representative of a younger generation of researchers with a
broad view of the paranormal and its interconnectedness. With an
interested but skeptical approach, Hanks says, “What I hope to foster in
people is the proper way to go about studying this subject.” For
instance, his interest in Bigfoot as a real phenomenon is not dampened
by his skepticism regarding the famous 1967 Patterson-Gimlin film, which
he says does not provide conclusive proof that the cryptid exists.
Hanks
bristles at the designation “Ufologist,” and prefers to call himself a
writer and researcher who tries to “find the facts and relate them in
reliable and intelligent ways.” He discussed the famous 1978 Fredrick
Valentich UFO sighting and aircraft disappearance but discounted the
standard explanation that the pilot was disoriented or suicidal. Hanks
actually got in touch with Valentich’s girlfriend and found out that the
recordings of his last radio transmissions were mysteriously edited
before release. He also mentioned historical reports by sailors of
ghostly red lights in the same general area of the Australian coast.
Hanks
described the MH370 aircraft mystery as “probably the single greatest
disappearance of our time.” Although he currently thinks that the plane
almost certainly went down somewhere in the Indian Ocean, the fact that
the flight data recorder was shut down in mid-flight is one of the more
suspicious aspects of the case. One caller brought up the allegation
that there were three Chinese scientists on the flight that may have had
a patent that was valuable enough to steal. Hanks seriously doubts
other scenarios that have been brought up in the past, such as aliens,
time travel, or some sort of hijacking.
