Hunting Hitler on the History Channel

filfoster · Feb 3, 2016

Dr. Farrell's stuff is the most intriguing and disappointing. His prose is engaging, and has the semblance of documentation, but what he writes just comes off too weird to believe. I often found myself looking away from the page and thinking: 'That's bat sh-t crazy'. His books provide the dramatic contrast of a very readable style conveying a rat's nest of conspiracy theories. The text includes references to many known people, incidents and authorities , with citations to many published sources (I've never checked them). His books like 'Brotherhood of the Bell' and 'Reich of the Black Sun' and 'Giza Death Star'-the titles tip you off, don't they?- are like tofu tarts: appear full of substance but the reader eventually concludes there's nothing there and that Dr. Farrell ( His Phd. is in something called 'patristics') is a talented con man or perhaps he's a lunatic.

Can anyone give more information on him and his works? Am I being unfair in my assessment?

MikeKardec · Feb 4, 2016

Tiki Tom said:
Thanks for the context and the perspective. Appreciated. I, too, am fascinated by this stuff. I generally approach these books hoping to catch a whiff of genuine smoke while expecting there's also a lot of garbage imbedded in the material. Unfortunately a whole industry has arisen to sell an endless stream of idle speculation to a voracious public. I'm generally skeptical, but also occasionally feel the urge to suspect that there is more going on in this world than meets the eye. Besides: it's fun! My copy of "The Hunt for Zero Point" just arrived yesterday. So far, I'm enjoying its X-Files air of mystery and its attempting to tie to reality. Will it go off the rails in 100 pages? We shall see!

Crazier than Nick Cook but more fun and utilizing at least a whiff of proof to power their sometimes imbalanced conjectures are Joseph Ferrell and Henry Stevens. Like others in this area they are part of that close quoting for supposed credibility circle but they are definitely able to pull the occasionally realistic rhino from their hats. Also like others they tend to continue quoting "fun" facts as if they were current even after they are dis-proven. LOTS of FUN but wacky. Ferrell and Stevens are the well from which a lot of this "stuff" is drawn. Ferrell is very prolific but his German stuff is the best ... I will say that neither is the writer that Cook is, but then Cook isn't Dean Koontz either.

At a certain point you can see that the X-Files TV show really missed a bet not using more of what these guys had to offer. The fiction you could make of it is extraordinary!

Stearmen · Feb 4, 2016

I think why these conspiracy theory's work is, there is a little kernel of truth to them. We know, many NAZI's did go to south America, some illegally some to continue their work. Reimer Horton immigrated to Argentina quite legally, and continued his work on flying wings. Sorry, no UFOs or supersonic jets, just plane old flying wings. Still, fascinating!

V.C. Brunswick · Feb 4, 2016

filfoster said:
Dr. Farrell's stuff is the most intriguing and disappointing. His prose is engaging, and has the semblance of documentation, but what he writes just comes off too weird to believe. I often found myself looking away from the page and thinking: 'That's bat sh-t crazy'. His books provide the dramatic contrast of a very readable style conveying a rat's nest of conspiracy theories. The text includes references to many known people, incidents and authorities , with citations to many published sources (I've never checked them). His books like 'Brotherhood of the Bell' and 'Reich of the Black Sun' and 'Giza Death Star'-the titles tip you off, don't they?- are like tofu tarts: appear full of substance but the reader eventually concludes there's nothing there and that Dr. Farrell ( His Phd. is in something called 'patristics') is a talented con man or perhaps he's a lunatic.

Can anyone give more information on him and his works? Am I being unfair in my assessment?

Patristics or patrology is the study of the early Christian writers who are designated Church Fathers. The names derive from the combined forms of Latin pater and
Greek patḗr (father). The period is generally considered to run from the end of the New Testament or end of the Apostolic Age (c. AD 100) to either AD 451 (the date of the Council of Chalcedon or to the 8th century Second Council of Nicaea.
Source: Wikipedia

filfoster · Feb 4, 2016

Well, then I can see Dr. Farrell's obvious eminence in this murky swamp. 'Patristics' are generally under-appreciated credentials bearing on Nazi secret weapon and world domination conspiracy investigation. it's almost a straight line from the chronicles of early Christianity to Dr. Ing. Kammler and Die Glocke, and their involvement with UFO's and the Kennedy assassination, though, isn't it?

I'm not sure I'd trust a cookbook he'd author.

newsman · Feb 5, 2016

Blackjack said:
I love you guys. Oswald killed Kennedy

Anyone ever been to the plaza? I stood at the window where Oswald made the shot. It was anything but a long shot or hard shot.

Having the guts to do it...that's one thing. But it was anything but a hard shot.

As for old Adolf...there are two books by his secretaries and one by his SS driver/butler who were in the bunker at the end. They all said he died...and the soviet evidence is pretty solid. I think he sucked up a .380 from his PPK that was it. Dead dictator.

filfoster · Feb 5, 2016

Newsman, the History Channel series itself ignored those eyewitness accounts. I'll watch the replays of the earliest episodes, but I don't recall a single mention about the well-known eyewitnesses, particularly the aides mentioned above who entered AH's and Eva's quarters, found them dead and carried the bodies to the garden. On the contrary, we hear repeatedly that 'there were no eyewitnesses'. Goebbels would be proud. Repeat an untruth loud enough and often enough....

I love those other conspiracy 'black holes', UFO's and the Kennedy Assassination. So much information and theories, so you can believe whatever you want.
At least The History Channel program can be enjoyed as a parody.

MisterCairo · Feb 8, 2016

Why believe eyewitness testimony to the probable when you can rely on theory and conjecture in support of the unlikely?

Sheesh....

MikeKardec · Feb 10, 2016

It's worth considering, when watching The History Channel or anything else on TV, that the executives who are in charge of these shows tend to have a great contempt for their audiences.

They get excited about what they are doing but it is as a salesman helping to create a product (Geritol, Aids Tired Blood) not as an expert taking pride in the accuracy of their work. They have a way of doing these shows, glancing across the material quickly and lightly, and they are sure that's what the rubes want. Well, the rubes actually want to be entertained, they DO want it to keep moving, want new and exciting things, but a great deal of that is just delivering good writing. The average viewer could be subjected to a good deal more information if it was simply presented in an entertaining manner. That's hard, so the people in charge shift the blame for that difficulty to the audience and consider them stupid. I've seen it hundreds of times, top brass passing their own limitations onto the audience to make excuses for their failings.

LizzieMaine · Feb 10, 2016

And building on that further, if there's one thing the Boys love love love to sell -- it's Hitler. Remember the Hitler Diaries fiasco of thirty-odd years ago? A very illuminating book about that affair was written some years back, called "Selling Hitler," and one quote from a book publisher in the UK really stands out in my memory. "Hitler sells and sells," he said, commenting that the more swastikas you put on the cover, the more copies you could sell, to the point where this particular executive promised "nobody out-swastikas us!" (Not ironically, the original hardback edition of "Selling Hitler" itself had a prominent swastika on the front of the diust jacket.)

These types of books and articles and shows and films flood the market because there's money in them. Hitler himself was a master of psychological marketing, and clearly the Boys have picked up a few pointers along the way.

Trenchfriend · Feb 10, 2016

And next to Hitler, it's "rommeling", very often.

"Histotainment"...

V.C. Brunswick · Feb 10, 2016

LizzieMaine said:
And building on that further, if there's one thing the Boys love love love to sell -- it's Hitler. Remember the Hitler Diaries fiasco of thirty-odd years ago? A very illuminating book about that affair was written some years back, called "Selling Hitler," and one quote from a book publisher in the UK really stands out in my memory. "Hitler sells and sells," he said, commenting that the more swastikas you put on the cover, the more copies you could sell, to the point where this particular executive promised "nobody out-swastikas us!" (Not ironically, the original hardback edition of "Selling Hitler" itself had a prominent swastika on the front of the diust jacket.)

These types of books and articles and shows and films flood the market because there's money in them. Hitler himself was a master of psychological marketing, and clearly the Boys have picked up a few pointers along the way.

Somebody once told me that if you want to sell a book put a swastika and breasts on the cover.

filfoster · Feb 10, 2016

V.C. Brunswick said:
Somebody once told me that if you want to sell a book put a swastika and breasts on the cover.

The Nazis were boobs, of course. You knew someone would post that, right?

Trenchfriend · Feb 11, 2016

I think, it was mainly Goebbels and his vision and medial creativity, who transformed the high-command to popstars. This appeals until today.

MikeKardec · Feb 11, 2016

LizzieMaine said:
And building on that further, if there's one thing the Boys love love love to sell -- it's Hitler. Remember the Hitler Diaries fiasco of thirty-odd years ago? A very illuminating book about that affair was written some years back, called "Selling Hitler," and one quote from a book publisher in the UK really stands out in my memory. "Hitler sells and sells," he said, commenting that the more swastikas you put on the cover, the more copies you could sell, to the point where this particular executive promised "nobody out-swastikas us!" (Not ironically, the original hardback edition of "Selling Hitler" itself had a prominent swastika on the front of the diust jacket.)

These types of books and articles and shows and films flood the market because there's money in them. Hitler himself was a master of psychological marketing, and clearly the Boys have picked up a few pointers along the way.

I swear, every time I read the title of this post my mind transforms it into, "Hunting History on the Hitler Channel!"

LizzieMaine · Feb 11, 2016

Trenchfriend said:
I think, it was mainly Goebbels and his vision and medial creativity, who transformed the high-command to popstars. This appeals until today.

"Oh, and I have been meaning to bring this up, mein fuehrer, with all respect. Lose the fedora, it makes you look like a dork."

Without the uniform and the regalia, Adolf might have gotten a good job as a small-town department store floorwalker.

filfoster · Feb 11, 2016

LizzieMaine said:
"Oh, and I have been meaning to bring this up, mein fuehrer, with all respect. Lose the fedora, it makes you look like a dork."

Without the uniform and the regalia, Adolf might have gotten a good job as a small-town department store floorwalker.

If he'd only known Walmart would succeed where he failed to conquer the world....

2jakes · Feb 12, 2016

Ever wondered how Hitler got his strange moustache ...

Originally, Hitler had favored a longer handlebar mustache .

In WW1 he had to trim it to get a better seal on his gas mask.

Later, the BFM sold him on the idea to keep the “stache”
and lose the suit.

Trenchfriend · Feb 12, 2016

And to finally record, what kind of person Hitler was:
I remember, that over the last years, documents of WW I were sighted, which reported some things about how he was.

It's reported by troop, that he usually sits alone anywhere, reading books and showed no visible social-empathy.

So, it's proven, that he really was that, what to call a psychopath, using the older term. Perfect example of paranoid-personal-disorder, I would say, today.

LizzieMaine · Feb 12, 2016

2jakes said:
Later, the BFM sold him on the idea to keep the “stache”
and lose the suit.

Without the stache, he could be the Evil Dean in a wacky college movie made in 1980.

Hunting Hitler on the History Channel

filfoster

One Too Many

MikeKardec

One Too Many

Stearmen

I'll Lock Up

V.C. Brunswick

filfoster

One Too Many

newsman

One of the Regulars

filfoster

One Too Many

MisterCairo

I'll Lock Up

MikeKardec

One Too Many

LizzieMaine

Trenchfriend

V.C. Brunswick

filfoster

One Too Many

Trenchfriend

MikeKardec

One Too Many

LizzieMaine

filfoster

One Too Many

2jakes

I'll Lock Up

Trenchfriend

LizzieMaine

Similar threads

Members online

Forum statistics

Latest posts

Latest posts

Hunting Hitler on the History Channel

One Too Many

One Too Many

I'll Lock Up

One Too Many

One of the Regulars

One Too Many

I'll Lock Up

One Too Many

One Too Many

One Too Many

One Too Many

I'll Lock Up

Similar threads

Log in

Forum statistics