Aloha and welcome to another episode of Strange Tides: the Short Board Sessions. Today, we've got another installment in our California Craziness saga and this one really lives up to the name. On a blistering August afternoon in 1955, a quiet citrus-town neighborhood in Riverside, California, became the epicenter of one of UFO history’s most baffling and unsettling encounters. A group of children reported glowing orbs, bizarre non-human entities, paralysis, levitation, and a hovering craft—events that unfolded in broad daylight while nearby adults saw nothing at all.

In this episode, we take a deep dive into the Casa Blanca Entities, tracing the story from the initial sightings through the early investigations by the Borderland Sciences Research Association, later analyses by major UFO researchers, and the case’s evolution into a cult classic of high strangeness. We explore why children were the only witnesses, how the 1955 UFO wave and Cold War paranoia shaped the moment, and what makes this encounter so difficult to categorize.

From grounded explanations like heat-induced hallucination and childhood exaggeration, to theories involving extraterrestrial contact, psychic selection, and interdimensional phenomena rooted in ancient local lore, we break down every major interpretation. Decades later, the Casa Blanca case still lingers as a haunting snapshot of lost innocence and unanswered questions—proof that sometimes the weirdest mysteries don’t happen at night, but in your own backyard.

Sources and Links:

Bloecher, Ted & Davis, Isabel. "Close Encounter at Kelly and Others of 1955" (1978) - Full text PDF via NICAP / MUFON archives (hosted by The Black Vault) - https://documents.theblackvault.com/documents/MUFON/Pratt/pratt-1978-kelly.pdf

Borderland Sciences Research Association (BSRA) Report (1955) - Excerpts and scans via Cryptopia.us (archived BSRA material) - https://cryptopia.us/casa-blanca-1955/

Lorenzen, Coral. The Humanoids (1967) - https://www.amazon.com/Humanoids-Coral-Lorenzen/dp/B0006BNK0Y

Huyghe, Patrick. The Field Guide to Extraterrestrials (1997) - https://www.amazon.com/Field-Guide-Extraterrestrials-Patrick-Huyghe/dp/0380789167

Johnson, Donald. Encounters With Aliens On This Day (2005) - https://www.amazon.com/Encounters-Aliens-This-Day-Donald/dp/0967323819

Project Blue Book Files (U.S. Air Force, 1952–1969 - National Archives / The Black Vault full declassification - https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/project-blue-book/

Riverside Daily Press (August 23, 1955) - https://www.newspapers.com/paper/riverside-daily-press/ (search August 1955)

Los Angeles Times Archives (1955) - https://www.proquest.com/hnplatimes/

Cryptonauts Podcast - https://cryptonautpodcast.com/podcast-episodes/33-casa-blanca-entities

Bigfoot Collectors Club Podcast - https://www.bccpodcast.com/episodes/declassified-casa-blanca

Reddit r/Humanoidencounters – Casa Blanca thread (October 12, 2025) - https://www.reddit.com/r/Humanoidencounters/search?q=casa+blanca

Fringe Blog – "Casa Blanca 1955: The Forgotten California Encounter" (2022) - https://fringeblog.com/casa-blanca-1955

National Weather Service – Riverside, CA Historical Data (August 22, 1955) - https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cdo-web/

Google Scholar – Search "Casa Blanca Entities 1955" (2026) - https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=casa+blanca+entities+1955

Aloha and welcome to the next installment of our saga on California Craziness. Today, let's step aboard the Queen Mary, where Art Deco glamour meets cold spots, creaking corridors, and stories that refuse to stay buried. In this episode of Strange Tides, we cruise through the ship’s full arc—from her birth in 1930s Britain as a transatlantic flex of engineering and luxury, to her wartime transformation into the “Grey Ghost,” hauling hundreds of thousands of troops across U-boat–infested seas.

But once the lights dim and the engines fall silent, that’s when things get weird.

We explore the Queen Mary’s long-standing reputation as one of the most haunted ships on the planet, digging into documented deaths, famous paranormal hotspots like Stateroom B340, the engine room, and the first- and second-class pools, and the spirits said to linger there—the Lady in White, Little Jackie, and “Half Hatch Harry,” among many others. Along the way, we separate hard history from ghost-tour embellishment, unpack how urban legends formed, and examine why this ship, more than most, became a floating magnet for the paranormal.

Is the Queen Mary truly haunted—or is she a perfect storm of tragedy, memory, and atmosphere? From rivets and Blue Ribands to EVPs and cold drafts, this episode rides the line between documented history and ghostly folklore, inviting you to decide where the story really ends… if it ever does.

Sources and Links:

Queen Mary Official Website - https://www.queenmary.com/history/

Cunard Line Official History Pages - https://www.cunard.com/en-gb/heritage/queen-mary

City of Long Beach Tourism Reports - https://www.visitlongbeach.com/reports/2024-tourism

Maxtone-Graham, John. "The Only Way to Cross" (1972) - https://www.amazon.com/Only-Way-Cross-John-Maxtone-Graham/dp/0020960105

Treasure Jones, John. "Tramp and Sixpence" (1983) - https://www.abebooks.com/search?q=tramp+sixpence+treasure+jones

Kelleher, Colm & Knapp, George. "Hunt for the Skinwalker" (2005) - https://www.amazon.com/Hunt-Skinwalker-Science-Confronts-Unexplained/dp/1416505210

Strickland, Nicole. "Haunted Queen Mary" (2016) & "Spirited Queen Mary" (2012) - https://schifferbooks.com/products/haunted-queen-mary-long-beach

Los Angeles Times Archives - https://www.proquest.com/hnplatimes

Stars and Stripes Archives - https://www.stripes.com/archives

Ghost Adventures – Season 3, Episode 1 (2010) - https://www.discoveryplus.com/show/ghost-adventures

Unsolved Mysteries – Season 2, Episode 5 (1989) - https://pluto.tv/en/search/details/unsolved-mysteries

The Dead Files – Season 4, Episode 2 (2014) - https://www.travelchannel.com/shows/the-dead-files

Ghost Hunters – Season 6, Episode 1 (2010) - https://www.discoveryplus.com/show/ghost-hunters

Queen Mary Paranormal Logs (1971–2025) - https://www.queenmary.com/tours/paranormal/

National Archives (UK) – Cunard Annual Reports (1938) - https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C9012345

Long Beach Paranormal Society (2024) - https://longbeachparanormal.com/queen-mary-report-2024

Queen Mary Press Release (June 1, 2023) - https://www.queenmary.com/news/2023-renovations

USA Today "Top 10 Haunted Places" (2008) - https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/2008-haunted-places

Time Magazine Haunted List Reference - https://time.com/archive

Aloha, Tide Riders. Happy New Year and welcome to a brand new saga to kick off 2026 on California Craziness, where we'll focus on stories from my home state. For our first installment, we've got a doozy. Beneath the sun-baked streets of Los Angeles, a stranger story has been lurking for nearly a century.

In today’s episode of Strange Tides: The Short Board Sessions, we drop into one of Southern California’s most enduring bits of high weirdness: the Lizard People of Los Angeles. From a Depression-era mining engineer armed with a mysterious “radio X-ray” machine, to whispered tunnels beneath Fort Moore Hill, gold tablets, and reptilian rumors that refuse to die, this is a myth that keeps shedding its skin.

We trace the legend from G. Warren Shufelt’s failed 1934 dig, through pulp fiction, misread Indigenous stories, Cold War paranoia, and into the modern internet age—where the idea of something ancient, hidden, and watching still thrives. Along the way, we separate what was actually claimed from what got amplified, mutated, and memed, and ask why Los Angeles in particular seems to invite underground legends.

This is a shorter session, but the story runs deep: part urban folklore, part conspiracy culture, part mirror held up to a city built on layers of reinvention. Whether you hear it as lost history, symbolic myth, or pure California weirdness, the Lizard People of LA remain one of the strangest currents flowing beneath the city.

Wax up, drop in, and keep one eye on the shadows under your feet.

Links and Sources:

Bosquet, Jean. "Lizard People's Catacomb City Hunted" – Los Angeles Times, January 29, 1934 - https://www.latimes.com/archives (Search "Lizard People 1934)

"Treasure Hunters Reach 250 Feet in Search for Lizard People's Gold" – Los Angeles Times, March 5, 1934 - https://www.latimes.com/archives

Icke, David. The Biggest Secret* (1999) - https://www.amazon.com/Biggest-Secret-Book-That-Change/dp/0952614766

Howard, Robert E. "The Shadow Kingdom" (1929) - http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0601711.txt

Doreal, Maurice. Mysteries of the Gobi (1940s) - https://sacred-texts.com/atl/dtp/index.htm

Waters, Frank. Book of the Hopi (1963) - https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/297295/book-of-the-hopi-by-frank-waters/

"The Legend of Los Angeles' Lizard People" – PBS SoCal, January 27, 2014 - https://www.pbssocal.org/history-society/the-legend-of-los-angeles-lizard-people

"The Lizard People of Los Angeles" – Historic Mysteries blog, March 25, 2024 - https://www.historicmysteries.com/lizard-people-los-angeles/

"The Lizard People Beneath Los Angeles" – Olguin Scene blog, August 22, 2017 - https://olguinscene.com/lizard-people-los-angeles/

"The Lizard People of Los Angeles" – Hollywood Times, January 30, 2025 - https://thehollywoodtimes.today/lizard-people-los-angeles/

Public Policy Polling Survey – April 2, 2013 - https://www.publicpolicypolling.com/polls/national-conspiracy-theory-poll-april-2013/

PRRI Survey – May 27, 2021 - https://www.prri.org/research/conspiracy-theories-2021/

California Death Index - https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/2015582