Bryce McGuire on ‘Night Swim’ and Its Haunted Pool

Welcome back to DEAD Time. If you live in the U.S., you might assume that other countries’ views on the paranormal are the same as our own. This month, I had a fascinating chat with Fred Andersson, a Swedish investigator and researcher, who told me that discussions around high strangeness, and even the way it’s presented in media, are very different in Sweden.

Andersson is a story producer for commercial television in Sweden, a freelance writer, the author of several books, and has more than a decade of experience researching UFOs and high strangeness. Andersson’s newest book, Northern Lights: High Strangeness in Sweden, was released this year and you can order it and check out his previous books here.

Bloody Disgusting had the pleasure of talking with Fred Andersson all the way from Märsta, just outside Stockholm, about his books, personal experiences with UFOs, a new docuseries he’s working on, and a lot more. Read on to find out what he told me about the history of UFOs and high strangeness in Sweden!

Bloody Disgusting: Tell me about your newest book Northern Lights: High Strangeness in Sweden.

Fred Andersson: I began writing it more than two years ago. The reason was that I noticed there was very little information about Swedish UFO cases. I wrote an article on Medium about a big UFO flap in 1974 and I noticed that people were really interested in it because they hadn’t read about it before. That was kind of the start of it all because I noticed there was an interest, and it was so much fun to write about. It’s still one of my favorite cases. I was out there a couple of months ago and we were shooting a segment for a television show about this UFO flap, and we met one of the witnesses. It’s close to my heart, you could say.

BD: How did you first become interested in the history of UFOs in Sweden?

FA: It’s a long and complicated story, but I suspect it began with something I heard as a child. I was about seven years old and my father’s partner at the time, we were sitting at the kitchen table, and I had a slight interest in UFOs and weird stuff. And she told me how when she was very young, she and her mom came out of their house and looked up in the sky and there was a silver sphere, like a silver ball, hovering in the air above them. To hear that from someone so close who was a very rational person; the story itself might not be spectacular; it became spectacular because it came from her. I guess that’s where I started to realize that many people have these stories and they rarely tell them, maybe because they’re scared of getting laughed at. I’m so impressed she told me that story because I never expected that. She’s dead now and it would have been wonderful if she had lived longer because now as an adult I could actually talk with her deeply about this experience. That was a long time ago and since then there has been work I was doing and people I’ve met, but that was the thing that really started it all.

BD: Can you share some of your personal experiences with UFOs or high strangeness?

FA: I love UFOs, it’s my favorite subject, but most of my experiences have actually been with more traditional paranormal things like ghosts, or whatever you want to call it. For example, I had a leather bag literally ripped apart by something, which was probably one of the scariest things that has happened. I was walking over a bridge alone, minding my own business, and suddenly I felt my bag ripped apart. It was one of those bags that hangs over your shoulder, and it got ripped apart in a very weird way and after that I turned absolutely ice cold. It got really cold to the degree I was starting to shake. During a television shoot where I was the segment producer for a paranormal show, I was standing in the garden one afternoon when the sun was still up on a nice summer day, and I could see a black, solid figure in front of me with a head, shoulders, and a torso. It was kind of peeking out at me from behind a very thin tree; there was no way someone could hide behind it. Oddly enough, it was just when the owners of the house were talking about these shadow figures they saw in the garden and that’s when I saw it. I can’t say it was a ghost, or if it was something else, or a creation of my mind, but I saw it very clearly and it was a solid figure. I wasn’t scared; I’m very curious when I experience stuff; I want to investigate.

The closest experience I’ve had with a UFO was in 2019 during the summer. We were out barbecuing quite late at night by a field at the edge of a forest. It’s a beautiful spot. It was after midnight, and it was very dark. There’s no houses or roads nearby. We suddenly noticed that out in the field there was a perfectly round circle of light on the ground. It was just a round circle of light and there was no beam coming from the side or the sky; it was just there. We were very fascinated by it, and we stood watching it for quite some time. The odd thing is that there were about four people out there and all of us had cameras and we didn’t take one single photo of it [laughs]. We took photos, but all the photos were exactly cropped where the circle of light begins. It actually took a few years for me to start analyzing this experience and how weird it was. The odd thing was that just before we saw it, we saw two owls flying above our heads, screeching, which by itself is very beautiful and eerie. As you probably know, owls are quite common when it comes to high strangeness experiences. They kind of welcome you into another realm somehow.

BD: Tell me about the concept of Cheerful Satanism.

FA: I haven’t thought about that for a long time. I think for many years I’ve practiced in one way or another some kind of what I’ve also called healthy individualism. Because I noticed when I was writing a lot about Satanists and that kind of philosophy. I’ve noticed a lot of Satanists, not everyone but a lot of Satanists, are kind of assholes. Yeah, they’re assholes. And that’s fine. But I wanted to push the idea that you can actually be quite nice and kind and be a Satanist. You can be a happy Satanist, a happy and joyful Satanist. If people around you are happy, if other people are happy, then you will be happy. It’s still a form of the ego thing, but by making people happy and by making people like being around you and love their company, that is what I call Satanists to me. It’s a happy happy, joy joy way of loving yourself. And sometimes loving people around you. I haven’t talked about this for a long time, but I hope that makes sense.

BD: Sounds like you have a positive outlook on life!

FA: Yeah, maybe I should focus on that more. I’m still thinking and trying to behave in this way, but it’s been a couple of years since I called myself a Satanist. Even if I sympathize with the philosophy in many ways. You know, it is what it is; you cherry pick the stuff you like; the stuff you feel strongly about is the stuff that’s for you. So, It’s still with me. I’m really happy about it because it gives me something to ponder over and work with more.

BD: As I’m sure you know, not everyone in the U.S. is open-minded about Satanism and some people tend to view it in a negative way.

FA: Yeah, I think in many ways, at least the classic Satanists are still misunderstood. But it also feels that many within that community want it to be misunderstood so they can whine. But I don’t want to whine; I’m trying not to whine. I’m trying to be happy, which can be difficult in times like this. But I’m trying.

BD: What can you tell me about the new UFO documentary that you’re working on?

FA: The UFO documentary is a four-part documentary series made for Swedish television and is the first of its kind in Sweden. There was one other documentary ten or fifteen years ago. It was specifically about the Ghost Rockets, which were these very interesting unidentified flying rockets in 1946. So, a very beloved actor and director in Sweden, is very interested in the phenomenon and he wanted to do a documentary series about it, and he contacted the Swedish UFO Organization and said, “Hey, we’re going to do a documentary series about UFOs, and do you know someone who can work on the show?” The chairman said he has a friend and called me. So, since May we’ve been filming and researching a lot of footage and material.

We’re meeting interesting people. So far, only in Sweden, but we will actually travel to the United States in a couple of weeks, and we will meet even more interesting people. It’s the kind of show that wants to tell the Swedish audience a few things. First of all, What is the phenomenon? Because there is a lot of bullshit out there. There’s a lot of disinformation. There’s a lot of X-Files music. Nothing wrong with that, of course. And little green men and all those things. We want to tell the story of the phenomenon from the start and what’s happening now. And we want the audience to come to their own conclusion about it. Is this real? Is this just a hoax? Or is this military stuff? Is this something else? So, we’re looking, or we’re trying at least. It’s just four episodes. We’re trying to look at it from as many angles as possible. We’re talking to true believers. We’re talking to weird people who experience stuff. We’re talking to skeptics. We’re talking to scientists. It’s such a fun show to work on. It wasn’t planned from the beginning, but I’m in front of the camera nowadays in the show.

This is quite a sensitive subject. The host felt, and we realized pretty fast, that we get strange emails and strange telephone calls because, you know, it’s a subject that attracts special people. And he felt he didn’t want to be alone in this. So that meant that me and the producer kind of got bigger parts in it. So, we appear in front of the camera; we have discussions; and maybe we help come to a more personal conclusion. Or help navigate this very confusing subject. Because there are so many fractions; so many opinions; so many theories. That’s a lot and I’m a little bit nervous because it’s on a big TV channel. It might attract a lot of viewers, so we’ll see what happens [nervous laugh]!

BD: That sounds so interesting! It’s only going to air in Sweden?

FA: Yes, it’s only going to air in Sweden, which is a damn pity. Because I think it will turn out very, very good and because it’s aimed for a Swedish audience. But you never know! Of course, this is the plan at least. So, we’ll see, but you know, I’m always hoping that these kinds of projects will reach beyond Scandinavia. I mean, I’ve been the story producer and researcher on the biggest paranormal show ever. We made six seasons. The fifth is on the air now and the sixth is coming next year.

BD: What is the name of the show?

FA: It’s called Spökjakt. It literally means Ghost Hunt and it’s a classic paranormal show. You have the typical team of some influencers, and some real paranormal investigators, and a psychic medium, and they go to famous, or less famous haunted locations and investigate it for a night. It’s a very, very basic setup but we’re trying to really do it beautifully. We want to make it look cinematic. It’s a gorgeous production. We’ve won a lot of prizes and awards.

BD: Congratulations! So, it’s kind of like Swedish Ghost Hunters?

FA: Yeah! Absolutely! Though, If I could say it myself, I’d say our show looks a lot better [laughs]! Visually, it looks a lot more impressive. But it’s just six episodes per season. It’s not like we’re making twenty episodes. So, we maybe have a little bit more time. I’m not sure how the Americans or the British work when it comes to these shows. It’s a very commercial show, but it’s one of those shows that is so much fun to watch. We have a lot of nice characters, witnesses and locations. I’m really happy but after six seasons. I felt now I needed to do something else. I took a couple of weeks off because there wasn’t any more ghost hunting to do. Then I decided I needed to do a show about UFOs. I don’t know if it was luck or something more like synchronicity. I’ve gone from ghosts to UFOs now. I’m so satisfied with that.

You can check out Fred Andersson’s official website here.

Until the next DEAD Time, I hope you will leave a light on for me.