TRANSCRIPT Oh No, Ross and Carrie: Carrie and Ross Say Farewell

[00:00:00]

Carrie Poppy: Hello, friends. Carrie here, coming to you from my backyard library where I’m surrounded with old ONRAC materials. I’m looking at Bethany Beal’s Not Part of the Plan and Mike Warnke’s Friendly Fire and Quest for Truth by Bashar. I’m surrounded by sense and nonsense from every angle. (Laughs.) And that’s how it’s been on this show for 13 years. And so, I am here to deliver some sad but probably not too surprising news.

I am sorry to report that after 13 years, Oh No, Ross and Carrie! is over for the foreseeable future.

But first I really want to say thank you. Thank you to Ross, who is the only person I ever obsessed with about one thing—weird ideas and why we have them—for 13 years. And wow, this person is etched into my life story. I will always hold that. Thank you to the very patient and skilled Ian and Victor, and to everyone at MaxFun—truly, in my opinion, the best podcasting network in the world. And to our guests, our experts, our subjects. And thank you most of all to our listeners. You are uniquely thoughtful people. Don’t forget that.

So, (sighs) listen. The decision to end the show is the right one for me. Unfortunately, I experienced a traumatic event, and I’m in PTSD treatment, and I expect it to take some time. I’m also working, as I’m able, on some cool things with Drew. I’m finishing the trauma book, (chuckles) which just became more relevant. And you will—you’ll hear from me soon, but you’ll hear from Ross sooner.

I am so proud of this podcast. There’s a listener named James Marion, who I got to know in DMs on X—the platform formerly known as Prince. And he told me recently that ONRAC radicalizes the people he shares it with. And I was like, “Toward what?!”

And he explained, “Beyond giving people a passing interest in the subject matter, ONRAC really makes them want to go into their world and either experience similar things or affect similar change.” I love that. I love that. I’m rereading it. “ONRAC really makes them want to go into their world and either experience similar things or affect similar change.” Mm-hm. I love that because we showed up, so you didn’t have to, but you started showing up anyway. (Laughs.)

So, if you haven’t yet, you can do this too. You can find the place or the person or the theory that you must see with your own eyes, and you just show up yourself. Accountability journalism really needs more voices, and also it’s just good practice to actually check things yourself once in a while, if you’re up for that kind of thing. But you can also just look at the sky and read books and pet your dog while you have one. You can reflect on your life and find joy in the small things. That’s what you’d want for everyone else, right? I give that all back to you if you’ve let it slip away.

(Tearfully.) Thank you. Thank you, thank you for being here. I’m sure it was all true.

And by the way! Sri Harold Klemp has not visited my dreams once. What the fuck?!

(Beat.)

Ross Blocher: Hello, listeners. It’s Ross here. I’m very sad to say that after 13 and a half years of investigations and interviews and a whole lot of fun, Oh No, Ross and Carre! is coming to a close. Certainly for the foreseeable future.

Based on the feedback we’ve received over the years, I know how important the show has been to so many of you. You’ve sent words of encouragement, additional facts, corrections, recommendations, personal insights, and so many of your own deep and complex journeys through the world of belief. I’m really honored that we got to play a part, however small, in your stories. Thank you for letting us know how much this show has meant to you, and I’ll keep doing my best to catch up on messages.

[00:05:00]

Here’s something positive. Our existing episodes—all 420 of them—aren’t going anywhere. They will remain available in perpetuity, and we hope you continue to enjoy and benefit from them. We still regularly hear from people who are just now discovering the show and working their way through the catalog, forwards, backwards. We also hear from listeners who have re-listened to the same episodes three times or more. I recently checked and all of our numbered investigations add up to 555 hours of audio. I feel like Bob Larson sharing these stats. “HOW MANY?!” That’s 555 hours of us blabbing. That would take 23 days if you just left it playing. Or let’s say you devoted 8 hours a day. That would take—you guessed it—69 days. Though, I know a lot of you listen to your podcasts at accelerated speeds. I get it. I see you. I am one of you, depending on the content.

It’s hard to count just how many investigations we’ve had, since there are often multiple topics or modalities in a single episode or across a series. But I’ll say it’s roughly 200 investigations and deep dives. That’s everything from Kabbalah to Mormonism, acupuncture, homeopathy, tarot, creationism, the Raëlians, astrology, cupping, palmistry, 9/11 truthers, Tony Alamo Ministries, The Aetherius Society, The Queen Mary, Christian Science, The Self Realization Fellowship, Scientology, Pastor Melissa Scott, Braco, The Gazer, amazing facts, vaccine denialism, alien contactees, UFOs, Flat Earth, Rythmia and ayahuasca, out of body travel, urine therapy, Eckankar, exorcism, ESP, earthing, Amma the Hugging Saint, Wim Hof. (Chuckles.) There’s a new article about him, not good stuff. Girl Defined, channeling, colon cleanses, The Ark Encounter, the Loch Ness Monster, TwinRay, Kathryn Krick, and more psychics and predictions than I can shake a stick at.

It’s been endlessly fascinating to see the varieties of belief that people hold and to find the unexpected connections between them. The adventures have been fun, wild, and sometimes even scary. Thank you for joining us on them. Also, a huge thank you to all of our interviewees and guests who have brought their expertise to the show. I tried to make a rough count. And I swear, that number also came to 69. I’m sure there’s more if I looked, but it did give me a chuckle.

And thank you to Maximum Fun for being our podcast family and network over the past 10 years. There are so many wonderful people there. I’m going to resist naming names, because I don’t want to leave anyone out. But they do important work supporting independent artists, and I hope you continue to support them.

If you support multiple shows at Maximum Fun, your contributions will be split evenly between the remaining shows. If you only supported ONRAC, you’ll have the option to support the network. Either way, MaxFun will be in touch with you about your membership shortly. And at any level, you’ll still have access to the bonus content we created. I also want to thank our advertisers over the years. I think it’s really cool that some companies choose to use their advertising dollars to support independent media. I’m still rocking my Rothy’s, my Litter Robot, my Quip toothbrush, Squarespace. That list also goes on.

Oh, I’ll give just one final update on my current Best Fiends progress. I’m on level 7,350.

Thank you also to the members of the team that we mention all the time. Ian Kremer, Victor Figueroa, and Brian Keith Dalton. My biggest thanks go to you, the listener—for engaging with the show, for sharing it with others, and for supporting us with your generosity and your words.

But of course, I reserve a whole special and distinct category of thanks for Carrie Poppy. Thank you for being my partner on these investigations, for sharing so many stories and asides and so much of yourself on this podcast. It’s a rare person who is interested in these topics, and a rarer person still who will dive into them headfirst. I’ve learned so much along the way, and I’ll be as excited as everyone else to see where you share your wit, your good humor, your journalistic voice, and your insights with the world.

I will have ongoing projects as well, including a new podcast I’m already putting together—very much in the same vein of first-hand investigations on the edge of what science tells us about the world, with a series of guest hosts. I hope to announce it soon. It better be soon, because there’s a Trump rally involved. Plus lots of other really cool content I’m super excited to share. And remember, in the words of science fiction writer Philip KDick, “Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.”

Music: “Oh No, Ross and Carrie! Theme Song” by Brian Keith Dalton. A jaunty, upbeat instrumental.

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(Music ends.)