NEOWISE is here! In July 2020, a bright comet appeared just below the Big Dipper, and on this #ParanormalTuesday Mike and Wendy look up at the sky and back through history to explore comet superstitions, omens, and the movies and books they've inspired.
Wendy describes spotting the comet from Madison and the photos she and Scott captured, while Mike talks about what makes a comet so exciting: in a sky that feels fixed and unchanging, suddenly there's something new.
For most of history, though, a comet meant something was about to change. Halley's Comet appears in the Bayeux Tapestry, a portent before the Norman conquest of England, and its return in 1910 had people bracing for something big. The hosts connect it to our enduring fascination with the end of the world, from Y2K to asteroid movies. Mike jokes that NEOWISE, discovered on March 27, was clearly an omen for the cancellation of Sunspot's concerts.
They also dig into panspermia, the idea that microbes riding on comets might have seeded life on Earth, and some great comet movies, including Night of the Comet and Lifeforce, Tobe Hooper's film about space vampires hiding behind Halley's Comet, based on a novel by Colin Wilson.
Plus, Sunspot shares a live version of their song "Stardust," recorded at Driftless Books in Viroqua, Wisconsin. Get outside, look up, and see what omens you can spot.