By Tim Binnall
The Space Race, chemtrails, and the Shroud of Turin were among the fascinating topics explored this past week on Coast to Coast AM. And, here at the C2C website, we told you about West Virginia and Oregon celebrating their respective cryptids, a lawsuit filed by a Pennsylvania fortune teller, and an eyebrow-raising update to the case of a seemingly incorrupt Missouri nun. Check out our round-up of highlights from the past week ... In Coast You Missed It.
Chemtrails took center stage on Thursday night's program as C2C's investigative reporter Cheryll Jones talked to Peter Kirby about his research into what many believe to be a covert program aimed at tinkering with the environment. Arguing that the 'powers that be' have been attempting to manipulate the weather as far back as the Vietnam War, he likened the secrecy surrounding the program to that of the Manhattan Project. Kirby pointed to recent legislative efforts aimed at banned chemtrails as a nod toward the veracity of the infamous conspiracy theory and a sign that the public has begun to take the topic seriously.
Fortune-telling found its way into the news this past week by way of two stories centered around regulating the ancient practice. In Pennsylvania, after having tangled with local law enforcement over the state's 163-year-old ban on soothsaying, a metaphysical shop owner filed a lawsuit against the police chief and the community itself in the hopes of having the archaic law struck down for good. Meanwhile, in Tajikistan, where various forms of 'witchcraft' are strictly forbidden, the country's Ministry of Internal Affairs announced that authorities have begun focusing their attention on those who patronize fortune tellers as part of a two-pronged approach to cracking down on the practice.
The legendary Space Race of the 1950s and 60s was revisited on Tuesday night's program as author Elliott Haimoff shared insights from his interviews with over 30 Apollo astronauts and an array of NASA officials from that era. Remarkably, he revealed that evidence suggests that famed Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, credited as the first man in space, was actually preceded by several other individuals whose roles in history were kept secret from the public. Haimoff also discussed how the end of the competition between the two nations caused the urgency of space exploration to diminish, though noted that the potential for mining on the moon could fuel a new Space Race in the future.
In an astounding update to an already incredible case, an expert analysis of a late Missouri nun's mysteriously preserved remains found no explanation for their curious condition. The story of Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster made headlines last year when her exhumed body showed no signs of decomposition despite having been buried around five years earlier. This past week, the local Catholic Diocese released a report on their year-long investigation into the case. Amazingly, a team of medical experts enlisted to examine the remains described their condition as "highly atypical" with no apparent reason for their uncanny preservation.
The Shroud of Turin was back in the spotlight on Saturday evening when one of the foremost experts on the mysterious cloth, David Rolfe, joined the program. Explaining that the iconic image, believed by some to be that of Jesus, appears only on the other layer of the relic, he argued that this suggests that the picture was created by some kind of instantaneous energy burst. Rolfe detailed the various scientific studies that have been conducted on the Shroud and how their contradictory nature has only complicated the confusion surrounding the nature of the cloth. Ultimately opining that the image is genuinely that of Jesus, he mused that it could be an unexpected form of the Second Coming.
This past week saw a remarkable three stories wherein the paranormal was celebrated in a manner that would have been hard to fathom not that long ago. First, in West Virginia, a pizza shop commissioned a sizeable mural depicting Mothman grabbing a meal with a menagerie of the state's famous cryptids. An eerily similar situation occurred later in the week in Oregon with the release of a new lottery scratch ticket that showcases the various 'monsters,' such as Bigfoot and Dogman, found throughout the region. Lastly, the police department for the town of Exeter, New Hampshire unveiled a special alien-themed patch to commemorate the community's place in UFO lore.
Coast Insiders can check out all this week's shows as well as the last seven years of C2C programs in our enormous archive. Not a Coast Insider yet? Sign up today.