Episode #23
Strange Talk S5E23 Ep. 148 Eternally Curious (feat. Ray Szymanski)
This time, there’s no rushing Ray out the door. After catching just a few minutes with him at the Dayton UFO Conference, Alyx and Ginelle get a full hour with Wright-Patterson veteran, UFO researcher, author, and professional keeper-of-strange-stories: Ray Szymanski, and there is a lot to unpack. Ray takes us deep into the infamous 1966 Michigan UFO flap, from the hundreds of reports filed by police officers and civilians to the Dexter and Hillsdale sightings that ultimately produced one of ufology’s most enduring explanations: swamp gas. But Ray’s decades of research have taken him far beyond the familiar version of the story. He tracked down eyewitnesses, revisited the original locations, collected never-before-seen video testimony, and uncovered new connections surrounding the case, including a series of witnesses whose stories appear to corroborate one another. Then we head back to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, where Ray recounts the strange stories he heard shortly after arriving there in 1973 (just a few years after Project Blue Book closed) and how those rumors eventually sent him down decades of UFO research. Along the way, we hear about his field investigations, his time with Travis Walton, and the accidental journey that turned years of research into his trilogy of books. And because one hour with Ray is apparently still not enough, we get into his upcoming presentations, unpublished stories, bizarre adventures in the field, Stanton Friedman stories, and what might happen if Ray ever decides that three books simply aren't enough. So turn down the lights, turn up the radio, and settle in. This is Strange Talk, and tonight, we're going deep down the UFO rabbit hole with Ray Szymanski. Music for this episode includes the Strange Talk Intro by Star Silk, War Games by Karl Casey, and backing tracks by LoFiGeek.
