Friendly Universe | High Strange Season 2

0:00You're listening to a Tenderfoot TV podcast.

0:30First-hand accounts and the explanations that never seem to stick. Images of that rotating thing captured by U.S. Navy aircraft. I talked to scientists, military witnesses, pilots, and people who saw something they can't unsee. There was no other explanation for what we saw that day. I remembered those faces and they weren't human. High Strange seasons one and two are available now. Listen for free on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Season 3 of High Strange is coming June 26. For ad-free listening, subscribe to Tenderfoot Plus at tenderfootplus.com.

1:09Hey guys, it's Payne. I know some of you are about to hear this and think, here we go, some weird conspiracy rabbit hole. And trust me, I get it. If you've watched the news at all lately, or even just been on social media, you've probably heard these weird stories about UFOs, missing scientists, people in Congress speaking out about secret programs. And if you're at all curious like me, you might be thinking, what the hell is going on here? Like, actually though. That central question is exactly why I made a show called High Strange. And before you roll your eyes, it's not me sitting around in a tinfoil hat.

1:44It's me doing what I always do, following the story, talking to the real people involved, and trying to figure out what's actually real and what isn't. We just dropped Season 2 of High Strange, so if you haven't heard it, there's two seasons out right now you can go binge. If you're a fan of Up and Vanished, then I promise you, you're going to enjoy this too. So, without any further selling, I'm just going to play Episode 1 of Season 2 for you right here. It's called Friendly Universe. High Strange Season 1 and Season 2 are available right now wherever you listen to podcasts. And there's more coming soon, both here and for High Strange.

2:19Alright, here we go. Nice to meet you. Right over here. I know you're short on time. I'll just get right to it. Can you paint a picture for me, starting with that first night? I will do it. December the 26th, 1985, I had a nice day with my family. Went to bed. and in the middle of the night became aware of the fact that there were noises around me. It felt like I was in a room full of people and I was supposed to be in my bedroom alone with my wife. It was just something wrong. I couldn't get up, couldn't rise off the bed and then I realized I'm not on my bed. I saw these big black eyes peering at me from about two feet away.

3:18I remembered those faces and they weren't human.

3:27This morning I woke up, grabbed my phone before my eyes were even open. Notifications, texts, alerts. I should just go back to sleep, but I don't. Weather app says we're fine. The news app says we're doomed. Calendar app is already mad at me. Internal reminder, stand up. Drink some water. Inhale for five seconds. Exhale for seven. I need some coffee. $23 to get it delivered? Sure, why not? Time to shower. Business on top. Sweatpants on the bottom. I went to my office, which is also my house, which is also just my laptop now. Zoom calls. One with cameras on, one with cameras off. A few emails. A few written by me.

4:17A few written by machines. Auto-reply. Instagram. TikTok. Nah, back to Instagram. Hey, chat. Does this sound insane? Someone's launching a podcast. Someone's quitting social media. Me too. I'll be back in an hour. Does she see my story? My iPhone tells me my screen time is concerning. Do Not Disturb stays on 24-7. I'm in control of my own destiny. Lunch time. Nothing in the fridge. Mmm, I'll just eat a big dinner. Pause to reply to a message I'll forget the second I send it. Scroll again. LOL, so funny. My algorithm is getting weird. Is anyone checking this stuff? Back to work. I have more tabs open than my brain can handle.

5:07I should really clean my desktop. This meeting should have been an email. This email should have been the thought you kept to yourself. Left the office. which was my couch. Picked up some dinner. Time for a phone call. That bartender does make a good Manhattan, though. I'll have one.

5:30Time to go to sleep. Or should I browse Netflix for an hour first? Started a movie. Stopped at 12 minutes in. Now I'm annoyed and fully awake. How is it only Tuesday? I really need to go to sleep. For real this time. Good night.

5:52We all have a version of this. A routine. A pattern. A loop if you're not careful. A hamster wheel with better Wi-Fi. Work, relationships, money, health, politics, algorithms deciding what we should care about today. But I do my own research. No, you don't. There's always something. Filling the space. Always noise. Always motion. Always something new. And always the same old thing. We're being told something insane. That the universe is massive, maybe even infinite. That there's planets like ours everywhere. That intelligent life elsewhere is statistically a fact. That pilots are seeing things they can't explain.

6:42That the government studies UFOs. but calls them UAPs now. I like the first one better. That they don't know what they are, but they know they're not aliens. Wait, what? Disclosure didn't happen. It got push notifications instead. And somehow, we're just bored now. One more headline. Just another scroll. It's not that the question isn't big enough. It's that our brains are exhausted. Even if aliens exist. Even if we're not alone. Even if the universe is crawling with something we can't see. Either way, my alarm's set for tomorrow morning. And either way, I still have shit to do. This season isn't about asking if we're alone.

7:34That question's tired. And the answers are boring at this point. This season is about something bigger and stranger. It's about why one of the biggest revelations in human history lands like an item on a grocery list. A shrug. A big whoop-dee-doo. Because maybe the strangest thing now isn't what's out there. It's us.

8:03Okay. Let's do this.

8:09Welcome to season two of High Strange.

8:34The U.S. Navy has finally acknowledged that video is appearing to show UFOs flying through the air are real. videos they're talking about were recorded years ago by fighter pilots. Then in 2017, they were made public by the New York Times. While refreshing our feeds, something loud happened. Actually, a lot of loud things happened. Images of that rotating thing captured by U.S. Navy aircraft. Sensors locking in on the target, like a 40-foot-long tic-tac maneuvering rapidly and changing direction. I never thought I'd get to the place we're in now. I never thought 2017 would ever happen. And I'd be part of it?

9:15Are you kidding me? This is Leslie Keen. She helped break the big New York Times story in 2017. That was nine years ago. This interview is from 2022. At the time, it almost sounded like she was getting ahead of herself. Like she was talking things up. Listening back now, it's clear she wasn't predicting things. She was tracking it. nothing really shifting, and then all of a sudden, a major shift happens. I'm waiting for the moment where they would be willing to say, it's not from planet Earth. It's not made by human hands. They have not been willing to shut that door. Tell the world that this is something not made by humans.

10:02Which they know. They're just not saying it like that. I mean, that might sound pretty weird to people, but I've been studying it for 22 years and I've watched the whole evolution. What people are saying, but they're not saying I've gotten access to a lot of insiders. Legislation that's about to pass, giving protection by the Congress to whistleblowers to be able to go before Congress and tell them what they know. Protection is coming for people. If there is going to be something released regarding materials that they may have, parts of a crashed saucer or who knows what, these people now can reveal things that they've had to keep secret in the past.

10:53In the years that followed, everything she hinted at all started happening. Legal protections were passed. Whistleblowers were cleared to testify.

11:06I don't have any evidence or proof the government has some UFO materials in their custody, but enough people from that world, the Pentagon intelligence agencies, say they've heard about this stuff. This is Brian Bender, who also helped break the massive 2017 UFO story. I even asked a question in a Pentagon briefing. Some of us reporters were brought in. My question was, are you also looking to see whether there might have been secret programs in the past? Multiple layers of secrecy that might reveal things about UFOs. Crash materials that even people in the Pentagon today might not have any idea about.

11:54I'm just really interested in seeing what happens. I just want to watch it all happen. these are questions worth asking. And then something crazy happened. A public congressional hearing on unidentified anomalous phenomena. The subcommittee hearing on unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAPs, will come to order. Welcome, everyone. Without objection, the chair may declare a recess at any time. I flew to the Capitol and was there in person. Security was tight. Phones were checked. Badges everywhere. The whole vibe of the room felt heavier than it should have. Do I ask where the UFOs are?

12:42Good morning and welcome to the most exciting subcommittee in Congress this week, the Subcommittee on National Security of the Border and Foreign Affairs for discussion of unidentified anomalous phenomenon. I'd like to thank the witnesses on the panel today for sharing their stories on how they've engaged UAPs, which has brought attention to this matter. Mr. Chairman, ranking members and congressmen, thank you. I'm happy to be here. This is an important issue, and I'm grateful for your time. My name is David Charles Grush. Enter David Grush. This is when the tone took a sharp turn. This wasn't a podcaster.

13:23This wasn't some guy chasing attention. I was an intelligence officer for 14 years. I was my agency's co-lead in unidentified anomalous phenomena and transmedium object analysis, as well as reporting to the UAP task force. Through a PPD-19 urgent concern filing, I became a whistleblower, following concerning reports from multiple esteemed and credentialed current and former military and intelligence community individuals. that the U.S. government is operating with secrecy above congressional oversight with regards to UAPs. My testimony is based on information I've been given by individuals with a long-standing track record of legitimacy and service to this country.

14:13A whistleblower who formerly worked on the Defense Department's UAP task force, David Grush, claims he was denied access to information on a government UFO crash retrieval program.

14:27I was informed in the course of my official duties of a multi-decade UAP crash retrieval and reverse engineering program. Mr. Gress, do you believe that our government is in possession of UAPs? Absolutely, based on interviewing over 40 witnesses over four years. Did you have any personal knowledge of people who had been harmed or injured in efforts to cover up or conceal these extraterrestrial technology? Yes. Personally. It was very brutal and very unfortunate. Some of the tactics they used to hurt me both professionally and personally, to be quite frank. Have anyone been murdered that you know of or have heard of?

15:18I have to be careful asking that question. I directed people with that knowledge to the appropriate authorities. In the last couple of years, have you had incidences that have caused you to be in fear for your life for addressing these issues? Yes, personally. I just want everyone to note that he's coming forward in fear of his life. To put in perspective, if they were really not scared about this information coming out, why would someone be intimidated like that? Has the U.S. government become aware of actual evidence of extraterrestrial, otherwise unexplained forms of intelligence? And if so, when do you think this first occurred?

15:56I like to use the term non-human. I like to denote origin. Certainly previously 1930s. and I'm pretty skeptical. I don't trust anything in this town and I think that's because I'm from Missouri. You've got to show me. With that being said, there's been a lot of things that have been said and so I want to get down to some specifics. At one point you said that there has been harmful activity or aggressive activity. Has any of the activity been aggressive, been hostile? I know of multiple colleagues of mine that got physically injured. By UAPs or by people within the Federal Government? Okay. So there has been activity by alien or non-human technology and or beings that has caused harm to humans.

16:57I can't get into the specifics in an open environment. At least the activity that I personally witnessed, not to be very careful here, what I personally witnessed myself and my wife was very disturbing. My view has been that we are billions of light years away from any other system. And the concept that an alien species that's technologically advanced enough to travel billions of light years gets here and somehow is incompetent enough to not survive Earth or crashes is something that I find a little bit far-fetched. You have mentioned that there's interdimensional potential. Could you expound on that?

17:47I answer your first question, and I'm here as a fact witness and expert, but I will give you a theoretical framework at least to work off.

17:57Regardless of your level of sentience, right? Planes crash, cars crash. End number of sorties, however high, a small percentage are going to end in mission failure pool, as we say in the Air Force. and then in terms of multi-dimensionality that kind of thing the the framework that i'm familiar with for example is something called the holographic principle it derives itself from general relativity and swan mechanics if you want to imagine uh 3d objects such as yourself casting a shadow onto a 2d surface that's the holographic principle so you can be projected, quasi-projected from higher dimensional space.

18:40Things showing up at certain areas and disabling our capabilities, which is disheartening. And for us, I mean, like I said, it completely disabled the radar on the aircraft when it tried to do it. And the only way we could see it is passively, which is how we got that image. So I think that's a concern on what are these doing, not only how they operate, but their capabilities inside to do things like this.

19:04you've stated that the government is a possession of potentially non-human spacecraft based on your experience and extensive conversations with experts do you believe our government has made contact with intelligent extraterrestrials it's something i can't discuss a public setting if you believe we have crashed craft Do we have the bodies of the pilots who piloted this craft? As I've stated publicly already in my news station interview, biologics came with some of these recoveries.

19:44Were they, I guess, human or non-human biologics? Non-human, and that was the assessment of people with direct knowledge on the program I talked to that are currently still on the program.

20:02This was a former intelligence officer speaking under penalty of law. Information was being hidden above congressional oversight. When he said the words crash retrieval program, the room went quiet and the questions shifted. Not just about what these things are, but whether people have been hurt. Congress's job is going to be to see what it can do with the information and what it can verify. A lot of these race-sensitive programs, there's no paper trail. Over the next year or two, how is that going to play out?

20:46How many people will come forward? And will there be repercussions against them for coming forward? Under the law, they're protected. You know, you just don't know what might happen to them. Because certainly there are some people within the defense world who don't want people to talk about this. A lot of the witnesses hate trying to keep this secret, right? To have to sit on this for years and years and years, and it's changed your life, and it's caused tension and problems for you, and some people have nightmares or PTSD. I just hope it works out.

21:25The government is notorious for reinventing the wheel.

21:31I've been a reporter long enough to come across a lot of stories where I'm like, why does this sound familiar? Where there might have been a program, there might have been a report, there might have been something, but it was 20, 30 years ago. It's because they tried the same damn thing 20, 30 years ago. You know, you can't discount some of that in this topic, too. The guy who was in charge of that retired and didn't pass it along to the next guy or gal, it doesn't exist anymore. It's going to be really hard for anyone in the government to hide this stuff anymore.

22:13In Washington, ghost-like objects dart across the radar screen at the CAA Traffic Control Center at National Airport for several hours. General Sanford, Air Force Intelligence Director, confirms that the objects are not secret American weapons and reiterates the Air Force's obligation to investigate. Credible observers of relatively incredible things. Even if you remove aliens altogether and just look at this objectively, if even a fraction of this is true, then something unknown is interacting with humans and causing actual harm. Under oath, David Grush claimed people were physically injured, intimidated, feared for their lives.

22:58This, for me, is when the whole thing stops being a belief debate. That's not a conspiracy question. That's a science problem. And science is exactly where I went next.

23:15Hi, my name is Lloyd Lockridge, and I'm the host of a new podcast from Odyssey called Family Lore. In this podcast, I'm going to have people on to tell unusual and sometimes far-fetched stories about their families. I've heard my whole life that she invented the margarita. And then we're going to investigate those stories and find out how much of it is true. He gets a patent one month before the Wright brothers. Oh my God. Please follow and listen to Family Lore, an Odyssey podcast, available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your shows.