52 episodes

Welcome to Strange Arrivals, where host Toby Ball unravels history's most famous cases of extraterrestrial encounters. This season three, we look at UFO researchers who developed theories to explain the phenomenon and the consequences those theories had for people who believed they had experienced the paranormal.

Strange Arrivals Grim & Mild

    • History
    • 4.5 • 912 Ratings

Welcome to Strange Arrivals, where host Toby Ball unravels history's most famous cases of extraterrestrial encounters. This season three, we look at UFO researchers who developed theories to explain the phenomenon and the consequences those theories had for people who believed they had experienced the paranormal.

    Boianai

    Boianai

    Over three nights in 1959 at the remote Boianai Mission in Papua New Guinea, 38 people saw an unexplained craft hover over the ocean. Figures emerged from the craft and even waved to the witnesses. What happened?
    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • 32 min
    Excited and Scared at the Same Time

    Excited and Scared at the Same Time

    Outside for recess, more than 60 students at the Ariel School in Ruwa, Zimbabwe reported seeing an unknown craft and strange creatures in a thicket of trees beyond their playground. Soon, researchers would arrive and begin to record the children's testimony. Or were they also shaping it?
    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • 38 min
    Puppets

    Puppets

    We are still in the early days of examining the events at the Ariel School in Ruwa, Zimbabwe. Alternative explanations are beginning to emerge, including a particularly fascinating take from a researcher named Gideon Reid.

    For more information on the puppet theory, visit Gideon Reid's blog at https://gideonreid.co.uk/
    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • 23 min
    Long Road to Hacklebury

    Long Road to Hacklebury

    Elizabeth Anglin has had paranormal experiences her entire life. Her work with Dr. John Mack helped her try to understand these experiences. Mack was one of the three leading alien abduction researchers whose conception of the phenomenon was decidedly sunnier than his colleagues. 
    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • 24 min
    Unseen Realms of the Infinite

    Unseen Realms of the Infinite

    In 1992, an alien aduction conference was held on the grounds of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with the goal of bringing the latest abduction research to the attention of interested scientists, therapists, and others. It exposed divisions between researchers on the nature of abductions and brought questions about the scientific validity of their endeavors.
    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • 31 min
    The Case of Emma Woods, Pt. 1

    The Case of Emma Woods, Pt. 1

    A New Zealand woman who goes by the pseudonym of Emma Woods worked closely with abduction researcher David Jacobs to try to understand the strange experiences she had been through. But her sessions with him would take a decidedly dark turn.
    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • 27 min

Customer Reviews

4.5 out of 5
912 Ratings

912 Ratings

comomalolo ,

Stuck between 3 and 4 starts

The podcast is well produced, but the thing about Toby Ball is that you always know what kind of take he will have before he gets to it. He does’t really believe anything, which is fine, but there is no mystery here at all.

ravencrowgracklecaw ,

A Worthy Contribution to a Larger Conversation

A very well researched and produced series that seeks to cover the entirety of the modern history of UFO/UAP and abductee/contactee phenomena.
Even though I’m fairly well acquainted with most of the accounts and ideas presented over the three seasons, I was impressed by the fresh perspectives and journalistic integrity found here.
Yes, the host is a skeptic at heart, and while I don’t agree with all his conclusions, and feel that his reporting is constrained by a certain paradigm, the same could be said for any individual on earth. This show is just one part of a larger conversation.
If you’re like me and have heard these stories before, I’d say this is a very solid crash course in the makings of this living, evolving mythos. If you’re newer to this field, regardless of your level of invested belief (one way or another), this is a fantastic starting place for grounded thoughts and investigation.
(Would love to hear more from this team of creators! Thanks for the hard work.)

Vanaramalife ,

Good topics bad narration

Narrator has a wet, spitting back of the throat congested sound. Hard to listen to.

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