Episode Six: Otherworldly Horizons

Summary

Obscurum: Episode Six – Otherworldly Horizons

Release Date: February 25, 2025
Host: Gabe Lennors
Produced by: Imagine and Leonhar's Entertainment for iHeartMedia

---

Introduction

In Episode Six of Obscurum, titled "Otherworldly Horizons," host Gabe Lennors delves deeper into the enigmatic drone sightings that have perplexed rural America since 2019. This episode meticulously unpacks the various threads surrounding the mysterious aircraft observed over Nebraska and Colorado, exploring local testimonies, potential technological explanations, and the involvement of federal agencies.

---

The Drone Sightings Phenomenon

The episode opens with a recap of the unsettling drone sightings that began in 2019. These unidentified aerial phenomena, referred to locally as "mma" (multi-mission aircraft), have been a source of fear and speculation. Brendan Patrick Hughes discusses the advanced capabilities of these drones, noting their ability to "pinpoint a stray cat in the middle of a wildfire" (02:20).

Notable Quote:

"They can pinpoint a stray cat in the middle of a wildfire somewhere. The man mentioned in the article who's apparently taking responsibility for the sightings is this guy named Matthew Spencer." – Brendan Patrick Hughes 02:20

---

Local Investigations

Gabe narrates his investigative journey, beginning with a visit to the Yuma Pioneer newspaper. He meets Tony Rail, the seasoned editor who first reported the drone sightings. Tony reveals that the unusual reports started around New Year's Eve when both he and his children observed the mysterious aircraft (04:00).

Notable Quote:

"Pretty sure it was in December when it started. Started getting reports about him. I think it was New Year's Eve when my kids said they thought they saw one too." – Tony Rail 05:00

---

Encounter with Tim Colin

Gabe's investigation leads him to Tim Colin, a local resident with a peculiar story. Tim recounts his alleged abduction by extraterrestrial beings, who implanted a mysterious chip in his wrist. His experience raises questions about the true nature of the drone sightings and their possible extraterrestrial origins (06:13).

Notable Quote:

"I had a piece of metal in my wrist... It had to be interesting. The implant was put in my body and it didn't have no portal entry." – Tim Colin 07:39

---

Theories: Oil and Gas Industry Involvement

Seeking alternative explanations, Gabe interviews Jack Elston of Black Swift Technologies in Boulder, Colorado. Jack discusses the legitimate uses of drones in scientific and industrial applications, particularly in the oil and gas sector for infrastructure inspection and methane leak detection. However, he dismisses the idea that his company is responsible for the mysterious drones, suggesting instead that unauthorized experiments might be at play (09:29).

Notable Quote:

"The most plausible thing I heard, though, is that it was somebody that is conducting experiments as far as figuring out whether these things could do perimeter surveillance for missile sites." – Jack Elston 11:19

---

FAA Files and Agent Bumberger

Gabe uncovers internal FAA communications through Douglas Johnson of the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies. An email from Special Agent Michael Bumberger indicates that the FAA was actively pursuing leads on Matthew Spencer, the suspected operator of the drones. This revelation points to possible government interest or involvement in the drone sightings (13:15).

Notable Quote:

"The FAA would want to provide as much transparency as possible. I was wrong." – Brendan Patrick Hughes 16:16

---

Meeting Matthew Spencer

Determined to confront the man behind the mysterious drones, Gabe arranges a meeting with Matthew Spencer at the Cowtown Museum in Wichita, Kansas. Matthew reveals that his group tracks high-value aerospace targets, primarily focusing on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAPs). Despite his claims, Matthew remains evasive about the broader implications and the extent of his operations (19:23).

Notable Quote:

"What we're doing is we track high-value aerospace targets. Our main focus is to go after the UAPs that are within the news right now." – Matthew Spencer 20:29

---

Unraveling the Mystery

As Gabe digs deeper, he discovers discrepancies in Matthew's accounts and the FAA's official stance. Agent Bumberger's reluctance to comment and the unverified reports of larger drones suggest a layered complexity in the drone sightings. The episode builds suspense as Gabe contemplates the possibility of non-human technology and the potential cover-ups by authorities (23:11).

Notable Quote:

"When you have drones in the area, there's always a lie. So who's gonna be right on the why? And it's always the facts and the burden of proofs on you." – Matthew Spencer 22:04

---

Conclusion

Episode Six of Obscurum leaves listeners on the edge with unresolved questions about the true nature of the drone sightings. Gabe's relentless pursuit of the truth uncovers layers of deception, possible extraterrestrial involvement, and governmental secrecy. As the investigation continues, the episode sets the stage for future revelations in the quest to unveil the shocking truths behind "Invasion of the Drones."

---

Notable Quotes Overview:

• Brendan Patrick Hughes [02:20]:
  "They can pinpoint a stray cat in the middle of a wildfire somewhere."

• Tony Rail [05:00]:
  "Pretty sure it was in December when it started. Started getting reports about him."

• Tim Colin [07:39]:
  "The implant was put in my body and it didn't have no portal entry."

• Jack Elston [11:19]:
  "Somebody that is conducting experiments as far as figuring out whether these things could do perimeter surveillance for missile sites."

• Matthew Spencer [20:29]:
  "Our main focus is to go after the UAPs that are within the news right now."

• Matthew Spencer [22:04]:
  "When you have drones in the area, there's always a lie."

---

Further Listening

Stay tuned for the next episodes of Obscurum, as Gabe Lennors continues to unravel the mysteries lurking in rural America. For more information and to listen to Episode Six: "Otherworldly Horizons," visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or your preferred podcast platform.

---

Obscurum: Invasion of the Drones is available on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, and other major podcast platforms.

Transcript

[Kyle Tequila]

Geico's motorcycle expertise gives me the coverage I need.

[Mark Seale]

Like 24. Seven claims, I'm on cloud nine.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

Clouds are wholly unable to support the weight of an adult human.

[Kyle Tequila]

What's happening?

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

Furthermore, clouds are not numbered. Even if you procured a jetpack and searched, you'd find no cloud numbered nine. However, at that altitude, you'd likely befriend a flock of migrating snow geese. Geese who'd encourage you to leave your 24.7geico motorcycle claims insurance behind, as they would take you in and even share their dinner of crickets and clovers with you. GEICO assumes no liability for any indigestion that may occur from a clover cricket dinner. Geico expertise for your motorcycle.

[Kyle Tequila]

My name is Kyle Tequila, host of the shocking new true crime podcast Crook County. I got recruited into the mob when I was 17 years old.

[Maria Tremarke]

People are dying. Is he doing this every night?

[Kyle Tequila]

Kenny was a Chicago firefighter who lived a secret double life as a mafia hitman. I had a wife and I had two children. Nobody knew anything.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

He was a fricking crazy man.

[Kyle Tequila]

He was my father and I had no idea about any of this. Until now. Crook county is available now. Listen for free on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or PODC or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

Welcome to the Criminalia podcast.

[Maria Tremarke]

I'm Maria Tremarke.

[Holly Frey]

And I'm Holly Frey. Together we invite you into the dark and winding corridors of historical true crime.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

Each season we explore a new theme. From poisoners to art thieves.

[Holly Frey]

We uncover the secrets of history's most interesting figures, from legal injustices to body snatching.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

And tune in at the end of each episode as we indulge in cocktails and mocktails inspired by each story.

[Holly Frey]

Listen to criminalia on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

My name is Brendan Patrick Hughes, host of Divine Intervention. This is a story about radical nuns in combat boots and wild haired priests trading blows with J. Edgar Hoover in a hell bent effort to sabotage a war.

[Kyle Tequila]

J. Edgar Hoover was furious.

[Maria Tremarke]

He was out of his mind and.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

He wanted to bring the Catholic left to its knees. Listen to Divine intervent on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Previously on Obscurum. Invasion of the Drones. Colorado has what they call a multi mission aircraft. They call it an mma.

[Mark Seale]

They can pinpoint a stray cat in.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

The middle of a wildfire somewhere. The man mentioned in the article who's apparently taking responsibility for the sightings is this guy named Matthew Spencer. It'll be snowing completely errat.

[Mark Seale]

But it doesn't snow right there at that site. Very weird.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

Why do you think the drone showed up when the trash can was lit with fire? I think it picked up the heat. It was probably at least 8ft across.

[Nathan King]

It was intimidating.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

Didn't know anything like that even existed that could hover like that and then take off at that kind of speed.

[Kyle Tequila]

Hong Kong health authorities have activated their.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

Most serious response level after an outbreak.

[Kyle Tequila]

Of a new type of viral pneumonia in China.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

The World Health Organization has declared the coronavirus outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.

[Holly Frey]

New York now confirming its first case.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

We're deeply concerned both by the alarming.

[Mark Seale]

Levels of spread and severity.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

The WHO has formally declared the coronavirus a global pandemic. When the coronavirus pandemic ramped up in the spring of 2020, I stayed focused but experienced many setbacks along with trying to find more about Matthew Spencer. And if he was tied to the sightings, I'd uncover other things. Things that didn't make sense and made me fear what technology may be hovering above the PR. Chapter 11 Outskirts of Yuma Turn left here. Old fashioned sign, rustic kind of text in the window. To help get a clearer picture of Matthew's relationship with the Yuma Pioneer, I set a time to visit with the newspaper's editor, Tony Rail. Walking into the newsroom felt like going back in time. The walls were a bit worn and there was a scent in the air that smelled like an old five and dime store. How you doing? I'm Gabe. Tony. Nice to meet you. How many papers do you print a week in here? Oh, our circulation is about 2,000. Tony's the kind of guy you'd imagine running a small town newspaper. He had gray hair, glasses, and you could tell he loved the news by the way that he talked. He walked me to an empty room, then told me when he first became aware of the unknown aircraft. Pretty sure it was in December when it started. Started getting reports about him. I think it was New Year's Eve when my kids said they thought they saw one too and drove out in the country a little ways to kind of follow it. Or somewhere around that night when we talked for a couple minutes, I moved the conversation to Matthew. He was saying there were the ones, you know, that were doing this stuff. I was hoping to find out more from him. And then he just kind of disappeared and never heard from him again. After a while, Tony didn't reveal much. After I left the office, I thought I'd chat With a few local residents to see if Matthew was a regular in Yuma. No one had seen him. Another name kept getting brought up. Tim Colin. It was said that Tim may actually know what was behind a few of the sightings. Tim lived in a white historic looking home on the main drag running through town. He was waiting for me on the front porch.

[Mark Seale]

I got an old saying, and I take it from Einstein, the universe is not only stranger than you imagine, it's stranger than you can imagine. And I take that straight to heart. I'm pushing 70 and I've learned a lot, and there ain't no other way to look at it.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

Tim has gray hair and a distinctive voice. It didn't take long to realize why folks pointed me in his direction.

[Mark Seale]

The night I was abducted, my wife and I were coming back from Denver because I had to go up and see a doctor. Coming back from a doctor's appointment and coming up Highway 59 south of Yuma, about 12 miles south of Yuma. Large UFO across the road in front of us. It was probably 100 foot long, 20 foot wide and 10 foot high, and it crossed over the fence, but under the phone lines, went across the road. Then it was kind of alongside the car and backed up a couple hundred yards and put the car in park. And then we're looking at it. One light came on right above. Now there was two bright lights. Now a lot of people ask me what kind of alien did abducted me. And I don't really know. Got no clue.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

Tim believed an alien had snatched him on the outskirts of Yuma and put some type of chip the size of a cantaloupe seed in his arm.

[Mark Seale]

I'd injured my hand working. So I went to the doctor and got an x ray and he come back and he says, do you know you have a piece of metal in your wrist? And no. And he said, got any idea where it come from? He had a student nurse doctor with him. And I said, well, doc, finish making your rounds and come back and I'll give you some info on where that piece of metal might have come from. Because it was rapidly dawning on me that it was shouldn't have been there. And it had to be interesting. The implant was put in my body and it didn't have no portal entry. There was no portal entry in my body. For this thing to be put in there, I mean, it was a total surprise.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

Tim was a character. This was a fascinating story and a lot for me to take in. He provided nothing new about the drone like craft seen in the region. So did you ever find the guy that was mentioned in the article that you were looking for? No. I drove all the way to Yuma and I talked to the editor of the paper, and he said he talked to that guy about the story, and then he just disappeared. Everyone kept saying, if you're looking for information about the drones, you got to talk to this guy named Tim. And I went over to Tim's house and he started telling me this story that he was abducted by an alien.

[Maria Tremarke]

Creepy, creepy, creepy.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

Okay, I gotta get on this other call. But anyway, I'll talk to you later, Mom. I looked deeper into another theory while trying to find more about Matthew Spencer's background, and that was if these flying objects could be related to the oil and gas industry. Tell me just a little bit about what your company does and what the priorities are of your company.

[Jack Elston]

We're a small unmanned aircraft company that we focus primarily on the use of unmanned aircraft systems for scientific applications. So that can range everything from atmospheric and sensory sampling to remote sensing.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

That's Jack Elston of Black Swift Technologies out of Boulder, Colorado. His company not only flies drones for different clients, but builds them too.

[Jack Elston]

So we started out focusing on fixed wing unmanned aircraft. The reason why we did that is because of the endurance. They're far more efficient than quad rotors, and so we can fly for a lot longer with the same amount of battery carrying more payload. The payload, honestly, is the real reason why these things exist in the first place. Without a sensor to gather data, you're just having fun flying something around in the air. So the payload refers to anything that we're putting on board to gather the data that doesn't have to do with the flight control of the aircraft or actually keeping the aircraft aloft.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

Is thermal imaging pretty common in your line of work?

[Jack Elston]

I'd say it's second only to just regular visual imagery. Thermal camera can be used. Again, you were talking about search and rescue. It makes it a lot easier to find individuals rather than just trying to look at visual data. We've also used thermal cameras as well to detect things like pipelines underneath the ground, because you can actually see their thermal signatures coming to the surface.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

Do people use drones a lot like in oil, in oil and gas or pipelines like that?

[Jack Elston]

The oil industry, I know they're doing a lot of infrastructure inspection, so inspection of pipes and things like that. Stuff that you normally, normally have to have people climb up on ladders and kind of deal with the risk of that. It's much easier to just have the aircraft fly the camera up there for you. They're also doing things like looking at methane detection to see if there's any leaks in the area.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

The mysterious aircraft didn't belong to Jack's company, but I thought he could have some ideas as to why they might be flying.

[Jack Elston]

Sounds like they're a fixed wing aircraft.

[Maria Tremarke]

From.

[Jack Elston]

Based on the explanations that I heard, I don't know exactly what people are doing. I mean, normally you have to get permission to go do that without permission. The most plausible thing I heard, though, is that it was somebody that is conducting experiments as far as figuring out whether these things could do perimeter surveillance for missile sites.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

Missile sites. When Jack said those words, I had a flashback to high school on the way to a football game. I remember somebody pointing out an area on the side of the road where a bomb was buried in the ground. Weeks rolled by with few developments. Eventually, a new piece of information emerged. Douglas Johnson, a volunteer researcher affiliated with the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies, a group that analyzes unidentified aerospace phenomena, obtained a trove of internal FAA emails. They were published online and provided a glimpse into how the FAA was approaching the unidentified drone mystery. Looking to verify the authenticity of the messages, I noticed a couple interesting notes in the endless pages of text. One of them was dated January 2, 2020, and written by Special Agent Michael Bumberger of the FAA's Law Enforcement Assistance Program. Michael Bumberger, who I refer to as Agent Bumberger, wrote that he was chasing a lead about someone who may be behind the sightings. In the email, he insinuated that he wanted the FBI to visit this person. It takes one guy out there to say, who's that? Kyle, who thinks he can just get.

[Mark Seale]

On a microphone on a podcast and start publicizing this.

[Kyle Tequila]

From iHeart podcasts and Tenderfoot TV comes a new true crime podcast, Crook County. I got recruited into the mob when I was 17 years old. Meet Kenny, an enforcer for the legendary Chicago outfit. And that was my mission, to snuff the life out of this guy. He lived a secret double life as a firefighter paramedic for the Chicago Fire Department. I had a wife and I had two children. Nobody knew anything.

[Maria Tremarke]

People are dying. Is he doing this every night?

[Kyle Tequila]

Torn between two worlds. I'm covering up murders that these cops are doing.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

He was a freaking crazy man.

[Maria Tremarke]

We don't know who he is, really.

[Kyle Tequila]

He is my father and I had no idea about any of this. Until now. Welcome to Crook County. Series premiere February 11th. Listen for free on the iHeartRadio app. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Holly Frey]

There's a type of soil in Mississippi called Yazoo Clay. It's thick, burnt orange, and it's got a reputation.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

It's terrible, terrible dirt.

[Holly Frey]

Yaz clay eats everything. So things that get buried there tend to stay buried until they're not. In 2012, construction crews at Mississippi's biggest hospital made a shocking discovery.

[Mark Seale]

7,000 bodies out there or more, all.

[Holly Frey]

Former patients of the old state asylum. And nobody knew they were there.

[Maria Tremarke]

It was my family's mystery.

[Holly Frey]

But in this corner of the south, it's not just the soil that keeps secrets. Nobody talks about it. Nobody has any information. When you peel back the layers of Mississippi's Yazoo clay, nothing's ever as simple as you think.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

The story is much more complicated and nuanced than that.

[Holly Frey]

I'm Larison Campbell. Listen to Under Yazu Clay on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

[Mark Seale]

I'm Mark Seale.

[Nathan King]

And I'm Nathan King.

[Bob Pittman]

This is Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli.

[Mark Seale]

The five families did not want us to shoot that picture.

[Nathan King]

Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli is based on my co host Mark's best selling book of the same title. And on this show we call upon his years of research to help unpack the story behind the Godfather's birth. From start to finish, this is really.

[Mark Seale]

The first interview I've done in bed.

[Nathan King]

We sift through innumerable accounts. 35 pages isn't very much, many of them conflicting.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

That's nonsense.

[Bob Pittman]

There were 60 pages.

[Nathan King]

And try to get to the truth of what really happened.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

And they said, we're finished. This is over.

[Mark Seale]

It's not going to work.

[Kyle Tequila]

You got to get rid of those guys.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

It's a disaster.

[Nathan King]

Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli features new and archival interviews with Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Evans, James Caan, Talia Shire, and many others.

[Mark Seale]

Yes, that was a real horse's head.

[Nathan King]

Listen and subscribe to Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Bob Pittman]

Hi, I'm Bob Pittman, chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia. I'm excited to share my podcast with you, math and stories from the frontiers of marketing. This week I'm talking to the CEO of Moderna, Stephane Bonsell, about how he led his team through unprecedented times to create, test and distribute a COVID vaccine, all in less than a year.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

It becomes a human decision to decide to throw by the window your business.

[Bob Pittman]

Strategy and to do what you think.

[Nathan King]

Is the right thing for the world.

[Bob Pittman]

Join me as we uncover innovations in data and analytics, the math, and the ever important creative spark, the magic. Listen to math and stories from the frontiers of Marketing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

Chapter 12 the Hunt was the FAA zeroing in on Matthew Spencer or was he even real? I contemplated that question many times. I was beginning to wonder if he was just a joke drummed up over a poker game by some drunk at the bar. Then everything changed. Through a series of recurring visits to a couple people who didn't want to be recorded, I was able to figure out that Matthew Spencer did in fact exist. I finally believed that I knew how to approach him. The conversation started with a DM to a random Twitter account. There wasn't a person's name linked to it and very few details in the bio I wrote. I'm a journalist based in la. I'm originally from the area. I'd like to chat with you about the mystery aircraft. Interested in learning more, I received a long and detailed reply. The words were jumbled and confusing at times. The writing style was similar to the article in the Yuma pioneer. I was 90% sure I was messaging with Matthew. I've never seen this guy's face before, he told me. He's wearing some jean shorts, I believe, a T shirt and a ball cap. I persuaded Matthew to talk with me in person. After many hours of driving through Kansas, I slowly pulled up to a location he chose, the old Cowtown Museum in Wichita. It's a western town that resembled a city in the late 1800s. He was waiting in the gift shop. He had a stocky build with a black hat, cargo shorts and glasses on. We said a brief hello, then began walking through the town's dirt road streets. We turned past the blacksmith shop, then grabbed a couple sarsaparillas from the saloon. We sat down at some picnic tables near an old town square. Alright, so first, go ahead and tell me your name.

[Maria Tremarke]

Yeah, it's Matthew Spencer.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

And what is it exactly that your group does?

[Maria Tremarke]

Basically, when you start forming together and you're picking up people and you're picking up, you know, property and you're doing different things. We decided to form a group. You know, a group you're not gonna find on the Internet or a website per se. But what we want to do in the tracking we want to do is essentially the identifying mark of who we are.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

The tracking we want to do is an identifying Mark of who we are. Surely I didn't drive all the way to Kansas for vague responses like that. I asked Matthew to clarify.

[Maria Tremarke]

So we caught some attention. When you get into what you're referring to as the Colorado drone mystery. Naturally, but it's about a decade of work, and essentially what we're doing is we track high value aerospace targets. So I break down into the business world, but our main focus is to go after the UAPs that are within the news right now.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

I thought back to a few stories I'd seen about UAPs.

[Maria Tremarke]

There's a whole fleet of them.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

Look on the ASA. They're all going against the wind. The wind's 100 point. While the mission of Matthew's group was unusual, I wanted to get straight to the point. It seemed highly unlikely that one man or team could operate large numbers of drones in multiple locations, hundreds of miles apart at the same time. How many drones were you using? Like 5, 10, 15, 20.

[Maria Tremarke]

So the groups of drones, let's say 10, 25. No, not at the same time.

[Mark Seale]

Yeah.

[Maria Tremarke]

Do we have a fleet? Of course. Was it, you know, 25, the night sky, looking in the windows? No.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

While I pressed Matthew on the characteristics of his drones and if he was actually flying them at night, I didn't get much information. So what type of process do you use and do with those drones?

[Maria Tremarke]

Yeah, I wouldn't say there's an exact method, but the idea is that you have to get in the air one way or another with your devices and with your tools, and then essentially, based on that data, you're picking out your next location.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

Matthew avoided the question, and I was losing my patience. Do you know who is responsible for the drones in Colorado?

[Maria Tremarke]

You have to get down to the basics. Were there other drones there besides mine? Yeah, without a doubt. Can I tell you whose they were? No.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

Matthew was adamant that the small number of his drones, along with others, were flying in the night sky.

[Maria Tremarke]

You know what I do when I'm tracking or when anybody's tracking? What do you do? You fly in a grid. That's just how it works. And so you hear all the reports coming out, well, they're flying in a grid. Kind of makes me think that, you know, you got, you know, I don't want to say fool, because I wasn't trying to fool anybody, but you seen something and your brain kind of figured out the rest. Was there drones in the area? Definitely. But anytime you have drones in the area, there's always a lie. So who's gonna be right on the why? And it's always the facts and the burden of proofs on you. And I think there's more of a story there. But I think it was evolving more than just, you know, drones for no reason were flying in with people there who referred to as the middle of nowhere. And, I mean, I'm from a place like that, so there's no disrespect, but something was going on.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

I was able to confirm that. On January 2nd, Agent Bumberger emailed Matthew directly, saying that he'd been advised by the Yuma County Sheriff's Office that the mysterious drones in question were his.

[Maria Tremarke]

You want to sit me down and say I had lights going? You want the clearest understanding? I think when you get down to it. And he said, she said, especially federal agencies put me on the polygraph.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

I couldn't verify the majority of what Matthew told me. It appeared that when the FAA wouldn't allow a polygraph, he reached out to different newspapers to claim responsibility for his drones. If Matthew was breaking any laws, he hadn't been arrested yet. Was he just screaming for attention behind the scenes? FAA investigators clearly had an interest in him. I could tell he wanted to share more. When we finished visiting, I fired off an email to Ian Greger to see if he could arrange a short interview with Agent Bumberger. In a nutshell, Ian wrote back that he wouldn't make Bumberger available. I pushed through further correspondence. He shut me down. Since the origin of the sightings was a mystery, I thought the FAA would want to provide as much transparency as possible. I was wrong. I had to find another way to Bumberger. I re examined the FAA emails I'd seen online. As I analyzed them again, I discovered a paragraph I'd previously skimmed over. This was part of a message sent on New year's Eve of 2019, notating paragraph six. The drones are reported to have six foot wingspans. And there are several reports that indicate the drones are operating in coordination with a big drone that may be stationary in the area. There's also an unverified report of the larger drone potentially landing and taking back off from an airport in Imperial, Nebraska. I closed my eyes and thought back to those first couple nights I saw the mysterious lights in the sky. It's what we like to call God's country out here. You look into the sky, you see a few stars, but then you see all of these blinking lights kind of just moving around in irregular patterns. I'm looking at one now, and it has green and yellow light, and there's one with a solid White light on it. It looks bigger and lower to the ground. And it looks like it's stayed in the same area since I pulled up here. Just kind of hovering. Counting at least now. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. I'd seen the unexplained aircraft near the exact spot the FAA official had written about. Had I missed a land.

[Mark Seale]

It takes one guy out there to say, who's that?

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

Kyle. Who thinks he can just get on.

[Mark Seale]

A microphone on a podcast and start publicizing this.

[Kyle Tequila]

From I heart podcasts and Tenderfoot TV comes a new true crime podcast, Crook County. I got recruited into the mob when I was 17 years old. Meet Kenny, an enforcer for the legendary Chicago outfit. And that was my mission, to snuff the life out of this guy. He lived a secret double life as a firefighter paramedic for the Chicago Fire Department. I had a wife and I had two children. Nobody knew anything.

[Maria Tremarke]

People are dying. Is he doing this every night?

[Kyle Tequila]

Torn between two worlds. I'm covering up murders that these cops are doing.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

He was a freaking crazy man.

[Kyle Tequila]

We don't know who he is, really. He is. My father and I had no idea about any of this. Until now. Welcome to Crook County. Series premiere February 11th. Listen for free on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Holly Frey]

There's a type of soil in Mississippi called Yazoo clay. It's thick, burnt orange, and it's got a reputation.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

It's terrible, terrible dirt.

[Holly Frey]

Yazoo clay eats everything, so things that get buried there tend to stay buried until they're not. In 2012, construction crews at Mississippi's biggest hospital made a shocking discovery.

[Mark Seale]

7,000 bodies out there or more, all.

[Holly Frey]

Former patients of the old state asylum. And nobody knew they were there.

[Maria Tremarke]

It was my family's mystery.

[Holly Frey]

But in this corner of the south, it's not just the soil that keeps secrets. Nobody talks about it. Nobody has any information. When you peel back the layers of Mississippi's Yazoo Clay, nothing's ever as simple as you think.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

The story is much more complicated and nuanced than that.

[Holly Frey]

I'm Larison Campbell. Listen to under yazukle on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast.

[Mark Seale]

I'm Marc Seal.

[Nathan King]

And I'm Nathan King.

[Bob Pittman]

This is Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli.

[Mark Seale]

The five families want us to shoot that picture.

[Nathan King]

Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli is based on my co host Mark's best selling book of the same title. And on this show we call upon his years of research to help unpack the story behind the Godfather's birth. From start to finish, this is really.

[Mark Seale]

The first interview I've done in bed.

[Nathan King]

We sift through innumerable accounts. 35 pages isn't very much, many of them conflicting.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

That's nonsense.

[Nathan King]

There were 60 pages and try to get to the truth of what really happened.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

And they said we're finished.

[Kyle Tequila]

This is over.

[Mark Seale]

It only is not going to work.

[Kyle Tequila]

You gotta get rid of those guys.

[Nathan King]

This is that Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli features new and archival interviews with Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Evans, James Caan, Talia Shire and many others.

[Mark Seale]

Yes, that was a real horse's head.

[Nathan King]

Listen and subscribe to Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Bob Pittman]

Hi, I'm Bob Pittman, chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia. I'm excited to share my podcast with you. Math and Stories from the Frontiers of Marketing this week I'm talking to the CEO of Moderna, Stephane Bonsell about how he led his team through unprecedented times to create, test and distribute a COVID vaccine all in less than a year.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

It becomes a human decision to decide.

[Nathan King]

To fly by the window, your business.

[Bob Pittman]

Strategy and to do what you think.

[Nathan King]

Is the right thing for the world.

[Bob Pittman]

Join me as we uncover innovations in data and analytics, the math and the ever important creative spark, the magic. Listen to math and stories from the frontiers of Marketing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

Coming up on Obscurum Invasion of the Dr.

[Mark Seale]

They act like a living being.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

I mean they show curiosity, they just show different emotions. You know, you can feel it. They did not look like anything I had ever seen from this planet. They backed those things up and were started to come after me as I.

[Holly Frey]

Was coming down the road.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

When it comes to the active missile silos, I assume that there's some type of counter drive technology. Was that in place?

[Mark Seale]

I got things to do and it ain't play with drones.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

We want to hear from you. If you have any information surrounding the events detailed in this podcast or other obscure stories in rural America we should look into, please visit our [e-mail] and send us an email to connect with us on social media. You can follow scurumseries and Abelurs on all social platforms. Obscurum is produced by Imagine and Leonhar's Entertainment for iHeartMedia. This series is written, hosted and produced by me, Gabe Leonors. It's executive produced by Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Carl Welker, Nathan Cloke, Nikki Etour and me. Additional production by Jacob Plew. Music and sound effects courtesy of Epidemic Sound Brand management in Digital design by Labyrinth Branco Video editing by Alex Semy Kopenko. This project was mixed and mastered by Jacob Plew. Special thanks to Dan Bodanski, Josh Hiller, Keaton Stortz, Bryson Keyes, Ailey Burchfield, David Wasserman, Katrina Norvell In My Family Obscurum Invasion of the Drums is available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. Follow now.

[Kyle Tequila]

My name is Kyle Tequila, host of the shocking new true crime podcast Crook County. I got recruited into the mob when I was 17 years old.

[Maria Tremarke]

People are dying.

[Mark Seale]

Is he doing this every night?

[Kyle Tequila]

Kenny was a Chicago firefighter who lived a secret double life as a mafia hitman. I had a wife and I had two children. Nobody knew anything.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

He was a fricking crazy man.

[Kyle Tequila]

He was my father and I had no idea about any of this. Until now. Crook county is available now. Listen for free on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

Welcome to the Criminalia Podcast.

[Maria Tremarke]

I'm Maria Tremorki.

[Holly Frey]

And I'm Holly Fry. Together we invite you into the dark and winding corridors of historical true crime.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

Each season we explore a new theme, from poisoners to art thieves.

[Holly Frey]

We uncover the secrets of history's most interesting figures, from legal injustices to body snatching.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

And tune in at the end of each episode as we indulge in cocktails and mocktails in inspired by each story.

[Holly Frey]

Listen to criminalia on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

My name is Brendan Patrick Hughes, host of Divine Intervention. This is a story about radical nuns in combat boots and wild haired priests trading blows with J. Edgar Hoover in a hell bent effort to sabotage a war.

[Kyle Tequila]

J. Edgar Hoover was furious.

[Maria Tremarke]

He was out of his and he.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

Wanted to bring the Catholic left to its knees. Listen to Divine intervention on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Bob Pittman]

Hi, I'm Bob Pittman, chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia. I'm excited to introduce a brand new season of my podcast Math and Stories from the Frontiers of Marketing. I'm having conversations with some folks across a wide range of industries to hear how they reach the top of their fields and the lessons they learned along the way that everyone can use. I'll be joined by innovative leaders like chairman and CEO of Elf Beauty Tarang Amin, legendary singer, songwriter and philanthropist Jewel.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

Being a rock star is very fun.

[Holly Frey]

But helping people is way more fun.

[Bob Pittman]

And Damian Maldonado, CEO of American Financing.

[Mark Seale]

I figured out the formula.

[Jack Elston]

I just have to work hard.

[Brendan Patrick Hughes]

Then that's magic.

[Bob Pittman]

Join me as we uncover innovations in data and analytics, the math and the Microsoft important creative spark. The magic. Listen to math and magic on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.