#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.