THC 55: Jake Hanrahan | The Illuminati, Immortality Cults, & The Denver Airport Conspiracy

00:00 Hey everybody, Greg Carlwood here. Before this episode pops off I wanted to say that yes a big part of me would love to see the THC audience make a significant difference in the world organize a real resistance or a community outside of the system and that may come someday but i get so many awesome emails and messages about people liking the show and I just wish there was more that could be done to get to know you guys and form a group Maybe someday throw events with conspiracy speakers, comics school bands and artists. Maybe! Those are just ideas I'm just spitballing here But the first step to that would be meeting each other and coming up on June 1st & 2nd in the San Jose area as a ConspiracyCon 2013

00:41 I know the man that puts on the conference, Brian William Hall. He's awesome and hopefully he'll be here on THC before the big event but you should really consider taking a few days to get away hang out in San Jose smoke some weed with me maybe we can go out to dinner or something who fucking knows but ConspiracyCon is going to be a blast. Lots of awesome speakers, so think about it! I'd love to see you guys there June 1st and 2nd Tickets are on sale at conspiracycon.com If you get in before May 18th It's 90 bucks for one day 160 for both days I've been to a lot of conferences That's not a bad price for two days and ten speakers People pay outrageous prices to go to Burning Man or Coachella. Let's do it for the conspiracy community! The Crown Plaza Hotel where the conference is even has a shuttle service from San Jose Airport We have to support the alternative instead of conventional people Give it some real thought I have no incentive here except meet fans, have great weekend maybe sell couple T-shirts bada bing bada boom If you get tickets let me know and ill put something together for us THC listeners and smokers Now enjoy this show

01:48 In the 1930s, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt addressed a nation through a series of radio broadcast known as the Fireside Chat. His aim was to reassure the common man that our society would recover from its troubled times. But what 30 and I do are different kind of far. For a new era of worldly frustration we offer a fresh conversation! I'm Greg Hurls... ...or The Hireside Chats Hi, our side chatters. Welcome to the goddamn show I'm Greg Carlwood packed full to the left of me cold beer to the right here I am stuck in the middle with you and join another sunny San Diego day Co-hosting today is my good friend and confidant Jake Bender Jake man what's happening? Ah Nothing a nice sunny day here in st. Louis do men. It's beautiful out right now. I think it was be a high 75 today so getting back into the spring

02:43 Wow spring has sprung is that what they say and it is actually I was thinking about saying that I was like no, That'd be really fucking cheesy. So I won't say it and then you did so I appreciate it. I can do that Jake you know last time we talked man You hadn't You had just listened to that THC episode with James Calhoun from the movie food matters and hungry for change you're writing your last blog for me and you were buying vegetables getting a juicer knocking off the cigarettes and going to pro wrestling school It's been about two weeks. How motivated have you stayed with all that? He still still juicing Still Jason yet pretty much every day I haven't used yet this morning, but we just actually went grocery shopping last night and bought a shit ton of

03:26 I didn't do a lot of exercising this week because uh, I don't know what the hell is going on with my legs and my arms and shoulders but man I was sore as shit all week. Um...I had a pretty rough week at work though that might have been part of it. I had a lotta work to do Bring it back into it. Feeling pretty good. And you know, I can't get motivated to getting any kind of health and you've been able to do it. Can you? Do you have any advice because I'm surprised I'm pleasantly surprised. I'm glad you're doing it but I was surprised. I'm surprised he could just kick cigarettes and shit food and soda all at once and work out and maintain and stick with it. You're giving me too much credit here because actually have a cigarette in between my fingers right now. What the fuck? Yeah that's the one thing I've not built a fucking kick yet.

04:29 I'll do a little bit of diet soda here and there which you and I talked about that on the phone last weekend Aspirin man, you gotta quit You like reamed me a new asshole. Like don't fucking drink diet soda Sorry dog Well, it's just so counterproductive because you're doing it It's kind of productive because you're doing it for your health And it's actually way worse and it's eating your fucking brain This is true. Apparently. Apparently, but... Ah no I'm jabbed- Shit man Monday through Friday i just drink water that's pretty much it water and then my juice in the morning. Cigarettes? I'm gonna hit that pretty hard this week I think It was..I think it was too much to fucking try to quit everything all at once you know what I mean

05:13 I agree. And she told me, she's like you need a cigarette because you're being a dick. I can't drink water because i think water is so boring. I'm at work...I want something with some flavor to it. I don't even feel like I like sugar Like if something is way too sugary I'm the first one to say that I am not drinking that shit But..i just need soda or somethin' That's the thing man You jus gotta...like I said I feel like a hypocrite saying this and I still haven't quit smoking but The uh The whole thing with the soda

05:57 You just gotta talk yourself out of it, man. Just say hey this water is a helluva lot better for me even if it does have fucking fluoride in it I still haven't got a water filter Yeah, I still just you just got to break through that and that's all I drink now man Monday through Friday. I just drink freaking water And I'll tell you what Just doing that the difference between that in the week before where I was drinking diet soda and Powerade zero and shit like that Is there's pretty big difference here? I feel really energetic and everything even without the caffeine because it's all like just a natural energy instead of You know

06:34 a drug-fueled energy, I guess you could say. That was one of my things that... One of the things i was curious about because I can't seem to get myself up in the morning without a soda so when I'm like tired as shit driving to my store The idea of getting a water, I mean I think about it but I'm like no dude You need something much better. You need something..you need to wake the fuck up You tried that I don't know how good these are for you, but have you tried one of those five-hour energies try that with water? Yeah Better than down in a hole fucking like it. You know what 18 ounce Can a fucking monster maybe but I mean that just seems it seems so strong It's the smallest bottle with the longest duration of energy. Just it doesn't seem like it could be good I mean five hours is a huge commitment to you I mean, I might call into work two hours in and want to go home and take a nap Yeah, I can't commit to five full hours I Call in a lot man, I call in a fucking lot but

09:28 Pack your glass and park your ass people, today Jake Bender and I are bull stuffing with the man Jake Hanrahan a freelance journalist from the UK. He's a badass motherfucker that wanted to avoid wasting away at an average job with a shitty boss so he put the pen to paper didn't stop writing until it paid off now has been published in some of those popular magazines and websites out there including Wired The Huffington Post Rolling Stone MTV and personal favorite Vice Magazine Jake how the hell are ya? I'm good, thanks man. How you doing? Definitely No, not myself. All my friends are but nothing against it or anything like that man I mean, I think it's silly to be a guy can you be against the hub? Well right Well tell me a bit about how you made the move to freelance journalism It's obviously a tough field and make a living in and I like when people talk about The journey because it's inspirational for people who are trapped in a low-wage random job Sure

10:36 I mean, I kind of messed about in school a lot and didn't get any real qualifications from there. I got into a lot of trouble and didn't really know what to do with my life. The only thing that was ever good at was writing and English class. And I read a lot of books. Somehow around the age of 16 or 17 got into a lot of boxing and I was kind of doing this unlicensed boxing circuit, making a little bit money from it. And I just thought yeah, I'll carry on doing this for awhile and then I had a daughter when I was 18 which is obviously incredibly young so I thought... Yeah! So you know, I've gotta really plan now, find something to do with the rest of my life It just made sense writing wasn't anything that I'm any good at

11:25 So I looked into it and thought, well if i don't want to write fiction because I don't read a lot of non-fiction. So yeah, I think I want to get involved with journalism and just immerse myself in it. I completely taught myself how to bring out books not I didn't buy books on journalism, if that makes sense. blue collar family, kind of modest background. I was unsure, could i do this? And the more looked into it and thought well of course I can! It's not all stiff necks and collars and ties like on the news there are obviously some great journalists out there so I looked into that

12:19 hold my craft and started pitching. So just find editor emails, and just come up with fun stories. And eventually I found my own niche. It basically took off from there two years down the line it's paying the wages thank God! Man that is awesome dude you know for people out there who think they can't do what they want to do it does not get harder than no college degree and a kid at 18 I mean, it's so easy to work a job because you have to have some money coming in and then get stuck. You're there 40 hours a week maybe more and you don't really have the time to look at any passion. So that is pretty badass that you stuck with it and now your writing for some of the coolest people around!

13:04 Sure, I mean i have done all that. That is definitely and that was one of the major things that put me off. I've done real shitty jobs kind of hard labor jobs and in warehouse work and I just thought Jesus Christ! I can't do this forever. You're kind of working constantly and half your money's going out the back door anyway and it was just a nightmare. And I just realized I can't live like this I just wanted to have some kind of adventure, but you know some kind of structure and do that forever. You know? I wanted that to be my profession and yeah that's how it makes sense for me but I totally agree with you. I mean I feel terrible for a lot people who they just get stuck in these jobs and they can't... Some people can't take the risk which is a shame. Right! Yeah Jake Bender here is in that situation. Yeah I've got three kids here and I drive a tractor trailer yippee

13:58 And actually just here lately made the conscious decision that I'm going to finally do something for myself and it sounds probably childish, but uh I'm gonna go to professional wrestling school It was a big passion of mine growing up and I've since kind of gotten out of it But I figure I need something to kinda just take my mind off the everyday bullshit. I gotta go through do something with my life you know. You need a little fantasy. I don't think that sounds hopeless at all, i mean no that sounds amazing though it's gotta be better than a 9-5 right? I wish it was only nine to five man it's like a 5 to 5. Yeah! That's a lot let's talk about some of the pieces you wrote one of the ones you wrote for vice was about this illuminati strategy card game that was the most interesting to me because

14:47 Used to play magic years ago and the illustrations are damn creepy on there You know, it's the one with the Pentagon on fire. The Twin Towers exploding I mean this is 95 the game seems like it'd be pretty fun too Like a conspiracy gurus magic together and you know But you want to tell people little bit about that article yeah, I've been interested in conspiracy theories since I was 13 years old and 23 now I've always been interested in when i first kind of got into conspiracy theories, I think as a lot of people do. I believed in them you know 100% as if it was the gospel and obviously as I got older I kind of... You become a skeptic little bit more but still believe in them

15:30 The car game was something that really interested me and I remember one day coming across it again online. And, I thought Jesus Christ these look really prophetic they do look like they knew what was going on but of course I thought that's just ridiculous so I looked into it and managed to track down quite a lot of the people who were involved in making it. And one of the interesting things to me was that the secret services actually raided the company that were making the comic, before they released it And that which is the conspiracy theory goes, you know people say oh they knew that they were gonna unleash their plans but Turns out it was a hacker Was working for them who was you know running a lot of hacking boards on the internet and they presumed he was running his hacking services from the place. He was working at

16:20 but of course he wasn't and it's quite a landmark case where the SJ Games, the people that made the comic won a lawsuit against the secret services because they just went in and they basically had flimsy warrant and they just said look he's probably doing it we'll go in and then we'll be fine, but it turns out there was nothing going wrong so they got into a lot of trouble when SJ Games sued them. So I think from the start that game was already destined to kind of go down in conspiracy folklore as it were Yeah, well there's one part where you talked about talk to the head illustrator and he hinted that the Steve Jackson guy who ran the company was participating in occult magic during those days. Did he elaborate on that at all or do you think it was just trying to hype up a dead story?

17:06 He was completely just pissing about with me. He was laughing at you, he was kind of being very sarcastic and he found the whole...he knew about the conspiracy theory around it and he just found it hilarious I've spoken to people since who said oh he's a disinfo agent but I don't know, I mean I fully don't believe that that is true. He just found it funny Yeah some illustrator who had an interesting job then there were some controversy and he just played it up Yeah, I mean the guy that did make it is Steve Jackson. What this head illustrator did say to me said he was very interested in conspiracy theories and he really looked into them a lot but like he didn't say

17:48 He believed in them so much. He was just more interested in the man the 9-11, you know that the card looks like between towers for example That is actually titled something like Soviet nuclear launch or something So at a time, you know this Soviet tensions were quite high at the time so that was actually not meant to be anything to do with 911 and people have kind of taken it and run with it but I mean there is a lot of strange things with it and even after kind of like did the little investigation into it And I kind of made my my theories on it that. It was just a lot of business coincidence There's weird things because the one

18:24 The hacker who I contacted, was the reason why they got raided. He was looking into 911 schedules so he was hacking into police databases and for some reason finding out what they would do in serious situations So if there was a bomb scare, he was finding all of the plans for it And I have no idea...he didn't really elaborate on why or wouldn't elaborate on why he was getting them and yes i thought that was kind of a confusing aspect to it but I don't believe personally that is you know what people think it is. Right, but have been doing alot of shows on synchronicity and the foreshadowing events and the card that you ended the conspiracy article was pretty symbolic looking of course nothing happened at the London Olympics but this picture's weird its got the five guys running in street wear

19:12 all the colors of the there are the colors of the olympic rings in an offset pattern uh... big ben clock is crumbling in the background out of definitely thought though that is some foreshadowing but a lot of people were predicting someone's gonna happen but nothing really did Sure, I actually wrote the article just before the Olympics started. And when I saw that card as well... Like you said, I kept coming back to it and thinking Jesus Christ this is spooky! Personally, I thought something would happen at the Olympics not due to the conspiracy of the Illuminati card game but because it would have been a perfect time for a terrorist attack or what have you. But nothing happened

19:58 I'll be honest, when i looked at it. I was kind of talking to the editor, Mel Weiss, the online editor and he said oh look these Olympic rings are exactly the same colors and when you look at it there isn't quite right one of them is kinda wearing a yellow shirt and black waistcoat and then there's like white guy in a white shirt as well so I don't know. I can't personally I looked at it and saw what I wanted to see so there is one color off But yeah, I mean if something that happens and the big bend thing as well I would have been really you know, it would probably sold me I would have thought now these guys are bullshit me they knew something but nothing occurred Yeah and

21:04 Yeah, definitely. It is very interesting I won't say that i know a lot about it but I was invited to the Bitcoin conference in London last year so it was called Bitcoin 2012 and I covered that for Vice And that was, I mean that was one of the first guys to write about this 3D gun printing thing. He was there and I forget the guy's name Cody Wilson he was there and they were all talking obviously they were talking about Bitcoin and the pros and cons of it but its essentially an electronic currency that has no government controlling it at all. So, it's completely decentralized and he was kind of introduced by this mysterious guy I forget his name is like a Japanese name which I don't even know if he exists or not. If he's a group of people as one person but nobody really knows

21:51 But yeah, it is kind of confusing and to get hold of them you have to like mine them using You have to spend kind of money on actual hardware. You can trade them for...you can buy some using normal real money I think it's a really interesting thing but as I wrote in this article I kind of said at the end of it I don't know if they'll ever if they'll ever take over because it just doesn't seem viable. I mean, I interviewed two hackers and they were wearing masks in the middle of London and it was hilarious! They were wearing like masks as they wanted to protect themselves from CCTV. And they said tomorrow is going to be their future and I said well okay fair enough for you guys, you guys know how to use your hackers but what about someone like my grandmother for example who can't even use a computer?

22:38 and then you know I mean so there is this other dating there's lots of pros and cons for it, but I think it could It could work and it would be good for third world countries in helping them out, transferring money wouldn't cost as much if they could use it. But a lot of people are buying them waiting for the price to go up on the market and then selling them for real money so its like completely defeating the object of what their meant for. I don't know 100% but yeah did you read my shopping on the deep web article? Oh, oh yeah dude. Silk Road that was definitely a subject I wanted to talk about

23:17 yes i think that you did because andy's is based on most untraceable when a few hundred dot with this incredibly untraceable so yeah it's an anonymous currency which is more favored by you know how to the activists but yeah i mean i don't have any of the jp morgan account keeping an eye on him at the start of the annals was very good it could uh... it could be useful right i mean it's one of those things that and And it's like we know

24:20 about, you know being conspiracy theorists we know it all revolves around banking and all revolves around the control that controlling the money supply gives you over governments over entire populations so it's appealing to try to want to get out of that and I guess the way its been explained me is non-centralized currency. It's obviously...we don't even know who created it so it's not really controlled by anyone which is bit scary but it's controlled by algorithms and programming, but I guess the best way i've heard it explained is that it should replace commerce in the way that email replaced

25:00 the postal service because yeah, because you know if you're mailing something and they don't imagine also if you could mail packages through email it's like you don't want somebody to get something so don't hand it over cause I can with e-mail its a direct line and that how this commerce works is a direct line from you to the buyer where there no middle man and It's also its own currency, which is the trippy part because its value is weighed against real currencies and it's going up and up. I guess recently it just had its first major drop but still have faith in this thing man. At $300 a Bitcoin I can buy one or two but that's not really the same as it was at 3 cents

26:00 Sure, I mean when i did this Silk Road piece it was a lot of shit. I think it was about $10 a bitcoin or something like that and um... I was you know trying to get hold them and in the end it just proved just it just proved a bit difficult in the time frame I had to write the article so I kind of you know I didn't actually buy anything which is good because uh..I would have probably got arrested so thats probably a good thing but The thing is if let's say you're buying now when its crashing yeah People are saying what's the end of Bitcoin? But I don't think it is because it crashed a little there a couple of weeks back here or couple Of months back he crashed as well when some hackers which is another problem Some hackers just start stealing people's bitcoins from their online accounts. So and then it crashed obviously everyone saying oh shit These aren't selling quick so yeah, my opinion is though

26:48 I agree with everything you're saying, it could be really interesting and it could give some more power back to the people because obviously as we know the banks control a hell of a lot. But I don't believe that they would let it get that far I don't know. Do you really believe that if it got that big, surely they would come in and do something? The banks will probably say we'll buy everything Bitcoin related so it comes back to us anyway. I agree. Yeah, I do think the power structure is too secure. They're ready for basically anything. I don't know how they let the internet get out! That was a big fuck up but other

27:25 Other than that, they're doing their dick a pretty good track record. Here's the thing is like if I decide that I'm gonna sell say my t-shirts and i'm going to take bitcoins then bitcoin is viable regardless of if uh... government wants to shut it down regardless of if bank doesn't like it so I mean I think the real pressures on the merchants just start taking because if you can buy your food with bitcoins then shit! Then who cares what anybody else thinks? Yeah, I mean that is true. You can buy pizzas now there's a website where you can buy Domino's pizzas with bitcoins So yeah, I mean it's kind of progressing Exactly and you know we mentioned Silk Road a little bit Can you explain that to people? We've never really talked about it But it is a pretty fascinating website Basically Silk Road

28:21 a website on the dark web which is of course the kind of secret internet within the internet, I believe it was set up by the navy so they could send more secure messages to each other or something like that. It could be wrong but yeah it's a website where if you're using the dark web you're basically totally anonymous anyway and can't be traced eBay of you know drugs and at the time when I did my article on it they had another section open called the armory which is by the same people that opened Silk Road. And they were selling as you saw in the article, a guy tried to sell me C4 and you know they're selling rocket launchers and bazookas and kind of self-assembled Krasnoklots and it was just insane so yeah the Silk Road is essentially a secret online

29:12 Merchants for all things illegal really which I said in my article. I didn't specifically disagree with I mean like I said at the end is Drugs everybody does drugs they're never ever in my opinion no, they'll never stop people doing drugs and then The internet is just another 21st century invention, which of course... I didn't get why some people were so shocked. Like oh my god they're selling drugs on the internet! And for me I thought well what did you expect? What do you think would happen there? I think people always find a way but yeah it's just a crazy place Anyone I know who's used it or knows somebody who uses it, no one has gotten caught. So I guess... It really is very skeptical that it's really anonymous you know? Yeah and it really is! When I looked at all my... I'm not against drugs like I mean

30:04 I've seen, again obviously of course hard drugs like i've seen drugs ruin people's lives but at the same time I have friends who do you know like acid and weed and stuff like that kind of... And they're there for it usually. So in a way I was looking at it thinking this is kinda good because people are not going to be getting drugs or getting beaten up or mugged or have their deal screwed over on them cause its all on the internet so coming straight to their doors I thought that was a good side of it, but then at the same time it was like well maybe if there's some kind of suburban kid who maybe might not have ever gotten into drugs suddenly finds Silk Road and starts buying them and gets them into his house. You know what I mean? It is double edged sword but I wasn't shocked at all by it and I don't specifically think its a bad thing either

30:54 Yeah, it's definitely crazy. But again, you know they fucked up by letting us have the internet now Now we got our own black markets and we might ever own fucking economy soon So but another great piece you wrote one I think was a vice piece was one about this Immortality cult that's living on this island off of Greece It's no one was pretty nuts I mean in the article You wrote they feel the need to reconstruct the world and implement the birth of a new immortal human tell us about that Yeah, I mean that was insane. I can't even remember how i got onto that because a lot of the articles most of the stuff I write you know it's not out there which is kind of my thing to write about subculture but I can't even tell you how I found out about it but yeah basically after the Chernobyl disaster a load of scientists who were contaminated from the fallout and they

31:46 And they were working on the thing as well. They got together and said, look we need to get away we need to make ourselves pure and somehow ended up on this tiny little island called Gavdos which is I think the northernmost point in Europe or something like that it's just a tiny little island It looks like a big rock imagine you took a rock hit it into the ocean so there was not much there but Yeah, they started kind of... They worked for the church there and it was like a normal I think like a Catholic Church or something like that. And he and the guy there the priest said yeah you can live with us all these scientists to put in perspective were

32:24 basically Russia's equivalent of NASA, I forget the name now but they were you know the top guys so they went there about six or seven of them and They said yeah You can live here for free and just live like a really you know Like okay. I remember saying in the article that kind of when Alex supertrap, you know They just lived off the land. They didn't communicate And then all of a sudden they said to the priest, look we're building a church. He was like what? They said we're building a temple-church type thing for Apollo. You know the Greek god Apollo and he's kind of like okay... So then they started doing these strange experiments and next thing they kind of call a meeting with the town and just say look We are practicing immortality. We want to find out how to make the next person immortal

33:06 It was very strange because on one hand it's a philosophical thing where they're saying, yeah we want to be self-sufficient and live off the land. But then on the other side they are doing all these strange experiments and they are building temples It's just insane to be honest. I've spoken to them since, and actually managed to get an email address so look here is my article, hope you like it let me know what you think. They are very friendly but they won't tell you what they're doing there. I don't know, it's very strange. They believe in this new kind of New Age stuff but at the same time they believe in science of course because they're all scientists so they're trying to find a way to live without just corrupting and polluting everything. It's just kinda strange, really is strange. It seems like a modern day rapture on an island instead of a city under the sea if you are a Bioshock player. Seems pretty weird

34:11 Yeah, definitely. I mean, I'm planning to go out there and try to convince them to let me kind of film with them and do some stuff like that but they're very closed off But they did say like if anyone would do it They said we'll think about it So I'm gonna go there this year And kind of you know hang about that They said I can stay there with them and then they'll decide if they allow people in the cameras or not so We will see how that goes Dude, that's badass. I mean it was gonna say then the article there's a Kickstarter documentary that you linked to but seems like that was pretty much dead So yeah, yeah going out and doing that man. You could be the guy that'd be awesome Yeah That's what I want to get into and I'm in a lot of talks at the moment with them quite big television channels in The UK and III think it will have had loads and loads of ideas for documentaries because I mean without sounding big-headed I think a lot my articles would probably

35:02 would probably translate well into a documentary. A lot of the time I write them, and think there's so much more to this and it is so visual but obviously you need a lot of funds and you need a lot of bureaucracy in that whole industry as well which is a shame but yeah I do think this year hopefully we'll get the ticket I'll be making some series for TV, but it's all kind of a bit harsh at the minute because i don't know everything about it. But so far it's positive! For sure man that's awesome yeah documentary filmmaking is...I used to love that shit too you know even with this I tried to do a couple specials I was going to find a local tarot reader and do a demonstration but that fell through and I went on a ghost hunt with this SoCal paranormal team but it was like super lame nothing really happened um

35:49 and and they sent them to me as evidence that we were hearing voices, and I feel really bad but there were times... There was at least two times where it was me. Oh shit! And those are the ones where they're like oh this is the most distinct voice and i'm like yeah well no shit because it wasn't us That's funny man

36:33 I don't buy into a lot of those. You know, when you see the ghost hunters and they say this ridiculous shit They leave it. It's the same for you know as it goes to the ad break they leave at the same point Oh my god, is the ghost and then he comes back in and it turns out You know like it's a door shutting or something ridiculous like that right very skeptical about you know ghosts and stuff like that Right exactly And I should have thought about that because I was like you know what am I gonna get? That's conclusive when no one in history has ever got any conclusive footage now and here I am thinking I'm gonna go out and get something But, you know if I were to come to you with money and I said Yo dude. I got the funds. I got the equipment. I got the crew we got one shot to make a sick documentary What would you make? Where would it be this immortal death cold or what it'd be something else? That's good question. Like a one-off documentary or series Yeah If you just had one shot to start your career as a documentary filmmaker What subject would you tackle

37:36 That's interesting. I mean because we've been in so many talks, I've got about 10 different treatments written up for series and things We've been showing people but the first thing I tell you You know one of the first things I would start with is there's in Africa in South Africa In the slums of Botswana they have this basically a heavy metal coat or I wouldn't say it's a cult, they're just basically crazy kind of these guys from Botswana who really believe in like heavy metal. So you've got these guys living in the slums like kind of living really bad but then they're dressed up, they dressed like cowboys as well so they are always in character and somehow they have gotten into Negadare

38:18 Slayer and stuff like that, and they actually put on shows. They call it Afro metal And it is amazing there I mean I actually wrote up the treatment for any was it's gonna be cool there The heavy metal cowboys of Botswana And he's that I would probably start with that because it's so visual as well in there You know unlike in the West the rock stars are usually our souls. They're just you know I don't want to generalize, but a lot of the time they are. These guys are like the coolest guys and they're in character all the time. They're totally nuts that they fully believe in heavy metal and yeah, they go to the market dressed in leather chaps with Megadeth T-shirts on and bring their guitar and start playing in this kind of shanty town And it's really given them

39:02 You know a sense of like they're kind of doing something really positive They're living in you know abject poverty and of course the land has been raped by civil war But that's saying now we take it would take him kind of you know if you aspect from the West with mega death And all these these bands, and we do something really positive when we're doing our own way So that would probably be why I was first go out purely because it's just so different And I think a lot people would relate to it as well. I think I mean It's just Maybe I'm just overselling it, but it just seems crazy to me. Yeah, that's awesome. It manifests itself in the slums of South Africa! Yeah, I would totally watch that one man. It's weird...it really is because you think about a

39:43 You know that heavy metal death metal none of that stuff ever has like a positive spin to it But it sounds like in this situation. It really does It's actually helping people in some way and it's just the weirdest thing because you'd never You never would have made a tie between heavy metal and helping people but somehow it does down there So yeah, that's definitely I would watch That's definitely the angle I was going at. I think that will get made sooner rather than later because I've been in a few meetings where commissioners are really interested in it, but yeah man there is loads of different things also the art smuggler did you read that? Did I send you that? Yeah! I have read your article and heard other things about him thats a crazy one too

40:27 Crazy guy, yeah. Michel Van Ryn. So I mean he's quite...I don't want to say close friend but you know me and him are quite well now obviously through the success of that article we did quite well and off the back of that there is a Hollywood film going to be made about Michel's life Do you know American History X? He is the director of that He's Tony K. That's it he's going to make the Michelle Van Ryn biopic basically off the back of the article that I did on him which was cool so yeah we want to make a documentary with him as well. That's badass man if i had the money, I'd probably make Conspiracy The Musical with Neil Patrick Harris and Russell Brandt too that would work

41:08 you like russell brandeo? Yeah, Russell Brandman. I like him a lot of people in England don't like him and a lot of people hate him because he's kind of over the top and flamboyant but um... i actually know that guy at the production company that im doing stuff with He knows him well and he said hes genuinely really nice guy you know he helps people quite alot aswell. Do you know he was addicted to heroin?

41:49 Heroin and stuff like that. So yeah, apparently so he's probably a good guy as well Yeah He's done um I was surprised to see him at a like little powwow with Daniel pinchback and Graham Hancock some of the guys who I think are pretty leading philosophical thinkers today and He's there with them And I'm like what the hell man? He's like all these kids just sitting around I'm like this is like the 60s or It's like this is like the Terrence McKenna stuff of the 60s and you're there and I'm like what a weird place to be. He must be a pretty cool guy Definitely, yeah. I mean his book...I bought his book for my missus, for my girlfriend And that is no offense to the guy but it's a bit like he chewed up the saurus and spat out. It's insane

42:36 Purple prose from start to finish, you know. He can't even say I walk down the street He has to like meander whimsically down the road, but other than that he's a cool guy. Yeah, I think so That's funny Another thing You know if I had the money to make a documentary one of the shows that Jake did with me was with Douglas Hawes actually we talked about The legend of Montezuma's treasure buried somewhere in the Grand Canyon and their stories that there's like Egyptian tombs in the Grand Canyon and underground tunnels in Death Valley, I would love to take off with some buddies and try to just do like some Indiana Jones shit. That would be badass!

43:14 That would be incredible. Yeah, yeah I would love that as well There's a guy called um Olly Steeds He's uh he's a journalist from the UK and he had a program on I think Nat Geo And he was doing similar things to that man and he actually went to it was a bit different than that He went to find Nazi treasure in Germany somewhere He tried to find the Amber Room and yeah man he was doing all that sort of stuff And yeah, I think that'd be incredible as well. Sorry i forgot to mention Speaking of conspiracies, I didn't even mention it. One of the TV channels that have been speaking to here in the UK they actually came to me wanting to make a documentary about the Illuminati and hip-hop so that was something that Yeah, yeah And we wanted to come at it from...I mean, I will be honest, I am a skeptic but do believe in conspiracy theories

44:05 Believe about 90% of it is probably bullshit, but I wanted to come at it from Yes, the Illuminati Israel. Like I didn't want to degrade any conspiracy theorists because a lot of the time well when programs are made for mainstream television and they make them about conspiracy theories, they just totally undermine conspiracy theories to make them look like idiots. I feel that's totally unfair so i wanted to make it from the aspect of yes there is an Illuminati but probably not lizard men living in caves drinking babies blood and stuff. There are many boardrooms with suits on and stuff like that Hip-hop is kind of exploiting that pop culture thing, you know of Illuminati so because it's very alluring isn't I mean if you hear Oh Jay Z. You know he's the devil Wow what's this? So I definitely feel that they're exploring that kind of side of it which I'm not saying That's a bad thing but I think a lot kids are politicizing themselves because they want to know about conspiracy theories but at the same time they kind of disregard

45:07 What I'm saying is that a lot of people, especially my age trust conspiracy theories as much as the so-called sheeple trusts the news which I find to be a complete contradiction. You question the news and say this isn't real but then wholeheartedly believe everything you see on a conspiracy forum. That's how we were going to approach it but that might get us in the pitching process still Yeah, man. There's a lot to it I mean recently a guy killed shot his friend sorry and apparently he wanted to be a rapper And so that I'm sacrificing you to the Illuminati and just shot the guy in his friends like what are you doing? Like luckily that you know the guys have already got put in prison But is it's becoming quite big issue now. I think it's really interesting You know I need to go from yeah, man. I saw that story and that is awesome because the subject of

45:59 the Illuminati and hip hop and Mean, of course. I'm not convinced of anything That's the angle I take I'm not convinced of anything But the more coincidences there are The more likely something is to be true and there are a huge amount of them with the Illuminati in hip-hop I mean especially in that with the blood sacrifices. I mean There's there's a lot of speculation that there's a certain amount of money. I can't remember what it was like 20 million dollar club and they'll basically put you up on this tier and

47:02 if you perform a blood sacrifice and there's a lot of speculation that when Kanye West mom died of plastic surgery, that was a weird death. Aaliyah went down in a plane crash. That was apparently this guy Damon Dash's Illuminati sacrifice Jay-z had a nephew who died I believe Eminem had a friend who was shot outside of this club and that same Yeah, and did you know in that there's a video where like there's an Eminem video where proof gets shot outside Of a club a year before it happened So you know that kind of weird shit and all these people did get up there, you know They are on the top of the food chain when the Illuminati is concerned. And I don't another another crazy one? I don't know if you with the Aurora shooting Did you though that little Wayne video came out right before the Aurora shooting and it's I think the song is my homies still and

47:57 Yeah, that was really strange. That was very strange There probably is a lot to it but My main, where I really believe the one kind of believing strongly is public enemy. The guy from there he said how they were you know public enemy came out and they're really kind of empowering the black youth of America and very

48:40 well, some people wouldn't say a positive message but I think they were giving a really positive message. They were talking about the truth, they're saying about just civil rights and really good shit that we're talking about and then all of sudden there was this influx of gangster rap and then hip hop got demonized into this kind of street dog thing. That I do believe in, I mean I spoke to a guy like that he said... He was telling me about some theory where The CIA were like, look we need to kind of quote and these kids down again too. They're going to start a revolution type thing and they're gonna start bombing and doing underground stuff through hip hop. That I believe in but the blood sacrifices... It is kinda crazy

49:26 I'm not saying no, in a way but it's crazy. In Hollywood and that kind of power structure and entertainment there is definitely whether it be the Illuminati or politicians who have agendas they want to skewer people's minds using films. But I fully agree with you that there's something fishy going on. That's where That's as much though. I would believe in that there is something I don't know if it is you know, like could be blood sacrifices who knows strangest stuff has happened sure That's one thing about conspiracy theories like you say he can look at it and go oh that's interesting That's an interesting angle But you know, I mean, I think some people it's dangerous in a way because some people read it and go that's interesting That's definitely the truth. You know what? It's like sometimes it can be damaging but

50:17 Conspiracy theories, man. I love the whole conspiracy theory community and the whole tinfoil hat brigade I'm fully into I love all that manner where I believe it at all No Of course not I believe 90% of his bullshit like I've said before but the 10 percent that do believe is really is like Overpowers the bullshit for me if you know what? Yeah And one other thing I wanted to talk about you wrote about another little conspiracy gem Which is the Denver Airport have you ever been there? no, it's painted over now. I was going to but it has already been painted over bizarre yeah Mean that is very weird. I spit what the hell is that? You know, I mean what was that? I mean how can they that for me wasn't over any you can't say well he was trying to channel this I mean here He had Nazis in gas masks stabbing native Indians on a mural and an apple. I mean what?

51:17 How other way can you look at that? And the artist who did it, he's dubious because he says different things in different interviews. So I mean... You know what i mean? You can't really trust a guy. Right and for people who don't know we're talking about the Denver International Airport is uh It was built outside of Denver. It's kind of far out there There was a lot of Construction that went down like basically people have analyzed that there must be some huge underground construction due to the amount of dirt They've got displaced and all this other shit, but the murals inside which Jake was just talking about Which is the pieces about is they're really weird. There's all kinds of weird shit and some very apocalyptic images and Globally apocalyptic it's got peep kids of all races

52:02 Really strange. I mean even the the runways are in a swastika pattern apparently Yeah, I mean, that's debatable it kind of is and kinda isn't but yeah everything else is very true And there's even like a Freemason sign kind of like a plaque just randomly there So he's...I don't know man That one thing was really strange for me. I don't have any answer to it But what I mean, what is it? Why would they do that in an airport. It's just bizarre and I remember reading that I think they dug the same amount of dirt out of the ground as like they did out of the Suez Canal so it's just... There's stuff underneath there! I don't even think that specifically in the realm of conspiracy

52:50 sure the leaders of the world would want to find somewhere to go if, as they say, the shit hits the fan. But I mean they would find somewhere and I mean the Queen owns a lot of land around there as well which is... The Queen of England which is kind of strange Yeah, that's another thing. I mean it seems like a good place if there were if there was going to be some apocalyptic event It seems like a good place to go. It's in the middle of nowhere You could easily get some Pawns to be your little military around there and just hole up Lots of nice art to look at. Right, I guess another thing is that I don't know much about airports but apparently it's odd that there would be an international airport there considering its somewhat an exception to the rule in some way and in terms of how America does their international airports

53:39 I read that. Isn't it right? It's one of the top 10 biggest airports in the world as well, and the top ten biggest internationals. Right, considering the city it is in... Denver should be either in New York or LA or Chicago. Sure. A lot of weird stuff out there! We could talk about it forever but we've talked for about an hour now. One thing man, I'm really impressed with your success. I mean, not to say it's not without merit but there are a lot of people trying to write and you're 23 and now published in much of these publications that people would dream about being in And your now doing the documentary stuff You're doing it man! That's awesome Yeah, yeah I appreciate that I really appreciate you saying that For me its a no brainer

54:33 a lot of people could do it. You just need to get up and do it, you know? I didn't get anywhere from... Nobody's really said, oh, putting in good word for you or... It's just been hard work and putting yourself out there. A lot of the time people say how did you meet? How did you get meeting at Channel 4 or whatever? And so I'd just ring them or email them saying look, I've got an idea can I come on this beach? Okay! A lot of them will if I think you've got the ideas and you've got, a little bit of talent or whatever. You can take yourself far with them. Right. A lot of times people are their own worst enemy they don't think they can do it they talk themselves out of it and you gotta stop doing that people Definitely! I mean...I have done it alot to myself People say oh it must be great being a freelance journalist And I say well yeah in a way but I'm one step away from

55:26 you know, in the job center. You're not one step away from that at all times but it's just comes with the territory. But I think people if they can put their minds to something and just believe in themselves sometimes you have to take a risk and if it fails... It fails! At least you tried. Yeah man. Hey, If your ever out in the states and need someone to hold a camera dude I'll come out there we'll go treasure hunting in Grand Canyon. It will be like The Rundown if you ever saw that. You can be The Rock I'll be Sean William Scott. Definitely, definitely. I'll be Rosario Dawson. There you go! Well dude again it's been a blast i mean are there any interesting things you're going to be working on? You wanted to throw out there did you get your website finished

56:10 Oh yes, yeah. If anyone wants to... It's a bit... it's not totally finished but it is online now so if you go to jakehanrahan.com which is J-A-K-E H-A-N R-A-H-A-N dot com Yeah all my kind of I just pick my favorite work that I've written and thats all on there its like a portfolio website and a way to contact me yeah So also hopefully I should have a ebook out on the Kindle store which will be called Field Report, which is basically just a compilation of my work from 2011 until now that I think people are probably interested in. It's going to be up for like £1 or $1.50 so yeah i'm just gonna put that on there if anyone wants to pick it they can. Badass! Bender was there anything else you wanted to add before we let him go?

57:04 Oh no man, it was uh... You know what I really liked reading all those articles. You seem to view every conspiracy theory you've written about from kind of all sides and you're not afraid to say this might be or this might not? Yeah definitely! I mean i really appreciate the fact that you guys have read it read my articles and liked them as well. That for me, that's forgetting money or whatever...that is the ultimate favourite thing you know if I can write something and say like you know someone else reads it enjoys it thats amazing to me thats why when I make documentaries look heres some cool shit that I really like I've investigated I've looked into it you guys should look at it too! For me thats brilliant I really appreciate that you guys have enjoyed the work

57:44 with a conspiracy thing. I hate anybody that sneers, you know like kind of that sneering kind of thing anything so i mean why not give anything a chance? You know if you look into it get the facts not fiction that's what i always think. Hey man man! I feel the exact same way about this show...the fact that someone would sit down for an hour their day uh they're already stretched day and listen to some of the shit i'm talking about. I really appreciate thanks for letting me on. It's good you let me on thanks Of course man and it's oyjake on twitter Yeah, we yeah. All right. Oh Jay, okay? Yeah nice follow this man Hey, it's been great talking you keep up the solid work man best of luck. Thanks. I'll keep in touch all right, man Enjoy the day cool. Thanks alright. I like that guy what'd you think bender

58:27 That was a good show man a real good show I you know, I wish I could have asked him little bit more like actually he and I kind of had A little mini conversation on Twitter once about the that whole doctor catch him Situation with the Bigfoot DNA and I don't know if you'd know anything about that. I'm not gonna be a raccoon or something And so he and I kind of had a little mini conversation about that and I was super excited about that whole story for the longest time until I found out it was like all the red flags that came up with all of it. And they're like sheet, I guess in the science world like you're

59:07 Your theories and everything don't mean anything until they're published in a, your findings rather don't mean anything until they're published in the scientific journal. And no scientific journal would touch her work so she made her own scientific journal. So it was just being I was so excited at first because this would have been Mean and you know to a lot of people pretty much life-changing because you know, this would have been evidence of Bigfoot But then this lady just oh man. It was it was it was nuts There are so many people that put so much So much faith in all this and so excited about all of it not like this diehard bigfoot fan or anything I don't like

59:43 Follow him on Twitter or anything, but I mean it was still just you know It was it be it was exciting because it was like hey man somebody finally has some kind of DNA This might be this might be the smoking gun No, it was bullshit. Yeah, but no it's a really good episode though I was happy to talk to them and I said I wish I could have said more But uh, like you know, I sent even that text the girls just got home from my parents house and they're both sick so Right so I had a lot going on 99 problem. We're important exactly well You know Jake it's it's always a pleasure talking to you, I really wanted to thank you again for all your input here at THC It's a real bummer that they're not gonna be any more reality bender articles from you on the website But you know it's tough Jesus. I plan to write one once a week I've written like two total and I don't have any kids so right yeah I'm you know what I have been thinking about actually writing one I'm gonna try to you know if I can get one to you here in there I just can't

1:00:38 Can't see sitting down once a week and you know for two three hours four hours sometimes writing down a blog and shit like that But uh, you know I liked it don't get me wrong. It was so hard to find the time especially now That I've actually taken this new direction of like You know working out things like that if I work out for 45 minutes to an hour every night then that's just You know an hour less I had with my kids So if I do that and then blog then I won't see my kids at all for that day or two days Basically because you know, I work on Out of the house for about 12 hours a day with work sometimes longer. Sometimes last bit just depends on today but no it's you know what its III kind of feel bad for today's episode cuz uh, you know he said the girls just got home and so it's been kind of a

1:01:25 He's kind of being rushed around upstairs and everything at the house and people been coming downstairs wife's getting ready for something So yeah, I wish they could have said more today But there was a lot going on here whole lot going on at the bender house that holds It happens but I do appreciate The effort you have put in. I appreciate that You're gonna continue to be a co-host because I think we've had some good episodes together And I think we'll have some more so that's awesome Yep, just let me know when the next one is man. I'd be happy to move my schedule around Alright man well you know thanks everybody for listening? I hope you're staying entertained just by listening sticking with me It's really humbling it's a fucking honor You know check out conspiracies net from awesome conspiracy themed t-shirts of the finest quality new designs in the not too distant future I hope All right Jake enjoy your day Hey YouTube, I'll see people next week

1:02:20 Workers who turn that end and then back entries on for no more than your bread, your countries and cow factories and mills in the shipping them streamline the job. Once a sob we're the first ones to die! The first ones in line

1:03:16 In the sky and we're always last When the crane may sit out For the worker is working when The fat cat's about When the sky darkens And the prospect is worn And then pushed to the fore And expected to die We've never owned one down hand The first ones to starve, we're the first ones to die! The first one's in line for heaven and sky And we'll always be last when the rabbit shit out For the work of his working with no fat chance about! First ones to starve We're the first ones to die

1:04:33 The first ones in line for that pie in the sky And we're always last when the Kremlin's shed out The first ones to starve, we're the first ones to die! The first ones in line for that pie in the sky It's a blast when the Kremlin's shed out For the workers working with no fat can survive to carry women young and some are bigger than they think