AJ Gentile - Earth’s Strangest Mysteries and Wildest Conspiracy Theories | SRS #349

Episode Overview

• Host Shawn Ryan (CEO of Vigilance Elite, former Navy SEAL and CIA contractor, and co-founder of the Glacier privacy app) interviews AJ Gentile (creator of The Why Files, host of The Basement, and creator of the board game at thewhyfilesdeclassified.com) to examine the actual evidence behind major fringe theories, ancient mysteries, and UAP disclosures.
• The conversation begins by exploring media independence, the true definition of the occult, and near-death experiences before diving into astronomical anomalies like the legend of Planet Maldek, nuclear isotopes on Mars, the 1908 Tunguska blast, and the hollow Moon theory.
• In the middle of the episode, the discussion shifts toward time loops, ancient archaeology in Peru and Europe, the geopolitical rise of China, and the existential threat of artificial intelligence.
• The final third covers psychedelic states (DMT laser experiments, 5-MeO-DMT, and clinical ketamine therapy), alleged Smithsonian cover-ups in the Grand Canyon, Denver Airport censorship, infighting within the UAP community, the "Lacerta Files" reptilian legend, and supranational power structures like the Bilderberg Group and BlackRock.

Key Concepts

• The Occult as "Hidden Knowledge" vs. Biblical Satanism: Based on his interview with occult historian and "left-path Satanist" Mitch Horowitz, AJ explains that the occult literally translates to "hidden knowledge"—historically encompassing suppressed homeopathic and herbal remedies—and focuses on anti-dogmatism and independent thinking rather than worshiping a biblical Satan.
• Near-Death Experiences (NDEs) and Soul Groups: Hypnotherapist Raymond Moody's research on trauma and PTSD patients reveals consistent NDE accounts involving reincarnation and "soul groups" of 20 to 30 people, while Shawn's friend John Burke has studied 3,000+ to 5,000+ NDEs worldwide showing cross-cultural commonalities even among children.
• The Titius-Bode Law, Planet Maldek, and Martian Isotopes: The 18th-century Titius-Bode formula—stated by AJ as $(3 \times 2^n + 4) / 10$—accurately predicts planetary distances up to Neptune and points to a missing planet in the asteroid belt (where dwarf planet Ceres, Pallas, and Vesta reside). While fringe legends claim a planet named Maldek (or Phaeton) was destroyed in a robot slave revolt and left Mars (its former moon) with an uneven crust (10 miles thick on one hemisphere vs. 30–40 miles on the other), scientist John Brandenburg found Xenon-127 and Xenon-129 isotopes concentrated near Cydonia on Mars. Although Brandenburg theorized an ancient nuclear war—echoing remote viewer Joe McMoneagle's 1,000,000 BC Mars viewing—AJ hedges that McMoneagle's hit rate is around 10% (or slightly higher) and points out that natural nuclear reactors existed 200,000 years ago in the Oklo region of Gabon, West Africa, where uranium mixed with water.
• Exoplanet Anomalies and Reversed Time Particles: Recent discoveries of hundreds of gas giant exoplanets orbiting closer to their stars than Mercury is to the Sun violate the traditional orbital mechanics "frost line" theory. Meanwhile, physicists have used quantum computers to send particles into states where time moves backward, and an Antarctica study found particles fitting backward-time math, though the media exaggerated this as proof of a multiverse.
• Atmospheric "Pancaking" and Near-Earth Asteroid Blind Spots: While fringe lore claims Nikola Tesla caused the 1908 Tunguska blast from Wardenclyffe Tower in Shoreham, New York, by overshooting a beam aimed at Admiral Peary on Ellesmere Island 5,000 km away, AJ debunks this because Wardenclyffe was decommissioned in 1903 and Peary was in New York in 1908. Instead, Tunguska (which flattened 80 million trees over 200 square miles, killed 2 people, had 700 witnesses, and yielded 3 to 30 megatons—1,000 to 2,000 times the 15-kiloton Hiroshima bomb) was likely either a skipping iron cylinder (per a 2024/2025 paper) or atmospheric "pancaking" similar to the 2013 Chelyabinsk meteor (which damaged 700 buildings and injured 1,200 people). Although Shawn notes Polymarket.com lists a 25% chance of a 5-kiloton strike in 2026 (which AJ says won't happen) and asteroid YR4 ("YRA 2024") saw impact odds rise from 1% to 3%, the real danger is that NASA estimates 20,000 to 25,000 "city killer" objects exist near Earth, with only ~13,000 tracked because half are hidden by the Sun's glare until NASA's NEO infrared satellite launches in 2027.
• Lunar Density Anomalies: The Moon is 25% the diameter of Earth but holds only 1% of its density/mass—an anomaly unseen among 1,500 to 2,000 studied exoplanets. Its craters stop at uniform depths even when 100 miles wide, and crashing an Apollo booster near seismographs made it vibrate for 30 to 60 minutes; while AJ hedges that the Moon "probably isn't" hollow, he notes mainstream science lacks a solid explanation for its low density.
• Time Loops and "Pre-Remembering": Dr. Eric Wargo's book Time Loops proposes that precognition and sudden creative inspiration are actually instances of "pre-remembering," where your future self sends memories backward along a single, self-consistent timeline.
• Ancient Peru and the Debunking of the Megalithic Yard: In Peru, explorer Luke has located 50 jungle cities (with archaeologist Ed Barnhart estimating hundreds more), and while Barnhart discussed a theory of using natural hydrofluoric acid to soften stones at Machu Picchu, AJ favors the stone-casting theory. In Europe, Oxford scientist Alexander Thom spent 40 years studying ~400 UK/Scottish Neolithic sites to propose a universal 2.72-foot "Megalithic Yard" (which, when dividing a 366-day sidereal year into 366 sky parts, 60 minutes, and 6 seconds, yields 144,000 yards and matches Earth's circumference within 0.5%, aligning with researcher Hugh Newman's 10,000-yard European grids and Egyptian 432 / 43.2-degree precession numbers). However, AJ explains this is "probably debunked" because modern laser scans show Thom's tape-measure data was off, he discarded non-fitting sites, and numerology can force patterns onto enough data points.
• Geopolitical Planning Horizons and AI Extinction Risk: Both speakers argue China has likely surpassed the US as the global superpower because it plans on century-long timelines, builds a new coal plant every 6 weeks alongside nuclear and lunar Helium-3 fusion initiatives, and leads in AI (AJ discloses he spends $50,000 to $100,000 a year on Chinese ByteDance AI video models). AJ also distrusts Anthropic due to its military contracts with Pete Hegseth and the DoD despite ethical press releases, and believes a soulless AI will eventually cause human extinction (likely in his grandchildren's era) once it calculates that humans are inefficient obstacles fighting over resources.
• Light Scattering vs. DMT Laser Code and 5-MeO-DMT: While Danny Goler, Chase Hughes, and a friend of AJ's claim shining a laser on a wall while on DMT reveals moving Matrix-like code (with Goler also seeing a physical geared control console), AJ cites DMTx researcher Dr. Andrew Gallimore (who works with Dr. Donald Hoffman) to explain this as "light scattering"—microscopic wall imperfections magnified by the cornea that shift with eye movement. AJ contrasts his ~12 experiences on regular 10–15 minute DMT (which felt "more real than real," reduced his fear of death, and once featured tall thin entities in black robes telling him, "You shouldn't be in here") and seeing mantis beings on other psychedelics with his single terrifying 5-MeO-DMT trip, which induced an ego-death feeling of going to hell.
• Smithsonian Institutional Bias and Grand Canyon Mysteries: In 1909, G.E. Kinkaid and Professor S.A. Jordan reportedly found a high-elevation Grand Canyon cave capable of housing thousands, filled with mummies on shelves, bronze weapons, and a Buddha-like statue. Although the Smithsonian denied knowing them, pre-hoax articles were recently uncovered and the Smithsonian admitted both men were real expeditioners. Meanwhile, 99% of Grand Canyon caves remain unexplored (most sealed with iron grates), hikers near the suspected no-fly/no-go cave filmed black helicopters, unmarked white planes below the rim, early 1900s artifacts, and an iron rappelling hook, and AJ notes early institutional racism led places like the Smithsonian to downplay indigenous sites like Cahokia—a Mississippian Mound Builder city larger than London in 1100 AD.
• Algorithmic Censorship and the Denver Airport: AJ reveals that while platform algorithms leave his videos criticizing the CIA untouched, his episode on the Denver Airport was immediately demonetized because the airport sits on an internal banned-topics list. The airport is famous for its Masonic time capsule, gargoyles, apocalyptic murals of dead children in coffins, the red-eyed blue horse statue "Blucifer" (which killed its creator), sloped floors, massive dirt excavation pointing to tunnels toward Cheyenne Mountain, and serving as the secure site for President Obama during a meteor threat.
• "Prometheus Syndrome" in UAP Disclosure and the Lacerta Files: Shawn and AJ note that prominent UAP personalities constantly slander one another due to "Prometheus syndrome"—each wanting exclusive credit as the sole hero of disclosure—while government UAP dumps (88% explainable, barring anomalies like the Syrian metallic orb) distract from the Epstein files or cover for Lockheed/Raytheon black-budget funding. AJ also recounts "The Lacerta Files," where a Swedish debunker ("Ole K.") claimed to interview an underground shapeshifting reptilian who levitated a pen, froze hot coffee, and claimed her species evolved from dinosaurs after the Chicxulub impact 65 million years ago while humans ("Illojim") are the 7th genetically engineered civilization battling Alpha Draconis reptilians for water and copper; however, AJ hedges that no tapes exist, "Ole K." is a Men in Black reference, and he avoids reptilian episodes because the theory was hijacked by antisemitism targeting the Rothschilds in the late 1980s/early 1990s.
• Historical Illuminati vs. Modern Supranational Power: Founded in the late 18th century by Adam Weishaupt (reaching 3,000 members to infiltrate the Masons and using the Owl of Minerva symbol seen on the $1 bill alongside 33s, the All-Seeing Eye, and at Bohemian Grove), the historical Illuminati mirrors modern supranational groups. AJ leans toward the view that the Bilderberg Group, the Council on Foreign Relations, Klaus Schwab, and BlackRock's Larry Fink (controlling trillions in assets; AJ discloses he owns Vanguard investments) operate above national governments and vet US presidents like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

Quotes

• At 0:01:45 - "I turn down every celebrity, every politician, every journalist, I turn them all down. Every government, every dude in the government or lady in the government, turn them all down." - AJ explaining his strict guest policy to keep his platform independent.
• At 0:02:57 - "And I don't want to be a tool for anyone's agenda." - AJ on why he refuses to host political or government figures.
• At 0:03:49 - "People have been still, they're trying to figure out my politics for years, they cannot pin me down, and that's the way I like it." - AJ discussing the value of remaining politically neutral in media.
• At 0:07:31 - "At the end of my episodes, I do pop in for like a two-minute wrap-up and say, 'All right, he said this, here's what I can prove, here's, you know, here's what's false, here's what's real.'" - AJ detailing how he balances entertaining fringe storytelling with factual verification.
• At 0:13:15 - "If a man spends every day thinking that he's going to die, eventually he figures out how to do it." - AJ reflecting on mental health, dark mindsets, and existential stress.
• At 0:18:50 - "I won't fly without him. I hold on to him tight." - AJ revealing that despite being agnostic about traditional religion, he always holds a St. Michael medal on airplanes and lights candles in Catholic churches.
• At 0:35:05 - "We found 200,000-year-old nuclear reactors that happened naturally." - AJ providing a natural scientific counter-explanation (from Gabon, West Africa) to theories that nuclear isotopes on Mars prove an ancient alien war.
• At 0:37:51 - "Now, Joe's usually wrong, but not always. You know, his hit rate, even if his hit rate is 10%, but I think it's a little higher, is pretty crazy." - AJ hedging on remote viewer Joe McMoneagle's accuracy when discussing his viewing of ancient Mars in 1,000,000 BC.
• At 0:42:43 - "Then people started finding exoplanets, and they're finding gas giants that are way too close. They're finding gas giants that are closer than Mercury is to the Sun." - AJ explaining how modern exoplanet discoveries break conventional "frost line" models of planetary formation.
• At 0:54:10 - "If it happened three or four hours later over Paris, there's no more Paris. That's the end of it." - AJ illustrating the 3-to-30-megaton destructive scale of the 1908 Tunguska meteor blast.
• At 0:59:25 - "The problem that we have is NASA feels like there's about 25,000 city-killer objects around us, city killers or worse, and we can't see half of them because they're on the direction of the Sun." - AJ highlighting our planetary defense blind spot prior to NASA's 2027 NEO infrared satellite launch.
• At 1:01:34 - "It hits the Moon, and back at NASA they said it rang like a bell, because it just vibrated the Moon, and it went on and on and on for 30 minutes, 40 minutes, an hour, like it just wouldn't stop ringing." - AJ describing the seismic data from an Apollo booster impact that fuels the hollow Moon theory.
• At 1:05:30 - "And Eric says, 'Well, we know that you didn't kill your grandfather.' 'Why?' 'Because here you are.'" - AJ summarizing Dr. Eric Wargo's single-timeline model of time loops and precognitive "pre-remembering."
• At 1:16:11 - "China thinks in centuries, where we think in weeks and months." - AJ contrasting Chinese long-term strategic planning with short-term Western political cycles.
• At 1:21:21 - "And the thing that scares me is when AI realizes that, you know, why do you need humans at all?" - AJ explaining why he believes artificial intelligence poses an eventual extinction threat to humanity.
• At 1:41:00 - "And they said, 'You shouldn't be in here,' is what they told me. They said, 'You shouldn't be in here.'" - AJ recounting a DMT trip where tall, thin entities in black robes scared him away from using DMT for a couple of years.
• At 1:42:58 - "Regular DMT helped me not be as afraid of death, but 5-MeO made me terrified of death." - AJ contrasting the comforting afterlife perspective of regular DMT with his terrifying ego-death on 5-MeO-DMT.
• At 2:02:58 - "One of the biggest cities in that area in America was Cahokia, which in 1100 AD was bigger than London." - AJ pointing out how major indigenous North American civilizations were omitted from mainstream history.
• At 2:18:13 - "Everybody's pushing for disclosure, we all want disclosure, but they have to be the, each individual has to be the one that gets disclosure, and everything everybody else is saying is complete bullshit unless it comes from this specific person." - Shawn diagnosing the "Prometheus syndrome" and infighting among UAP media personalities.
• At 2:40:09 - "Larry Fink controls trillions of dollars. Trillion, trillions of dollars. You can influence geopolitics with trillions, not a trillion, trillions of dollars." - AJ explaining how asset managers like BlackRock wield power above national governments.

Takeaways

• Drastically cut daily news and social media intake: Reduce doomscrolling and political news consumption (AJ cut his from 5 hours a day down to nearly zero) to eliminate knee-jerk emotional reactivity and chronic anxiety during high-stress periods like legal litigation (such as AJ's ongoing litigation with his former management company, Night Management / Night Media).
• Separate open-minded storytelling from factual verification: When exploring fringe theories or interviewing guests, allow the full narrative to play out first, then conduct a strict, evidence-based fact-check afterward to separate verifiable data from speculation and hoaxes.
• Pair doctor-supervised neuroplasticity therapy with active integration: If pursuing clinical, doctor-prescribed low-dose intramuscular ketamine therapy (e.g., 45-minute sessions with an eye mask and music, starting weekly and tapering to every 2–4 weeks), maximize the neuroplastic window afterward by exercising, journaling, and setting calm behavioral intentions.
• Use periodic psilocybin sessions for mental maintenance: Consider structured, infrequent mushroom sessions (AJ takes ones he grows himself twice a year for 2 hours with an eye mask and music) to "clear the cobwebs" rather than relying on frequent high-dose psychedelic escapism.
• Avoid 5-MeO-DMT if you are prone to severe control or death anxiety: Recognize that 5-MeO-DMT produces a radically different, total ego-dissolution experience compared to standard 10–15 minute DMT, and can induce acute existential terror.
• Secure your home network's DNS and digital privacy: Use encrypted DNS, VPNs, and burner numbers (such as Shawn's Glacier app) on your devices so that private household searches do not leak across your Wi-Fi router to serve targeted ads to visiting family members' phones.
• Look for natural and optical explanations before assuming supernatural causes: Before concluding that anomalies prove ancient alien wars or Matrix code, test mundane scientific mechanisms first—such as natural uranium-water nuclear reactors in Gabon or corneal "light scattering" during DMT laser experiments.
• Audit historical and scientific claims for data cherry-picking: When evaluating compelling mathematical patterns like Alexander Thom's Megalithic Yard, check whether modern precision tools (like laser scanning) validate the old measurements and whether researchers discarded non-conforming sites to force a numerological fit.
• Maintain spiritual or grounding rituals that bring personal peace regardless of dogma: Don't hesitate to use comforting personal practices—such as lighting candles in quiet churches or carrying a St. Michael medal on flights—even if you consider yourself agnostic about traditional religious institutions.
• Refuse guests and partnerships that compromise your editorial independence: If you build a content platform, turn down politicians, government officials, and agenda-driven celebrities so your audience cannot pigeonhole your politics or use you as a PR tool.
• Watch for hidden antisemitic tropes in fringe conspiracy theories: Exercise caution and verify the historical origins of conspiracy narratives—such as late-1980s/early-1990s shapeshifting reptilian theories—to avoid amplifying bigoted propaganda disguised as paranormal lore.
• Do not treat recreational summoning of unknown entities lightly: Even when phenomena like Chris Bledsoe's orb summoning are studied by NASA, the CIA, and the DoD, exercise spiritual caution and avoid actively inviting unknown non-human entities into your life.