Frightday

Author Brad Olsen, whose books make up his Esoteric Series, joins us to discuss his new book, Secrets of Antarctica, and his case that Nazi Germany's occult research, advanced craft, and key personnel survived the war and went south. Brad links the Thule Society and the Ahnenerbe, the 1938-39 German claim on Neuschwabenland, Hans Kammler and the Bell, the Vril women, and the alleged Haunebu craft to a breakaway German presence he believes still operates under the ice. He cites wartime U-boat maps, Soviet files he says reached the West after the Cold War, and whistleblower accounts. Brad also gives his account of Operation Highjump as a covered-up military defeat. He explains how he reads a widely circulated version of Admiral Byrd's 1947 warning about polar attacks, and he describes what he says was an American and Soviet standoff in Antarctic waters. Along the way he recounts the self-financed sailboat expedition that took him across the Drake Passage, presenting this material to a German audience, a 40-year "time loop" he sees linking the Philadelphia Experiment to the Bell, and his next book on underwater megaliths, including the Baltic Sea anomaly. In this episode (00:00) From travel writer to esoteric author (01:12) An eviction payout funds a trip to the seventh continent (02:48) Catching a sailboat out of Ushuaia (04:00) The Drake Passage, and a quick word on flat earth (05:55) Calving ice and a near man-overboard (07:49) Why a self-financed expedition matters (09:28) Pyramids in the ice, and Nazi flag darts the sea captains still hunt for (11:23) The 1938-39 German expedition and the claim on Neuschwabenland (13:08) Alleged motherships, Hitler's alleged secret speeches, and the hole near the South Pole (15:10) U-boat maps to Agartha (16:10) Tibet, Ernst Schäfer, and the Nazi search for an inner earth (17:48) Mapping Neuschwabenland (18:37) The Schirmacher Oasis, lakes that never freeze, and Brad's U-boat piers theory (20:35) Did the Germans ever leave? (21:46) Kammler, Maria Orsic, and Brad's overlay of Byrd's flight path (24:07) Operation Highjump and Byrd's 1947 warning (26:37) Greenland and Thule (28:14) The Führer's convoy, the Hitler escape theory, and the Dönitz quote (29:47) Enigma, the British in Antarctica, and the lost commando story (31:41) An American and Soviet standoff, as Brad tells it (32:08) The Antarctic Treaty and Brad's account of the "Battle of Highjump" (34:04) The Haunebu and the missing planes (36:30) The Orion file and the Soviet submarine mission Brad describes (38:18) Black market U-boat maps and the Soviet files on the Ahnenerbe (40:00) The Thule Society on the mission patch (41:48) Presenting in Germany, and the discontinued Haunebu model kit (44:53) Next book: underwater archaeology and the Baltic Sea anomaly (47:32) A black basalt octagon and the Black Sun at Wewelsburg (49:19) Kammler, underground bases, and the 40-year time loop (51:16) The Bell and the Vril women (52:18) Where to find Brad Notable moments "All disclosure subjects seem to have a conclusion in Antarctica." On the Antarctic pyramids: "If one of them is built by intelligent hands, it's a complete game changer." What German attendees told him after his talk: "Leave it to an American to come to Germany to tell us our true history in Antarctica." "There's no such thing as a flat earth... Set foot on terra firma." People, places & references mentioned The Thule Society, the Vril Society, and the Ahnenerbe Hans Kammler, Maria Orsic, and Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz The Haunebu, Die Glocke (the Bell), and the Black Sun at Wewelsburg Castle Neuschwabenland and the German Antarctic Expedition of 1938-39 Ernst Schäfer, the German explorer of Tibet Admiral Richard E. Byrd and Operation Highjump Operation Tabarin, Port Lockroy, and Vernadsky station Project Paperclip and the Antarctic Treaty Wild Bill Donovan, whose papers are held at the Army War College, Carlisle Barracks Emery Smith, Linda Moulton Howe and her whistleblower Brian S. Peter Levenda, David Hatcher Childress, Elena Danaan, and Nikolai Subbotin Dennis Åsberg and the Baltic Sea anomaly Kecksburg, the Philadelphia Experiment, and Montauk Contact in the Desert, where this conversation was recorded Find Brad Website and conference schedule: BradOlsen.com Books, including the Esoteric Series: CCCPublishing.com New book: Secrets of Antarctica: The Untold History of the Ice Continent VISITORS is an Audio Wool original, produced by Byron McKoy. Theme music by Yawns. More episodes at frightday.com/visitors and audiowool.co

Y'all... the trail is coming to an end. Who had the best insanity defense? Editors note...so sorry for the crackling audio...I have no idea how that happened! This is a preview of the content you can expect when you support us by joining the Frightday Society at http://thefrightdaysociety.org Stream on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/14ioP0zfFczK8hKPsDUmko?si=cff351ada3944a9a Want more? Join the Frightday Society, at http://thefrightdaysociety.org As a Society Member, you'll have access to all Screamium content (Behind the Screams, It's Been a Weird Week, A Conversation With..., Toast to Toast PM with Wine Kelly, Cinema Autopsy, the Writers' Room, bonus episodes of Captain Kelly's Cryptids & Conspiracies, Byron's Serial Corner, and so much more! You'll also be part of our interactive community dedicated to the advancement of horror, hauntings, cryptids, conspiracies, aliens, and true crime. All things frightening. Keep our mini-fridges full of blood...I mean...not blood...normal things that people drink...by going to http://shop.frightday.com Theme music by Yawns Produced by Byron McKoy Follow us in the shadows at the following places: @byronmckoy @kellyfrightday @frightday This is an Audio Wool Original.

This week, Byron talks with Steve "the Shovel Man" Zaragoza, co-host of Dynamic Banter (formerly of SourceFed and Cloverfeels), about his horror anthology audio drama "Gray Bones in a Grave," why festival horror isn't what it used to be, and an intriguing game of horror this-or-that that somehow ends with a modern cult classic on top. Stream on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/14ioP0zfFczK8hKPsDUmko?si=cff351ada3944a9a 0:00 Cold open and Steve's résumé 1:00 Reunited, the Skybound/Geena Davis creator contest, and Frankenstein MD 2:17 The rise of the "Scream King"? 2:52 What happened to Fantastic Fest: the pandemic, the Alamo South Lamar move, and Harry Knowles 5:21 This-or-that: a post-Obsession, post-Backrooms look 14:07 First horror memories 18:11 Why comedians make the best horror 25:39 Backrooms, the Osgood Perkins "shadow director" rumor, and Backrooms 2 29:14 A24 vs. Neon vs. the free agents, plus Yellow Veil Pictures 32:07 The Hollow Wheel and Steve's Halloween-season VR streams 33:37 Will & Dawn, Yankee in the South, and the slow-motion car crash 35:59 GRAY BONES IN A GRAVE: origins, the Creeper comic, and the Shovel Man 41:25 Naming the host: RIP the Gravesman and the Casketeer 44:21 The radio-play dream, live table reads, and the Riverside pipeline 47:12 The cast: Bree Essrig, Nicholas Hamilton, Sam Levine, Whitney Moore, and Talking Bones 51:24 The Freaks and Geeks goodwill index, and the one exception 54:06 Creep Tapes, remote interviews, and the upside of the COVID era 55:03 Season one vs. season two, and the curse of a hard-to-type title 1:01:15 Steve's Letterboxd and his half-star takedown of Flubber ABOUT THE SHOW GRAY BONES IN A GRAVE is a horror anthology audio drama created by Steve Zaragoza and Brett Register, with a dash of Owen Carter. Each episode is a self-contained story led into the graveyard by the Shovel Man, a Crypt Keeper-style host who tells you how each resident got buried there. It's fully sound-designed, with live radio-play-style table reads streamed to patrons before each episode drops. Six episodes make up the first season, and scripts for season two are already underway. Website: graybonesinagrave.com (that's GR-A-Y, built by Jesse Stilwell) Patreon: patreon.com/graybonesinagrave Socials: @graybonesshow FRIGHTDAY Discord: discord.frightday.com The Frightday Society: frightdaysociety.org Email: [email protected] Bluesky / Twitter / Instagram: @frightday MORE FRIGHTDAY 700+ episodes covering horror, paranormal, cryptids, true crime, and conspiracies since 2014. An Audio Wool original produced by Byron McKoy. #GrayBonesInAGrave #SteveZaragoza #HorrorPodcast #HorrorAnthology #DynamicBanter #Frightday

This week we yes-clip into the studio to chat psy-cosmic music festivals, unsolved Morse code, and an earth-shattering nepotism revelation, before walking into liminal horror reviewing Kane Parsons' "Backrooms". Stream on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/14ioP0zfFczK8hKPsDUmko?si=cff351ada3944a9a 0:00 Cold open 0:33 The "endless" Montana compound, liminal spaces, and following your gut 2:42 Housekeeping: AMC Scream Unseen with Jacob 3:30 Mooshfest, Tywalker and the Humanoids, and Galactic Twang 7:05 The Captain Jack situation: cracking Morse code hidden in a Bluey card 8:00 Fire in the Mountains, the Blackfeet Reservation, and a Stanley Hotel winter retreat 10:58 Staff Picks: Cube (1997) and Dead Ringers (1988) 15:41 The Robert Pattinson / Jeremy Irons nepotism saga 19:26 BACKROOMS review begins 21:45 Who is Kane Parsons? A24's record-breaking opening 23:00 Liminal vs. analog horror, Jung, and the threshold self 26:23 Web series origins and the Osgood Perkins "shadow director" rumor 31:00 Spoilers begin: Clark, Mary, and the mono-yellow labyrinth 42:38 What does it all mean? 49:44 Highs, lows, and final ratings ABOUT THE FILM BACKROOMS (2026) is a science fiction horror film written, directed, and co-scored by Kane Parsons, adapted from his own viral YouTube analog-horror web series, with a screenplay co-written by Will Sudik. A jaded furniture salesman discovers a doorway in the basement of his store that opens into an endless, humming yellow labyrinth; when he vanishes inside it, his therapist follows him in. Made for roughly 10 million dollars, it is the debut feature from the self-taught 20-year-old Parsons and reportedly gave A24 the biggest opening weekend in the studio's history. Produced by A24, James Wan's Atomic Monster, Chernin, and 21 Laps, with Osgood Perkins aboard as a producer. TALKING POINTS Where a 20-year-old self-taught director fits into the A24 machine, the leap from analog-horror YouTube series to a 10-million-dollar feature, liminal vs. analog horror as the first genuinely Gen Z horror movement, the Jungian read (threshold spaces, the shadow self, leaving your old self before you've arrived at the new one), the Osgood Perkins "shadow director" rumor and Mark Duplass's defense of Parsons, whether the film earns its ambiguity or just withholds resolution, and Exit 8 and Skinamarink as fellow travelers. STAFF PICKS Byron: Dead Ringers (1988, David Cronenberg) Kelly: Cube (1997, Vincenzo Natali) CONNECT Discord: discord.frightday.com The Frightday Society: frightdaysociety.org Email: [email protected] Bluesky / Twitter / Instagram: @frightday Phone line: 1-833-FRIGHT-9 MORE FRIGHTDAY 700+ episodes covering horror, paranormal, cryptids, true crime, and conspiracies since 2014. #Backrooms #KaneParsons #A24 #LiminalHorror #AnalogHorror #Frightday #HorrorReview #HorrorPodcast Want more? Join the Frightday Society, at http://thefrightdaysociety.org As a Society Member, you'll have access to all Screamium content (Behind the Screams, It's Been a Weird Week, A Conversation With..., Toast to Toast PM with Wine Kelly, Cinema Autopsy, the Writers' Room, bonus episodes of Captain Kelly's Cryptids & Conspiracies, Byron's Serial Corner, and so much more! You'll also be part of our interactive community dedicated to the advancement of horror, hauntings, cryptids, conspiracies, aliens, and true crime. All things frightening. Keep our mini-fridges full of blood...I mean...not blood...normal things that people drink...by going to http://shop.frightday.com Theme music by Yawns Produced by Byron McKoy Follow us in the shadows at the following places: @byronmckoy @kellyfrightday @frightday This is an Audio Wool Original.

Originally broadcast April 4th, 2026. Blood gumbo at the rodeo. Turnstile's ousted guitarist runs over the singer's dad. Pooh Shiesty and Papa Shiesty, kidnappers. A twelve-ton Kit Kat heist. Lindsay Buckingham, splashed. The Reese's heir goes rogue. A FEMA man teleports to Waffle House. Orbs from the ocean. ...and more! Stream on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/14ioP0zfFczK8hKPsDUmko?si=cff351ada3944a9a 0:00 - Intro: The Music and Food Episode 7:00 - Stardust Racers: Epic Universe Roller Coaster Death Update 19:00 - The Toe-Sucker Sentencing 21:00 - Texas Killing Fields Arrest 31:00 - Plasma Orbs, Microwaves, and Worms 37:00 - Panic Fest 41:00 - Turnstile's Guitarist Runs Over the Singer's Dad 55:00 - Lindsay Buckingham Splashed by a Stalker 1:22:00 - Pooh Shiesty and Papa Shiesty Kidnap Gucci Mane 1:39:00 - Tina Knowles' Gumbo Shut Down at the Rodeo 2:11:00 - Serve Me or Die: The Chick-fil-A Robbery 2:18:00 - The Twelve-Ton Kit Kat Heist 2:31:00 - Hershey's Recipe Change and the Reese's Heir 2:54:00 - Big Mac Sauce on Canadian Beaches 3:09:00 - Succulent Chinese Meal Enters the Archives 3:09:30 - Easter Bunny Assault at the Mall 3:22:00 - The FEMA Director Who Teleports to Waffle House 3:26:00 - Orbs From the Ocean: The Easter Prophecy 3:36:00 - Goro Soldiers and the Nuclear Dust 3:47:00 - Outro Want more? Join the Frightday Society, at http://thefrightdaysociety.org As a Society Member, you'll have access to all Screamium content (Behind the Screams, It's Been a Weird Week, A Conversation With..., Toast to Toast PM with Wine Kelly, Cinema Autopsy, the Writers' Room, bonus episodes of Captain Kelly's Cryptids & Conspiracies, Byron's Serial Corner, and so much more! You'll also be part of our interactive community dedicated to the advancement of horror, hauntings, cryptids, conspiracies, aliens, and true crime. All things frightening. Keep our mini-fridges full of blood...I mean...not blood...normal things that people drink...by going to http://shop.frightday.com Theme music by Yawns Produced by Byron McKoy Follow us in the shadows at the following places: @byronmckoy @kellyfrightday @frightday This is an Audio Wool Original. #CasualFrightday #TinaKnowles #Beyonce #PoohShiesty #GucciMane #Turnstile #LindsayBuckingham #WeirdNews #TrueCrime #EpicUniverse #TexasKillingFields #KitKat #Reeses #WaffleHouse #UFO #Orbs #AudioWool #Frightday