Richard Hatem's Paranormal Bookshelf cover art

Richard Hatem's Paranormal Bookshelf

Richard Hatem's Paranormal Bookshelf

By: Astonishing Legends Productions
Listen for free

About this listen

 “Go inside the mind of one of television and movies’ wildest storytellers…” Richard Hatem's Paranormal Bookshelf is a podcast that feels like discovering a secret diary. Every episode unravels the mysteries of a book from Richard's bookshelf and a story from Richard’s life, weaving together the excitement of the supernatural and the warmth of personal storytelling.Summerland Entertainment, Inc Art Literary History & Criticism Social Sciences
Episodes
  • S3: The Fortean and the Skeptic Should Be Friends: My Conversation with Blake Smith

    S3: The Fortean and the Skeptic Should Be Friends: My Conversation with Blake Smith
    Aug 8 2025
    According to Rogers and Hammerstein’s musical Oklahoma!, “The farmer and the cowman should be friends.” Shouldn’t it be the same for the Fortean and the skeptic? Is it even possible?

    My guest tonight is Blake Smith, the host of the MonsterTalk podcast, and a self-described skeptic. And I think you know how I take issue with a lot of skeptics and so-called skeptical arguments. But Blake and I are friends. Somehow, after a vulgar and insulting email blunder on my part, Blake kindly wrote back to me, a correspondence began, he invited me to be on his podcast, and the rest is history. The Fortean and the skeptic became friends. I think the reason we’re friends is that Blake has an honest interest in all things paranormal, but he also came upon his skepticism in a very human way. He doesn’t use it as a cudgel to beat anybody down. And best of all, ridicule is just not part of who he is. Also, the guy he has an amazing book collection, he loves to drink port, he’s quick with a pun -- and he’s just an all-around great guy.

    In this conversation we cover everything from Whitley Streiber’s Communion to the Heaven’s Gate tragedy; from exploding lightbulbs to snake-handling cults; and from “the hard problem of consciousness” to the one kind of paranormal experience that might change Blake’s skepticism forever.

    LINKS:

    Listen to Blake Smith’s award-winning podcast Monstertalk here: https://www.monstertalk.org/

    RHPB LIVE SHOWS are coming! Keep up as we add dates and locations at the RHPB website https://www.richardhatemsparanormalbookshelf.com/

    And find out about upcoming performances and buy tickets at Eventbrite!: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dallas-richard-hatems-paranormal-bookshelf-live-tickets-1520485967459?aff=oddtdtcreator&fbclid=IwY2xjawMAjP9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHv9pgzdQBIIpLfpidbEp2IzjboC0W1P-qf_l9kBsPY7aJHzO8jg-6rhKQEmQ_aem_-ogycSZIIOELXK6VHRuNMQ

    Want to support the show? Join us on Patreon here https://www.patreon.com/c/RichardHatem?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

    Buy Richard Hatem’s Paranormal Bookshelf merch at https://richardhatem-shop.fourthwall.com/
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 27 mins
  • S3 Ep4: A Christmas Carol

    S3 Ep4: A Christmas Carol
    Jul 25 2025
    Sometimes Christmas just doesn’t feel like Christmas. It’s December 2001, and Richard is living alone, facing down his first Christmas Eve without his family. But he’s about to learn that Christmas has its own magic -- and its own surprising plans for him…

    One hundred and fifty-eight years earlier, Charles Dickens changed the world with his story of another lonely man on Christmas Eve who ended up getting far more than he bargained for. What Dickens didn’t know -- but Richard does all too well -- is that what he actually created was literatures most famous near-death experience. Join Richard and Dickens as they each face down their Christmas ghosts -- and hope to wake up the next morning transformed…

    Notes & Links:
    You can get a copy of Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol pretty much anywhere, but I highly recommend Michael Patrick Hearns’ The Annotated Christmas Carol where I got most of the information for this episode. You can get it at AbeBooks here: https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?ch_sort=t&cm_sp=sort-_-SRP-_-Results&ds=30&dym=on&isbn=9780393051582&rollup=on&sortby=2

    Get the DVD of Albert Finney’s musical Scrooge here: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dvd-scrooge-ronald-neame/3719770?ean=0097361459745&gQT=0

    Learn all about the GameBoy Advance Owen wanted so badly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQvSB3KBUIE
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 8 mins
  • S3 Ep3: Monsters, Giants and Little Men From Mars

    S3 Ep3: Monsters, Giants and Little Men From Mars
    Jul 11 2025
    It’s April 1975, and Richard is still that lonely, haunted little kid we met in RHPB Ep.1: Ghosts & Specters. In fact, it’s just a few weeks later when, courtesy of Mrs. Fuller (the librarian who introduced Richard to his first paranormal bookshelf) that he comes across Monsters, Giants and Little Men From Mars by Daniel Cohen. It seems like the perfect fit. But then Darren McGavin shows up in Kolchak: The Night Stalker and shows Richard that some monsters can be defeated -- if you’ve got the nerve…

    Flash forward to 1985 and Richard seems to have left all of his monsters behind. But that summer, a very different kind of monster shows up way too close to Richard’s home, and nothing will ever be the same again…

    Notes & Links:

    Sign up for Patreon and support the show, receive ad-free episodes -- plus monthly bonus content! Join here:
    https://patreon.com/RichardHatem?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink

    Grab some amazing RHPB merch here!
    https://richardhatem-shop.fourthwall.com/?

    Buy Monsters, Giants & Little Men From Mars here:
    https://www.abebooks.com/book-search/isbn/9780440958291/

    Discover Matt Monro -- the legend…
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ6Tp-nna9I

    Check out “Old Glory” -- The Bicentennial Condom!
    https://imgur.com/gallery/from-1976-one-time-old-glory-u-s-bicentennial-novelty-condom-YvTvpsi

    Read Phillip Carlo’s in-depth book about the Richard Ramirez/Night Stalker Case.
    https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-night-stalker-the-disturbing-life-and-chilling-crimes-of-richard-ramirez-philip-carlo/7340915?ean=9780806538419&next=t
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 1 min
No reviews yet
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.