Rasputin, the Black Sun and Serial Killers - Digging Up Ancient Aliens

Oct 31 2023 • 52 mins

An archaeologist discussing Rasputin, the famous scapegoats from the Russian Revolution, Nazi symbology, and the stigmatization of mental health in pop culture? Yes, you do want to hear this.

First, we will talk about how Ancient Aliens and similar shows add to the stigma of mental health with the claims they make in their show. Then we move on to talk about the Rasputin myth, and while finding out who he really was, we learn that many of the pop myths about him are incredibly unfair. Last out, we will deal with the Nazi Symbol called the Black Sun. Some claim it's drawn from Norse sources. We will discover that's far from the case and that the neo nazi mythology circulating about it originates from a 1991 novel.

In Digging up Ancient Aliens, our host Fredrik uses his background in archaeology to discover what is genuine, fake, and somewhere in between in popular media, such as Ancient Aliens, Ancient Apocalypse, and many other places.

In the U.S., the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline’s # is 1-800-273-8255. Crisis Text Line can be reached by texting HOME to 741741 (US), 686868 (Canada), or 85258 (UK).

For international listeners, you can find an international collection here https://blog.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines/

In this episode:

Mental health and pop culture 3:05

Rasputin - man, myth, and alien? 17:15

The Black Sun - a Neo-Nazi Myth 39:06