Journalist Peter Levenda joined Ian to discuss how occultish undercurrents and devious political forces influenced the course of American history. According to Levenda, the country's most traumatic events are surrounded by a peculiar web of coincidences -- an indication to him of some sinister power at work. When people use shortcuts and less than savory practices to acquire power over other people and resources this dark force is contacted, he revealed. It's a kind of political witchcraft and its roots trace back to before the founding of the nation, when religious settlers to America made moral compromises to gain power (over pagan Native American populations and their land), Levenda explained. This established a long-held pattern of looking outward to find politically expedient scapegoats, he noted.

The religious mood of the young country and its founders, informed in part by Christian mysticism (such as Rosicrucianism) and freemasonry, also fed this us vs. them mindset and instigated a form of occultism that is still with us, Levenda continued. Freemasons, for instance, held secret meetings, performed bizarre ceremonies and initiatory rituals, were given false names, and, perhaps more important, claimed to have special knowledge that outsiders did not possess. When a group thinks they know things that others do not, they end up necessarily creating their own elitist society from which they exercise a god-like right of telling other people what to do, Levenda said. The republican party actually grew out of a reaction against this kind of occultic freemasonry rule, he added.

Another sinister influence on the nation and its people can be found in the geography itself, Levenda suggested. As an example, he pointed to Ashland, Kentucky, a city built around ancient Indian burial mounds. Kentucky means 'dark and bloody ground' and historically it has been the site of many massacres and senseless acts of violence, Levenda said. In addition, several serial killers, including Charles Manson, have come from the general vicinity, he reported. Levenda also spoke about a 'pact with the devil' that America made with the Third Reich. After World War II, the United States brought over former Nazi scientists and intelligence officers, despite their known occult involvements and war atrocities. Accepting them into American society took the nation down a dark road, he said.

Ghost Adventures

In the first hour, Ian welcomed Zak Bagans and Nick Groff of the Travel Channel series Ghost Adventures. Bagans revealed that he did not always believe in ghosts, but a profound experience one night changed his outlook. According to Bagans, he heard a voice scream his name and saw the figure of a woman standing at the foot of his bed. Groff said his life-changing moment occured when he was eight years old and a near-fatal accident got him thinking about what happens after death. The two men spoke about their paranormal work, collecting audio evidence of hauntings (EVPs), and shared some findings from their investigation of Bobby Mackey's Music World in Wilder, Kentucky -- a building they claim is infested with demons.