Stuff They Don't Want You To Know Aliens, Abductions and Cover-ups: an Interview with Payne Lindsey
Mar 4, 2026
Payne Lindsey, documentary storyteller behind High Strange and true-crime hits, joins to unpack UFO lore. He discusses his investigative, open-minded approach. Conversations cover credibility of figures like Bob Lazar, the role of government secrecy and testing, how AI and deepfakes muddy evidence, and why alleged encounters and memories are hard to evaluate.
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Investigative Approach Gives Older UFO Cases Weight
- Payne frames High Strange as investigative journalism applied to UFOs, aiming for middle-ground objectivity rather than believer evangelism.
- He favors older cases (Betty and Barney Hill, Rendlesham) because pre-digital evidence (film, hypnosis tapes) avoids modern AI/forgery asterisks and feels more weighty.
Post Truth Makes UFO Evidence Harder To Trust
- Payne highlights the post-truth problem: images and eyewitness accounts are less reliable due to AI and human perception limits.
- He compares belief systems (Wi-Fi, religion, crypto) to show people accept invisible phenomena differently depending on explanation and trust.
Trace Provenance To Debunk UAP Images
- Verify provenance before accepting a UAP photo or video: find the earliest post and the original poster's story.
- Payne suggests tracing objects (e.g., a balloon) to a purchase source like Amazon/Alibaba to disprove sightings.