Inquiry with Kelly Chase

In this episode of Inquiry, Kelly Chase sits down with author Joshua Cutchin to discuss his latest book, The Inverted Path: Supernatural Disorientation and Interruptions in Travel. At the center of the conversation is the strange phenomenon of being "pixie-led," an experience in which people become inexplicably lost, compelled to wander, or unable to leave familiar places. Josh traces these patterns across centuries of fairy lore, UFO encounters, ghost stories, and cryptid sightings, uncovering surprising similarities between experiences we usually treat as unrelated. From there, the conversation moves into stranger territory. What if the phenomenon operates according to narrative rather than ordinary physical causation? Kelly and Josh explore the role of disorientation, interruption, and uncertainty in anomalous experiences, and how getting lost might sometimes be the beginning of finding something. They discuss the relationship between trauma and transformation, the importance of mystery, and whether the modern push for UFO disclosure risks overlooking what makes these experiences meaningful in the first place. Finally, they consider whether humanity is approaching some larger shift in consciousness, and what that might actually look like. Rather than a single moment of revelation, perhaps the change we're waiting for is already unfolding through individual experiences, cultural transformation, and the gradual re-enchantment of everyday life. Topics explored: Joshua Cutchin | The Inverted Path | pixie-led phenomenon | fairy folklore | supernatural disorientation | UFO encounters | paranormal experiences | cryptozoology | ghost encounters | anomalous travel | missing time | engine stoppage | Budd Hopkins | Kenneth Ring | reality discontinuities | perception and reality | narrative structure | Fourth Wall Phantoms | synchronicity | re-enchantment | UFO disclosure | the phenomenon | Jeffrey Kripal | trauma and transformation | sacrifice | Charles Fort | personal gnosis | consciousness | cultural awakening | experiencer experiences Inquiry with Kelly Chase is brought to you by SpectreVision Radio.Produced in partnership with Voltage.fm. Referenced In This Episode The Inverted Path: Supernatural Disorientation and Interruptions in Travel — Joshua Cutchin Ecology of Souls — Joshua Cutchin Where the Footprints End — Joshua Cutchin & Timothy Renner Fourth Wall Phantoms — Joshua Cutchin The Middle Kingdom — Dermot MacManus Upcoming Event Join Kelly and Josh at Lights in the Sky Art Gallery in Richmond, Virginia, on October 18, 2026, from 3–6 PM for a celebration of the Visions of Bigfoot publication, featuring artist talks, music from DJ Woodbooger, and more. Support The Show Patreon: inquirywithkellychase.com Substack: inquirywithkellychase.substack.com Connect with Kelly Website: kellychase.media X: @kellychasemedia Instagram: @KellyChase Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Recorded live on August 2nd, 2026 at the historic Philosophical Research Society in Los Angeles, this episode of Inquiry brings Kelly Chase together with SpectreVision co-founder and SpectreVision Radio director Daniel Noah for a deeply personal conversation about the emotional, spiritual, and psychological dimensions of anomalous experience. Both begin with their own unlikely paths from skepticism into direct experience, tracing the strange accumulation of events that forced them to reconsider what they thought was possible—and the equally strange sense of mission that emerged in the aftermath. From there, the conversation turns toward fear, trauma, and the transformative nature of the anomalous. Kelly and Daniel explore why contact can be terrifying even when it isn't necessarily understood as threatening, the relationship between trauma and anomalous experience, and the ways shame and secrecy can isolate experiencers from the very communities that might help them make sense of what is happening. If disclosure means revealing something that was hidden, they ask what it costs to disclose not only classified information, but the most vulnerable and difficult-to-communicate parts of ourselves. Finally, the conversation asks whether the prevailing cultural idea of "Disclosure" may be missing the heart of the phenomenon entirely. Craft, bodies, government testimony, and physical evidence may be part of the story, but for experiencers the deeper rupture is often interior: a confrontation with consciousness, the immaterial world, and the limits of what we can know. Kelly and Daniel explore the radical loneliness of learning to discern truth for yourself, the strange networks forming between experiencers, telepathy and individuality, creativity as a form of disclosure, and the possibility that transformation requires us to expose both our greatest gift and the wound from which it emerged. Topics explored: UFO disclosure | anomalous experience | experiencers | Daniel Noah | SpectreVision Radio | Philosophical Research Society | direct experience | skepticism | contact experiences | downloads | sense of mission | experiencer networks | fear and the paranormal | trauma and the anomalous | adverse childhood experiences | shame | secrecy | abuse | courage | vulnerability | personal disclosure | spiritual transformation | consciousness | evidence and subjective experience | John Keel | Operation Trojan Horse | Whitley Strieber | Communion | Diana Pasulka | Encounters | cultural stigma | disclosure narratives | the immaterial world | radical loneliness | discernment | telepathy | individuality | creativity | the Fool | the shaman | humiliation | the hero's journey | death and rebirth | the gift and the wound | human transformation Inquiry with Kelly Chase is brought to you by SpectreVision Radio. Produced in partnership with Voltage.fm. Referenced In This Episode Encounters: Experiences with Nonhuman Intelligences — D.W. Pasulka Communion: A True Story — Whitley Strieber Operation Trojan Horse — John A. Keel The Mothman Prophecies — John A. Keel Support The Show Patreon: inquirywithkellychase.com Substack: inquirywithkellychase.substack.com Connect with Kelly Website: kellychase.media X: @kellychasemedia Instagram: @kellychasemedia TIMESTAMPS 04:01 Why Disclosure Matters 07:01 Kelly Becomes Experiencer 11:33 Daniel Awakens to Paranormal 14:26 The 2021 Download 19:48 Coming Out Publicly 22:38 Recognizing the Anomalous 24:06 Fear and Contact Signs 29:34 Trauma as the Phenomenon 34:18 Shame And Secrecy 37:15 Courage To Speak 38:26 Mission And Return 42:19 Disclosure Is Devastating 44:33 Media Suppression History 49:11 Why Nobody Cares 52:10 Experience As Evidence 55:38 Loneliness And Discernment 59:11 Humiliation And The Fool 01:03:11 Hero Journey Closing Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, researcher and Loose Threads co-author Daniel Elizondo joins us for a far-reaching conversation about UFO secrecy, the architecture of disinformation, and the psychological terrain of the phenomenon itself. We dig into Jacques Vallée’s “Secret Onion”—a layered model of compartmentalization that explains how information is controlled and obscured within intelligence structures—and explore how narrative control operates both externally through infotainment and internally through belief, seduction, and epistemic vulnerability. Daniel breaks down the long history of rug pulls, the weaponization of mystery, and what it means to resist the gravitational pull of being “the one” to break the story. We also talk Forbidden Science, Skywatcher, and the invisible handshake between researchers and the phenomenon they seek to understand. If you’ve ever wondered who controls the narrative—or if you’re part of it—this episode is for you.📚 Resources and References Loose Threads by Daniel Elizondo and the Hermetic Penetrator Forbidden Science 6: Scattered Castles by Jacques Vallée UFOs: Past, Present, and Future by Robert Emenegger Watch Cosmosis: UFOs & A New Reality:https://www.cosmosis.media/Join the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cosmosismediaSubscribe to Cosmosis:YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Cosmosis.PodcastSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7KnyktIs059pbVdccD020D?si=f3835f36a8cb479dApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cosmosis-formerly-the-ufo-rabbit-hole/id1595590107 Follow CosmosisX: https://x.com/cosmosis_mediaFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/12EEyNVPucu/?mibextid=wwXIfrInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/cosmosis.mediaListen to the Cosmosis Soundtrack by Michael Rubino:Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/5Xvs2NAHNbKjfW7hWkjqey?si=pJPPgIPsRZGkZjJh19UULQApple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/cosmosis-ufos-a-new-reality-season-one-original-soundtrack/1788465117Amazon: https://amazon.com/music/player/albums/B0DS5WY5CB?marketplaceId=ATVPDKIKX0DER&musicTerritory=US&ref=dm_sh_zY05XPzhLhuow5dAgK3g2W9yC TIMESTAMPS02:24 Sky Watcher and UFO Community Skepticism08:48 Historical Precedents in UFO Disclosure10:30 The Holloman Air Force Base Incident14:35 Challenges in UFO Disclosure and Infotainment21:45 Personal Experiences and Intelligence Community Interactions30:58 Navigating the Insider's Club and Forbidden Science33:08 The Repeated Revelations of Jacques Vallee35:25 The Evolution of the Invisible College39:57 The Secret Onion: Layers of Secrecy49:46 The Phenomenon and Human Curiosity56:57 The Control Mechanism: Micro and Macro Perspectives01:01:45 Conclusion and Final Thoughts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The docuseries that I've spent the last year working on, Cosmosis: UFOs & A New Reality, drops today. It would mean the world to me if you would check it out. It's currently available in the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, and Australia. We're working on more international options, but it's an expensive and complicated process, so thank you for your patience and understanding as we work through that. Watch Cosmosis on Apple TVWatch Cosmosis on Amazon PrimeWatch Cosmosis on YouTube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everyone! I just wanted to drop this quick bonus episode to let you guys know about another really exciting UFO docuseries coming out this Sunday, October 27th on MGM+ called Beyond: UFOs and the Unknown. This series from JJ Abrams’ production company Bad Robot features Whitley Strieber, Jeff Kripal, Garry Nolan, Leslie Kean, Chris Mellon, Jay Christopher King, Tim Gallaudet, Mitch Horowitz, and many more. And hey, guess what? I’m in it, too. It looks like it’s shaping up to be a fantastic show, and it is an absolute honor to be involved in this project next to so many people that I admire. In this episode, I sat down with Co-Executive Producer, Kevin Lincoln to hear more about the show and about the process that he and his team went through to bring this to life. I’ve been very impressed with Kevin and his team and how far they were willing to go to chase this story down all the strange rabbit holes that you find on this path. Kevin is a very intelligent and extremely well-read guy, and this was a fun conversation that made me even more excited to watch the show. —Kelly Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today’s episode, I had the absolute honor of speaking with one of my personal intellectual heroes, Bernardo Kastrup. Bernardo Kastrup is the executive director of the Essentia Foundation. His work has been leading the modern renaissance of metaphysical idealism, the notion that reality is essentially mental. He has a Ph.D. in philosophy (with a focus in ontology and philosophy of mind) and another Ph.D. in computer engineering (with a focus in reconfigurable computing and artificial intelligence). As a scientist, Bernardo has worked for the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) and the Philips Research Laboratories (where the 'Casimir Effect' of Quantum Field Theory was discovered). He has also had a 25-year career in high-technology, having co-founded parallel processing company Silicon Hive (which was acquired by Intel in 2011). Bernardo Kastrup is also the author of 11 books. I basically have an entire Kastrup shelf inmy office. His book, “Meaning In Absurdity: What Bizarre Phenomena Can Tell Us About the Nature of Reality” is, in my opinion, one of the most important books written on the UFO phenomenon. I can’t recommend it highly enough. Just a heads up before we begin—if you aren’t familiar with Kastrup’s thinking on analytic idealism, the first part of this interview might be a little challenging. If you stick it out, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how elegantly analytic idealism deals with some of the more mysterious aspects of the anomalous phenomena. If you’d like to learn more about analytic idealism, there are some great resources and videos that can walk you through it step-by-step. [Links in episode brief.]NEW Class from Dr. James MaddenUnidentified Flying Hyperobject: UFOs, Philosophy, and the End of the WorldFour-week online class via ZoomWednesdays, March 27 – April 24 (skips April 10), 20247 – 9 pm ETLearn More About the ClassSign Up NowEPISODE BRIEF[Links to videos on Analytic Idealism in Episode Brief]BECOME A PATRONPatrons get lots of great perks like early and ad-free episodes, access to the private The UFO Rabbit Hole Discord server, and twice-monthly Patron Zoom calls with Kelly Chase.Memberships start at just $5/month.GET THE BOOKGet a SIGNED COPYGet it on AmazonFOLLOWWebsiteTwitterFacebookTIMESTAMP00:00:30 Introduction00:04:35 How working with artificial neural networks at CERN led Bernardo to break with physicalism00:07:12 The difference between intelligence and consciousness00:08:36 Analytic idealism00:12:26 How does analytic idealism relate to the ideas of Donald Hoffman?00:14:38 If the world is mental, why doesn’t it behave like a dream?00:17:23 Bernardo’s UFO experience00:19:37 How UFOs repel our attention00:23:02 Memory and UFOs00:25:46 UFOs and analytic idealism00:30:09 Logic and finding meaning in absurdity00:35:11 The “call of the absurd” and the control mechanism00:39:27 How marketing and propaganda hijack the control mechanism00:42:47 Are “nuts and bolts” UAPs and high strangeness UFO encounters the same phenomenon?00:48:44 Bernardo’s ultraterrestrial hypothesis00:58:37 The rise of AI, NHIs, and the coming consciousness shiftBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-ufo-rabbit-hole-podcast--5746035/support. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices