The What If? Podcast

We're taking a look back at the internet in 2005.

We're talking about fixing nightmares, controlling dreams, and banging wizards.

Apparently there's a robust Russian black market for aged cheddar. Who knew?!

We're talking about the recent drone flap in New Jersey.

HI! We're talking about spy whales, whale fashion, Alaskan pyramids, and all the domain names owned by that one idiot.

In the last 30 years, more than 1,000 people have attempted the Barkley Marathons, but only 20 have finished under the 60-hour time limit. Sources: Hallucinations and no sleep: Jasmin Paris on her historic ultramarathon Jasmin Paris first woman to complete grueling Barkley Marathons race The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young

In 2018, Mickey Barreto checked into a hotel. Over the next five years he refused to leave, briefly owned the hotel, tried to take down an international cult, and got arrested. Go help our guy Bear! Sources: The Hotel Guest Who Wouldn’t Leave The History of The New Yorker Hotel A loophole got New York City man a free hotel stay for five years until he claimed to own the building How to Fake-Own the New Yorker Hotel Missing 411 David Paulides Presents Missing Person Cases from Montana & Oregon

Our guy bear needs some help! He was in a bad motorcycle accident and won't be able to work for a few months while he recovers. Bear's brought us many, many joys over the years and it's the least we can do to give back a little. If you can afford to spare a couple bucks please do! Ok, thank you, we love you. Bear loves you. We love Bear. And we'll be back with a full episode next Saturday (4/6). See ya soon!

Hi! We're catching up about the past 5 months and discussing David Grusch's UAP claims.

We've got a bunch of topics today and we kinda get to all of them. Miley Cyrus saw a flying snowplow, Jeremy Corbell started a podcast, somebody's cutting off the internet, Ruby Tuesdays are popping up outta nowhere, there's a mysterious celebrity on some curtains, and Ryan's buying more websites.

We hosted a little live hang out with friends and listeners to discuss the balloons and objects that have been spotted (and shot down) over North America recently. We also talked about Warped Tour, Gucci's Loose Wings, and DJing middle school dances.

On August 16, 1942 a U.S. Navy blimp took off from Treasure Island, just outside San Francisco. Five hours later it crashed 11 miles away in Daly City, CA with no one aboard. The two men aboard the blimp were never found. We're doing a live "call-in" show on Monday, 2/13. Join us!

Spencer is using his penchant for conspiratorial thinking for good and trying to find buried treasure in St. Paul. Ryan is cold. No one is talking about blimps. We're doing a live call-in show on Monday, 2/13! Join us here!

Last year, Filippo Bernardini was arrested at New York's JFK airport and charged with wire fraud and aggravated identity theft for stealing over 1,000 unpublished and draft manuscripts from authors and publishers around the world. Strangely, it doesn't appear that Bernardini ever tried to profit from the thefts–the works were never leaked or sold, and no clear motive has been identified. Lucky for you, your two favorite dum dums are on the case! References: The Bizarre, Unsolved Mystery of Filippo Bernardini and the Stolen Book Manuscripts Literary mystery may finally be solved as man arrested for allegedly stealing unpublished books | Publishing | The Guardian Italian Citizen Pleads Guilty To Multi-Year Manuscript Theft And Impersonation Scheme | USAO-SDNY | Department of Justice The Talented Mr. Bernardini Italian Citizen Arrested In Online Impersonation Scheme... The End of a Book World Mystery: A Suspect in Manuscript Thefts to Plead Guilty Ryan's new record, Before What Came After, is out now. Go give it a listen!

Sali Sheppard-Wolford really went for it with her 2006 book Valley of the Skookum: Four Years of Encounters with Bigfoot. There's bigfoot, sure, but there are also UFOs, government conspiracies, poltergeist activity, time travel, astral travel, men in black, psychic warfare, flying tombstones, and phantom trains. This book has it all! Ryan's new record, Before What Came After, comes out this Friday!

We're joined by Rob Kristoffersen of Our Strange Skies to break down the latest documentary from our least favorite investigator, Davey Copface. References: S.J. OFFICER ACCUSED OF FALSE SOLICITATION AUTOGRAPHS Assault Suspect Says S.J. Police Beat Him Bay Area Reporter, 4/28/83 Ray Salmen: Family of B.C. drowning victim turns to recovery team from Idaho for help Man declared missing after campsite found abandoned Idaho couple hired to find missing Kitsilano man DeOrr Kunz: Kunz investigator: Jessica Mitchell knows where DeOrr’s body is Private investigator issues lengthy report on DeOrr Kunz case Carl Higdon: Our Strange Skies Ep. #85 Alien Abduction of The Wyoming Hunter Charles Gustafson: Beltrami man missing after hunting trip Mark Strittmatter: Remains of Elk Hunter Missing Since 2019 Recovered in Wyoming Reinhard Kirchner: Missing Person / NamUs #MP35447 EXPERIENCED HIKER GOES MISSING IN REMOTE SECTION OF NAVAJO WILDERNESS Hypnotic recall: Scientific Status of Refreshing Recollection by the Use of Hypnosis Hypnosis and memory retrieval Hypnosis, Delayed Recall, and the Principles of Memory The use of hypnosis to enhance recall Other: German-Americans make up the largest self-reported ancestry group within the United States A list of Missing 411 deconstructions

Some people thought the world was going to end on December 21, 2012. Ten years later, we're taking a look back at what people were expecting. Check out Ryan's new EP, Before What Came After, releasing January 20th. Watch The Race to Alaska (with an original score from Spencer). “Bracing, immersive and wonderfully congenial, this film is a tribute to the spirit of adventure.” - Vancouver International Film Festival

The first three episodes of Spencer's new podcast, Dang! That's Weird are out now. Enjoy this episode with the one and only Rob Kristoffersen of Our Strange Skies, and subscribe to Dang! That's Weird on your favorite podcast app. Some things just can't be explained. Like a bipedal human-sized lizard carrying an orb through the Adirondacks. Today we're talking with Rob Kristoffersen, host of Our Strange Skies, about one of the stranger stories I've ever heard. Have a story you'd like featured on the show? Send an email to spencer@dangthatsweird.com or leave a voicemail at ‪(612) 208-2744‬. Dang! That's Weird is a production of Du Vide Media. Check out all our great shows here!

The Layers Lair is back for season 2, and that means the GBBO competition is back too! Spencer and Katie break each episode of the Great British Bake Off, try to understand British slang, and have a dang blast along the way. Check out this first episode, subscribe to The Layers Lair, and get your entries in for week 1 of the competition! Subscribe to The Layers Lair: Spotify | Apple Week 1 entry form

hi! we recorded a new episode! This week we're talking about Google's LaMDA language program and Blake Lemoine, the Google engineer who thinks it's sentient.

Last January, we recorded an episode about a weird movie called Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey. We took it down after about a week because we decided to do a bigger project about it. That project turned into a podcast called Finding Quantum Quest. Now, more than a year later, we look back at that original episode to see what we got right, what we got wrong, and where we just missed the mark completely. Note: This episode contains TONS of spoilers for Finding Quantum Quest. If you haven't listened to Finding Quantum Quest yet, but intend to, make sure to do that first.

OH BOY. We have a very special episode for you this week. We're returning to the Tingleverse and we brought a few friends with us. Ryan and Chance York are reprising their roles as Young Baby Sir Plinkington the bad boy unicorn and Scaly the Blue the velociraptor wizard, and they're joined by Lydia Liza aka Smorgas Bord the true buckaroo and Eric Mayson aka Lump T. Brandon the charming bigfoot. Please check out Lydia Liza on Patreon where she's releasing a song a day all throughout 2022, listen to Eric Mayson's incredible music, and watch Chance York's new TV show Outside Chance on TPT Twin Cities.

We're selling houses, watching 90s movies, and reading books about dinobeavers! This week we're discussing the new book from George Knapp, James Lacatski, and Colm Kelleher, Skinwalkers at the Pentagon. Make sure to check out Finding Quantum Quest. Episode 4 drops tomorrow!

Jack Parsons had a hell of a life. He summoned the devil into his bedroom when he was 13, helped invent modern rocketry, performed sex magick rituals with L. Ron Hubbard, and then blew himself up in his garage. He also co-founded JPL. Episode 3 of Finding Quantum Quest drops tomorrow! Go listen and subscribe right the heck now!

Some people just gotta dig! Seymour Cray dug tunnels so the elves could finish his coding. William Lyttle said of his tunneling "there is great beauty in inventing things that serve no purpose". Elton McDonald was "getting away from regular things, away from life. Nothing in particular. Just life itself.” Episode 1 of Finding Quantum Quest is out now, and episode 2 drops tomorrow! Go listen, subscribe, and share!

Hi friends! Our brand new podcast Finding Quantum Quest debuted this week and we wanted to share the first episode with you. The show follows our search for a lost animated sci-fi movie that was commissioned by NASA and starts Chris Pine, John Travolta, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Neil Armstrong, Amanda Peet, Samuel L. Jackson, Mark Hamill, and a ton of other A-list actors. It's a wild ride! If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe to Finding Quantum Quest wherever you listen to podcasts. Love you, bye!

OH HEY! We're back with stories of creepy cryptids from West Virginia, Ohio, and Maryland. We've got the Snallygaster, the Veggie Man, Tommyknockers and more! MORE IMPORTANTLY - THE FIRST EPISODE OF FINDING QUANTUM QUEST COMES OUT TOMORROW! You simply must go subscribe and listen. Right now. Even before you listen to this. Seriously, do it now.

The 1970s were wild! These days you either get gray aliens, a lizard creature, or maybe a tall nordic type. But back then there were little guys with jetpacks, disembodied pants, 11-foot tall sheets with buttons on their faces, and all kinds of wild stuff. On this week's episode, we're taking a look at some 1970s humanoid encounters as documented in Flying Saucer Review. Make sure to subscribe to our new podcast, Finding Quantum Quest. The first episode launches next week!

HI! We missed you! We're going to be releasing weekly episodes again starting next week. We're doing at least six, maybe more. Who knows? ALSO, we just launched a brand new podcast called Finding Quantum Quest. Please go listen to the trailer and subscribe now, the first episode launches 1/26. We've been working on this project for a year, we're really proud of it, and we think you're going to love it. We'd love your support–if you like the trailer, please share it with a friend, post about it on social media, subscribe on your nephew's ipad, or accidentally leave it playing at your desk when you get up to go to the bathroom so you can start a conversation with your co-worker about this cool new podcast you just found when you come back. We love you! See you next week!

HIIIIIIIIIIIII! Surprise! We're (very briefly) back to talk about UFOs, Jeremy Corbell, and our weekly joys.

Wow, what a ride. Thank you for hanging out with us, sharing your stories, correcting us whenever we discuss math or science, and being the best dang community of listeners we could have possibly asked for. We're celebrating our final episode by listening to your voicemails, reading your emails, and bringing back British Lady. Love you, bye! Download the sounders here. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Use promo code whatif for 10% off your first month.

There were some mighty strange bigfoot encounters in the Pacific Northwest in 1924. Albert Ostman got kidnapped by a family of bigfeet, then tried to kill one with chewing tobacco. Fred Beck shot a bigfoot that tried to break into his cabin, but it just disappeared back to another dimension. Next week will be the last episode of What If? Thank you all so much for listening, supporting us, and goofing off with us for the last four years. We've had an absolute blast and it wouldn't have been possible without y'all. We love you! If you'd like to send us an email or voicemail, do it before 4/13/21, and we'll probably read/play it on the show. Our email is: hi@whatifpodcast.com and our phone number is 612-246-4614

Eric Mayson stops by to talk about the wonderful world of industrial musicals. From the 1950s through the 1980s, many American companies, including McDonalds, GM, Ford, Miller, Shell, and RCA, produced high-budget musicals about their products. They were never meant for public consumption, but a few have leaked out over the years. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Use promo code whatif for 10% off your first month. Join us on Patreon and get an extra episode every week, plus a back catalog of nearly 100 episodes, or check out last week's episode for free! Buy yourself or a loved one a gift in our shop.

Rob Kristoffersen's back to tell the tale of Pier Fortunato Zanfretta, an Italian security guard who claimed to be abducted 11 times by 10-foot tall aliens who looked kind of like angry Christmas trees. Check out Rob's podcasts - Our Strange Skies, Rolling Through the Realms, The Coda, and The Order of Podcasters. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Use promo code whatif for 10% off your first month. Buy yourself or a loved one a gift in our shop. Join us on Patreon and get an extra episode every week, plus a back catalog of nearly 100 episodes, or check out last week's episode for free!

Spencer and Lydia are talking about the Voronezh alien abduction, roller skates, and baby pictures. Check out Lydia's podcast, Solicited Advice. New episodes every Monday! Buy yourself or a loved one a gift in our shop. Join us on Patreon and get an extra episode every week, plus a back catalog of nearly 100 episodes, or check out last week's episode for free!

We're talking about the Bigfoot of Pokemon cards, Ryan's new Alice in Wonderland house, and Spencer's new drum kit. Buy yourself or a loved one a gift in our shop. Join us on Patreon and get an extra episode every week, plus a back catalog of nearly 100 episodes, or check out last week's episode for free!

Valiant Thor (allegedly) came to Earth to help us out, but the dang government (allegedly) wouldn't let him. We're finally diving into the wild, wild story that is Valiant Thor and Stranger at the Pentagon. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Use promo code whatif for 10% off your first month. Buy yourself or a loved one a gift in our shop. Join us on Patreon and get an extra episode every week, plus a back catalog of nearly 100 episodes, or check out last week's episode for free!

Kryptos is a sculpture by Jim Sanborn that was installed on the CIA's campus in 1990. The sculpture contains a four-part, encrypted riddle. So far, three of the four parts have been deciphered, but the last section remains unsolved. We sure aren't gonna solve it, but it's fun to talk about! Buy yourself or a loved one a gift in our shop. Join us on Patreon and get an extra episode every week, plus a back catalog of nearly 100 episodes, or check out last week's episode for free!

Got too many Prince records stacked up in the basement? An alien with very specific atmospheric needs? Maybe some Harry and the Hendersons outtakes? Iron Mountain has you covered! This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Use promo code whatif for 10% off your first month. Buy yourself or a loved one a gift in our shop. Join us on Patreon and get an extra episode every week, plus a back catalog of nearly 100 episodes, or check out last week's episode for free!

Who you pointing at skeleton? Sometimes it rains fish, sometimes it rains money, sometimes it’s three inches of frogs deep in the streets. Visit horsenapping.com to hear Spencer's new album Buy yourself or a loved one a gift in our shop. Join us on Patreon and get an extra episode every week, plus a back catalog of nearly 100 episodes, or check out last week's episode for free!

On February 8 1983, Shergar, a beloved Irish racehorse worth over $15 million, was kidnapped by a group of men armed with machine guns. After failed attempts to collect a ransom, the horsnappers said the horse had an accident and died. Shergar was never seen again. Visit horsenapping.com to pre-order Spencer's new album This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Use promo code whatif for 10% off your first month. Buy yourself or a loved one a gift in our shop. Join us on Patreon and get an extra episode every week, plus a back catalog of nearly 100 episodes, or check out last week's episode for free!

Rob Kristoffersen's in the house to share a story about telepathic floating brain aliens. Spencer tries to push every button on the soundboard. Listen to Rob's podcasts! Our Strange Skies | The Coda | Rolling Through the Realms | The Order of Podcasters Buy yourself or a loved one a gift in our shop. Join us on Patreon and get an extra episode every week, plus a back catalog of nearly 100 episodes, or check out last week's episode for free!

Spencer found the strangest cryptids he could and Ryan's trying to guess what they are based solely on their names. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Use promo code whatif for 10% off your first month. Buy yourself or a loved one a gift in our shop. Join us on Patreon and get an extra episode every week, plus a back catalog of nearly 100 episodes, or check out last week's episode for free!

On October 4th, 2001, Amy Rylance was taken from her home by a beam of rectangular light shot through an open window.. Three hours later, she showed up about 500 miles away. She, her husband, and her friend who witnessed the event believe she was taken by aliens. We also play some voicemails about Taco Bell, start an ad agency, and discuss 2000s sitcoms. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Use promo code whatif for 10% off your first month. Buy yourself or a loved one a gift in our shop. Join us on Patreon and get an extra episode every week, plus a back catalog of nearly 100 episodes, or check out last week's episode for free! Read the full UFO casebook report on Amy Rylance's alleged abduction written by Bill Chalker and Diane Harrison.

Our friends Max Selim and Nick Mestad launched a new podcast called The Oscar Went To, and we stopped by to talk Harry Potter. We discussed the movies, books, video games, and inevitable remakes, as well as the merits of public vs. private wizard school. Join us on Patreon and get an extra episode every week, plus a back catalog of more than 100 episodes!