S2 #71 / Joshua Cutchin on Fourth Wall Phantoms

In this episode, I'm joined once again by the ever-brilliant Joshua Cutchin to discuss his latest book Fourth Wall Phantoms. This conversation is a deep dive into the fertile terrain between fiction and reality, where paranormal phenomena blur into imagination, archetype, and culture. He asks; What if stories were more than just stories? What if fictions came to life? What would that say about our greatest mysteries? What would that say about you?

Joshua shares how this book was a cleansing act for him—an unapologetic exploration of how stories, symbols, and media shape and even generate anomalous experiences. We talk about everything from the dream-logic of high strangeness to the surrealist lens through which we might better understand UFOs, spirits, and cryptids.

In the Plus show, Joshua notes a striking decline in classic alien abduction reports and explores how new kinds of contact experiences are emerging—ones that seem increasingly visionary, entangled with altered states of consciousness, and reflective of deeper shifts in cultural and psychic landscapes. We also touch on ideas that sit close to my own work: the transformative power of archetypes, the intoxicating grip of creative inspiration, and how folklore is not just a remnant of the past but an active force shaping our present. Joshua’s notion of spirits as stories—brought to life through belief, performance, and imagination—feels especially resonant here.

The conversation ends with some potent reflections on the current state of storytelling in Western culture. Are we running out of myths? Is the imagination drying up—or are we standing at the threshold of something new?
Show notes:
Website & book https://www.joshuacutchin.com/fourth-wall-phantoms

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