My Appearance on the Archy Fantasies Podcast

6/23/2015

Earlier this spring Destination America, one of the Discovery Networks’ cable stations aimed at a “hillbilly” audience (according to wording used in their own programming), refreshed their graphic design as part of their move to give the channel a more distinct identity. According to Ferroconcrete, the design firm behind the change, their guiding motivation in developing the new look was the channel’s “homespun lineup of all things good: fun, food and phantoms.” Yes, being stalked, attacked, or raped by a ghost—as Destination America programming claims happens every day—is “homespun” and “good.” But take a look at the icons Ferroconcrete created to represent “America.”

Yes, ’Murica: equal parts the Fourth of July, apple pie, and crazy conspiracies and cryptids like Chupacabra (an illegal immigrant), Bigfoot, werewolves, UFOs, aliens, and ghosts.

Now the disclosure: Earlier this year I appeared on the American Heroes Channel, a sister station to Destination America, and several years ago producers for Destination America auditioned me to host a TV show they never produced.

In lieu of a full blog post today, please enjoy my appearance yesterday on the Archaeological Fantasies podcast. I recorded the episode a few months ago, and I think you’ll enjoy it. You can listen below or download from the link above.

30 Comments

Scarecrow

6/23/2015 01:15:56 am

I forecast that within a decade stuff like Area 51, Bigfoot, the Jesus Bloodline (Talpiot tomb & Knights Templar integrated) and Wicca will all be on the mainstream school educational curriculum.

6/24/2015 03:17:52 am

TBH, Wicca SHOULD be in a mainstream curriculum--it should be taking its place with several other religions in any good "World Studies" or "Religions" class. It is in fact a legit religion, regardless of the fact that it owes its existence to James Gardner in the 1950s. As such, it does not belong in the same group as conspiracy theories and pseudo-history. It belongs in the group over there labeled "mythologies and religions," right beside Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Shinto, Buddhism, Greek and Roman mythologies and practices, ancestor worship, etc. etc. etc.

And like any other religion, it should be taught ABOUT, but NEVER taught in a public school system.

Scarecrow

6/24/2015 08:19:21 am

Wicca is without historical pedigree, it is a do-it-yourself system of belief reflecting the whims of whoever creates it.

6/24/2015 04:02:29 pm

Scarecrow, don't be an insensitive ass. ALL religions are "do-it-yourself systems" because that's how religions come into being in the first place. I don't give a fuck if you believe in it, but I take deep exception to you passing judgment on a legitimate religion that has NOTHING WHATEVER to do with the conspiracy theories you listed. You sound like you have some sort of irrational prejudice against Wicca when you do that.

Oh, and no, I'm not Wiccan, but I OBVIOUSLY know way more about it than you do.

Scarecrow

6/24/2015 05:13:28 pm

You missed out the bit about Wicca lacking a historical pedigree and dates back to Gerald Gardner.

A.D.

6/23/2015 02:02:03 am

lol fake wrestling

CFC

6/23/2015 03:59:21 am

Great job on the podcast!

al etheredge

6/23/2015 04:03:02 am

I'll buy into all of it except the Ford station wagon. I was always more of a Vista Cruiser kinda guy.

Jason Colavito link

6/23/2015 05:01:43 am

It's rather interesting that virtually everything in those icons is associated with midcentury, middle-class America. Even the design is 1950s/1960s.

Andy White

6/23/2015 05:38:28 am

Wait, I don't see a Confederate battle flag anywhere. Are you sure you got all of them?

Bob Jase

6/24/2015 06:32:59 am

These are the rejected designs then.

Only Me

6/23/2015 08:53:28 am

Since Scott Wolter was discussed, here's something straight from his blog:

Scott Wolter June 21, 2015 at 8:14 AM

Incidentally, in a recent Westford newspaper article (http://westford.wickedlocal.com/article/20150618/NEWS/150615836#150615836/?Start=2&_suid=1434897266068029362093442392145) blogger Jason Covalito, was asked to weigh in on the Westford Knight. Why I don't know, but clearly he has his facts wrong and then offers a predictably negative opinion that adds nothing to the discussion. Quote, “Many different suggestions have been made over the years, including Native American, Viking, and Scottish carvers, as well as modern carving on a rock shaped largely by glacial forces,” Colavito said in an email, “The best evidence archaeology has is that the image is largely a figment of the imagination, glacial markings perceived as a knight and a sword handle, enhanced by punch marks in the shape of a sword blade that witnesses said were added by two boys in the late 1800s.”

FACT, neither "archaeology" or Covalito has anything to offer regarding age in the case of the carvings in Westford; they are solely questions of geology. He then offers a statement that archaeology, "has it that the image is largely a figment of the imagination." Imagination? FACT: there is clearly a sword carved at the site as well as a symbol with two dots that appears to be a Hooked X.

Finally, Jason cements his complete lack of understanding of the site which he clearly has never seen by making the false statement that "witnesses" said the blade of the sword was added by boy in the 1800's. FACT: the carver took advantage of deep, parallel glacial striations to serve as the blade, there were no peck marks to make the blade. FACT: the "boys in the 1800's" scratched out a pipe several inches above the handle of the sword. The good news about the "boys pipe" in the 1800's is it served as a weathering control and clearly the pipe is less advanced than the sword and the Hooked X.

It would behoove Mr. Covalito to get his facts straight before criticizing something he knows nothing about. It undermines his credibility as a legitimate skeptic. If he were more diligent in his research and offered a balanced view he might actually serve as an asset. Statements like these show that isn't likely to happen and further muddies the already murky waters of our pre-Columbian history.

He also had this to say about the KRS:

Scott Wolter June 21, 2015 at 12:05 PM

Dave,

I'm planning on posting a very frank discussion about the status of research with the Kensington Rune Stone. Simply put; it's a mess created intentionally by two specific individuals solely to wrestle control of the discussion with the intent of directing attention and credit their way.

They have failed of course, but they did succeed in leaving a huge mess in their wake. It's one we can still clean up, but it going to come with some tough love

The real kicker, however, is when he tells an anonymous poster (questioning the presence of the Hooked X on the Westford stone and its presence on the new statue):

"The Hooked X was obviously there 120 years ago, it's just that nobody understood what the Hooked X was until 2009 when I published it."

But, you'd have to read through the comments for yourselves. It's rather entertaining the amount of accusations he throws around.

Scarecrow

6/23/2015 09:29:10 am

The story goes that the markings on the Westford Rock have now deteriorated to such an extent that they no longer resemble those found on the rock 50 years ago. Therefore, how much different were the markings on the rock during the 18th or 19th centuries.

Scarecrow

6/23/2015 09:40:39 am

If we examine page 54 of this book by William B. Goodwin published in 1946 - all that could be identified on the Westford Rock was the outline of an alleged sword.

http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015011346304;view=1up;seq=419

By 1954 Frank Glynn had chalked the contours of a complete armoured knight on the rock - something nobody else had ever previously seen !

Scarecrow

6/23/2015 09:49:29 am

Correct URL for page 54 of Goodwin's book depicting the sword on the westford rock

http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015011346304;view=1up;seq=58

David Bradbury

6/23/2015 08:30:41 pm

I suspect that the "deterioration over 50 years" may be just an attempt to explain why the figure today (unchalked) looks so indistinct. In reality, as the 1946 photos indicate, it never looked distinct, apart from the sword. As I suggested a couple of days ago, we can be pretty confident that the sword carving did not exist in the 1870s and 1880s when the "Indian" image was first mentioned.

Given the strong possibility that the two late-19th-century boys carved only the peace pipe, not the sword, we may well have ended up with a situation where the sword was carved c1900, in response to the discovery of the Kensington Runestone !

Scarecrow

6/24/2015 12:59:06 am

The "sword" on the rock may have been the torso and shoulders of the Indian. In any case, what we are dealing with here is Face on Mars stuff.

Scarecrow

6/24/2015 01:16:45 am

Frederick Pohl had published his 45 page booklet in 1950 about Henry Sinclair discovering America - Pohl also knew about the existence of the Westford rock and corresponded with Frank Glynn about it, although they both had different interpretations.

Pohl's contours of the "Westford Knight" can be found on page 162 of his book "Prince Henry Sinclair His Expedition To The New World published in 1974, reproduced here:

https://beaujuste.files.wordpress.com/2000/01/westford-knight.jpg?w=250

David Bradbury

6/24/2015 01:26:57 am

Aha, thanks! Can anybody confirm the actual location of the Victorian "peace pipe" addition to the Westford Knight- is it by the current "face" or by the current "sword pommel" ?

Scarecrow

6/24/2015 04:04:57 am

Re: the location of the peace pipe on the Westford rock - David Goudsward does not go into any detail about that in his book and there does not seem to be any online photograph of that. This requires on-the-spot research with a good camera.

David Bradbury

6/24/2015 08:10:33 am

Looking at William Fowler's report, picture on page 21 of:
http://library.bridgew.edu/exhibits/BMAS/pdf/MAS-v21n02.pdf
an amusing possibility occurs ....

https://www.flickr.com/photos/custompeacepipes/3850745945

titus pullo

6/23/2015 09:38:20 am

The Nomad would be a great icon or Bob Big Boy (should he stay or should he go...showing my age here..I voted for him to go). Or Sonic trademark? Actually its not a bad station...we all like highway 66 journeys...the US had regional flavors back them..now you get the same chain restaurants and same strip malls and same housing developments from Maine to Texas to California. I'll take a nation when we had more regional ethnicity and character..it was more interesting than the sameness of today.

Shane Sullivan

6/23/2015 12:32:57 pm

That was boss--I had no idea Ken Feder was one of the hosts.

David Bradbury

6/24/2015 01:34:24 am

Yes, Jason was particularly good on the background and wider implications of crazy pseudo-history.

Uncle Ron

6/23/2015 03:25:06 pm

I noticed that the hostess and the Wolter blog quote referenced above referred to you as Jason Colvalito.

Jason Colavito link

6/23/2015 11:29:00 pm

No one has ever been able to pronounce my name correctly my entire life, or spell it either. I'm used to it by now.

Clete

6/24/2015 04:54:55 am

Actually, if you are going back to the 1950's and 60's Americana, that was one of the golden ages of baseball. Mantle, Mays, Musial, but also a very fine hitter by the name of Rocky Colavito. Col-a-vito. I sure you are not related, but your name is not that hard to pronounce. She seemed a good interviewer, but she also should have taken the time to research and pronounce your name correctly.

Kal

6/24/2015 10:28:55 am

SW, I am not JC. I joked about the hooked x. Get over it. The westward knight doesn't really look like anything resembling a knight.

Runes are not written out with byline, body, text and postscript, like a modern English essay. SW should at least know that. Yes, those Vikings must have invented 1800s script. of the type used in telegraph messages before the age of telephones. It is literally a telegram. It is therefore a fake script put there in the 1800s.

I will translate: Attention! He who reads this script is a fool, and he who is fooled by it is fooled. So don't be fooled.

Kal

6/24/2015 10:47:23 am

Colavito, pronoun, (coh la vee toh), light Italian accent on the ending vowels. 'la' would be said more like a flat a note than a hard a note. Vi would be said like it has two 'ees' after it. That'd be my guess.

In some versions this might be a silent l in there somewhere, but in this case the l is not silent.