In the first half, intelligence historian from the International Spy Museum, Vince Houghton, joined George Knapp to discuss how abandoned intelligence plans can be just as illuminating and every bit as entertaining as the ones that made it, vividly capturing the fascinating stories of how projects from WWII and the Cold War went from conception, planning, and testing to cancellation. Houghton said that the Spy Museum contains exhibits on everything from a 'microdot' (in which messages were hidden in the period at the end of the sentence) to the ice axe that was used to kill exiled Soviet Communist party founder Leon Trotsky. He says the museum does "the best we can to present the reality of intelligence to the public and the world."
Houghton described some of the most amazing and bizarre projects attempted by the CIA, such as "Operation Acoustic Kitty," in which the Agency tried to implant an electronic listening device in an ordinary housecat in order to spy on the Russians (and others.) He said that a cat was controlled by electrical stimulation and actually doing "exactly what they wanted it to," but in the very first live test, it was run over by a cab. Houghton stated that "disinformation and deception is incredibly important" for doing intelligence and defense work, but that it can become overused and must be wielded carefully and against enemies, not against a government’s own people. He emphasized his belief that "Russia is showing every day that they are our adversary" and attempting to turn the U.S. population against each other.
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There is said to be a vast world beneath our feet, a civilization located at the innermost core of our planet. Some call it the Hollow Earth or the Inner Earth. It has been described as a virtual paradise by some and a horrifying, hellish nightmare by others. In the second half, author, publisher, and paranormal investigator, Timothy Green Beckley detailed how this mysterious realm has been sought for centuries. Beckley said the modern era of Hollow Earth mania essentially began with magazine publisher Raymond Palmer and his publication of the stories of Richard Shaver, who claimed to have heard of an underground civilization which he described in detail in stories for Palmer’s magazine, Amazing Stories beginning in 1943.
Beckley also discussed the accont of famous early polar explorer Richard Byrd and Byrd’s belief that there was some sort of land beyond the poles which contained strange plants and animals. The government of Nazi Germany attempted to hire Byrd to lead an expedition to the Antarctic in order to see if there was a "master race" of Aryans living there. Byrd refused, but Beckley related that the Nazis went on their own the next year and claimed a large portion of the continent for themselves. Beckley also detailed stories of underground races and civilizations, from tales of golden plates found in a cave in South America to Pennsylvania miners who claimed that a race of underground dwellers helped them survive a cave-in, and reports of "a tunnel system that was constructed by titans from outer space eons ago."