Episode 410: After Contact (in the Desert)

This week Byron, Sam, and Kelly return from Contact in the Desert—the sprawling, sun-drenched gathering in Palm Springs where the leading minds (and hearts) in UAP research, consciousness studies, and high strangeness come together to explore the unknown.

 

Helmed by Captain Ron Janix and his team, this annual conference defies easy categorization: part symposium, part spiritual retreat, part carnival of the anomalous. But what stood out most in our first year there? The human connection—unexpected, unguarded, and deeply kind. Nearly every conversation was marked not by shouting or smug certainty, but by curiosity, generosity, and mutual respect.

 

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Chapters:
0:00 Intro
1:58 Reporter vs Researcher
3:45 Day One
4:27 Can You Eat in an Uber?
7:30 Guest Spotting & Time in the Lobby Bar
8:52 Bolts vs Woo: Handling Conspiratorial Leanings
13:11 Whitley Strieber’s Reflections on Communion, Trauma, and Transformation
19:15 D.U.M.B.s to DNA
24:27 Psionics
26:23 Marc D’Antonio’s balance of warmth, skepticism, and science
30:45 USO Debate
36:24 Emergency Evacuation
39:24 Podcasts in the Desert
42:21 Jeremy Corbell is PARANOID
46:19 Skywatching 
51:57 CITD Changed Us!
55:29 Mitch Randall, & Ross Coulthart Keynote
59:34 Dean Alioto's Alien Perspective and James Fox's Program
1:01:45 Jesse Michels & Allen Town
1:03:04 Rogan, Gino of the Why Files
1:05:16 Last Podcast in the Desert
1:07:18 Two Hour Uber, Fourteen Hour Layover
1:19:14 Mysterious Caller...

Sam reflected on the profound kindness of strangers, finding a deeply human community in the heart of the weird. Kelly kept stumbling into conversations about faith, politics, fear, and hope—each one unfolding with rare grace. Byron, the perennial skeptic, did his best to stay open, but did his intentions win out over his involuntary production and journalistic instincts?

Contact in the Desert Website ⇒ https://contactinthedesert.com/home/about-the-show/
Captain Ron’s Beyond Contact ⇒ ​​https://www.coasttocoastam.com/guest/ron-janix/ 

Dean Alioto
Watch The Alien Perspective ⇒ https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/the-alien-perspective/umc.cmc.4kghab9qmb0ky8k7gn9670v48
Watch The Alien Perspective Part II ⇒ https://tv.apple.com/gb/movie/the-alien-perspective-part-ii/umc.cmc.78zroqmf3pd2wfaba4n2nm82h
Filmography ⇒ ​​https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0019665/?ref_=nmbio_ov_bk
Website ⇒ https://www.deanaliotodirector.com/

Whitley Strieber
Whitley Strieber’s Unknown Country ⇒ https://unknowncountry.com/

James Fox
The Program & more ⇒ https://tv.apple.com/us/person/james-fox/umc.cpc.6nn94fbb6henu22kyijnrv1p9
Filmography ⇒ ​​https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2276454/

Marc D’Antonio
SkyTour Livestream (YouTube) ⇒ https://www.youtube.com/marcdantonio

Jesse Michels
American Alchemy YouTube Channel ⇒ https://www.youtube.com/Jessemichels

Mitch Randall
Skywatch ⇒ https://ascendantai.com/skywatch
Galileo Project ⇒ https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/galileo/people

Gino Gentile
The Why Files YouTube ⇒ https://www.youtube.com/thewhyfil