Episode 268 – Daniel Reed on Vegetable Man and Gray Barker

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Episode Summary:

First, Ben and Celestia ruminate on past Key Bridge conspiracy theories, RFK Jr.’s latest efforts to destroy public health, rage bait and the “Cártel de los Soles.” Then for our main segment Daniel Reed, founder of the West Virginia Skeptics Society, joins us to discuss the Vegetable Man, a cryptid/alien one-hit-wonder. This blood-sucking, fiber-rich fiction is part of Gray Barker’s menagerie — Barker was a colorful character who loved a good story and had a few skeletons in his own closet, one of which led to the creation of the modern “men in black” mythos. Daniel has done his homework and culled heaps of information from the reams of original correspondence in Barker’s archives.

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alien, archives, Barker, Cartel de los Soles, cryptid, Daniel Reed, Francis Scott Key Bridge Collapse, Gray Barker, investigation, Key Bridge, Key Bridge Collapse, lore, Men in Black, Mothman, research, RFK, RFK Jr., Trump, Vegetable Man, West Virginia, West Virginia Skeptics Society
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Episode 269: Fluoride fallacies and dentistry weirdness with Dr. Grant Ritchey, DDS
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Standard disclaimer: All show transcripts—yes, including this one—was AI-generated and skimmed by at least two busy and fallible humans. They offer an overview of the show but you’ll find occasional typos and glitches and therefore should not be assumed to be accurate or verbatim. Readers who wish to quote anything here for any reason are encouraged to check it against the original audio at the time stamps provided. Thanks.