American Alchemy
Template:Infobox television/Short description
| American Alchemy | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Long-form interview / exopolitics documentary |
| Presented by | Jesse Michels |
| Original release | |
| Network | YouTube; Spotify |
| Release | 2022–present |
Script error: No such module "Infobox television disambiguation check".
American Alchemy is a long-form interview and video series hosted by Jesse Michels, a filmmaker and technology investor who interviews researchers, scientists, military insiders, whistleblowers, and philosophers on subjects including unidentified aerial phenomena, consciousness, advanced physics, genetics, ancient civilizations, and the suppression of unconventional knowledge. Distributed on YouTube and Spotify, the show has become one of the most prominent independent media outlets covering the modern UAP disclosure movement, with high-profile guests including Garry Nolan, Jason Jorjani, David Grusch, Jacques Vallée, Hal Puthoff, Eric Weinstein, Diana Pasulka, Graham Hancock, Peter Levenda, Steven Greer, Harald Malmgren, and Ross Coulthart.
Format
The show's format combines documentary-style introductions — typically several minutes of narrated context with archive footage and graphics — with extended one-on-one conversations that frequently run over two hours. Michels situates himself as an outsider to both the mainstream press and the established UFO subculture, and frequently interviews guests who occupy liminal positions between credentialed science and heterodox research. The show's title, "American Alchemy," reflects a recurring theme: the transmutation of suppressed or stigmatized knowledge into public understanding.
Notable episodes
| Year | Guest | Subject | Main article |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Garry Nolan | Stanford professor's CIA-commissioned brain imaging of UAP experiencers, anomalous UAP-associated material samples, and the "invisible college" of UAP-investigating scientists | .mw-parser-output .hatnote{font-style:italic}.mw-parser-output div.hatnote{padding-left:1.6em;margin-bottom:0.5em}.mw-parser-output .hatnote i{font-style:normal}.mw-parser-output .hatnote+link+.hatnote{margin-top:-0.5em}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .hatnote{display:none!important}}Main articles: Garry Nolan and Stanford UAP experiencer brain study |
| 2024 | Eric Weinstein + Hal Puthoff | UAP physics, classified post-mid-century physics advances, and the existence of better-than-public UAP video footage in government holdings | Main articles: Hal Puthoff and Eric Weinstein |
| 2024 | Jacques Vallée | Six decades of UAP evidence; Vallée's interdimensional / psychosocial framework; his real-life basis for the character Lacombe in Close Encounters of the Third Kind | Main article: Jacques Vallée |
| 2024 | David Grusch | Whistleblower testimony on covert crash-retrieval programs; political obstacles facing the UAP Disclosure Act; criticism of AARO as embedded within rather than above the Department of Defense | Main articles: David Grusch and All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office |
| 2024 | Diana Pasulka | Religious-studies framing of UAP; the Vatican and non-human intelligence | Main article: Diana Pasulka |
| 2024 | Graham Hancock | Atlantis, lost civilizations, and alleged off-world intervention in human prehistory | Main article: Graham Hancock |
| 2024 | Jason Jorjani | "Aliens Invented Religion": Nordic NHI factions, the medieval Black Death as alleged NHI intervention, and the control-system reading of human history | Main article: Jason Reza Jorjani |
| 2025 | Peter Levenda | "Aliens Control Our Government": CIA, intelligence-agency penetration by NHI agendas, and the historical X-Files designation | Main articles: Peter Levenda and The X-Files |
| 2025 | Steven Greer | UFO secrecy maintained by a "global cabal" operating through private defense contractors | Main article: Steven Greer |
| 2025 | Harald Malmgren | Presidential advisor's claim of having directly handled UAP material | Main article: Harald Malmgren |
| 2025 | Ross Coulthart | A claimed UAP base located in Arizona | Main article: Ross Coulthart |
| 2025 | Jason Jorjani | "I Found Hitler's Secret UFO Program!": Die Glocke, Nazi occult-technology programs, and modern UAP programs | Main articles: Die Glocke and Jason Reza Jorjani |
Place in the disclosure ecosystem
American Alchemy occupies a distinctive niche in the UAP disclosure media landscape by combining the production values and reach of mainstream YouTube content creation with willingness to give extended airtime to claims that most institutional media treats as fringe. Unlike commentary shows, it consistently delivers primary-source material in the form of long-form testimony from individuals with intelligence, military, or scientific credentials. The show's launch period coincided with the 2023–2024 Congressional UAP hearings, and several of its guests — Grusch, Nolan, Vallée, Puthoff — were central to that public-policy moment.