Desert Oracle Radio

Celebrating Ed Abbey's 99th Birthday with a road trip to Arches National Park, setting of his beloved 1968 book, Desert Solitaire. AND: What's going on within the federal government's "experimental forests" in Sasquatch Country? New soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver. Desert Oracle Radio (c)(p) 2017-2026 http://DesertOracle.com Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s time for Strange & Unusual Facts. Mostly about the desert, the wilderness, critters and criminals. We are not using our usual flurry of em-dashes because we've heard that's a sign of AI-slop writings. New soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver, for this new year and new springtime on the way. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Join Desert Oracle Radio for an audio tour of how the American Desert celebrates Christmastime, or Christmastide. With festive soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver. Desert Oracle Radio (c)(p) 2017-2025 http://DesertOracle.com Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From Desert Oracle Radio, this is The Eldritch Republic, our new series about America’s strange history & uncanny folklore. Tonight we visit the beautiful country estate of Clement Clarke Moore, the big house called "Chelsea" where he read his Christmas poem to the family. The poem is "A Visit From St. Nicholas," and the country estate is now the neighborhood of Chelsea, New York City. Santa Claus, it turns out, is a New York City native. He was created from old Dutch traditions of St. Nicholas and Sinterklaas, by NYC boosters and literary men such as Clement C. Moore, Washington Irving and John Pintard. Written and hosted by Ken Layne, with soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver. Desert Oracle Radio © ℗ 2017-2025 https://DesertOracle.com Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Snowy mountaintops across the Western Mojave, all the transverse ranges have at least a dusting, with the big peaks covered in white. San Gorgonio looks so pretty right now, you can almost forget it’s a haunted mountain that eats people alive and is usually known by its grim local nickname “Old Grayback.” It must be Thanksgiving in the High Desert! An all-new episode with new soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver, this is Desert Oracle Radio Episode #253. ALSO: Listen to the end, for important information on our Stocking Stuffer Special: a rare print edition of Desert Oracle (issue #11) & a DOR yellow vinyl bumper sticker, postage-paid to your mailbox for only $15.99. Desert Oracle Radio (c)(p) 2017-2024 http://DesertOracle.com Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Recorded live in New York before an audience of DOR Patrons & assorted Manhattanites, this is Desert Oracle’s special Halloween Ghost Stories. Thanks to our special guests Matt Welch from The Fifth Column and Nicholas Lowry from Antique Roadshows & the new Czech graphic-design documentary Identity. Special thanks to our listeners who told ghost stories, RedBlueBlackSilver for the spooky soundscapes that surrounded us all, and Jonathan Farber for hosting the event. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From Desert Oracle Radio, this is The Eldritch Republic, our new series that’s all about America’s strange history & uncanny folklore. Tonight we meet William Dunbar, frontier scientist on the Lower Mississippi, and hear his weird report to longtime friend Thomas Jefferson, regarding a large, low-flying mystery object that stunned the people of Baton Rouge in the Spring of 1800. Written and hosted by Ken Layne, with soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver. Desert Oracle Radio © ℗ 2017-2025 https://DesertOracle.com Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There were two attempted assassinations of President Gerald Ford in September 1975. Both in California, both by women, and both with strange connections to Charles Manson. And then there was third incident six months later, involving not the president, but First Lady Betty Ford. A very strange third incident. This is The Eldritch Republic, a new collection of uncanny history and American folklore from Desert Oracle Radio. Just in time for the Halloween season, with new episodes throughout the U.S. Sestercentennial, 2026. Written & hosted by Ken Layne, with soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver. Desert Oracle Radio © ℗ 2017-2025 http://DesertOracle.com Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

September 22 is the day & 11:19 a.m. is the hour when Fall finally arrives in the Mojave Desert. Add an hour for Nevada and Utah, which both share a little of the Mojave with California and Arizona. While it's still hot on the desert floor, the mountains are cool and the aspens are changing color. Too far from the aspen groves? If you're in the desert, there are Fremont's cottonwoods somewhere near you, and few trees have such fantastic fall colors. New soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver, written & hosted by Ken Layne. https://DesertOracle.com Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On a soft monsoon evening, the sky streaked with golden bands, tropical clouds drawn up from the Sea of Cortez, everything is vibrant, delirious light. No sound but the crunch of boots and dog paws in the sandy wash lined with desert willow and Mormon tea, before we climb up to the mesa and through a high-desert forest of Joshua trees and Juniper. We sit for a while, at sunset: Great Apollo blazing over western mountains. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A centuries-old conspiracy regarding Soothsayers' Oaks in the Bible, plus a walk in the woods with good old Henry David Thoreau. Soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Out here in the Great Mojave Wilderness, we’re always talking about Section 6 or Section 33 or whatever it is, but how did we get that system, that public-lands overlay? Who did the work? Tonight we tell you about . . . well, not the father of our country, but his nephew: Col. Henry Washington, the man who made the baseline and the meridian back in the 1850s, the defining lines by which all other property in Southern California is measured. With fitting desert soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver. Hosted & written by Ken Layne. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

People will come to the Mojave on purpose, in summertime, and then they get sad because they can't go outside without bursting into flames. A couple of summers ago, a guy died in Death Valley just from riding his motorcycle outside. Overheated. The 120° heat no less lethal just because it was blowing all over him at cruising speed. He just dehydrated and died. This is the time of year to stay in the car with the A/C blasting. Do your sightseeing with a seatbelt on. How about a historic and scenic ride on the entirety of SR-247? From Yucca Valley to Barstow! A beautiful drive with stops for good food, through the great Mojave wilderness. Plus, we'll tell you the history of the highway and many of the sights along the way. With appropriate soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver, hosted by Ken Layne, and supported by listeners just like you. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"God bless America, let's save some of it." — Edward Abbey One of the senators Utah sent to Washington has slipped in some very dangerous legal language into the big federal budgeting bill, language that’s vague enough to allow the beginning of the sell-off of our Western Public Lands. Including National Forests. Not including national parks, monuments, etc., but very much including Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service lands. In fact, that’s what this senator, “Based Mike Lee,” titled this section of the Senate legislation: MANDATORY DISPOSAL OF BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT LAND AND NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM LAND. No, sorry, not gonna happen. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Mojave gets slow in the summertime, not much going on. So there was much excitement when the word spread on that early summer night: The Marines were shipping out to Los Angeles. Rumors of troop carriers and white buses, full of Marines with full kit, ready to go, and deeply annoyed to be called back early on a Saturday night. But, it was something to do, somewhere to go. Everybody wants to get out of the Mojave in summertime. Soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The reality of knowing the wild animals on your land is knowing that they generally live on an accelerated timeline. The new crop of Mojave cottontails and rock squirrels each spring will shrink to one or two lucky buddies by late summer, with the rest succumbing to reckless road crossings and red-tail hawks and rattlesnakes . . . the local ravens feasting on the remains, if there are any. Soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver. Hosted and written by Ken Layne. Broadcasting Friday nights on KCDZ 107.7 FM in the High Desert, from Amboy to Zyzxx. Thanks for supporting this show at Patreon.com/DesertOracle Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The maniac who blew himself up outside a Palm Springs fertility clinic is our latest High Desert dingbat to make the national news. Luckily, the four (or five?) injured in the Palm Springs terror attack have been treated and released from the hospital. But who bombs fertility clinics? Meet America's worst new subculture, the violent anti-natalists. With geographically relevant soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you’ve run around the breathtaking Eastern Sierra, you know Crowley Lake, and Crowley Point, and maybe even the rare Crowley Lupine of the Sierra’s Eastern slope. All three are named in honor of Father John J. Crowley, the Padre of the Desert. His heroic life and tragic death are remembered on this very Catholic episode of Desert Oracle Radio, with soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Here’s how the Channel 12 news in Phoenix began the story, Thursday night on the 10 o’clock news: “God sent that dog to rescue my son.” Words spoken by the 2-year-old boy’s father, Corey Allen, outside the family’s home on the west side of rural Seligman, Arizona. Corey Allen says he was working on the roof, Sarah Allen was inside with their one-year-old. And two-year-old Bodin Allen went outside to play. But when Bodin Allen’s mom called for him, he didn’t answer. He wasn’t there. And after an hour of frantic searching, as the sky darkened, the Allens called the Yavapai Sheriff’s Department and before long there were dozens of search-of-rescue volunteers and deputies searching the area. Helicopters with spotlights scoured the plateau, the pilots reporting two mountain lions prowling the territory. The search went on all night, and by morning the news of the missing boy had been announced by the Sheriff’s Department and broadcast by the local news, spread around by neighbors and radio and the Internet — so that a rancher named Scotty Dunton, seven long miles away in the backcountry to the west, had already heard before he got in his pickup and headed to town about 7:30 a.m. And saw his big old ranch dog, Buford the Anatolian Pyrenees, coming up the dirt driveway with a blond-headed toddler by his side. A blond-headed toddler in dirty pajamas, eyes red from crying and with a few scratches from the high-desert brush on one arm and his face, but otherwise alive and well. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's a cool & pleasant springtime in the Mojave High Desert. The hummingbirds are lingering on the branches of creosote and catclaw, looking around for the flowers. Where are the flowers? Well, that’s always the guessing game up here, isn’t it? Sometimes they’re evident by the end of March, sometimes it’s the beginning of May. Varies by terrain, by altitude, by a hundred little differences from spring to spring, in this forward motion of our lives. ALSO: Traveling Doc Holliday's West. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.