Why You Should Be Watching The Dead Files and Ancient Aliens

by Kevin Candela

It may be hard for some of us to go back to 2009 by now, which I’m sure is a jarring thought to many. Do you recall the days before Ancient Aliens debuted? Do you realize what that show and its stars and its cliché-saddled but determined narrator have done for our culture and the paranormal world in general? Here’s a clue: Back in 2009, you had plenty of UFO and paranormal investigation shows to cite, but they weren’t familiar to the people you were trying to enlighten. So you had…nothing. Now you have Ancient Aliens, its very name a touchstone for debate. You—we—have a rock. Ancient Aliens is the New Bible, and though we believers are hardly mindless zombies, we do have a great deal of common ground. And now, courtesy of about ten seasons in eight years, we have a virtual library of detailed information and a host of name experts. We are armed. We can take on the scared ostriches and point them to a single information source they’ve heard of, and if they pick on it for its form, or the personas of its hosts, you can call them on one big thing right away: dodging the ISSUE. The issue is not whether David Childress tortures his vowels for effect or how high Giorgio Tsoukalos’ hair currently stands. And if someone wants to focus on that, or the dry and repetitive narration, they’re engaging in deliberate shifting of focus. Why? Because they know that Mr. Soooooome Kiiiiiiiind and Big Hair Giorgio are in the RIGHT and there’s not a thing they, the closeted fearful and overtly cynical, can put up against the Truth. So when someone rips on Giorgio’s hair, you’ve got ’em. Their cowardice and insecurity are showing.

That doesn’t mean go for their throats. We don’t convince people of things by attacking them. What it does mean is that you know where they stand, and you clearly see the challenge before you. You have insight into their psyches while they still know nothing of yours. Advantage in peaceful discussion: YOU.

See how important that show is?

Then of course there’s The Dead Files, which is certainly no less brilliant and crucial to the field of paranormal phenomena. Amy Allan is the real thing, and if you watch enough episodes of this show, she and her partner Steve Dischiavi and Amy’s sketch artist will construct a sensory image of the so-called “other side” for you that is amazingly detailed and weaves together with staggering brilliance. This shows leaves in its wake families who are true believers, and even more importantly Steve and Amy and their crew appear to help everywhere they go. So we’re not just getting an incredibly detailed view of what exists beyond our normal human perceptions, we’re getting it with a big dose of heroism. This show will choke you up on a regular basis. Invite a cynic to sit down and watch an episode with you sometime.

There are other fine paranormal shows, but these two stand out. To alter the perceptions of the mainstream, you have to communicate with them with terms and images that are not so eclectic as to be mocked for that very reason. Ancient Aliens is mainstream. Absolutely. Unabashedly. And we’re all very lucky it is, because if it isn’t mainstream, the “debunkers” (or ostriches as I call most of them) can mock it as “some goofy show you saw on a syndicated cable channel at 3 a.m.” And while The Dead Files doesn’t quite have that profile, it’s a show that—if watched—is very hard to argue with in terms of the reality of what we call the supernatural.

Keep it up, AA and TDF—we need your great work. You are heroes of our day.