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Gabriel Mckee

@secret-terror.bsky.social
253 followers 214 following 349 posts

Print culture, libraries, religion, science fiction, comics, PKD, Coptic language. "The Saucerian: UFOs, Men in Black, and the Unbelievable Life of Gray Barker" available now from the MIT Press.

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Gabriel Mckee @secret-terror.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
ONE MONTH TO GO until the submission deadline for next year's meeting of the Popular Culture Association! We're seeking abstracts for a special session series on "UFOs, Cryptids, Conspiracies, & the Paranormal."
Bright pink background with clip-art images of a UFO, ghost, sasquatch, and a pyramid-topping eye. The text reads: One month left! Send us your abstracts on weird culture! Proposals due October 31. (Ooh spooky.) Popular Culture Association 2027 Special Topic: UFOs, Cryptids, Conspiracies, and the Paranormal (Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association) Boston, Massachusetts Organization: Popular Culture Association Event: Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Categories: Popular Culture, 20th & 21st Century, Anthropology/Sociology, Cultural Studies, Film, TV, & Media, History. Event: March 24-27. Abstract deadline: October 31. Days left: 30.
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Gabriel Mckee @secret-terror.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Upcoming lecture by Jeb J. Card (author of SPOOKY ARCHAEOLOGY) on Oct. 29 at ISAW: "He Saw Mysteries and Knew Secret Things”: The Use and Abuse of Near Eastern Archaeology and Myth in Paranormal Discourse. Register here: isaw.nyu.edu/events/isawl... @isawlibrary.bsky.social @isawnyu.bsky.social
isaw.nyu.edu
"He Saw Mysteries and Knew Secret Things”: The Use and Abuse of Near Eastern Archaeology and Myth in Paranormal Discourse
Professor Jeb Card, known for his book Spooky Archaeology, will present a primer for understanding the use and abuse of archaeology and mythology of Ancient Southwest Asia in current and popular paran...
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Gabriel Mckee @secret-terror.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Legend
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Gabriel Mckee @secret-terror.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Just broke through to fewer than 100 pages in need of transcription in Zebrapedia (the "incomplete pages" number). Next phase is review... so let me know if you'd like to help! fromthepage.com/zebrapedia/
Statistics page from the "From the Page" project "Zebrapedia", or Philip K. Dick's Exegesis. The statistics listed are:
95 works
8,574 pages
3,000 notes
3,119 pages transcribed
15 works transcribed
98 incomplete pages
5,357 pages needing review
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Gabriel Mckee @secret-terror.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Call for papers: "UFOs, Cryptids, Conspiracies, & the Paranormal" -- A special topic at the 2027 meeting of the Popular Culture Association (Boston, 24-27 March 2027) I'm thrilled to be co-chairing this new area for the PCA. Deadline for abstracts is October 31! www.cfplist.com/CFP/49935
cfplist.com
The CFP List
An academic call for papers database.
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Rodger Sherman @rodger.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Remember if you’ve ever heard a Republican claim they’re actually ok with immigration but just want all the immigrants to do it legally, they were lying
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Gabriel Mckee @secret-terror.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Here's the final schedule for next week's online workshop "Evidence, Experience, and Authority in Contested Knowledge." Excited to be participating to talk about one of my favorite figures in the flying saucer world, the very-little-known John W. Dean.
Evidence, Experience, and Authority in Contested Knowledge 
International Interdisciplinary Workshop (final program 10 August 2026) 

Online | 26-27 August 2026 

Organised by Dr Lucia Assenzi (PH Tirol) & Dr Matteo Polato (Manchester Metropolitan University) 

All sessions are scheduled in UK time. 

Presentations are 20 minutes long, with 10 minutes reserved for discussion. 

Wednesday 26th August 
Session Link: Evidence, Experience, and Authority in Contested Knowledge - day 1 : (link at end of alt text)

12:00-12:30 – Welcome and Introduction 

12:30-14:00 – Panel 1: Evidence in Media, Politics and Conspiracies 

David Mee - Screenshot: The Ephemeral Evidentiality of the Web 

Dmitry A. Mikhailov and Nikolai M. Ternov - “Great Again”: Repetition and Evidential Authority in Political Discourse 

Isabella Ferron - Evidentiality and Epistemic Authority in German-Language Conspiracy Discourse 

14:00-14:30 – Online Coffee Break 

14:30-16:30 – Panel 2: Contested Evidentiality in UAPs and UFOs Discourse 

Aaron French - UAP Esotericism and Negotiating the Weird 

Gabriel Mckee - Religious epistemology, charismatic authority, and syncretism in the flying saucer contactee movement: John W. Dean’s portrait of the extraterrestrial realm 

Greg Eghigian - Weighing the Truth of Testimony in the UFO and Alien Encounter Experience 

16:30-17:00 – Discussion 

Session link: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/368563501527692?p=jitZkdkn5V2jZ1J4ezThursday 27th August 

Session Link: Evidence, Experience, and Authority in Contested Knowledge - day 2 (link at end of alt text)

12:00-13:30 – Panel 3: Evidence in Religions and Conspiratorial Beliefs 

Marielle Hesselink - Embodying the Conspiracy: Satanic Ritual Abuse and the Credibility of Female Survivor Entrepreneurs 

Krushna Dande - Hitler's UFOs Against the Demiurge: Miguel Serrano's Gnostic Conspiracy 

Marion Ronca - After the "New Age": Bert Hellinger's family constellations between "effective" and "unscientific" 

13:30 – 14:00 – Online Coffee Break 

14:00 – 15:00 – Panel 4: Spiritualism, Ghosts and Scientific Evidence 

Emma Merkling - ‘Science, Spectacle, and Spiritualist Belief: Margery Crandon’s Photographic Performances’ 

Helen Hall - Evidence and the Cock Lane Ghost Saga 

15:00 - 15:15 – Short Online Break 

15:15 - 16:15 - Panel 5: Cryptozoological Traces and Remains 

Jason Potel - Torso to tale: The Feejee Mermaid as Scientific Specimen in Evangelical America 

Nicholas Mohlmann - “Whatever the Loveland Frogman Is or Isn’t”: fortean citation and autobiographical evidence in Zelia Edgar’s Just Another Tinfoil Hat 

16:15-16:45 – Concluding Remarks

Session link (day 2): https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/329494459691091?p=dBAfrU7cxMtyqZ2ifA
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Gabriel Mckee @secret-terror.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Bandcamp Friday time! This time I'm getting a whole buncha weepy atmospheric black metal from Sadness... sadnessmusic.bandcamp.com
sadnessmusic.bandcamp.com
Sadness
https://patreon.com/user?u=2974746
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Gabriel Mckee @secret-terror.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
The CFP for the 2027 meeting of the Popular Culture Association (to be held in Boston in March) is open-- and I'm thrilled to be co-chairing a special topic area on "UFOs, Cryptids, Conspiracies, and the Paranormal"! pcaaca.org/page/submiss...
pcaaca.org
Submission Guidelines - Popular Culture Association
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Gabriel Mckee @secret-terror.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
If you had to sum up 2026 in a single sentence, you could do worse than:
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Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 22/07/2026
Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal.
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Gabriel Mckee @secret-terror.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Received a doozy of a fake marketing email --- 1000 words of 100% AI generated text. I usually just ignore things like this, but there's a very strong temptation to respond to this one with: "Why would I bother to read what you didn't bother to write?"
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Gabriel Mckee @secret-terror.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Reminder to everyone
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Gabriel Mckee @secret-terror.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
"You crossed the wrong people, motherfucker."
The cast of Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, dressed in mostly hospital garb and wielding a variety of firearms
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Gabriel Mckee @secret-terror.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Odyssey coverage has reminded me of this thing that actually happened: A few weeks after 300 came out, I was walking with some friends near Astor Place, and two teenagers rode by on bikes. One of them yelled, "We ride FOR SPARTA!" and the other followed up with "We ride FOR MARTHA!"
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Gabriel Mckee @secret-terror.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
CFP: Spielberg's Alien Imaginary and American Spirituality popularcultureandtheology.com/2026/06/11/c...
popularcultureandtheology.com
Call for Papers: Spielberg’s Alien Imaginary and American Spirituality
Call for Papers From Close Encounters to Disclosure: Spielberg’s Alien Imaginary and American Spirituality Proposed Edited Volume for the Pop Culture and Theology Series Since the release of …
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Billie on the Skeet @cosmiccroptop.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Ok, so I kind of want to talk out the implications of if The Minions were present at the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ
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Gabriel Mckee @secret-terror.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
He wants to get excommunicated so bad Like Henry VIII levels of wanting to be excommunicated
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Gabriel Mckee @secret-terror.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
"I'm Officer Waste, this is Officer Abuse"
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Gabriel Mckee @secret-terror.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Real Streisand Effect vibes from ICE this week, which will go to any length to get people not to remember the name of murderer Jonathan Ross
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Gabriel Mckee @secret-terror.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Looks like Alan Moore is still mad about "eggy in a basket"
"Finishing what she'd said was an Egyptian fish-eye sandwich -- basically, breaking an egg into a hole torn in a slice of bread already frying in the pan -- Grace swigged her tea and shrugged."

A portion of a page from I hear a New World by Alan Moore (Bloomsbury, 2026))
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Gabriel Mckee @secret-terror.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
From Michael D. Gordin's "The Pseudoscience Wars" (U. Chicago Press, 2012), Einstein's brilliantly bitchy response to Immanuel Velikovsky's "Worlds in Collision":
"Einstein answered that Velikovsky had 'the stuff to thoroughly disprove even the table of multiplication with your historical-philological methods. Of the applause of laymen, who have a secret grudge against arithmetic, you can be assured.'"
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Pookleblinky @pookleblinky.bsky.social · 26/12/2025
The explicit goal of the people happily setting fire to the internet in order to burn trans people, is that the only internet a child gets to experience is one specifically shaped by the whims of a billionaire freak.
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Gabriel Mckee @secret-terror.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
CFP extended to July 1 for the Northeast Popular Culture Association's virtual conference, which will be online on Oct. 15-17-- www.northeastpca.org/call-for-pap...
northeastpca.org
Call for Papers | NEPCA - Northeastpca
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Gabriel Mckee @secret-terror.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
Graham Platner removes lifelike silicone mask, reveals he's actually John Fetterman
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Gabriel Mckee @secret-terror.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
"Everyone does it," say the only people who do it
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Gabriel Mckee @secret-terror.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
It's fascinating what words in PKD's handwriting the HTR engine in Zebrapedia consistently can't recognize: "Tears" (as in "Flow my...") is pretty consistently rendered "Flars." "Knowledge" usually comes out "hroulege." "Camouflage" is interpreted all kinds of ways, all of them wrong.
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Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
The same Trump-appointee who fucked with the Broadview 6 grand jury is the one going after E. Jean Carroll.
Andrew Boutros, the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney for Northern Illinois, has opened an criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll, the 82-year-old former magazine writer who accused President Trump of sexual assault, according to a person with direct knowledge of the situation.

The investigation is believed to center on whether Ms. Carroll committed perjury in civil lawsuits against Mr. Trump, according to the person, who requested anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. Ms. Carroll won a $5 million civil judgment against Mr. Trump that he had sexually abused and defamed her.Grand jurors in tainted 'Broadview 6' case had contact with Chicago's top federal prosecutor, defense says
U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros responded by saying he has only attended grand jury proceedings “as the Chief Legal Advisor to the federal grand juries of this district, including to welcome them when they were impaneled or to advise generally on the role, function, and importance of the grand jury in our constitutional system of laws.”
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Gabriel Mckee @secret-terror.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
Elder abuse doesn't end with death, apparently. Also, the mere thought of listening to an entire audiobook narrated by Stan Lee-- real or AI slop version -- gives me a cluster headache. The maximum safe dosage is like 3 minutes.
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Gabriel Mckee @secret-terror.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
Many thanks to @colindickey.com for reviewing "Behold the Behemouth" for Poetry Magazine-- Colin gets why this writing is important & does a great job of making you get it too. (It also opens the door for a weighty debate on the meaning of Gray Barker's fart jokes.)
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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
Another reminder: if there exists *any* class of people who don't have due process rights, then *nobody* actually has due process rights because the government can always just say you're in that class.
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Gabriel Mckee @secret-terror.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Sadie Killer and the Suspects, from Steven Universe. 
Sadie, the vocalist, has green hair, red eyeliner, and a black shirt. The three other members of the band wear suits.
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Gabriel Mckee @secret-terror.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
Ubik The Sparrow Jerusalem
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Gabriel Mckee @secret-terror.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
If I ever become one of those people who responds to someone's question by posting a screenshot of AI chatbot text, please drop me in a weighted barrel directly into the Mariana Trench
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Jen Mercieca @jenmercieca.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
I would prefer not to I reject your assumptions I deny your premises I refuse your authority I do not capitulate Be ungovernable my friends
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Jacob Weindling @jakeweindling.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
ie:
My post from today: it started out as a jokey bit I'd do from time to time, but I really have come to believe that the GOP hates America more than Osama bin Laden did
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Gabriel Mckee @secret-terror.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
It is our sacred duty to ensure that this entire class of goons becomes penniless
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Jacob Weindling @jakeweindling.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
One funny part about today's UAP document dump is how it's the crowning moment of years of hard work by 3 GOP Reps who have taken a ton of shit for it, and all 3 of them today are like "thank you so much dear leader for making all of this happen." www.jezebel.com/trumps-under...
jezebel.com
Putting His Name on Chuck Schumer's UFO Homework Won't Save Trump's Failing Presidency
Since 2007, Jezebel has been the Internet's most treasured source for everything celebrities, sex, and politics...with teeth.
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Gabriel Mckee @secret-terror.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
After all the digging I care to do today into the distraction-from-Iran-and-the-Epstein-Files-and-the-rapid-erosion-of-our-civil-rights "UAP" release, here are my thoughts on the only parts I really care about: --A bunch of this was already released, albeit in lower quality and with more redactions.
Redacted section of an FBI file, released several years ago. The text, with various stamps, numbers, and pencilled annotations, reads:
"This letter stated in part as follows: Dear Mr [redacted]. You have often wondered where the 3 men came from that silenced [redacted]. I can give you the answer because 3 men tried to silence  [redacted]. tells me that the 3 men were from the FBI, Air Force Intelligence, and the Central Intelligence Agency. It was the man from the CIA who made the threats that were designed to shut [redacted] up." One of the pencilled annotations reads "No action." Anyone with a cursory knowledge of the flying saucer field would be able to fill in the names "Barker," "Bender," and "Adamski" in the redacted portions. Unredacted section of an FBI file, released on May 8, 2026. The text, with various stamps, numbers, and pencilled annotations, reads:
"This letter stated in part as follows: Dear Mr Barker. You have often wondered where the 3 men came from that silenced Bender. I can give you the answer because 3 men tried to silence George Adamski. Adamski tells me that the 3 men were from the FBI, Air Force Intelligence, and the Central Intelligence Agency. It was the man from the CIA who made the threats that were designed to shut Adamski up." One of the pencilled annotations reads "No action."
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Gabriel Mckee @secret-terror.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
*This* is the Great American Road Trip
A poster for the movie "The Donner Party." The main image shows a wide shot of a man in Western attire dragging a body through the snow. The upper portion shows images of the four top-billed actors above the film's logo (in red text that gradually turns into dripping blood.). The tagline is: "Based on the true story of survival." The top-billed cast is Crispin Glover, Clayne Crawford, Mark Boone Junior, and Christian Kane.
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Gabriel Mckee @secret-terror.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Bwa-ha-ha www.war.gov/UFO/#65_HS1-...
war.gov
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Gabriel Mckee @secret-terror.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
MAHA looks at for-profit healthcare and thinks it's the "healthcare" part that's the problem
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No Joyman @nojoyman.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
(they're all going to a beautiful digital repository upstate where they'll be able to run around in the sunshine as much as they want, they'll be so happy)
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Gabriel Mckee @secret-terror.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
Pretty exciting CFP for an online workshop on "Evidence, Experience, and Authority in Contested Knowledge". Interdisciplinary discussions on how knowledge is constructed in the worlds ofUFOs, NRMs, conspiracies, and cryptids? Sign me up! www.wikicfp.com/cfp/servlet/...
wikicfp.com
Evidence in Contested Knowledge 2026 : Evidence, Experience, and Authority in Contested Knowledge
Evidence in Contested Knowledge 2026 : Evidence, Experience, and Authority in Contested Knowledge
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Gabriel Mckee @secret-terror.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
Unstoppable compulsion to respond to a CFP with an abstract that basically says "Sure, I'll re-read Alan Moore's 1200-page JERUSALEM again"
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Gabriel Mckee @secret-terror.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
It's Bandcamp Friday! Here's some of what I'm getting: Pet Scan -- Shoegaze-ish stuff from my old pal @mchlnrtn.bsky.social petscan.bandcamp.com/album/sick-o...
petscan.bandcamp.com
sick on years, by pet scan
8 track album
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Gabriel Mckee @secret-terror.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
Coming up tonight -- I'll be live on the Talking Weird podcast to discuss Gray Barker's UFO poetry! 10pm Eastern/9pm Central, on YouTube (and the podcast source of your choice, via the Untold Radio Network) thereafter. www.youtube.com/live/ACOPQPb...
youtube.com
Gray Barker's UFO Poetry with Gabriel Mckee | Talking Weird #193
YouTube video by Untold Radio Network
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Gabriel Mckee @secret-terror.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
A great review of THE SAUCERIAN in the International Journal for the Study of New Religions, by the also-great @erik-a-w-oestling.bsky.social -- who is absolutely the right person to be reviewing it! doi.org/10.1558/ijsn...
doi.org
The Saucerian: UFOs, Men in Black, and the Unbelievable Life of Gray Barker, by Gabriel McKee | International Journal for the Study of New Religions
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Gabriel Mckee @secret-terror.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
It's been exactly one year since the official release of THE SAUCERIAN!
The cover of the book "The Saucerian: UFOs, Men in Black, and the Unbelievable Life of Gray Barker," by Gabriel Mckee. The cover shows a UFO hovering over a valley emitting a beam of light, beneath the title in green and yellow. The book is standing on a table next to a lit candle in the shape of the number one.
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