Neither Confirm Nor Deny Podcast

Paid subscribers gain early access to this episode. It goes live for everyone else on other podcast platforms on October 30th. Halloween comes early as I kick off a new recurring series for the pod with two UFO researchers. On September 10, 1993, The X-Files premiered on the Fox Network, exposing millions of Americans for the first time to a shadow world of government agents, secretive cabals, and labyrinth-like conspiracies. The date of the show’s premiere, in fact, would obtain greater significance, and lend credence to some of its more conspiratorial plot lines, years later, when on September 11, 2001, one day after its eighth anniversary, two jet airliners were hijacked and flown into the World Trade Center. What was odd is that the show’s creators seemingly predicted the attack months earlier, during an episode of series spinoff The Lonegunmen, when they scripted an identical attack on the World Trade Center with a remote-controlled airplane. Moments like this seem to happen with an alarming regularity for The X-Files. In 2016, during its first revival, an episode dealt with a virus that targets the immune system. The spread of the virus quickly overwhelms hospitals, resulting in a public panic that can only be stopped with the creation of a special vaccine. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Researchers Tanner F. Boyle and Bradley Plaiser join me to see if the truth really is out there. You can follow Tanner at @tannerfboyle1 and Bradley at @bpleasies on X. Tanner is on Blusky at @tannerfboyle.bsky.social . Tanner publishes a personal Substack over at Getting Spooked . Show notes: Andrea Pritchard, David E. Pritchard, John E. Mack, Pam Kasey, and Claudia Yapp, Alien Discussions: Proceedings of the Abduction Study Conference held at MIT, Cambridge, MA. Carol Rainey, Paratopia , “The Priests of High Strangeness.” Gray Barker, They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers . C. D. Bryan, Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind: A Reporter’s Notebook on Alien Abduction, UFOs, and the Conference at M.I.T. C. D. B. Bryan, Friendly Fire . Ghost Stories for the End of the World, “Dulce Midnight Radio 6: The Men in Black.” Hank Albarelli, A Terrible Mistake: The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA’s Secret Cold War Experiments. Jack Brewer, The Greys Have Been Framed: Exploitation in the UFO Community . Jack Brewer, Wayward Sons: NICAP and the IC. John Keel, The Mothman Prophecies . John Marks, The Search for the Manchurian Candidate: The CIA and Mind Control: The Secret History of the Behavioral Sciences . Tanner Boyle, Fate Magazine , “The Men in Black are Back.” Vladimir Nabokov, Pale Fire . Wendy S. Painting, Aberration in the Heartland of the Real: The Secret Lives of Timothy McVeigh . Get full access to Neither Confirm Nor Deny at neitherconfirmnordeny.substack.com/subscribe

Author Devin Thomas O'Shea hops on the pod to talk about his new book, The Veiled Prophet: Secret Societies, White Supremacy, and the Struggle for St. Louis , which details some of the exploits of Washington fixer Clark Clifford.Like so many powerful men, Clifford found his way to the world of politics through his connections. After joining the Veiled Prophet Society, a notorious secret society for St. Louis elites, he got a commission in the Navy, and was assigned as a military aide to President Harry Truman. He leveraged his position in the White House to build a career as a power broker spanning decades. Devin helps me unravel how a seemingly inauspicious beginning led to a life of high finance and low morals. You can follow Devin at @devintohsea on X, @devintoshea.bsky.social on Bluesky, and @devintoshea on Instagram. Devin publishes a personal Substack under his name. Check him out! Music licensed through Soundstripe.Code: GJVO9NMM3ORLW77B Show notes: Clark Clifford, U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian , “ The Israeli Attack on the USS Liberty .” The Daily Oklahoman , “ Jury to Hear Tape Implicating Sutton .” Devin Thomas O’Shea, The Veiled Prophet: Secret Societies, White Supremacy, and the Struggle for St. Louis .Douglas Frantz and David McKean, Friends in High Places: The Rise and Fall of Clark Clifford . House Banking Committee on Finance and Urban Affairs, C-SPAN “B CCI Investigation, Day 1 .” Larry Gurwin and Peter Truelli, False Profits: The Inside Story of BCCI, the World’s Most Corrupt Financial Empire . Naif Alrogi, Reason Magazine , “ Robert Anderson’s Cold War .” Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on International Relations, C-SPAN , “ BCCI Investigation, Day 8 .” Sidney Blumenthal, Washington Post , “ The Essential Clark Clifford .”Sterling and Peggy Seagrave, Gold Warriors: America’s Secret Recovery of Yamashita’s Gold . Steve Lohr, New York Times , “ Indictment Charges Clifford Took Bribes .” Get full access to Neither Confirm Nor Deny at neitherconfirmnordeny.substack.com/subscribe

Piss shoots. Bigfoot. The Cremation of Care. Journalists Daniel Boguslaw and Sean Morrow join me to talk about one of the most notorious secret societies, the Bohemian Club, and what goes every year at their annual retreat in Northern California. Subjects include pissing wars, the ecological destruction of Northern California’s old-growth forest, and deep connections established by Bohemian Club members that influence our lives. You can follow Dan at @drboguslaw and Sean at @snmrrw on X. Dan publishes a personal Substack over at Deeper States . And Sean works for More Perfect Union . Show notes: Alex Jones, Dark Secrets : Inside Bohemian Grove . Alex Shoumatoff, Vanity Fair , “ Bohemian Tragedy .” Daniel Boguslaw, Deeper States , “ EXCLUSIVE: I obtained the attendance list for the Bohemian Grove .” Daniel Boguslaw, Response Statecraft , “ Bohemian Grove: More than a getaway for our war machine elites .” Daniel Boguslaw and Sean Morrow, More Perfect Union , “ We Uncovered The Most Infamous Secret Society: And The Truth Is Shocking .” Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliot, and Alex Mierjeski, ProPublica , “ Clarence Thomas and the Billionaire .” Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliot, and Alex Mierjeski, ProPublica , “ Justice Clarence Thomas Acknowledges He Should Have Disclosed Free Trips From Billionaire Donor .” G. William Domhoff, The Bohemian Grove and Other Retreats . G. William Domhoff, Summer Camp for the Powerful: The Power Elite at the Bohemian Grove . G. William Domhoff, Who Rules America ? Philip Weiss, Spy Magazine , “ Masters of the Universe Go to Camp: Inside the Bohemian Grove .” Get full access to Neither Confirm Nor Deny at neitherconfirmnordeny.substack.com/subscribe