

Consensus Unreality
Consensus Unreality
Exploring connections in high strangeness, fringe culture and the occult
Episodes
Mentioned books

Mar 30, 2026 • 10min
Virtual Nihilism; Dark Forest Theory of the Internet Patreon Preview
Join Consensus Unreality Patreon for just $5 a month and get access to biweekly exclusive episodes, our full 6 year episode archive, written content, discord and more. Plus we present our printed Journal of Shells magazine exclusively through our Print Club Tier. Its the best and only way to support the show.
https://www.patreon.com/consensusunreality
Watch what you say in the forest, you don't know what you're feeding. In this conversation on Bogna Konior's book The Dark Forest Theory of the Internet, we talk about living in an age of strategic secrecy, ufological allegory, and hidden AI game theory mind control. Does this experiment in extreme nihilism reflect our current moment? Listen to find out.

Mar 23, 2026 • 1h 31min
Photographic Hauntings, SORRAT, and American Parapsychology with Shannon Taggart
Join Consensus Unreality Patreon for just $5 a month and get access to biweekly exclusive episodes, our full 6 year episode archive, written content, discord and more. Plus we present our printed Journal of Shells magazine exclusively through our Print Club Tier. Its the best and only way to support the show.
https://www.patreon.com/c/consensusunreality
In this interview with returning guest, artist and writer Shannon Taggart, we discuss her recent article and continued work on SORRAT, one of the most misunderstood and fascinating groups in parapsychological history. From their founder John Neihardt’s important Black Elk Speaks and Cycle of the West, through the tragedy which inspired the founding of SORRAT and the inner workings and later works of the group, we dive deep into this strange history. We also chat at length on Shannon’s thoughts on photography’s artistic legacy in the modern era, its inherent paranormality, her work at Lily Dale, and the photographic manifestations of Ted Serios. A lengthy and wide ranging conversation with one of the best in the biz!
https://www.shannontaggart.com/

Mar 16, 2026 • 52min
Finality Loops; Broken Time: Tempunauts; Dodleston Messages; Scole Experiment
Join our Patreon to unlock all our exclusive episodes, written content and more.. For just $5 come aboard, support the show and help us unlock the mystery.
https://www.patreon.com/c/consensusunreality
Dave and Ben are stuck in a time loop... this episode presents the 500,000th precise replica of a conversation on Philip K. Dick's "A Little Something for Us Tempunauts," time weirdness and existential novelty, eternal returns, seances from the future, the inevitable return of IPAs, and more. We revisit the strange future incursions in The Dodleston Messages and compare similar interference channeled through the Scole Experiments.

Mar 6, 2026 • 1h 15min
Witchcraft, Occult Relics, and More with Steven Intermill of Buckland Museum of Witchcraft
Steven Intermill, curator and director of the Buckland Museum of Witchcraft, joins us for a wide ranging conversation on Ray Buckland, Michael Bertiaux, Nema, American occultism, occult book and object collecting, his work in noise project Telecult Powers, leg lamps, and more. Make sure to check out the astounding Buckland Museum next time you’re in Cleveland, or visit them online at https://bucklandmuseum.org
Join Consensus Unreality Patreon for biweekly exclusive episodes, printed magazines and more
https://www.patreon.com/consensusunreality

Feb 23, 2026 • 11min
Space Age Relics, Ghost Automata, New Paranoid Cinema
A brief summary of our latest Journal of Shells: cybernetics and automata, spirit and machine. There’s still time to join our Print Club on Patreon!
Plus, on Patreon: The space age’s corpse treated as a saint in Ballard’s Dead Astronaut; another diagnosis of the paranoid American in recent film Bugonia; syncs and thoughts galore.
Join our Patreon for this full episode, printed Journal of Shells, our full episode archive, and ongoing exclusive content.
https://www.patreon.com/c/consensusunreality

Feb 13, 2026 • 44min
Virtual Incursions: Neuromancer, Cyberpunk, Close Futurism
In this continuation of our discussions on artificial unrealities, we visit William Gibson's cyberspace. We talk Neuromancer, its influence and prophecies, and the feedback loops fiction and reality create when they meet in the human mind.
Join our Patreon for just 5$ to access our full episode archive, weekly exclusive episodes, written content and more.. Plus- our Printed Journal of Shells.. Volume 7 shipping shortly
https://www.patreon.com/c/consensusunreality

Jan 23, 2026 • 57min
Reality Deterioration: Ubik, Serial Experiments Lain, AI Psychosis, Fake Worlds
With some help from Philip K. Dick’s classic novel Ubik and cult favorite anime Serial Experiments Lain, we discuss the intellectual genealogy and current situation of our slipping reality. AI psychosis, corporate rulers, gods from the machines, and more..
Full 2 hour episode, full episode archive, ongoing exclusive episodes, printed magazine subscription and more at https://www.patreon.com/c/consensusunreality

Jan 8, 2026 • 1h 1min
Paranormal Year in Review: Research and High Strangeness Patreon Plus Episode
2025 in the rearview, 2026 a big tunnel painted on the side of a mountain. Here's our lengthy public/ Patreon split episode recapping highlights and weirdnesses from a mixed up, wacky year. Plasmoids, out of body experiences, and tons of great interviews. It's like a whole year in under two hours! Patreon discussion of our personal strange experiences, looking forward to '26, and much more.
Join our patreon to access the second half of this episode, our full episode archive, and over 150 hours of exclusive episode audio + our printed Journal of Shells publication
https://www.patreon.com/c/consensusunreality

Dec 19, 2025 • 9min
Solid State Intelligence, John C. Lilly Revisited, ECCO, 3I/Atlas PATREON PREVIEW
ECCO is calling. Will you answer? SSE is at your door. Do you let it in? Hear our advice in this breezy discussion of our beloved mad scientist mystic John C. Lilly. The spiritual insights of a Vitamin K. psychonaut; eerie AI prophecies; coincidence and synchronicity; and more!
Here this full episode and over 150 hours of exclusive episodes on Patreon, plus join our Print Club to receive our printed Journal of Shells publication and more..
https://www.patreon.com/c/consensusunreality

Dec 12, 2025 • 54min
ESP, Remote Viewing, Parapsychology + Patreon: Savior Battles, Gnosticism, Punched by Bigfoot
SRI, PEAR, Duke, Monroe, and all that! An episode on remote viewing, ESP, psychics, and more. We even try it out ourselves, with an interesting result. This is your brief primer on the expanded mind. Plus: a lengthy Patreon addendum on Gnostic emo, further mindreading experiments, Bigfoot straight up punching you, and more!
Join our Patreon for just 5$ a month and access over 150 hours of exclusive episodes, including the Patreon portion of this one, written content, discord and more..
https://www.patreon.com/c/consensusunreality
And for 10$ a month our Print Club Tier will also get you access to our quarterly Journal of Shells publication, which features new writings and artwork and curated archival texts dealing in the many subjects we speak on. Issues are currently limited to the Print Tier, so its the only way to obtain this limited publication.


