#879: Nancy Lieder

Nancy Lieder must surely be considered one of the most legendary kooks of the whole, wide Internet. Lieder is the woman behind the apocalyptic alien-contactee cult ZetaTalk, and claims to be in telepathic communication with grey aliens from Zeta Reticuli. She publishes the communiques on her website, which is one of the most incoherently lovable pits of unhinged delusion and snowflake crazy on the Internet, which is quite a feat (do visit it here).

The mythology is a little unclear, but is at least a good mix of New Age pseudoscience (mostly borrowed from Lieder’s heroes, the endearing pair of Zecharia Sitchin and Erich von Däniken), complete with pseudoarchaeology and Velikovsky gibberish, and end-times catastrophism. The basic idea seems to be related to the giants known as the Annunaki, who came to Earth for business development purposes from Nibiru, also known as Marduk or Planet X. In fact, the Planet X idea originated in the 1990s, when Lieder claimed that a tenth planet would pass by Earth in 2003, causing cataclysmic events, including, possibly, an alien invasion. After the prediction had shown itself to be somewhat less than ideally accurate, the ZetaTalk cult incorporated the Planet X into the 2012 apocalypse claims – as Sitchin’s Nibiru – instead. Well, Sitchin actually predicted the return of Nibiru in 2085, but something about Mayan calendars suggested 2012 as a better option for Lieder and her gang. Evidence and data matter less than, well, it is unclear what exactly the claims are supposed to be based on.

Nibiru is, in any case, apparently a brown dwarf on an eccentric orbit that passes through our inner Solar System every 3,657 years, slingshotting between the Sun and its dark cousin, the presumably invisible Nemesis, some distance away. Whenever Nibiru passes by the Earth, its strong magnetic field and gravitational pull cause a shift in the Earth's magnetic field as well as disruptions in its orbit and pole shifts, resulting in massive planetwide destruction – next time it will stop Earth’s rotation and flip it on its side, causing massive flooding of many land areas and stripping away most of the atmosphere. In fact, this may already have happened in 2003 (according to Lieder’s chat sessions at Godlike Productions), though instead of causing problems on Earth, 2003 may have the date when Nibiru entered the solar system. Currently(?) the planet is hiding behind the Sun, and the reason we don’t see it is because Earth has been stopped in its orbit and is sitting motionless in space. Astronomers just haven’t noticed or, more likely, has been paid off. The whole sorry saga was dutifully debunked by Phil Plait over at Bad Astronomy (the Lieder files are here). It is unclear to us exactly what the response has been to the passing of 2012 without much incident, but somehow we doubt that Lieder woke up and realized that her claims were bullshit from start to end.

In any case, Lieder herself works for the Zetas, who want humans to survive so that they can create hybrids with us – Lieder herself is the mother of one such hybrid – and her job description involves warning Earth of the impending catastrophe. She is opposed in her mission this endeavour by the Powers That Be, who worry about the overpopulation of the Earth and want to seize the opportunity to let people be killed off in the disaster. The Zetas, being aware of the conspiracy, have deceived the Powers in a series of feints and fakeouts disguised as failed prophecies (how that is supposed to have worked would be interesting to figure out). The Zetas talk to Nancy by mean of an implant in her brain, and her prophecies have been featured on such conspiracy-free news outlets as the Jeff Rense show and Coast to Coast AM.

Her chat sessions, by the way, has been moved from Godlike Productions to Earth Changes Ning, hosted by her enthusiastic supporter Gerard Zwaan, who runs a rather tough moderation regime (Rule 1: “No debunking and disruption. Debunking and disruption will lead to a ban. If you do intend to embrace any main establishment lies you will be suspended without any explanation”).

I also recommend reading an explanation by one of the ZetaTalkers, Don Smalter, on souls, reincarnation, and Dimension 4 here. It all made sense now, didn’t it?

Diagnosis: It’s always so heartening to see the tinfoil hat worn with such pride, gibbering lunacy, and lack of self-awareness. She’s probably harmless, though.

#1132: Sophia Shafquat

A.k.a. Sofia/Monica Smallstorm

Sofia Shafquat is another ridiculous Internet cult-celebrity of the Nancy Lieder type. She made her name for her movie “9/11 Mysteries Part 1: Demolition”, a truther pseudo-documentary intended to be the first installment in a series of three. Though it apparently looked convincing to many of those already committed to trutherism and uninterested in applying any kind of critical approach to claims purportedly supporting claims they are already committed to, Shafquat’s flick received some criticism when it was discovered that she had a edited the footage, erasing sounds and adding her own background noises, in particular explosions before and after the towers fell. Apparently she also got sued for copyright infringement by the guy who had taken the footage used in the movie. Shafquat subsequently disappeared from the web for a while in 2009.

With regard to the quality of Shafquat’s investigations, it is perhaps worth quoting her: “Right, people want me to be absolutely precise. Umm, I say that the demolition wave is moving faster than gravity itself. It is making the path for the demolition, which is falling at free fall speed. Virtual free fall speed. Again it is hard to determine how long did it take for the towers to fall visually, and I know there is seismic data that pegs it, you know, a little more accurately. Regardless, I tell people, these buildings fell in 10 seconds, they’re 110 stories. Now let’s just use our mouth to demonstrate this. If a pancake collapse can be described as ‘clunkity clunk’. How many times can you say that in 10 seconds? And if one floor is ‘clunkity clunk clunkity clunk’ you cannot say that 110 times in 10 seconds. So let’s even give it the benefit of the doubt, let’s just take off the ‘clunk’. Let’s just say ‘clunkity’. You can’t say that in 10 seconds, 110 times.” No, it’s not a parody. There were idiots nodding sagely in agreement with this kind of reasoning.

Around 2013 Shafquat reappeared, however; this time as an “expert” on chemtrails, as well as engaging in Sandy Hook conspiracies – her powerpoint presentation “Unraveling Sandy Hook in 2, 3, 4 and 5 Dimensions” is apparently on youtube. Not particularly surprising, really – even back in her truther days, she would market Holocaust denial material on her website.

Diagnosis: Worthy of comparison with legendary Internet kooks such as Nancy Lieder, Nancy Luft and Gene Ray himself. No, really: This is kook gold.

#1520: Sheldon Day & John DiNardo

Going dumpster diving in the conspiracy communities can bring up some fascinating stuff. Sheldon Day and John DiNardo are best known (in these communities) as proponents of Planet X conspiracy theories; that is, the idea popularized by Nancy Lieder that a tenth planet, Planet X, is going to pass by Earth sometime in the near future causing massive destruction and woe. Day and DiNardo have been at the game for a while, and if their audience had been minimally rational, the abject failure of their dire predictions to come to pass should have had an impact on their popularity, but fortunately for them that antecedent is in no danger of being satisfied. The website (sporting precisely the kind of design you’d expect from this camp) for Sheldon Day’s radio show “The Light of Day” does not seem to have been updated since 2011, however, and the latest news item proclaims that “The Planet X system COULD BE NEAR Saturn at this time & this is exactly what my research associate John Dinardo has been suspicious of …”

And of course there is a coverup – don’t you know – and not only because the powers that be want to avoid mass panic (since that would be a silly reason for the coverup). No, the powers that be are building secret underground bases and even underground cities on Earth, the Moon, and on Mars for themselves and the elites, and they are, from these secret bases, going to use the disastrous event as a means of purging the population and institute a New World Order. It’s right around the corner, and has been so for quite some time now. Evidence? Well, mostly it’s pulled out of that wonderful repository of remarkable evidence: imagination (or whatever you want to call it). According to Day and DiNardo astronomers know about the upcoming events partially because of several ancient prophecies (not only the Mayan one, but also others we don’t know about) … so no: Day and DiNardo do not seem to know quite what astronomers do. But those astronomers are lying! TheLightofDay has pictures and discussions of interviews with astronomers where they can clearly see that the interviewees are lying based on blinking, eye movements and other, subtle features observable to anyone who really wants to see them.

Of course, Day’s and DiNardo’s discussions aren’t limited to Planet X. TheLightofDay website functions (or functioned) primarily, it seems, as a resource linking to various websites and rants too silly even for InfoWars: HAARP conspiracies, chemtrails, global warming denialism, “manufactured earthquakes”, lizard people, anti-vaccine conspiracies, FEMA concentration camps, mind control, and “independent researchers” who fail to understand (or don’t want to accept) the distinction between astronomy and astrology (“Pluto is channeling the Energy of the Photon Belt from the central Sun, Alcycon in the Pleiades. All Planets are like little lenses that channel energy. The Galactic center is where all the spiritual energy comes from. WE DON'T HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL 2012. IT'S HERE NOW !!!!! Just watch the government fall apart. These higher Energy particles are going to incorporate in our physiology and all of our physical problems will be history.” Oh, wee.) Day himself claims that “in accordance to a questionnaire I completed (star kid/star seed identification questionnaire) and created by a Dr. Richard Boyland [Boylan – we know who he’s talking about], I proudly consider muself to be an ‘adult star-seed” [I have removed the random use of colors from the quote]. DiNardo, on the other hand, seems to be particularly obsessed with what he takes to be a Biblical prophecy suggesting the existence of a Planet X.

Diagnosis: They’re at least admirably industrious and zealous. But good grief how far out of touch with anything resembling reality they are. People listen to them, but I doubt they’ll win many new converts.

#899: William Lyne

William Lyne is a conspiracy theorist with a specialty in UFOs. That is, Lyne thinks the UFO phenomenon is a conspiracy: “Don't Be Deceived by the Propaganda Surrounding ‘UFOs’,” says Lyne. “Flying Saucers are MAN-MADE Electrical Machines! ‘Space Aliens’ are Pentagon-Created Delusions.” Apparently the Pentagon has fooled us all into thinking the aliens and UFOs are real, which tells you a bit about what circles Lyne walks in as well.

You can visit his page here; you’ll even be congratulated for visiting it: “CONGRATULATIONSS! You reached this site despite a conspiracy between covert government agencies and internet bosses (YAHOO AND THE CIA ARE LOVERS!), a conspiracy to violate the American Bill of Rights, by violating free speech and free press rights, by excluding from search engine listings, those exposing the government's dissemination of false alien and paranormal propaganda, through UFOlogists, to conceal exclusively man-made flying saucer electric propulsion technology.” Apparently the fact that his page doesn’t show up first when you’re searching for “UFO” is evidence of a conspiracy. Note also the part about government propaganda through UFOlogist – apparently the ufologists control the media and public opinion, and Lyne’s claims conjure up fleeting images of the leading scientists and politicians of the US bowing down to Nancy Lieder and Michael Salla. There’s a nice, terse summary here. I haven’t seen his youtube videos “Nazi-Tesla UFO’s” (a series, in fact) or “Tesla Free Energy Nazi UFO Elite Bloodline Secret Government Occult”, but I suppose they’ll provide a summary of his findings (here  and here).

Apparently Lyne has researched UFOs for “over 48 years”, and his methodology is summed up by the slogan "IF IT WASN'T TRUE, IT WOULDN'T BE SUPPRESSED!" I don’t think that is a particularly useful methodological principle for uncovering the facts of the matter.

Diagnosis: An ardent fighter for, well, at least he is fighting his quixotic battles with impressive persistence and conviction. It doesn’t really matter that much what it’s for, since he is unlikely to win many converts in any case.