GhostStoriesForTheEnd

Les Carolos (a photographic essay about Charleroi)

As promised.

89 - The Belgian X-Files 12: Dutroux Affair i - The Lost Girls (1956 - 1995)

Nic (@irc_nic) guides us through the life story of Marc Dutroux. We look at his childhood, his descent into crime, and how he may have become a fixer for the Belgian political mafia.

"The Kludde" read by Michael...

Next week.

We open the last of our Belgian X-Files.

88 - The Belgian X-Files 11: Land of the Dead

I'm joined again by Nic (@irc_nic) for a maximalist, anthology-style episode panning across Belgium at the end of the Cold War, and on the eve of the Dutroux Affair.

0:53: Prologue

10:00: Chapter 1 - The Paul Vanden Boeynants Kidnapping

52:15: Chapter 2 - The Belgian Gladio Inquiry

82:40: Chapter 3 - The Murder...

Next episode in 2 weeks

Nic and I have in mind a multi-chapter anthology-style episode (similar to the one about bioweapons from a while back). We reckon it will run to a decent length, so we’re going to take our time to get it right.

The Cold War is about to end. VDB is kidnapped in bizarre and extremely suspect circumstances. The neo-aristocracy i...

87 - The Belgian X-Files 10: BRABANT KILLERS REDUX - Aftermath iii

Tonight we tie off Brabant Killers Redux by looking at an especially bizarre event that occurred just before the final massacre, using it as an illustrative example of how deep into the weeds you can fall, if you so wish, in trying to understand this most eerie of true stories. We then explore various theories people have put forward over the ye...

DISCORD LINK

Periodically have to repost this so here it is again. Hope you all had a good weekend.

86 - The Belgian X-Files 9: BRABANT KILLERS REDUX - Aftermath ii

These are people who died.

Aftermath iii to arrive on Thursday 23rd.

85 - The Belgian X-Files 8: BRABANT KILLERS REDUX - Aftermath pt 1 (1985 - now)

The first Gang Commission, the aftermath of the Brabant Killers operation, and the consequences.

Note: This is actually the first part of a four hour recording we did, but after some discussion we decided to cut it down into more manageable 60 - 90 minute instalments. This means Aftermath pt ii will land next week and, most likely, ...

84 - The Belgian X-Files 7: BRABANT KILLERS REDUX pt 2 (1984 - 1986)

Reactivation.

(artwork to follow)

83 - The Belgian X-Files 6: BRABANT KILLERS REDUX pt 1 (1970 - 1983 or so)

The First Wave.

Next episode

Is 150% coming in the week ahead. God’s honest. We are tweaking the script and adding final touches. Also I finally have a fixed floor and rainwater is no longer pissing in through the ceiling. Apologies for the delay.

In the meantime I recommend you listen to The Kids 1978 masterpiece Naughty Kids to get into the hyperviolent...

Update

Still a few problems and we can’t record anything yet. Next week. Apologies.

Ahoy

Part 6 of TBXF will be up the week after next. I am moving house and I have to get a bunch of stuff sorted before Nic and I can record anything.

Rest assured the next one will be worth the wait.

Matt

Next episode.

They’re here.

82 - The Belgian X-Files 5: The Pinon Affair (1976 - 1997 or so)

I'm joined again by @irc_nic as the Belgian Autumn begins.

Prince Albert and the Belgian business class overpromise and underdeliver in a trade deal with the Saudis. The resulting financial scandal exposes a vice network, blackmail operations, and massive embezzlement. The Belgian establishment scrambles to cover it all up, but things take...

Next episode

The Belgian Autumn begins: Vice rings, private eyes, psychiatrists, spooks, escorts, murder, “suicide”, blackmail, and the Network 🌀.

81 - The Belgian X-Files 4: Chaos, Fascism and Solar Temples (1945 - 1979 or so)

I'm joined by Belgian researcher Nic (@irc_nic) to talk about the post-war far-right in Belgium: what it believed, what it did, how it ensured loyalty, who profited...and who didn't. Paramilitary groups, Gladio, cults, dirty cops, gangsters and crooked spooks. They formed subterranean networks of mind-warping dimensions that covertly influenced ...

Next episode…

Think of episodes 1 - 4 as a long prologue. We introduced Belgium’s internal divides and contradictions, looked at the stay behind influence and the role of colonialism on the national psyche, and now we’re going to look at what happened after the empire fell. This is the final piece we need to move into place before the arrival of the Belgi...

Africa

Listener Nosreffej shared some interesting links/tips. Here you go:

Wizard of the Crow' by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o 2006

"A landmark of postcolonial African literature, Wizard of the Crow is an ambitious, magisterial, comic novel set in the fictional Free Republic of Aburiria. Ngũgĩ dramatizes with corrosive humor and keenness of observ...

80 - TBXF 3: The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull II (1958 - 1978)

We conclude our time in Congo by discussing how they killed Lumumba, colonial ghosts returning to the imperial core, and the politics of forgetting.

CHRISTMAS Q & A SPECTACULAR

Merry Christmas.

79 - TBXF 2: The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull I (1830 - 1960 or so)

And he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and behold, there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey. He scraped it out into his hands and went on, eating as he went. And he came to his father and mother and gave some to them, and they ate. But he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey from the carcass of the lio...

DISCORD

Have had some new arrivals saying the Discord link isn't being generated automatically. Here it is:

https://discord.gg/x3Bwu5B9

I'll try to remember to post this once a month so everybody can share in the joy. 

Winter is he...

Blue Belgium: a soundtrack

This is what we’re listening to as we put this series together. More will be added as and when.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1k325iL7qgdQXRqaUJug16?si=SveIihAVQ5uyKkXlhJdMEQ&pi=e...

78 - The Belgian X-Files 1: Some Years Ago (1945 - 1960 or so)

We look at Belgium under Nazi occupation and the Royal Question, then discuss the assassination of Communist Party leader Julien Lahaut and the hidden networks in the Belgian establishment.

Episode will be up Friday

Voice has recovered, adding final touches, all systems go. Thank you for your kind words and patience. Let’s toast these Euro turkeys.

Belgium

Yo, please, please forgive me but I’ve gotten really sick again. I got a cold a couple of weeks back, then conjunctivitis, then tonsilitis, and I think this week it’s now become full blown flu. Sweats, fever, chills, throat is shredded from coughing, so on. I’ve been recording the first Belgian episode in sections depending on how my throa...

50.5039° N, 4.4699° E

Soon.

DULCE MIDNIGHT RADIO 5 ft. Mark Pilkington

Bradley (https://twitter.com/bpleasies) and Mark Pilkington (https://twitter.com/markopilkington) sit down to discuss UFOs, the latest round of "disclosure", Mirage Men, bigfoot erotica, black helicopt...