Episode 218: The McPherson Tapes Part One

When I was a little kid, about nine or ten years old, I’m watching TV late one Sunday night when an hour long special presentation movie comes on. This isn’t an ordinary movie, it’s a found footage film, an uncut and unedited home movie of a family celebrating a child’s birthday, a birthday that turned into madness, when aliens showed up and systematically abducted everyone. This movie horrified me. I had not seen the disclaimer at the beginning, I had not seen the credits at the end explaining that the people in this movie were actors. I thought it was real. And I asked me dad that very question. “Is this real?” I asked. Hoping I’d get some comfort in his answer. “I don’t know. Probably.” He casually replied. Not realizing that his answer, half-joke, half-not paying attention, would send me in a downward spiral of alien-related stress and anxiety for the rest of my life.