David Paulides

Date: 2026-05-20 | Duration: 2h 20m

Category: Paranormal & Conspiracy, Science

Episode Overview

Joe welcomes David Paulides, a former law enforcement officer and author known for his "Missing 411" series. Paulides explains how two park rangers at Yosemite first introduced him to the unsettling pattern of disappearances in national parks, expressing concern over the lack of follow-up and the seemingly deliberate silence from the Park Service. This initial conversation sparked Paulides's decades-long investigation into inexplicable missing person cases, characterized by unusual circumstances, the failure of search dogs to find scents, and a disturbing lack of physical evidence. The conversation quickly delves into some of the most bizarre cases Paulides has uncovered, including a man who vanished while skiing in New York and reappeared in California with no memory, and a truck driver found dead weeks after an extensive search in an area previously cleared by canines. Paulides highlights recurring anomalies: individuals often disappear at a "point of separation" when alone, canines frequently fail to track, and victims' clothing or personal items are sometimes found in illogical locations. These patterns lead Joe and Paulides to discuss the possibility of extraterrestrial or interdimensional involvement, particularly in cases where people are seemingly "taken" or later found in impossible locations. Paulides shares the extraordinary story of Carl, a hunter who claimed to have been abducted by alien entities, witnessed the manipulation of space and time, and returned with cured ailments and a deformed bullet that defied explanation. This discussion seamlessly transitions into the mystery of Bigfoot, with Paulides revealing DNA evidence suggesting a human-hybrid lineage and Native American perspectives describing them as a "tribe of people" or beings from "hairy moons." The episode concludes by exploring the "hitchhiker effect" observed at Skinwalker Ranch, where unexplained phenomena follow researchers home, hinting at a reality far more complex and interconnected than commonly perceived.

About David Paulides

David Paulides is a former law enforcement officer and author best known for his Missing 411 series, which documents inexplicable disappearances in national parks and remote areas. Drawing from initial interviews with park rangers at Yosemite, Paulides has spent decades investigating cases marked by unusual circumstances, including search dogs failing to track victims and people vanishing from their last known locations only to reappear in geographically impossible places. His work explores patterns that challenge conventional explanations and has led him to examine theories ranging from extraterrestrial involvement to interdimensional phenomena.

Key Moments

00:00:25 – David Paulides' law enforcement background and missing persons research origin
00:01:12 – National Park Service Rangers reveal missing persons cover-up
00:05:14 – Case of Canadian skier found 2,500 miles away with amnesia
00:07:16 – Disappearances with amnesia linked to alien or unknown entity abductions
00:10:11 – Yosemite's Stacey Eris case and government obstruction of records
00:14:52 – DOI's refusal to provide missing persons list and excessive fees
00:18:22 – Puzzling failures of trained canines to track missing persons
00:23:11 – Hunter Carl's alien abduction story and unusual bullet deformation
00:29:00 – Travis Walton UFO abduction case and corroborated witness accounts
00:35:13 – Speculation on advanced beings manipulating time and space
00:40:33 – Column Kelleher's Skinwalker Ranch portal and bipedal entity sighting
00:48:08 – Bigfoot sightings, lack of physical bodies, and dermal ridge footprints
00:54:19 – David's Bigfoot investigation: collecting hair samples for DNA analysis
00:59:29 – Dr. Melba Ketchum's controversial Bigfoot DNA findings and critiques
01:13:59 – The "Hitchhiker Effect" at Skinwalker Ranch and among Bigfoot researchers
01:17:39 – Native American beliefs about Sasquatch and "Little People" as non-animals
01:28:23 – Historical links between Santa Claus, elves, and Amanita Muscaria mushrooms
01:35:08 – Joe Rogan's DMT experience and the hyper-real nature of encounters
01:45:04 – Carl's detailed abduction memory: robotic entities and truck relocation
01:50:00 – Bizarre discoveries of bodies "launched" from cliffs and unexplained missing clothing
01:53:05 – Speculation on government preparing public for alien reality
01:53:57 – Intelligence officials describe crashed non-human craft and bodies
01:54:50 – Federal agencies push back on UAP declassification directive
01:55:50 – Government's reasons for UAP secrecy: public and adversaries
01:56:16 – Discussion and debunking of the 'eight-pointed star' UFO video
01:57:14 – Gilbert Gilman: Former Army intelligence officer vanishes in Olympic National Park
01:59:22 – Gilman's girlfriend hints at his CIA past; mother's FBI encounter
02:01:10 – Speculation on government involvement in Gilbert Gilman's case
02:02:22 – Theory: Government disappearing people with classified information
02:02:40 – Theory: Gilbert Gilman knew and agreed to his 'extraction'
02:03:43 – David Paulides shares the Ronald Tammin college disappearance case
02:05:07 – Suspected government agents seen with Ronald Tammin months later
02:06:51 – Debunking serial killer theory for disappearances in national parks
02:08:46 – Gilbert Gilman's planned disappearance and 'signal' theory
02:09:29 – Paulides addresses potential bias from studying strange cases
02:11:59 – Gilman's mother believes he's alive, working as a government spy
02:14:01 – Kenneth Arnold's 1947 UFO sighting near Mount Rainier linked to crash
02:15:51 – Numerous unexplained disappearances and UFO sightings on Mount Rainier
02:17:50 – Paulides describes personal sightings of orbs and UFOs
02:18:25 – Challenge of authenticating modern Bigfoot/UFO photos due to CGI

Transcript Excerpt

[00:00:01] Joe Rogan podcast, checking out. The Joe Rogan Experience. Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. David, welcome the show. Pull on up to the microphone. Get that sucker up like a fist from your face. I first heard about you from that guy, Art Bell, the goat. The greatest. [00:00:25] Yeah, he was, I used to love listening to his show coming home from the comedy store. We come home at like 1 o'clock in the morning. Coast to coast with Art Bell from the kingdom of. of nigh. It was awesome. And that's when I first got turned on to your work. So tell everybody, you started off in law enforcement. Right. That's your background. Correct. How did you get involved in this mystery of people going missing? So I had already written a couple of books. And I was at Yosemite National Park doing some research on another topic. And two rangers. are following me around. And I went back to my room that was at the park. And about an hour and a half [00:01:12] later, one of the Rangers comes to my room and he's in plain close and he knocks on my door. And he says, hey, Dave, I'm Ranger so-and-so. I'm here off duty. I want to talk to you about some missing people. I said, come on. So we start talking. And he says that he knew about me, probably the way you knew about me. And he says, I know you're from law enforcement. Somebody needs to look, needs to look into this. About an hour and a half later, his partner shows up at the door. And they said that they've worked at different parks over the years. And while they were working at those parks, there were missing people. And he said, at the beginning, there was a lot of publicity, a lot of people interested, a lot of activity. And then with time, within about 10, 15 days, [00:02:29] the Park Service doesn't talk about it. Now, what was he assuming? Was he assuming something nefarious was going on, or was he assuming that it was a lack of commitment to finding the bodies? Because you've got to assume most people af...

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Frequently asked about this episode

Who was the guest on Joe Rogan Experience #2502?

David Paulides was the guest on JRE #2502. This page includes the episode overview, topics discussed, and related resources.

What topics were discussed on JRE #2502?

On Joe Rogan Experience #2502 with David Paulides, topics include David Paulides' law enforcement background and missing, National Park Service Rangers reveal missing persons, Case of Canadian skier found 2,500 miles away with amnesia, and Disappearances with amnesia linked to alien or unknown.

Where can I read the transcript for JRE #2502?

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