This version of The Weekly Leo covers material released in the last week, from 20 June 2026 to 12 July 2026.
The Weekly Leo – 15 July 2026
Persistence of Vision (VOY) – The Secrets of Star Trek
A powerful alien entity invades Voyager’s minds and gives each crew member exactly what they secretly want: **Janeway** gets a visit from the fiancé she left behind on Earth. **B’Elanna Torres** gets Chakotay. **Tuvok** gets Vulcan. And Kes gets a nightmare version of Neelix to fight her way through in engineering. When it’s over, the alien vanishes without explanation, the Bothan ships disappear, and no one can account for what just happened. Voyager moves on.
[**Dom Bettinelli**](https://sqpn.com/team_member/domenico-bettinelli-jr/) and [**Jimmy Akin**](https://sqpn.com/team_member/jimmy-akin/) unpack “Persistence of Vision,” Season 2, Episode 8 of *Star Trek: Voyager* (originally aired October 30, 1995), written by executive producer **Jeri Taylor**.
The episode is built like a Twilight Zone psychological slow-burn — hallucinations bleeding from Janeway’s holonovel into the real ship, the crew picking up fragments of other people’s fantasies, the tension ratcheting up as one by one the bridge falls. Jimmy grants the build works. But he argues the episode is ultimately all style and no substance: it leads viewers to expect a Star Trek resolution and then yanks the rug out without ever having established that no resolution was the point. Unlike a well-constructed mystery-box ending, the show gives no early signal that we shouldn’t expect answers.
The alien’s implied power level only makes the silence more baffling. Reading the minds of an entire crew and tailoring individualized fantasies simultaneously — Jimmy compares it to an omega-level telepath from Marvel — and then simply vanishing? Dom wonders if this is Q-level territory. The questions pile up: Was he working with the Bothans? Was he even in engineering? How did any of this work?
The conversation detours into holonovels — Jimmy still can’t figure out how they’re supposed to work. Unlimited freedom? A set plot? Some middle ground? Dom argues the writers were theater kids who never reckoned with the fact that what they’re describing is an RPG, not a novel. The episode also marks the final appearance of Janeway’s Victorian holonovel, which writer Jeri Taylor had planned to continue and resolve; fan indifference ended it.
A more sobering thread runs through the episode: Jimmy’s research into why **Jennifer Lien** left the show. The official explanation — the writers ran out of stories for Kes — wasn’t the real one. Lien was dealing with schizophrenia, mirroring the situation of *Babylon 5*’s **Michael O’Hare**, who left that show after his paranoid symptoms were aggravated by a storyline about government agents torturing his character. Jimmy notes the parallel grimly: an episode built around a telepath suffering body-horror and psychological assault may have been the last thing Jennifer Lien needed to film.
Guest star **Carolyn Seymour** (Mrs. Templeton, knife in hand) gets her due: a British actress of Estonian and Irish heritage who has played cold, menacing roles across multiple Star Trek series.
https://youtu.be/E-xR2tM9ics
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EXPOSED: The Government’s Patented Way to Put Voices in Your Head – Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World
The U.S. government holds real patents for putting voices in people’s heads — and thousands say it’s happening to them. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli separate the real physics from psychiatry, internet lore, and outright fraud.
https://youtu.be/TLm2wOTEUkU
Help us continue to offer Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World. Won’t you make a pledge at SQPN.com/give today?
Links for this episode:
- Auditory Effects of Microwave Radiation by James C. Lin (Springer, 2021)
- The Body Electric: Electromagnetism and the Foundation of Life by Robert O. Becker and Gary Selden (Morrow, 1985)
- A New Breed: Satellite Terrorism in America by John Hall (Strategic Book Publishing, 2009)
- Mike McPhate, “United States of Paranoia: They See Gangs of Stalkers,” The New York Times, June 10, 2016
- Sharon Weinberger, “Mind Games,” The Washington Post Magazine, January 14, 2007
- Allan H. Frey, “Human Auditory System Response to Modulated Electromagnetic Energy,” Journal of Applied Physiology 17 (1962)
- Kenneth R. Foster, David C. Garrett & Marvin C. Ziskin, “Can the Microwave Auditory Effect Be ‘Weaponized’?” Frontiers in Public Health 9 (2021): 788613
- U.S. Army, Bioeffects of Selected Nonlethal Weapons (1998; declassified 2006)
- Federation of American Scientists archive, “Voice to Skull Devices” (CALL thesaurus entry)
- U.S. Patent 4,877,027, Wayne B. Brunkan, “Hearing System” (1989)
- U.S. Patent 6,587,729, O’Loughlin and Loree, “Apparatus for Audibly Communicating Speech Using the Radio Frequency Hearing Effect” (2003)
- U.S. Patent 5,159,703, Oliver M. Lowery, “Silent Subliminal Presentation System” (1992)
- National Security Archive, “The Moscow Signals Declassified: Microwave Mysteries, Projects Pandora and Bizarre”
- Lorraine Sheridan and David V. James, “Complaints of Group-Stalking,” Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology 26 (2015)
- U.S. Senate, Project MKULTRA, Joint Hearing, August 3, 1977
- Please spread the word about the podcast. Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts!
- Purchase the books and other material from this and other episodes at the Mysterious World Bookstore.
- Join the conversation at the Starquest Facebook page and the Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World Facebook page.
- Be part of the StarQuest Discord community at SQPN.com/discord
- Send your feedback or comments to feedback@mysterious.fm or send a tweet to @mys_world
- You can also leave a voice message on the Mysterious Feedback Line at (619) 738-4515
Chapters:
- 0:00 – MYS425
- 0:43 – Hook: what if the voice in your head is real?
- 1:39 – The real origin of the tinfoil hat (Julian Huxley’s "The Tissue Culture King")
- 3:25 – Meet the targeted individuals (TIs)
- 4:31 – Case study: Timothy Trespas (*New York Times*, 2016)
- 6:02 – Case study: Harlan Girard and "the voices" (*Washington Post Magazine*, 2007)
- 10:54 – More TI accounts: a Phoenix mother and Dr. John Hall
- 12:54 – What is V2K, and where does the name come from?
- 14:22 – Related terms: microwave auditory effect, synthetic telepathy, silent sound, LRAD
- 15:59 – The Frey effect: Allan Frey’s 1962 discovery
- 18:13 – From clicks to speech: the 1973 Walter Reed demonstration
- 19:41 – The Moscow Signal and Project Pandora
- 23:08 – MKUltra and the precedent for non-consensual research
- 25:16 – Three key patents: Brunkan, O’Loughlin/Loree, and Lowery
- 30:02 – The Army’s own "voice to skull" thesaurus entry
- 32:00 – Other programs: BioEffects, Medusa, Active Denial System, and LRAD
- 34:20 – "Voice of God" operations and the Waco proposal
- 36:14 – Can the microwave auditory effect be weaponized? (Foster et al., 2021)
- 38:16 – Thank you to Patrons
- 38:47 – Sponsor: The Grady Group
- 40:08 – Reason Perspective: five theories of what’s really happening
- 41:17 – …what the physics actually permits
- 43:22 – …what the documentary record does and doesn’t establish
- 44:44 – …could silent sound technology explain it?
- 45:56 – …could LRAD explain it?
- 47:22 – …conventional medical and psychiatric explanations
- 49:51 – …gang stalking and the Sheridan and James study
- 52:08 – …when belief turns to violence: Aaron Alexis and Myron May
- 54:14 – …how widespread is this really?
- 57:23 – …why so many people believe it’s happening to them
- 59:53 – Faith Perspective: is it ever moral to use V2K?
- 1:03:14 – …how to respond when someone says they’re hearing voices
- 1:04:44 – ★ – Bottom Line
- 1:06:27 – ★ – Further Resources
- 1:07:21 – ★ – Mysterious Feedback: #414 Ancient Christian Ghosts
- 1:14:43 – ★ – Your mysterious feedback
- 1:15:18 – ★ – Thank you to Oasis Studio 7
- 1:15:32 – ★ – Jimmy’s YouTube channel
- 1:16:19 – ★ – Next Time: Mark Twain, Super Psychic
- 1:16:41 – ★ – Share the show, write a review
- 1:16:55 – ★ – Get your Mysterious merch
- 1:17:01 – ★ – Show notes
- 1:17:04 – ★ – Become a Patron
- 1:17:13 – ★ – Sponsor: Rosary Army and School of Mary
- 1:17:38 – ★ – Outro
This Episode is Brought to You By:
Rosary Army. Featuring award-winning Catholic podcasts, Rosary resources, videos, and the School of Mary online community, prayer, and learning platform. Learn how to make them, pray them, and give them away while growing in your faith at RosaryArmy.com and SchoolOfMary.com
The Grady Group, a Catholic company bringing financial clarity to their clients across the United States. Using safe money options to produce reasonable rates of return for their clients. Learn more by visiting GradyGroupInc.com.
Want to Sponsor A Show?
Support StarQuest’s mission to explore the intersection of faith and pop culture by becoming a named sponsor of the show of your choice on the StarQuest network. Click to get started or find out more.
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The Weekly Leo – 8 July 2026
This version of The Weekly Leo covers material released in the last week, from 25 June 2026 to 8 July 2026.
Angelus
Homilies
Letters
- 25 June 2026 – Letter of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV on the 250th Anniversary of the Founding of the United States of America
- 2 July 2026 – Letter of the Holy Father Leo XIV, signed by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, to the Bishop of Lodi to mark the 27th Columbanus Day [Lodi, 4–5 July 2026]
Messages
- 5 July 2026 – Video Message of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV on the Occasion of the Conclusion of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage (United States of America)
- 8 July 2026 – Video Message of the Holy Father on the Occasion of the ‘Ankawa Youth Meeting’ (Iraq)
- 8 July 2026 – Message of the Holy Father, signed by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, on the Occasion of the AI for Good Global Summit 2026 [Geneva, 7–10 July 2026]
Prayers
Speeches
Social Media
Joseph Williamson’s Tunnels – Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World
A Liverpool merchant spent 30 years tunneling beneath his own neighborhood and never said why. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli weigh seven theories about Joseph Williamson and his mysterious underground labyrinth.
https://youtu.be/GuEb4R5XLRg
Help us continue to offer Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World. Won’t you make a pledge at SQPN.com/give today?
Links for this episode:
- Jim Moore, Underground Liverpool: Joseph Williamson—The King of Edge Hill (Bluecoat Press, 1998)
- Richard Whittington-Egan, Liverpool Characters and Eccentrics (The Gallery Press, 1985)
- David Clensy, The Mole of Edge Hill (2006)
- James Stonehouse, Recollections of Old Liverpool by a Nonagenarian (1863)—full text at Project Gutenberg
- Charles R. Hand, “Joseph Williamson, the ‘King of Edge Hill,’ II,” Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, vol. 79 (1928), pp. 86–111
- Friends of Williamson’s Tunnels (FoWT)—excavation, tours, primary research
- Williamson Tunnels Heritage Centre / Joseph Williamson Society
- Williamson Tunnels—Wikipedia overview with references
- Please spread the word about the podcast. Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts!
- Purchase the books and other material from this and other episodes at the Mysterious World Bookstore.
- Join the conversation at the Starquest Facebook page and the Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World Facebook page.
- Be part of the StarQuest Discord community at SQPN.com/discord
- Send your feedback or comments to feedback@mysterious.fm or send a tweet to @mys_world
- You can also leave a voice message on the Mysterious Feedback Line at (619) 738-4515
Chapters:
- 0:00 – MYS424
- 0:12 – Intro
- 0:44 – The mystery: thirty years of tunneling, no explanation
- 1:37 – Who was Joseph Williamson?
- 3:46 – The Liverpool Mercury obituary (1840)
- 5:26 – Edge Hill and the geology: New Red Sandstone
- 8:06 – The eccentric houses above ground
- 9:51 – What Charles Hand found underground
- 12:03 – Boys exploring the tunnels: Hand’s childhood expeditions
- 14:43 – Hand’s adult revisit (1926): the descent
- 17:19 – James Stonehouse’s 1845 tour
- 19:34 – The two underground four-room houses
- 20:02 – Williamson’s character and eccentric dress
- 21:53 – The window tax story
- 23:04 – The beans and bacon test dinner
- 24:56 – His religious life: St. Thomas’s Church
- 27:23 – The Rambler’s 1837 appreciation
- 29:10 – Death, burial, and the suppressed Stonehouse manuscript
- 31:30 – Modern excavations: Friends of Williamson’s Tunnels
- 33:16 – Thank you to Patrons
- 33:50 – Sponsor: Peter’s Barque presented by The Grady Group
- 35:36 – Theories overview: seven proposed explanations
- 37:49 – Analysis: Freemasonry theory
- 38:32 – Analysis: Smuggling theory
- 39:06 – Analysis: Apocalyptic refuge theory
- 42:12 – Analysis: Storage / wine cellars theory
- 43:19 – Analysis: Personal eccentricity theory
- 44:48 – Analysis: Quarrying theory
- 48:24 – Analysis: Charity theory
- 53:07 – Reason Perspective
- 54:01 – Faith Perspective
- 55:03 – Bottom Line
- 56:02 – Further Resources
- 56:47 – Mysterious Feedback: #413 The Shocking Secret Manuscript of the Anna Eklund Exorcism
- 1:00:11 – Your mysterious feedback
- 1:00:48 – Thank you to Oasis Studio 7
- 1:00:55 – Jimmy’s YouTube channel
- 1:01:51 – Next Time: Voice-to-skull technology
- 1:02:34 – Share and follow the show
- 1:02:47 – Get your Mysterious merch
- 1:02:56 – Show notes
- 1:03:03 – Become a Patron
- 1:03:11 – Sponsor: Rosary Army and School of Mary
- 1:03:37 – Outro
This Episode is Brought to You By:
Rosary Army. Featuring award-winning Catholic podcasts, Rosary resources, videos, and the School of Mary online community, prayer, and learning platform. Learn how to make them, pray them, and give them away while growing in your faith at RosaryArmy.com and SchoolOfMary.com
The Grady Group, a Catholic company bringing financial clarity to their clients across the United States. Using safe money options to produce reasonable rates of return for their clients. Learn more by visiting GradyGroupInc.com.
Want to Sponsor A Show?
Support StarQuest’s mission to explore the intersection of faith and pop culture by becoming a named sponsor of the show of your choice on the StarQuest network. Click to get started or find out more.
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The Weekly Leo – 1 July 2026
This version of The Weekly Leo covers material released in the last week, from 25 June 2026 to 29 June 2026.
Angelus
Homilies
- 26 June 2026 – Concelebration with the Cardinals
- 29 June 2026 – Holy Mass and Blessing of the Sacred Pallium for the new Metropolitan Archbishops on the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul
Letters
- 25 June 2026 – Chirograph of the Holy Father Approving the New Statute of the Supervisory and Financial Information Authority (ASIF)
- 29 June 2026 – Letter of the Holy Father to the Reverend Father Davide Pagliarani, Superior General of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X
Social Media
The High Ground (TNG) – The Secrets of Star Trek
A separatist leader kidnaps Beverly Crusher and makes arguments the Enterprise crew can’t quite answer. Dom Bettinelli, Jimmy Akin, and Fr. Jason Tyler on TNG’s toughest terrorism episode: “The High Ground” (S3E12).
https://youtu.be/KtWBrErw_go
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Mel’s Hole – Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World
A bottomless pit in central Washington, 80,000 feet deep and impossible to fill. In 1997, one phone call to Art Bell turned a piece of local folklore into a national mystery. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli investigate Mel’s Hole.
https://youtu.be/MPfOoCjG6EQ
Help us continue to offer Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World. Won’t you make a pledge at SQPN.com/give today?
Links for this episode:
- “Mel’s Hole” (Wikipedia)
- “Mel’s Hole” (Grokipedia)
- Mike Johnston, “Getting to the bottom of Mel’s Hole” (Ellensburg Daily Record, March 31, 2012)
- John Zebrowski, “Expedition seeks paranormal pit” (The Seattle Times, April 14, 2002)
- Brian Dunning, “Falling into Mel’s Hole” (Skeptoid #156, June 2, 2009)
- Audio archive of original Mel Waters Coast to Coast AM appearances
- “Mel Waters” guest page, Coast to Coast AM
- Please spread the word about the podcast. Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts!
- Purchase the books and other material from this and other episodes at the Mysterious World Bookstore.
- Join the conversation at the Starquest Facebook page and the Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World Facebook page.
- Be part of the StarQuest Discord community at SQPN.com/discord
- Send your feedback or comments to feedback@mysterious.fm or send a tweet to @mys_world
- You can also leave a voice message on the Mysterious Feedback Line at (619) 738-4515
Chapters:
- 0:00 – MYS423
- 0:13 – Intro
- 2:42 – Mel’s first call (Feb. 21, 1997)
- 5:01 – Neighborhood dump
- 6:50 – Measuring with fishing line
- 9:14 – Stone retaining wall
- 10:48 – No echo and spooked dogs
- 11:50 – The dead dog that came back
- 13:06 – Native American connection
- 14:00 – Second call (Feb. 24, 1997)
- 17:04 – Government arrives
- 19:26 – The black beam of llight
- 20:27 – Third call (April 2000)
- 22:00 – Australia relocation
- 23:38 – Twelve days missing
- 27:02 – 1943 Roosevelt dime
- 32:37 – Final call (January 2002)
- 32:51 – Nevada hole
- 35:06 – Ice experiment
- 38:36 – Lowering the sheep
- 40:12 – Seal-like creature
- 44:08 – Basque elder and second dime
- 45:23 – Mel goes off-grid
- 49:44 – After Mel
- 51:21 – Thank you to Patrons
- 51:54 – Sponsor: Transformed – The Legend of Rising Eagle
- 52:35 – Sponsor: Rosary Army and School of Mary
- 52:58 – Theories
- 53:20 – Reason Perspective
- 1:04:27 – Faith Perspective
- 1:07:42 – Bottom Line
- 1:08:58 – Further Resources
- 1:09:37 – Mysterious Feedback: #412 The Earling Exorcism
- 1:15:10 – Your mysterious feedback
- 1:15:48 – Thank you to Oasis Studio 7
- 1:15:53 – Jimmy’s YouTube channel
- 1:16:31 – Next Time: Joseph Williamson’s Tunnels
- 1:16:57 – Mysterious World store
- 1:17:05 – Get your Mysterious merch
- 1:17:13 – Show notes
- 1:17:21 – Become a Patron
- 1:17:29 – Sponsor: The Grady Group
- 1:17:49 – Outro
This Episode is Brought to You By:
Rosary Army. Featuring award-winning Catholic podcasts, Rosary resources, videos, and the School of Mary online community, prayer, and learning platform. Learn how to make them, pray them, and give them away while growing in your faith at RosaryArmy.com and SchoolOfMary.com
The Grady Group, a Catholic company bringing financial clarity to their clients across the United States. Using safe money options to produce reasonable rates of return for their clients. Learn more by visiting GradyGroupInc.com.
Available now on Amazon in ebook and paperback.
Want to Sponsor A Show?
Support StarQuest’s mission to explore the intersection of faith and pop culture by becoming a named sponsor of the show of your choice on the StarQuest network. Click to get started or find out more.
Subscribe on iTunes. | Other Ways to Subscribe.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
The Weekly Leo – 24 June 2026
This version of The Weekly Leo covers material released in the last week, from 19 June 2026 to 24 June 2026.
Angelus
General Audiences
Messages
- 19 June 2026 – Video message of the Holy Father on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the ‘Steubenville Summer Youth Conferences’
- 24 June 2026 – Message of the Holy Father, signed by the Cardinal Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, for theCaritas InternationalisHealth gathering Caritas Internationalis [Castel Gandolfo, 23–25 June 2026] (24 Jun
Social Media
Bem (TAS) – The Secrets of Star Trek
An alien observer who detaches his own body parts puts Kirk and Spock through their paces in TAS S2E2. Dom Bettinelli, Jimmy Akin, and Fr. Jason Tyler weigh whether “Bem” earns its strange premise — and how this episode named James Tiberius Kirk.
https://youtu.be/G3J8foKreaA
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