Podcast Summary: Bigfoot Collectors Club – Declassified December: "Ultimate BS or Believe It 7!"
Podcast: Bigfoot Collectors Club
Episode: Declassified December: "Ultimate BS or Believe It 7!"
Release Date: December 24, 2025
Hosts: Michael McMillian & Riley Bray
Source: BCC The Other Side (Supercast exclusive)
Episode Overview
This end-of-year tradition has hosts Michael McMillian and Riley Bray revisit every story of "High Strangeness" covered in the past year. They play their annual game, BS or Believe It, openly debating whether the tales from cryptids, UFOs, hauntings, and psychic phenomenon are total BS or truly believable. Listeners get a funny, insightful, and warm analysis of the paranormal—plus lots of club in-jokes and some behind-the-scenes reflection on eight years of podcasting together.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. Reflecting on Time and Aging (02:52–04:41)
- Michael and Riley open with a personal, heartfelt conversation about their aging pets and the passage of time, tying it to the eight-year run of the show.
- "Reminders of time passing just really been bumming me out lately, you know?" – Michael [04:00]
- Riley notes, “We were younger men when we started, my friend.” [04:41]
2. Clubhouse & Listener Community Updates (05:26–06:54)
- Appreciation for long-time listeners and those migrating from Patreon to their new home on Supercast.
- A new era for the show is marked as this is the first fully Supercast-exclusive bonus episode.
3. Show Bible & Institutional Memory (07:56–09:49)
- Michael discusses the project of relistening to the entire show's archive to create a "show bible" and catalog running gags, show lore, and pop-culture takes.
- “What's going to be wild is I might re-listen to the show as I'm doing it…” [07:47]
4. Listener Comments Highlight (10:22–14:38)
- Shoutouts to commenters Fig Newton 14, Resident Drow, and Katie Q, touching on haunted locations, Soviet nuclear mishaps, and Riley’s Halloween music.
- Riley suggests creating a Discord channel just for videos of fans "porch blasting" his cosmic tracks. [14:01–14:24]
Ultimate BS or Believe It 7 — The Game Begins [15:15 onwards]
Michael and Riley go through major cases and stories from the podcast this year, each declaring “BS” or “Believe It”—with plenty of laughs, cultural references, and side tangents.
Format:
Case/Story
- Riley: BS/Believe It
- Michael: BS/Believe It
- Commentary
Highlights (with timestamps):
1. Ghosts at the Tower of London
- Both: Believe It
- Michael: "I've looked in the eyes of a Yeoman guard…they were not lying to me." [15:46]
2. Hibigon – Japanese Bigfoot
- Both: Believe It
- “Hibagon kaski des. Yo.” – Riley [16:35]
3. The Awful – Vermont Winged Cryptid
- Both: Believe It
- On a heart attack during a sighting: “You’re not having a heart attack over nothing.” – Michael [18:54]
4. Psychic Phenomena, Prophetic Dreams
- Both: Believe It [19:33]
5. Military Recovered Egg-shaped UFO
- Both: Believe It
- “I believe that guy.” – Riley [20:21]
6. Petrified Bigfoot Toe
- Both: Believe It (with tongue-in-cheek)
- “If he’d only accepted our offer…” – Riley [20:32]
7. Billywack Monster – Goat-Man Urban Legend
- Both: BS
- Michael: “But I love it.” [21:43]
8. Gary Wilcox UFO Encounter
- Both: Believe It
- “They just had a little chat. It was a stop and chat.” – Riley [23:00]
9. Crosswick Monster – Giant Lizard
- Both: BS (It was a misidentified large creature)
- “It was an alligator…these people pissed off an alligator in a tree.” – Riley [23:59]
10. Tom Petty & Jim Morrison Ghost Photos
- Both: BS
- “I think the photos are probably fake.” – Michael [25:00]
11. Jim Sparks – Star People & Alien Abductions
- Both: BS
- “I think he may have had a psychotic break.” – Riley [26:09]
12. Beast of Busco – Giant Turtle
- Both: Believe It
- “Leave the turtles alone.” – Michael [27:05]
13. Haunted Hollywood
- Both: Believe It
- “If anywhere is haunted other than the Tower of London, it is Hollywood, California.” – Riley [29:06]
14. Siberian UFO Attack
- Both: BS (disinformation)
- “I think this is just…disinfo.” – Michael [30:08]
15. French Pastoral Children Alien Encounter (Kusak)
- Both: Believe It
- “Believe the children.” [31:20]
16. Stonehenge Multiple Choice (giggle-filled segment)
- Michael accidentally wrote, “This whole thing made me feel sad.” in the choices, leading to a major crack-up. [33:11–34:31]
- Riley: “This should be a piece of merch. This multiple choice question, it is a mast.” [34:18]
17. The Bridgewater Triangle
- Both: Believe It (high strangeness hub) [35:52]
18. Mel’s Hole – Coast to Coast Parable
- Both: BS
- “That was just someone having fun with Coast to Coast.” – Michael [36:10]
19. Nazca Lines Multiple Choice
- Both lean towards ground graffiti/water sigils; dismiss UFO runway theory. [37:01–37:48]
20. Stanley Hotel (The Shining) – Haunted?
- Both: Believe It [37:59]
21. Dudleytown Curses
- Michael: Believe It
- Riley: BS
22. Eastern State Penitentiary – Haunted?
- Both: Believe It
- “If there were a place that was going to hold negative energy like that, it would be that.” – Riley [39:39]
23. Eldridge Hotel Ghost Stories
- Both: Believe It
- Personal anecdotes about shadow people, haunted electronics, and the “ghost cowboys.” [40:22–41:19]
24. Sally House – Demonic Haunting
- Both: Believe It (in some haunting, maybe not full demon)
- “Might have been the ghost of the appendicitis itself…” – Michael [42:28]
25. Val Johnson UFO Incident
- Both: Believe It
- “You can go see the squad car…where the damage was…” [43:22–43:36]
26. The Hat Man – Benadryl-induced Spectre
- Both: Believe It (in the sense people see him)
- “Honestly been wanting to do a Benadryl experiment…” – Riley [44:25]
27. NY State Fair Bigfoot Body
- Both: BS (loved the story though)
- “I believe in the story…not the Bigfoot body.” – Michael [45:50]
28. Wolfman Encounters
- Both: Believe It (as personal experience)
- “I think the phenomenon will manifest itself as a wolfman sometimes.” – Michael [47:18]
29. Highgate Cemetery Vampire
- Both: Believe It (something strange, plus fascination with the colorful real-life characters)
- “There’s something in it that we connect with.” – Riley [48:47]
30. Cock Lane Ghost/Scratching Fanny
- Both: BS (neighborhood drama and petty vengeance) [52:09–52:28]
31. Berkshire UFO Abductions
- Both waver but land on: Believe It (something happened)
- “It’s one of those, it’s a tough one…” – Michael [54:15]
32. Carolina Pale Crawler 911 Call
- Both: Believe It (the man experienced something, but a mundane explanation likely) [55:15]
33. Johannes Kuntz – Kicked to Death by Horse
- Both: Believe It (for the pure schadenfreude)
- “Oh yeah. His name was Johannes Kuntz… kicked in the dick by a lusty gelding so hard that he went delirious.” – Michael [56:54]
- “Woe is me, how do I burn and am all on fire. That’s what he would say…” – Michael [57:12]
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
“I've looked in the eyes of a Yeoman guard…they were not lying to me.”
– Michael [15:46]
“Reminders of time passing just really been bumming me out lately, you know?”
– Michael [04:00]
“This should be a piece of merch. This multiple choice question, it is a mast.”
– Riley [34:18]
“Woe is me, how do I burn, and am all on fire.”
– Michael [57:12]
(Prompting a merch idea: coffee mug or t-shirt)
Timestamps for Important Segments
- Opening banter & show update: 02:52–06:54
- Listener comments/Porch blast in-joke: 10:22–14:38
- BS or Believe It starts: 15:15
- Notable crack-up over Stonehenge multiple choice: 33:11–34:31
- Eldridge Hotel shadow people personal anecdotes: 40:22–41:19
- Vampire/Interview with the Vampire TV talk: 49:05–51:56
- Kuntz/horse-kick story & “Woe is me…” merch idea: 56:48–57:43
Tone and Style
The tone throughout is warm, witty, irreverent, and playful—peppered with moments of sincerity, grief, nostalgia, and outright absurdity. Michael and Riley riff like old friends, balancing healthy skepticism with open-hearted curiosity. Jokes about club lore, recurring bits, and the prospect of new BCC merch are sprinkled throughout.
Takeaway
BCC’s “Ultimate BS or Believe It 7!” is a rollicking year-in-review for diehard and casual listeners alike, showcasing the best of the show’s dynamic: spooky storytelling, open-minded debate, deep friendship, and, crucially, not taking themselves too seriously. Whether you’re a full-on Club Scout or a newcomer, this episode embodies the joy—and strangeness—of chasing the unknown.
“You are. We are the Lestat to your Louie. That’s how this works. We will haunt you.”
– Riley [60:10–60:11]
