
Loading summary
Ben Garrett
This episode is brought to you by Indigo Sundry Soap Company. Clean soap cleaner body.
Mason Skaggs
I saw this tall, gangly creature, like a very tall, probably eight or nine foot tall creature. Whenever my eyes came up to its face, I realized that I was paralyzed by its face. And it said, you aren't supposed to be here. How can he see us? You aren't supposed to be here.
Ben Garrett
Hey, everybody. Welcome to this episode of the Graveyard Shift. My name is Ben Garrett. I'm your host. I'm joined by my friend and co host as always, Monsieur Brian Savet.
Brian Savet
Oh, merci beaucoup. So good to be here, mon ami. Oui, Javet a la patitle ashte du
Ben Garrett
gato, la bette du gevaudent.
Brian Savet
I just said I go to the bakery to buy cake.
Ben Garrett
I said the beast of Gevaudin because I'm on cut. We are also joined. We have a special guest. It's a graveyard shift. Right. So we have guests. We are joined today. Today by our new friend. Yeah. Mason Skaggs. Mason, say hello to the people.
Mason Skaggs
Hello, guys. It's so good to be here. Love Haunted Cosmos. Longtime fan.
Brian Savet
Thank you. So.
Mason Skaggs
Thanks for having me.
Ben Garrett
Yeah. As the listeners you know now already know, you all just saw Mason.
Brian Savet
Yeah.
Ben Garrett
The mask is off.
Brian Savet
Let's elephant in the room.
Ben Garrett
And so, as you all might suspect, we have been just oogling over how handsome this guy is.
Brian Savet
Like physiognomy check.
Ben Garrett
Yeah. Sweater game. Is that a sweater or is that like a dude?
Mason Skaggs
This is a cardigan.
Brian Savet
Yeah, I mean the cardigan. And they make fun of me when I wear cardigans.
Ben Garrett
It looks different on you.
Brian Savet
No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I want justice for my cardigan.
Ben Garrett
Now that you've gone on this cut, I bet you that cardigan looks. Looks so I just looked fat. Well, I mean, so did I.
Brian Savet
It's true.
Ben Garrett
I had to lose a lot of weight.
Brian Savet
No, most handsome guests we've had on the graveyard show so far. Sorry. To all the previous guests.
Mason Skaggs
I'm sorry.
Ben Garrett
Wow.
Mason Skaggs
Well, on the. I'm keeping up a good deceit for you guys on the inside. I am full of deadman's bones.
Ben Garrett
But we can just look at your face.
Brian Savet
Yeah, that's all we need. Are we gonna break the ice or what?
Ben Garrett
Yeah, we're break the ice. So, Mason, something that we like to do on the graveyard shift is a little icebreaker question. And I'm leading up to it for so long because I have to think of what the question is. And so here's what it is.
Brian Savet
Sometimes I start a sentence and I don't know how I'm gonna finish it.
Ben Garrett
Here's what the question is. You seem like a man who appreciates history and theology, and so hopefully I'm right. But even if I'm not, I want to ask you, who is your favorite theologian of all time?
Mason Skaggs
Ooh, that's good. I mean, I want to Jesus Duke and say the apostle Paul, but.
Ben Garrett
Well, that's a Paul juke, though. I mean.
Mason Skaggs
Yeah.
Brian Savet
I mean, that is cheating, though. It can't be. It can't be someone in the Bible.
Ben Garrett
It can't be someone in the Bible. That's okay.
Mason Skaggs
Okay. Okay. Okay. And I can't say Joel Osteen.
Brian Savet
Well, you could.
Mason Skaggs
Theologian.
Brian Savet
You could.
Ben Garrett
But we'd make fun of you. You know, I mean, it's.
Brian Savet
You're at your peril.
Mason Skaggs
No, at my own peril, I think. I mean, it's hard for me not to say John Calvin.
Brian Savet
Yeah.
Mason Skaggs
Yeah.
Ben Garrett
I mean, what a guy.
Brian Savet
It's. It's. It's a safe answer, but it's a good answer.
Mason Skaggs
Well, we're reading through the institutes right now, so it's fresh on my mind. And he's just so affectional and pastoral. And then he says things. He'll say objective truths and leave no room for. Like, if you disagree with him, he's going to answer your next. Your objection in the next sentence, and you'll just look like a fool. Love John Calvin. He's so thorough, you know?
Ben Garrett
John Calvin, you say it's a safe answer. It is a safe answer. But here's something that people don't appreciate about John Calvin. People that have read barely any of him or excerpts or none of him at all think that he's, like, really dry and hard to read. And to your point, he's not. He's really. He's very approachable, very pastoral. And it's kind of similar to this feel that you get reading someone like Bavinc, where, yeah, they're giving you systematic stuff. But you can tell that they really, really believe and are passionate about what they're saying, even through the words that they're writing. So that's a great answer, John Cal in French. And he's also French.
Brian Savet
I think he means Jean.
Ben Garrett
Jean. All right, so here's what we're gonna do. This is the graveyard shift. Everyone knows the rules. Brian has never heard this story or stories before.
Brian Savet
Never.
Ben Garrett
No idea what is about to be said. I have forgotten all of the stories.
Brian Savet
Every single graveyard shift.
Ben Garrett
And. And it'll come back to me, like in the middle of what you're saying.
Brian Savet
But I'll be like, I know where this is. Yeah.
Ben Garrett
But I have no clue what is about to come our way. But what we're going to do is we're going to let Mason take it away. And we will try to avoid interrupting you too much and we'll try to avoid being obnoxious, but it's going to be hard to pay attention to what you're saying because of that face that
Mason Skaggs
you're wearing, my friend.
Brian Savet
So
Ben Garrett
anyway, how about Mason, take it away. Take your time and tell us your story.
Brian Savet
Why is it that most soaps and cleaning products ironically don't contain clean ingredients? Indigo Sundries soap company is helping families stay clean and healthy by starting with the most important step in cleanliness. So soap. Their cold pressed soap bars, including clay bars and tallow bars are made from all natural ingredients that don't have any harmful chemicals and they smell Great. Visit indigosundrysoap.com and order today. And hey, subscribe for regular shipments and get 10% off every time.
Ben Garrett
You must begin a perilous journey to find treasure in the mountains. Along the way, be weary of demons, vampires and ghosts. They will lead you astray and corrupt the wealth you seek. You'll be assigned a personal guide. Stonecrop Wealth Advisors. They will help help you find the treasure and fight against the corruption.
Brian Savet
Are you acting like you're in a movie trailer again? This is supposed to be a simple ad to tell people to use Stonecrop Wealth Advisors to invest in faith based portfolios instead of pagan companies. Visit stonecropadvisors.com Haunted Cosmos to get the demons out of your portfolio today. Investment advisory services offered for Stonecrop Wealth Advisors LLC, a registered investment advisor with the U.S. securities Exchange Commission.
Mason Skaggs
Yeah, yeah. So my name is Mason Skaggs. I'm 28 years old and I am a born again Christian. Now I, I serve at a church called Redeemer Casey in Kansas City, Missouri and I'm the, I'm a worship leader, a musical worship leader and direct the prayer ministry here and then I lead a host a podcast on YouTube and an online ministry called Sovereign Fire Studios. And but before all that I have four children by the way. Oh man, that's amazing. My wife Courtney, my wife Courtney is one of our children is in embryo or in utero.
Ben Garrett
Congratulations.
Brian Savet
Awesome man.
Mason Skaggs
But before all that I was a Satan worshiping, heroin shooting sorcerer, drug addict and distributor and basically like a walking motel for unclean spirits. For real. I really wow so for over a decade, that's how I lived until God convinced me that I was condemned before him and deserving of his wrath and showed me the way of escape through and for, and to forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ, through his perfect life, his atoning death, his victorious resurrection. And now. But, but going back to those dark years, I kind of, in the height of where I was ramping up occultism, starting blood magic and in chaos, magic rituals and like some ceremonial magic and stuff. I was going after fame and fortune and pleasure, like with all my heart. I thought, I'm already going to hell. I was, I was, I believed in the God of the Bible, but I knew I was in rebellion to him and I was just more honest about it than other people. I'm like, I am wicked and I'm. I'm gonna make the most out of this life. I'm gonna suck as much joy as I can out of this life. What I thought was pleasure and joy. And so I was going after it in the form of, of ritual, magic and stuff. And so I, I would frequently use hallucinogens and other stuff to kind of amplify these experiences and um, and just for, for recreational purposes. And I took a liking to a chemical called ketamine, which is a, a disassociative anesthetic. They'll give it to you in the hospital sometimes. Excuse me. I have had too much of this ghost energy drink. I'm full of the ghost though.
Brian Savet
Dude.
Ben Garrett
You're full of the ghost? Is that the Mr. Beast one?
Mason Skaggs
No.
Ben Garrett
Oh, okay. I was gonna say Mr. Beast is just in the back.
Brian Savet
Not a sponsor, but like, wow, now I want some.
Mason Skaggs
Dude, I've got that ghost in me right now. I'm like having like warhead flavored burps right now. Yeah, Crazy.
Brian Savet
Let's go.
Mason Skaggs
So ketamine, it's. It's like, it's an anesthetic. It really numbs you out. It can be hallucinogenic and I'll talk a little bit about that so that you can get in, in this, in this story and see out out my eye holes, my past eye holes. But. So I was using it privately and I think I had stole money to buy it so like nobody could know that I was using it. Which if you're going to use like a high potency chemical, probably tell somebody. Just don't do it if you're going to stop doing that. But if you are, you need to tell somebody. But I was alone and I had this experience that you will have Whenever. There's two ways that academy trip can go, and one is like a K hole, which is basically annihilation. Like, ego death, they'll call it.
Ben Garrett
Yeah.
Mason Skaggs
Where you have no reference to yourself, your mind comes outside your body and. Which is common, you know, a kind, a common. Like a common experience on ketamine, but for an ego death, you, like, dissolve into nothingness. And five minutes can feel like an eternity, et cetera. So that's one way you, like, get sucked into an abyss. The other way it can go is in lower doses. Like, colors shift and kind of change and it's really alien, like, and feels weird. And colors are different. You might see geometrical, like, blocky shapes and stuff.
Brian Savet
Okay.
Mason Skaggs
So I do this line of ketamine, and I realize I've had too much. Like, almost immediately, I. I feel the effects of it. And so I, like, blow my nose out onto the carpet as one does, and I'm like, I have had too much. So I'm kind of anticipating how much I've actually got in my system. And then I. I felt this sensation that lets you know it's taking effect, which feels like an elevator ride whenever it's going down and it kind of catches you by surprise and you're, like.
Ben Garrett
You, like, lose your stomach a little bit.
Mason Skaggs
Exactly.
Ben Garrett
Yeah.
Mason Skaggs
Yeah. But that feeling doesn't end, and it only descends and. And, like, continues. So this. This happened. I have missing time there where, like, there's a pinhole moment where, like, everything fades to black actually, in a pin, like, when you're passing out, and it's like a little hole you can see out, and then that disappears. You know what I'm saying?
Ben Garrett
Yeah.
Mason Skaggs
Okay, so that happens. And then I fade in to the. It's literally like a movie. Like, I, I, I. The pinhole widens and fades out and I am in another dimension, which is not one of those two options I just mentioned. Yeah, like, okay, so I have a lack of emotion first. Like, I realize I'm really calm and, like, just trying to understand. And I have this sensation of being observed. It's like this really tangible, overwhelming sense that there are a lot of eyes on me. And people have this when they. Whenever they use hallucinogens. I have a theory on this. Theologically, I think it's because you've, like, what is that scene in Lord of the Rings whenever the Wraith, like, somebody gets a whiff of the. No. Frodo puts on the ring and it, like, shoots. It blasts up to let all of you know, all of the dark forces know where he's at.
Ben Garrett
Yeah.
Mason Skaggs
I think when you use hallucinogens, when you like step into sorcery, you are stepping into a dimension you have no idea about and signaling to like disembodied beings that you are open for business, basically.
Ben Garrett
Anyway, yeah, that's interesting.
Mason Skaggs
That's a really common experience is like, I felt like there were a thousand eyes on me with a bunch of different hallucinogens. So I have this, I have this experience and then I first noticed sound and so my eyes looked down and I saw these little beings, like maybe 3 or 4 inches tall. And they looked organic, but they had like elf features. And they were chirping and talking. They were multicolored. The environment I was in, like the ground beneath me and the, the walls of whatever I was in were these geometrical overlaid shifting patterns of like, looked like moving, living color.
Ben Garrett
Yeah.
Mason Skaggs
And these things were made up of that same material. And so they're like metallic looking, vibrantly colored, glimmering, vivid little guys with pointy features, facial features. And I never tell this story because, I mean, I just don't tell, I, I, my Anytime I start to tell somebody, they're like, do you believe in Bigfoot? And I'm like, boy, have I got a story for you. And my wife is like, oh, come on.
Brian Savet
Here we go.
Ben Garrett
So I'm like, honey, Bigfoot, that's child's play.
Mason Skaggs
Yeah. Like honey, submit to me and listen to this story for the 100th, for the 100th time.
Brian Savet
Yeah.
Mason Skaggs
No, she's awesome. She's the best.
Ben Garrett
Courtney.
Brian Savet
Dude, hand grenade pins in every line. I'm sorry, you said for the hundredth time. And I just like went back to my job. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyway, you have to link.
Mason Skaggs
Yeah, dude, Lincoln park is so good. Anyway, they had these really like, pointy, they're. I don't know how else to describe it other than their faces were mischievous. They had like this, they were not malicious, like evil, but like they were doing something bad.
Ben Garrett
Like a, like a hobgoblin or like, Like a hobgoblin.
Mason Skaggs
Yeah, yeah. Okay. So they see, and their features seem to like shift and change and they were. Okay. So after this experience, I looked into these creatures because I, I just was super into the hallucinogen world. Wanted to know if anyone else saw them. And someone and Timothy Leary saw these on dmt.
Ben Garrett
Yeah.
Mason Skaggs
And he called them self transforming machine elves where they were like shifting and moving and manipulating their own bodies. Anyway, so what I noticed while I was in. It is like these beings are on my body and they're. They were very intentionally working, like they had a purpose and were working together and doing stuff to my legs. They were all really busy. And then I heard this noise that like, stopped me. They were communicating to each other and talking about me and speaking in this like chirpy, high pitched, squeaky angry voices. And they're super alarming to me. They were cursing me in like a foreign language that I somehow could understand. They were cursing at me and saying like perverse kind of evil things in this alien language. And I can't explain how I knew what they were saying, but they were, they were mad at me. They were upset that I was there or whatever. I don't know. And so after this, I tried to like, move, tried to like get a feel for where I was because I had done a ton of hallucinogens and had all kinds of out of body experiences, but I'd never been. I was sober is the thing. Like in this, in this state, I was not, I did not feel inebriated. I was like dead sober in this crazy circumstance with. With these little machine elves all running up my legs. And so I tried to move, like, my legs to no avail. And then my attention turned upward from these machine elves to this, like, to see the source from where they. From whence they came, I guess you would say, because they were all streaming at me and up my legs. So I followed the trail of them and these like, organic creatures streaming toward me, followed it all the way up and to a like vibrant light that was emanating at this. At the center of this thing. And then I saw there were this, like, this place that I was, had walls and a ceiling, and the ceiling like came down concave to make this light being. So this light being was like at the center of this kind of. I. I would call it like a vehicle or a space that I was in.
Ben Garrett
Like, it almost looks like, like a, like the ceiling is coming in like a wormhole kind of thing. Yeah. And it's all like, there's funnels on either side and then there's this light.
Mason Skaggs
So.
Ben Garrett
Yeah, something like that.
Mason Skaggs
And the floor and the ceiling were like coming. The floor was coming up to the feet of this.
Ben Garrett
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Mason Skaggs
And the ceiling was coming down to meet its head.
Ben Garrett
Wow.
Mason Skaggs
And so from there I had like this otherworldly terror. So first I had no emotion whatsoever and kind of just dead sobriety, like experiencing the weirdness of this. And then I had terror like it was really beautiful. What I was seeing, like the colors were cool, was pretty. It was weird, but I had this like this really malicious terror. Immediately overwhelming and like felt like I was being rattled from the inside, like by this, by this thing. And I saw this tall gangly creature, like a very tall, probably eight or nine foot tall creature with a really large head, oversized eyes that didn't, it was weird. Its eyes didn't seem to be like part of, I don't know, I don't really know how to describe it, but it seemed like its eyes were not like set into its head. Like its eyes were kind of like jutting out from its head, from its face. And they had no clothing, there were no genitalia to speak of. And somehow it was, I knew that it was masculine as well. And it was really imposing and intimidating and his face was. Okay, this is the weird part. I say this is the weird.
Brian Savet
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Everything else normal. Tuesday morning, on my way to work, a lot of. But yeah, now it's gonna get weird.
Mason Skaggs
Okay, so buckle up. Yeah, I, I, its face. Whenever my eyes came up to its face, I realized that I was paralyzed by its face. So there was this sensation, like it almost felt like a, some kind of tentacle or like a, it was, it was, it was the weirdest. It was like a, it kept going in circles and it was not visible, this thing that it was emanating, but I, it from its face. It was hypnotizing and paralyzing me and it had this like rotating effect to it. I don't know how to describe it other than that I was paralyzed. And it was, it was horrific. Like I was terrified.
Brian Savet
Okay.
Mason Skaggs
So as I meet its face, I realize it's got this like laser looking like multicolored light coming out of its forehead, scanning my body from my head to my feet. And I could feel the laser like heat and it was penetrating me in a really unpleasant way. And I, it felt very medical and sterile what it was doing to me. But I could sense that it was like examining things about me that it, that were like spiritual and emotional and like gathering data on me that it, that like not just like, hey, this guy's six foot, he's £125 at this time. But it was like piercing into my spirit. It felt like I sensed that in the time that it was happening. So anyway, this laser beam scan from, from his forehead and then I heard a voice and the voice was like, hey homie, I will cut you with my laser beam, bro. Hey, no, I'm just kidding.
Ben Garrett
It was Martin,
Brian Savet
dude. But imagine what if Martin was the machine elf?
Mason Skaggs
I said, oh.
Brian Savet
And then it was a Japanese impersonation.
Ben Garrett
Do you want some? On the kitty sashimi?
Mason Skaggs
No, but for real, though,
Ben Garrett
it had.
Mason Skaggs
So I heard a voice in my head, no mouth movement of this thing at all, and it said, you aren't supposed to be here. How can he. And then talking to the other machine elves said, how can he see us? You aren't supposed to be here.
Ben Garrett
What?
Mason Skaggs
Those were the three things. You aren't supposed to be here. How can he see us? You aren't supposed to be here. Okay.
Brian Savet
Don't do drugs, kids. Don't.
Mason Skaggs
Yeah, so that really scared me bad. Like, I was terrified at the time, but after I. After this experience that probably gave me the weirdest, like, hangover of confusion about what had happened because it was like it was speaking to me without moving its mouth. That had only happened to me a few times, like, telepathy on hallucinogens with other people. But I. I saw. And then seeing that I was in this type of vehicle was really freaky to me. It felt like we were, like, moving at a. At a crazy, you know, pace, but also still at the same time. And. And then I have missing time, and I don't even remember the next day of.
Ben Garrett
Wow.
Brian Savet
Like, wow.
Mason Skaggs
I told no one, because I stole these drugs or I stole the money for the drugs.
Brian Savet
Yeah.
Mason Skaggs
And, like, I was using them in private, but that's the end of that experience. And then it continued into my sober waking hours later on, which was really unsettling.
Ben Garrett
There's so many things that ran through my head. Oh, my gosh. As you were talking, like, you know, we did an episode once on. We called it, like, DMT and the Serpent God and stuff like that. And the machine elf being this, you know, kind of ubiquitous experience for people that go that deep when they go really deep. But the thing that I thought of actually near the end of your story, which, with that one being that came out, and the almost like, immaterial, tentacular thing that's trying to hypnotize.
Mason Skaggs
Yeah.
Ben Garrett
You remember you've mentioned it before.
Brian Savet
The.
Ben Garrett
The illustration that Tim Pool talked about with AI, where there's this, like, terrible Lovecraftian monster with all these tentacles and there's different masks on them and stuff.
Brian Savet
And. And it.
Ben Garrett
It just got me thinking kind of about that because you had said that when you went into this place, it wasn't one of the options that you're supposed to have for ketamine. And so it's almost like you accidentally slipped into this place that you. Yeah. That you weren't supposed to be at, where you didn't go down the right chute or whatever. And it's like you. Again, this is just me talking, but it's almost like you got to see behind the curtain of the masks to, like, this is what it is. This is this terrible. It's like a angel of light. But it's this terrifying, terrible thing. And look, it's telling me, like, I'm not supposed to be here. Which, if it's a demonic thing, you'd think that they'd be like, oh, great, he's here. Let's terrify him and stuff. It's interesting that the voice in your head was like, why can you see us? You're supposed to leave. Why are you.
Brian Savet
This is not right.
Ben Garrett
Yeah. Like, so many things running through my head right now.
Brian Savet
Why do you think there's. It's so parallel to abduction experiences? There's several key elements that are very analogous to abduction stories. Why do you think that is? And. Well, maybe. Do you agree? And. But why do you think that is?
Mason Skaggs
Yeah, I do agree, Brian. And I. I have had a lot of time to think about it since. Because this started me off on researching, like, what are people experiencing on these drugs? And am I the only one who stuff like this has happened to? I had a sweet sister. She's reformed and, like, really in the. In the. Like, converting New Age people and doing ministry to New Age people.
Ben Garrett
Yeah.
Mason Skaggs
Jack Moreno Chen is her name. And she was a former. She was a witch. She was, like, in the. In the Knights of the Golden Dawn.
Ben Garrett
Oh, yeah.
Mason Skaggs
Like Aleister Crowley's secret society. But she. She had an experience when she was sober where she was abducted. And, uh, she told it on Sovereign Fire Studios, and she. She said that they were. They had her on, like, a medical table, and they actually hurt her so bad that she went to the emergency room afterward.
Ben Garrett
Wow.
Mason Skaggs
Like, sober went to the emergency room.
Ben Garrett
That's like the devil's den.
Brian Savet
Yep. Yeah.
Ben Garrett
Really.
Mason Skaggs
And has had pain in her stomach since then.
Brian Savet
Wow. Yeah.
Mason Skaggs
So there's a lot of. There are a lot of parallels to abduction, and I have. I have, like, some pretty solid, like, understanding of why that might be. I actually think this is a hot take, but, you know, this is the place for.
Ben Garrett
Man. This is the graveyard shit.
Brian Savet
You're among friends. Okay. Okay.
Mason Skaggs
So I have. I have this theory that. So I had an overdose one time where I threw up and inhaled it. And that was like kind of the. Marked the butt end of my addiction before I was converted. And Jesus like changed me. And I had the almost the exact same feeling coming out of. I woke up in the hospital and I felt like I was. The hospital room felt like it was catapulting through space. All of the doctors seemed like aliens to me and stuff. And I felt like I was for sure I had been abducted by aliens. And so I have this theory that like when you. That UFOs are actually spiritual travel, like demons and angels got to get from place to place and I don't know how they do that. Like it doesn't say anything in the Bible about, you know, when an angel is sent somewhere. Like actually they appear from time to time. So I don't know. But it seems like there's an element to spirit travel that maybe like spirit travel, whenever you're going from like the land of the living to you know, out of your body or, or whatever, whatever that maybe that like creates a. Something that that is sometimes visible to the. To like humans. Like a ufo. I don't know.
Ben Garrett
Well, there's even. Sorry, go ahead.
Mason Skaggs
It just seems like that might be like it's transportation. It definitely is extra dimensional in a lot of cases.
Brian Savet
Yeah.
Mason Skaggs
And so it seems like it might be like from the physical to the spiritual and back and forth. I don't know.
Brian Savet
So some of the abduction experience is actually not necessarily the transportation of the body, but it's actually the sundering similar to astral projection or some of these other remote viewing type things that are all people shouldn't be attempting them, but the mechanism seems possible, therefore maybe that's why they're similar, is that you're actually going, if going is the right word, to the same place or a similar place in some sense.
Ben Garrett
I've wondered too if some of it is because the other common experience you get is like you were saying, the technicolor extra dimensional shapes folding in on itself. And this thing that's a stationary thing or it seems like you're in a room, but it's in constant motion. There's evolution in the walls and shapes and col. Others. And how if that's true, like if what you're saying, if we just assume that that's what it is, it could also be the. Like, we're still a human mind, we're still a human intelligence even when we're sundered from the body. And so it could be the human intelligence projecting and trying to make sense of what's happening.
Brian Savet
Interesting.
Ben Garrett
And so it's not that it's not real. It is real, but it's like what we're seeing is our mind trying to rationalize what it's experiencing.
Brian Savet
The same way the optic nerve is translating light in the image, but it
Ben Garrett
has no way of doing it. But it's still a human intelligence. And so you see similarity across different experiences. I don't know. Like, I just don't know.
Brian Savet
Interesting. Does your outdated website give your visitors sleep paralysis? What? What?
Ben Garrett
Is that a thing?
Brian Savet
Are you haunted by that logo your uncle's pet werewolf wolf made?
Ben Garrett
Brian, what are you talking about?
Brian Savet
If you're ready to level up your brand and website, you need to talk to Josh at Valente Creative.
Mason Skaggs
What's up, guys?
Brian Savet
Josh, my guy.
Ben Garrett
What the heck? How did you just appear?
Brian Savet
Head to Valente creative.com NCP to talk with Josh about your brand and website.
Ben Garrett
Oh. Oh. This is an ad that we're doing right now. Wait, how did he teleport into this room?
Mason Skaggs
Ben, I wish I could tell you, but this is an ad. You have to go to valentecreative.com NCP and reach out today.
Brian Savet
Hey, Ben. I just read that our great grandparents probably experimented with butter on their dry skin as a moisturizer. Is that why you look so radiant?
Ben Garrett
Maybe it's Grandma's Butter recipe. Or maybe it's gray toad tallow.
Brian Savet
Their tallow products are 100% organic and naturally contain the good stuff. Stuff your skin craves. No mystery there.
Ben Garrett
So say sayonara, Sammy to kitchen experiments. And say hello to healthier skin Great O Tallow Trusted by skin envied by Great Grandma's Butter recipe.
Brian Savet
For more information and to get a sample pack, check out graytoadtalo.com don't forget to use the code COSMOS15. That's all caps COSMOS15 for 15% off your order.
Mason Skaggs
That's. That's actually what I was trying to. That's the way I'm thinking about it. I'm so glad that you guys are more eloquent and intelligent than I am, because that. That is kind of how I'm thinking about it. And another thing that makes me. That makes me think that is I was so in. At that time, I was absolutely paralyzed in life. Like I was stuck in addiction. I was stuck in sexual immorality. Like, just gratifying the desires of my flesh, doing whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. And it was the most trapped I've ever been like that. There was no hope and no freedom and no Purity or like joy in my life or peace. And. And it just so happened whenever I sundered from my body, I was before this being that was like doing something to me. These, these beings were like at work busily on me. And then also this, this being was like analyzing me and going to do something with me and realized that I could see it and that I was awake. And so it made me think, like, what if I was just catapulted into a dimension where I could see what was actually going on spiritually with me. Like, you read Augustine or like basically any church fathers and they're like, oh yeah, so the devil was talking yesterday and I told them this or like even Martin Luther is like, so anyway, I was farting at the devil.
Ben Garrett
Yeah, yeah.
Mason Skaggs
Like, I think as, as Westerners and after post enlightenment, we're like, no way is that possible? But it seems like that might be what's happening with alien abduction is like people are having the veil lifted a bit and, and just, you know, dubbing it alien abduction.
Ben Garrett
Yeah. So it may not. So what you're saying is it is. It may not even be so much that you are going somewhere else physically or even in any way, in any sense of the word, but it's. You're seeing or your mind is trying to rationalize whatever you want to say. The unseen world that is already happening there, like where you're laying down.
Mason Skaggs
That's what I'm.
Brian Savet
Yeah.
Ben Garrett
Wow, that's a really interesting idea, I think.
Brian Savet
So I have two questions. You said that this continued to affect you.
Ben Garrett
Yeah.
Brian Savet
Into your waking life. And I'm interested in what that means, but also how you went from this to being converted. How did the Lord actually deliver you from. From that.
Mason Skaggs
Yeah, for sure. I'm happy I get to talk about that. So I'll take the. How did this affect me first? And like at this time I was a musician. I was really trying to like make it. And all of my heroes were guys who had kind of boasted about giving themselves over to darkness and over to Satan. And like, we're pretty for, you know, forthright about that. And I think music is really important and is. It's trans. Rational where it like bypasses your prefrontal cortex and goes straight into you in some way. I don't know more on that. See, see my published works, they're not actually. I've talked about it.
Brian Savet
So.
Mason Skaggs
But, uh, I, I'm trying to use as many of you guys phrases as I can while I'm on.
Ben Garrett
I agree with that. They'll know you're one at a, a basic level.
Brian Savet
Absolutely.
Ben Garrett
It's this like. Yeah, trans. Rationalism.
Brian Savet
Translation. I only listen to creed.
Ben Garrett
Yeah, exactly. That's how you become. I mean, the best that you can be.
Brian Savet
Yeah, that's how you lock. That's how you get motion. You lock in how.
Mason Skaggs
Anyway, will you get higher?
Ben Garrett
Yeah. Yeah.
Mason Skaggs
So I, yeah, I idolized these guys. And I had, I'd done ceremonies where I had just given an open invitation, like whatever being would like to take up residence within me in order to give me power and skill and wealth. Like have at it. And so this was after that experience when I was still trying to contact, you know, extra, extra dimensional beings and trying to make pacts with the devil. And I had, after this experience, like I said, there's missing time. And then I just went about my life because I had nobody to tell. And only later was I like, okay, so I should share with, with people this happened. But I distinctly remember I would go to sleep and like I'd be sober. For me that was like I had smoked weed. Okay, the. And I'm going to sleep. And I would, on the edge of sleep, feel like the kind of sensation you get if a face is really close to you where there's some heat, you can hear your breath on it almost, you know, like there's, you can feel that there's a presence and then there's the, like someone's eyes are on you, you kind of responding to that. So my eyes would be plastered shut and I, so I couldn't open my eyes and I couldn't move. Like sleep paralysis. But it was before I had gone to sleep. So I'm laying there paralyzed and I had this dude, this, these extra dimensional tentacles, I tell you, like they were that tentacle I was talking about, like the rotating motion of hypnosis that was happening from that dude's face that would happen. And it was, it would, it made like a sound like, like a weird vacuum cleaner, like a rotating oscillating thing happening. And I would just be dead, like terrified in my, in my bed and unable to move for however long it would stay. And that happened probably a couple times where then I would wake up gasping and feel like there was a presence in my room and like just feel this wicked hateful presence in my room. Especially in like corners of the room after I was awake. That was another thing always accompanying this hypnosis was that it hated me. Like it wanted to kill me. Was, was the. I don't even know what you Would call it. That was. That was the message that it was giving me somehow.
Ben Garrett
Yeah.
Mason Skaggs
And so this happened a couple times and then I would. I started to squeak out the name Jesus because I was raised in like a Christian household and I. I knew there like it just was kind of instinctive to me. I'm like, I'm going to call on Jesus. And as soon as I could get that out of my mouth, it would all go away. No matter what it was like there. There were times when I would wake up and see. I could see and. And my room was blood red. After this it escalated. First it was just like par paralysis and then it was like I would see beings and feel presences randomly in the day. Like be overtaken with terror in the middle of the day and hear voices and all kinds of things. But there is this. There were times when I would wake up and my. Felt like my chest was being crushed by like the heaviest thing in the universe. Like even heavier than both of Yalls moms sitting.
Ben Garrett
That's pretty heavy.
Brian Savet
That's a deep cut.
Ben Garrett
Especially because Brian's mom.
Mason Skaggs
I would. I would feel like this depression in my chest, unable to move and. But I would. If I could even just mouth the name of Jesus then it would dissolve and like demons would flee. It's almost like the Bible is true. Like demons are terrified of Jesus. And so that's how it continued into my wake. I even like this is a strange thing only my wife knows about, but I had a trance one time. It's the only time that I've ever had. I was awake and I fell in. I was super in, you know, in, into. I was still plunging headlong into darkness like magic and drugs. And I was awake in my bed and I fell into a trance that felt like an eternity. It was probably only like three minutes. But I was having a vision that. This sounds so crazy. I was having a vision and I was like home. In the first place that I. I grew up, I was outside and all of these bongs, these like pipes for smoking weed were falling on the grass and shattering. And this was a. Only maybe a couple weeks before I would go into a detox facility and it would start like the. The process of me being converted. I have no idea what to make of this, but it felt. I was like in dread and I was terrified while it was happening. And then looking back on it, I'm like, I don't know what was going on, but the symbolism of like these paraphernalia, drug paraphernalia shattering and I was unable to move. I was out of my body, having this vision, and then came back into my body. I don't know what to make of that, but it did happen. So I. To go into kind of what happened to my con in my conversion. I kept doing that stuff, man. I just, like, kept shooting up heroin and smoking meth, dude. You know how it is. And, yeah, 100.
Brian Savet
Yeah, I actually don't, but. But I can imagine.
Ben Garrett
Yeah.
Mason Skaggs
Yeah. It's like with any sin, it's just a little more obvious. It's like, you know, transgress this boundary, and you'll have a little more pleasure. It will be satisfying after this time. And you keep pushing it and keep pushing it, and then before you know it, it's like, I can. Not only can I not stop, but I hate myself and I hate my life, and that's how all sin is. I mean, it will destroy you, and it sucks the life out of you. So I was like. I couldn't. I was shooting up heroin, smoking meth, selling a bunch of coke out of my house and dropping my own LSD on sheets of blotter paper and, like, distributing drugs and. And I had a mental breakdown. By the grace of God, I had. I lost my mind. Like, I. I done smoked too much math, you know, And I. I had been up for, like, 72 hours, and I couldn't hold thoughts together or form sentences. And so they took me to the hospital, and I went through a detox facility, and I was sober for the first time in, like, a decade.
Brian Savet
Wow.
Mason Skaggs
And during that time, I had. It was crazy because all of the substances lifted, and then I still heard all of these crazy voices, like, telling me to hurt myself or others, and it was like there was nothing to numb them anymore. It was just like all of the demons that I had thought were gonna give me wealth or fame or power were gonna cash in on me and take my life. And so I got out of detox. And while I was in this detox facility, I read the book of aa, which, like, I think the first chapter is the best chapter of aa. I'm not hating on aa. God can use whatever. And I just think, like, get help at your local church first, of course. Like, run with your brothers and sisters there if you're trapped in addiction. Anywho, I read this, and in the Book of aa, Bill, the author, talks about how his friend was crazy alcoholic, and then he comes over, like, a couple months later to Bill's house, and the dude is just changed, and he's like, what. How did you. How did you stop drinking? And this. His friend says, I was changed by the Lord Jesus. Like, Jesus changed my life. And then the rest of the book, Bill, interestingly enough, is like. So I set out to form a strategy to, like, replicate this. And it's totally secular almost, you know, But I was captivated by this dude's testimony that he was changed. And so I logged that away and then continued using drugs. And I just. I felt like I could not repent. I was experiencing what, the doctrine of total depravity. That, like, I could not. I had no will left to apprehend faith. I could not, like, choose God. There was no unstained part of me. And so I just kept running in the same direction. And then I went home to my ex girlfriend's house, this girl I had proposed to while I was on methamphetamine, as one does, and she. She broke up with me and I had to pick up some stuff. And so I found this vial of ghb, like gamma hydra, blah, blah, something. It's this. It's another anesthetic that I would use to sleep when I was on. When I was on an amphetamine. And I. I was like, okay, I'm gonna take a little shot for the road one time, for the one time. Like, let's see how it goes. And so I did, and I got in this Uber and the Uber drove me. Sponsored by Uber. The super drove me to Walmart. And I walked into Walmart and purchased a Snickers bar and something else and then got back in the Uber and the guy was driving me away. He asked me a question. I took a bite of my Snickers bar and it got like halfway down my throat, and then I was gone.
Ben Garrett
Wow.
Mason Skaggs
I had. I had had overdoses where I had time to scramble and be like, oh, God, forgive me of my sin in Jesus name, you know, like, and please save me and I'll change my life, whatever. And never did. But this one was. I was just gone. I had no opportunity to do anything. And so I. I know now I threw up and then I inhaled it and was just passed out in his driver's seat. And by the grace of God, he did not push me out in the Walmart parking lot that was further away from the hospital, but he actually drove me to my. To where he. To my destination, which was closer, and had them meet him there. So he had called them for to meet him there. And that. That's one of the things that saved my life. Ultimately The Bible says deliverances from death belong to the Lord. Our God is a God of salvation. And to God the Lord belong deliverances from death. And so anytime somebody survives something, it is God. And because Satan's just trying to kill and steal and destroy. So God saved my life, and he used this guy. And they pumped my lungs and intubated me, and I was in the hospital. That's when I woke up in that. And I thought I was in a ufo.
Ben Garrett
Yeah.
Mason Skaggs
Um, and my dad, God bless him, he had. He had converted. And he sat down by my bedside, and my whole family was there. And he was like, mason, you have to get your together, and I will pay for one more. I'd been to rehab twice at this time, and he's like, I'll pay for one more trip. You should go out of state. And then you need to. You need to, like, whatever it takes. I prayed that God would spare your life, and he has, and so, like, take this opportunity and make something of it. So I went out of state to rehab, to a Christian rehab. And they were, like, praying over me and anointing me with oil when I got there. And I. Man, I hated them immediately. Like, was full of rage and suicidal ideations, trying to, like, think of what window I was going to jump out. And I. I was like, I was just a scoundrel, a real scallywag. And they had. But they continued praying over me and sharing the gospel with me. And so I left early. I was like, I'm out of here four months in. And I had. Dude, God just pursued me my whole life. Like, I had always. He always spoke through these little things. You know, somebody would share the gospel with me. He would remind me of a huge sin that he was very offended at or whatever. And I always tried to outrun him, but he's. He's faster than us. So he pursued me to. Even when I left this place. And I started dating the girl who is now my wife, and she had a Romans 5, 8 tattoo that God demonstrates his love for us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And she was not even a Christian. She just had it because it was cute, you know? And. And through dating her, I started to see, like, I was popping pills again. I wasn't doing heroin, but I was, like, taking Suboxone and Adderall and a bar of Xanax every day sponsored by Xanax. Like, I was just a fiend, still just taking pharmaceuticals. And to wrap up, I had. I'd exhausted all of My resources, all of my effort trying to clean myself up and did all of these incantations and would spend like an hour in positive manifest, positive affirmations and manifesting and, you know, meditating and doing ceremonial magic and chaos and sex magic and all different kinds of occult trying to manipulate my reality. And it left me. I was violated and darker and more depressed and emptier than I ever had been in my life. And so this one time I'm at a call center, um, sponsored by call centers, and I had. I was. Everyone else had left and I just put my head in my hands. I had been researching online how to be healed of addiction. And I saw the wackiest stuff you've ever seen in your life from like Benny Hinn or whatever.
Ben Garrett
Yeah.
Mason Skaggs
And so I just pushed my keyboard away and I. I just put my hands, like my head in my hands and prayed and I was like, God, I believe you're real. And I believe Jesus died on the cross for sinners. I don't think I can repent, but if you help me, like, if you give me the power, I'm yours. If you help me repent, I will. I follow you. I surrender to you. And right then he met me. It was like I. For the very first time in my life, I felt love and peace, like a physical sensation even, but spiritually mostly, like just wash over me like that He. I felt all at once that God loved me first. Whenever he was convicting me of all my sin, I felt like this. He is holy and he's going to crush me if I don't run to Him. Like, he is going to destroy me. And then I felt his compassion and his mercy and love in an experiential way. And then all of the biblical truths I'd ever learned clicked together. Like, I deserve to die. And my death actually wouldn't satisfy God. It would go on forever in eternal hell. Because that's how holy he is. That's how infinitely righteous he is. But an infinitely holy and obedient and righteous God, man. Jesus Christ suffered once and it counts for whoever believes in him, whoever God elects to salvation. So, like, I wouldn't have put it in those words, but I just saw the cross and I was like, mine. My cross. Yeah, like I die with you. And then ever since then, I've been perfect and I'm glorified and I'm like,
Ben Garrett
yeah, yeah, my best life now, dude,
Brian Savet
you and me both, man.
Ben Garrett
Praise God. Praise God.
Mason Skaggs
He's so good.
Ben Garrett
That is amazing.
Mason Skaggs
It's been a Long road. My wife and I married and we had babies and it's been. I've suffered more as a Christian than I ever did as a drug pushing cretin of the darkness. But I've suffered with Jesus and he is so much more valuable. And His Excellencies, he's totally satisfying in all of the rejection and persecution and suffering. He's totally worth it. So that's my story, man.
Brian Savet
Man, that's amazing.
Ben Garrett
That is amaz.
Brian Savet
I can't improve on it.
Ben Garrett
No, that's that. Thank you for. For sharing that. Just. I mean, glory to God. What an. What an incredible testimony. Yeah.
Brian Savet
And thanks for coming on.
Ben Garrett
Yeah.
Brian Savet
I mean, I literally. There's nothing else. I feel like listeners in the comments need to tell us. Do you want Mason to come back on? Because I feel like there's probably two to two to 10 hours more that we could uncover in the life of a former chaos, death, sex, magic, all of that.
Ben Garrett
Yeah.
Brian Savet
But also just the grace of God. That is like just truly, truly amazing.
Ben Garrett
Yeah.
Mason Skaggs
Glory to God.
Ben Garrett
Let that be the ethos of this episode. With all that darkness, look at how much greater the light is at the end of it. Oh, yeah. And I mean, if any of y' all listening can relate to Mason's life before Christ, then heed his words and run to the Lord and be saved. He will take you to bliss and paradise. He'll also take you to true love and peace with the Father that made you so. Yeah. Let it be that the Lord is glorified. And again, thank you, Mason, so much for taking your time out of your busy schedule to come here. That's going to be it for this episode of the Graveyard Shift. Hope you all enjoyed it and we'll see you next time. Want more Haunted Cosmos? Then make your way over to Patreon, where you can get early access to our content, as well as exclusive content in regular dusty tomes and monthly live streams with Brian and myself. So go to patreon.com haunted cosmos and sign up now.
Release Date: July 22, 2026
Hosts: Ben Garrett & Brian Sauvé
Guest: Mason Skaggs
Episode Overview:
This episode of "Haunted Cosmos" delves deep into the reality of the supernatural from the testimony of Mason Skaggs, a former occult practitioner and drug addict who now serves as a Christian worship leader and online ministry host. Mason recounts harrowing personal experiences with drugs—particularly hallucinogens like ketamine—and the spiritual encounters they triggered, which he argues are nothing less than interactions with real, hostile, demonic entities. The second half of the episode shares his story of deliverance and transformation through Christ, with the hosts offering theological and psychological reflections on the overlap between drug-induced hallucinations, the occult, and demonic realities.
"I was a Satan worshiping, heroin shooting sorcerer, drug addict and distributor and basically like a walking motel for unclean spirits."
— Mason Skaggs [06:53]
[09:02] Mason describes a particular ketamine trip that went far beyond typical hallucinations:
Sensory and Visual Details:
"They were cursing me in like a foreign language that I somehow could understand... saying like perverse kind of evil things in this alien language."
— Mason Skaggs [14:56]
Encounter with Higher Entity:
"Whenever my eyes came up to its face, I realized that I was paralyzed by its face... it was hypnotizing and paralyzing me and it had this rotating effect to it."
— Mason Skaggs [19:20]
Telepathic Communication:
"You aren't supposed to be here. How can he see us? You aren't supposed to be here."
— Creature's message, reported by Mason Skaggs [21:44]
"The machine elf being this, you know, kind of ubiquitous experience for people that go that deep when they go really deep."
— Ben Garrett [23:19]
"I have this theory that like when you... That UFOs are actually spiritual travel, like demons and angels gotta get from place to place..."
— Mason Skaggs [26:42]
"If I could even just mouth the name of Jesus then it would dissolve and like demons would flee. It's almost like the Bible is true. Like demons are terrified of Jesus."
— Mason Skaggs [38:39]
"God, I believe you're real. And I believe Jesus died on the cross for sinners. I don't think I can repent, but if you help me, like, if you give me the power, I'm yours... Right then he met me. For the very first time in my life, I felt love and peace..."
— Mason Skaggs [49:11]
"I've suffered more as a Christian than I ever did as a drug pushing cretin of the darkness. But I've suffered with Jesus and he is so much more valuable."
— Mason Skaggs [51:06]
On John Calvin & Theological Reading:
"[John Calvin is] so affectional and pastoral ... He says things, he'll say objective truths and leave no room for—like, if you disagree with him, he's going to answer your next objection in the next sentence."
— Mason Skaggs [03:23]
Concerning the Hallucinogenic "Open for Business" Theory:
"I think when you use hallucinogens, when you like step into sorcery, you are stepping into a dimension you have no idea about and signaling to like disembodied beings that you are open for business, basically."
— Mason Skaggs [12:22]
Power in the Name of Jesus:
"If I could even just mouth the name of Jesus then it would dissolve and like demons would flee. It's almost like the Bible is true."
— Mason Skaggs [38:39]
Testimony of Deliverance:
"God, I believe you're real. And I believe Jesus died on the cross for sinners. I don't think I can repent, but if you help me, like, if you give me the power, I'm yours. If you help me repent, I will. I follow you."
— Mason Skaggs [49:11]
On the Overwhelming Superiority of Christ:
"With all that darkness, look at how much greater the light is at the end of it."
— Ben Garrett [52:12]
Mason Skaggs shares his journey from heroin-addicted occultist to Christian worship leader, centering on a terrifying ketamine-induced encounter with demonic entities he likens to "machine elves" and a higher, paralyzing being that telepathically warns he's not supposed to be there. The hosts relate these visions to abduction experiences, arguing that drug-fuelled excursions into the spiritual realm are real, dangerous, and best understood Biblically—not as mere hallucinations. Mason describes the enduring spiritual warfare that followed, his eventual surrender to Christ, and the surpassing peace and purpose he found in faith—emphasizing that "with all that darkness, look at how much greater the light is at the end of it."
Recommendation: If you’re trapped in darkness, run to Christ—the only true deliverer.