When my loyal familiar, Spooky, has a difficult time falling to sleep, he often likes to rest his head against a copy of my latest book, HOLLYWOOD HAUNTS THE WORLD. He assures me this brings sweet dreams. For this reason alone, he insists, HOLLYWOOD HAUNTS THE WORLD deserves to win a Rondo Award this year. On the recently released ballot of the24th Annual Rondo Awards,HOLLYWOOD HAUNTS THE WORLD is included among the nominees in the BOOK OF THE YEAR (NON-FICTION) category alongside tomes by such fine writers as Chris Kelso, Tim Lucas, Gary D. Rhodes, David J. Schow, and Tom Weaver! If you agree with Spooky, you can help me win the coveted prize in just three easy steps...
1. Copy-and-paste the ballot below into an e-mail. 2. Choose HOLLYWOOD HAUNTS THE WORLD in the BOOK OF THE YEAR (NON-FICTION) category. 3. Then email to David Colton (taraco@aol.com) by midnight on May 1, 2026.
Don’t forget to include your name in the e-mail!
--START COPYING--
11) BOOK OF THE YEAR (non-fiction): —HOLLYWOOD HAUNTS THE WORLD: An Investigation into the Cinema of Occulted Taboos,
by Robert Guffey (Headpress, softcover, 368 pages, $29.95). From UFOs
to JFK, how filmmakers have handled conspiracies and the supernatural. --END COPYING--
"In
HOLLYWOOD HAUNTS THE WORLD, Robert Guffey takes his readers for a trip
behind the magic curtain to reveal the true Wizards at work - those
behind the lenses, making magic and moving the secret levers. To this
end, Guffey plays the role of Toto, tearing the curtain aside to reveal
these flesh and bone Wizards of the military-industrial-entertainment complex, and the occult role they play in influencing our inner dreams and everyday realities."
--Adam Gorightly,
author of SAUCERS, SPOOKS, AND KOOKS and THE SHADOW OVER SANTA SUSANA: BLACK MAGIC, MIND CONTROL, AND THE MANSON FAMILY MYTHOS
"Hollywood has truly haunted the world. So too should this book, one of the best ever written on American cinema."
--Gary D. Rhodes,
author of THE PERILS OF MOVIEGOING IN AMERICA and TOD BROWNING'S DRACULA,
from his Foreword
"A heady, occult-driven exploration of cinema!"
--Larry Wade Carrell,
director of GIRL NEXT, THE QUANTUM DEVIL, and THE DARKSIDE OF SOCIETY
"This
is a fascinating, mind-expanding trip into some seriously dark corners."
--CINEMA RETRO
"[An] enjoyable trip from a tour guide likely (and proudly) on at least one agency watchlist."
--FLICK ATTACK
"Highest recommendation!"
--Stephen R. Bissette,
writer/artist of TYRANT, CRYPTID CINEMA, and SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING
From Jennifer Graham's 6-4-21 DESERET NEWS article entitled "Is There a Conservative Position on UFOs and Aliens?":
Is there a partisan divide when it comes to ET?
While
there’s no official party line on the subject, some big names have been
talking about UFOs lately, including Harry Reid and Donald Trump, and
even a prominent journal of conservative thought has taken on the topic.
Reid,
the former Democratic leader of the Senate, has said he is fascinated
by UFOs, having grown up in rural Nevada, a few hours’ drive away from
the Extraterrestrial Highway that leads to Area 51, a classified U.S.
Air Force facility. In 2007, Reid was one of three lawmakers (two
Republicans and a Democrat) who helped to secure funding for the study
of UFOs.
Trump, the former president, recently sounded skeptical
of extraterrestrial visitors in an interview, saying that he doesn’t
want to ruin anyone’s fun, but that he is “not such a believer.”
“I’m
sort of a believer in what you see,” Trump said recently on the “Dan
Bongino Show.” “But some people are. I don’t want to hurt their dreams
or their fears.”
Trump
described meeting with military pilots who had strange encounters with
unidentified anomalous phenomena, as the government refers to them.
“I
met with pilots, like beautiful — Tom Cruise but taller — handsome
perfect, people. ‘Sir, there was something there that was round in form
and going like four times faster than my super jet fighter plane,’”
Trump recalled being told. “And I looked at these guys and they really
mean it.”
“Am I a believer? No,” Trump continued. “Probably I
can’t say I am.”
From
Daniel Lippman's 2-3-25 POLITICO article entitled "FBI Agents Who
Investigate UFOs Worried They Could Be Pushed Out in Possible Purge":
FBI
agents who are part of a secretive group investigating the surge of
“unidentified anomalous phenomena,” what the government uses to refer to
UFOs, are worried that they could lose their jobs in a possible FBI
purge targeting officials who worked on Jan. 6 cases, according to four
people familiar with the matter.
Some of the FBI agents who work
in the group also worked on Jan. 6 cases, according to the people. All
agents across the bureau have been ordered to fill out a questionnaire
about their work on the Capitol attack. There are worries that the move
could lead to a Trump-ordered purge at the agency, said the people,
some of whom were granted anonymity to discuss personnel matters.
“I
have spoken to several agents from the UAP Working Group who are afraid
of losing their role and the investigation getting unintentionally
compromised,” said Ryan Graves, executive director of Americans for Safe
Aerospace and a former Navy pilot. “I am concerned that the FBI’s UAP
Working Group could be affected by transition changes, and these leaders
might not be aware of the incredible work these agents are doing and
how their investigation could be empowered as part of a formalized
intergovernmental effort."
The existence of the FBI’s informal
working group on the issue has not been disclosed publicly before.
Graves and three other people familiar with the group said it consists
of a national program manager and more than a dozen employees across the
country who spend much of their time tracking down UAPs [...].
Caison
Best, a former Army special forces intelligence officer who said in an
interview that he had spoken to members of the FBI working group after
witnessing a UAP in Colorado, said it would be “obviously detrimental”
to its UAP investigation if those agents were fired.
On February 2nd of this year, professional UFO grifter Steven Greer appeared on Newsmax (the Trump administration's version of the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda) and delivered his usual jabberwocky tweaked especially for the MAGA crowd of 2026:
Newsmax - Rob Finnerty - Dr. Steven Greer interview - Donald Trump's Alien Disclosure - 21.02.2026:
ACT FIVE:
From Tiago Ventura's 2-24-26 TIME article entitled "Hegseth Shares Update on Government Release of UFO Files Under Trump's Direction":
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon is “working” on identifying and releasing government files related to UFOs and extraterrestrial life following President Donald Trump’s directive.
“We’ve got our people working on it right now,” Hegseth said Monday, when asked by a reporter if he was prepared to potentially declassify such information. “I don’t want to oversell how much time it will take, but we’re digging in.”
He added that his team will be “in full compliance” with Trump’s instructions [...].
Meanwhile, Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, said last week in an interview with the New York Post’s Pod Force One that she had asked the President about the topic and claimed he had prepared remarks on extraterrestrial life that would be delivered at the “right time.”
From Edward Helmore's 3-22-26 GUARDIAN article entitled "Is the Truth Out There? US Registers Aliens.gov as Trump Pledges UFO Files Release":
It was a gift to conspiracy theorists.
Last week, the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency registered the alien.gov and aliens.gov web domains, adding both to the official government website registry.
But the move also comes at a time when official US government interest in UFOs – or unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs), as officialdom prefers to call them – has never been higher and is firmly rooted in fears over national security in the age of drones, terrorism and international conflict.
The registrations were logged just a month after Donald Trump pledged to release UFO‑related files in the US government’s possession. It also follows on multiple congressional hearings and reports on the issue of UAPs in the last few years, most of which have dismissed evidence of alien activity – but which have also tantalizingly left some sightings unresolved, while also platforming the views of true believers in alien conspiracies.
White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly did little to discourage fringe beliefs when asked about the coming websites. “Stay tuned!” she wrote, together with an alien emoji, in response to one journalist’s request for clarification.
From Richard Luscombe's 3-30-26 GUARDIAN article entitled "JD Vance Says Aliens Are ‘Demons’ and Details Obsession with UFOs":
JD Vance, the vice-president of the United States, said this weekend that he considers aliens to be “demons”.
With the war in Iran continuing, petrol and grocery prices soaring, and chaos continuing at US airports as a partial government shutdown endures, Vance appeared on the conservative Benny Show podcast, released on Saturday, to promise that he would spend time looking into what he called his “obsession” with UFOs and extraterrestrial visitors.
Benny Johnson, who bills his show as the place for “cutting, behind-the-scenes insight into the global conflict for freedom”, wondered if Vance, who has been noticeably quiet about Donald Trump’s war in the Middle East that he is said to oppose, had yet looked at any of the files about unidentified flying objects – known these days as unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs) – which the president has promised to release.
“I actually haven’t,” Vance replied, mustering significantly more enthusiasm than for any previous question about the US-Israel military strikes on Iran.
“I have not been able to spend enough time on this, but I am going to. Trust me, I’m obsessed with this.”
The God-fearing vice-president’s fixation, it was further revealed, extended to the question of the existence of extraplanetary beings, and where they might fit into a wider conversation about religion.
“I don’t think they’re aliens, I think they’re demons anyway, but that’s a longer discussion,” he said.
On April 8th, 2026, Steven Greer returned to Rob Finnerty's Newsmax show accompanied by this blazing headline worthy of the WEEKLY WORLD NEWS in its heyday: "MULTIPLE CLAIMS OF SECRET MILITARY ALIEN BREEDING SITES."
Of course, the only solution to disinformation is information. In light of the above developments, this would be a very appropriate time to watch Adam Gorightly and Christopher
Graybill's excellent new feature-length documentary, SAUCERS, SPOOKS AND KOOKS, which successfully deconstructs decades of UFO propaganda.
You can hear Adam Gorightly and Christopher
Graybill discussing the film on the 3-26-26 episode of Steve Berg's HI, STRANGENESS podcast. To listen to the complete interview, click HERE.
And click HERE to rent or buy SAUCERS, SPOOKS AND KOOKS!
1) I'd like to offer a tip of the hat to Mark Evanier's NEWS FROM ME website for turning me onto this illuminating video recently created by The Lincoln Project...
PATHETIC (3-26-26):
2) And here's an excerpt from Leigh Kimmins' 4-10-26 DAILY BEAST article entitled "MAGA Exiles Flock to Support Group Citing Trump ‘Lies’":
MAGA supporters are ditching the movement in record numbers because of President Donald Trump’s most “toxic” trait: lying.
Rich Logis, founder of the nonprofit Leaving MAGA, said his organization is experiencing “record-high” fundraising and seeing “more who are having doubts than ever before.”
He rattled off the reasons defectors give, saying: “The Epstein files. Tariffs. Deaths at the hands of federal immigration enforcement agents. Skyrocketing gas prices. The slashing of federal jobs. A ‘war of choice’ in Iran.”
Since becoming a tax-exempt nonprofit in August 2024, Leaving MAGA has raised roughly $34,000 in its first year, approximately $110,000 the following year, and has already pulled in $100,000 in 2026 [...].
The grievances Logis hears are both ideological and practical. Trump campaigned on lowering costs, but gas prices now average more than $4 a gallon. A recent poll found that as many as seven in 10 Americans blame Trump’s tariff policies for high prices. His pledge to avoid “endless wars” has collided with military conflict in Iran.
“There’s still a lot of fealty to Trump within the MAGA community,” Logis said, “but I think most people in MAGA have a red line… when there’s one lie too many, when there’s one betrayal too many.”
He described his own time inside the movement as a kind of addiction.
“It was exhilarating and enthralling, until it wasn’t,” he said. “When I left, I came to realize that I had essentially been addicted to rage.”
NEWS FLASH!!!: My friend and colleague, Gary D. Rhodes (with whom I wrote the nonfiction book BELA LUGOSI AND THE MONOGRAM NINE), is scheduled to appear on COAST TO COAST AM later tonight (April 9th) from 10:00 P.M. to midnight.The main topic of discussion is Gary's wonderful new book, WEIRDUMENTARY (published by Feral House Press).
By the way, you can hear Gary and I chatting about WEIRDUMENTARY (and related matters) on the 7-26-25 episode of Seriah Azkath's WHERE DID THE ROAD GO? Here's Seriah's description of the episode...
This is a fun conversation with Gary Rhodes, and I invited one of his best friends, Robert Guffey, to join us!
Weirdumentary: Ancient Aliens, Fallacious Prophecies, and Mysterious Monsters from 1970s Documentaries is a 2025 book by Gary D. Rhodes that explores the genre of pseudo-documentaries from the 1970s, such as Chariots of the Gods and The Man Who Saw Tomorrow,
which popularized topics like ancient aliens, prophecies, and cryptids.
The book provides a history of these films, individual entries on over
45 movies, and features images from the era, making it a resource for
fans of pop culture, cinema, and the paranormal.
You can listen to the entire WHERE DID THE ROAD GO? interview on YouTube...
Ancient Aliens, Fallacious Prophecies, and Mysterious Monsters:
A few weeks ago, acclaimed mystery writer Michael Bracken devoted a blog post to the unofficial history of BLACK CAT MYSTERY MAGAZINE, which, until very recently, was published by Wildside Press. The final issue was released in September of 2025. Since BLACK CAT MYSTERY MAGAZINE was hands down one of the best crime noir magazines of the past ten years, I was extremely proud to have sold my 13,000-word novelette “The Loser" to Michael Bracken, who took over the editing reins with issue #5. I was even prouder when he took it upon himself to nominate "The Loser" for a Derringer Award in the "Best Novelette" category. The Derringers, of course, are the annual honors given out by the Short Mystery Fiction Society to recognize excellence in mystery and crime fiction.
"The Loser" is a crime noir story based loosely on an actual murder
committed by someone I knew back at Kurt T. Shery High, a continuation
school in Torrance, California. The novelette appeared in issue #6 and was later reprinted in my debut short story collection, CRYPTOPOLIS & OTHER STORIES (which is currently on sale for only ten dollars if you purchase the book directly from the publisher, Lethe Press). Electronic copies of BLACK CAT MYSTERY MAGAZINE #6 are still available from Wildside Press right HERE. I recommend checking out Michael Bracken's February 24th post entitled "Sixteen Lives," which briefly charts out the rise and fall of one of the last great print mystery magazines.
