American Alchemy with Jesse Michels
American Alchemy with Jesse Michels

I Spent 48 Hours with Bob Lazar (The Truth Is Stranger Than You Think)

April 13, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

In 1989, a man named Bob Lazar went on local Las Vegas television and claimed he had been hired to reverse-engineer a flying saucer at a secret facility called S4, south of Area 51. The craft was 53 feet in diameter, had no seams, rivets, or visible controls, and was powered by a reactor that used an element then unknown to science: element 115. More than three decades later, Lazar remains the only person to have publicly claimed he worked directly on a craft of non-human origin. This episode of American Alchemy spends 48 hours with Lazar, filmmaker Luigi Venditelli (who spent four years making a film about Lazar's story), and a surprise guest from NASA, to examine the claims, the evidence, and the science.

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What you'll learn

  • 1 (00:23) **The Original UFO Whistleblower Arrives** - Jesse Michels introduces Bob Lazar as the “white whale” of the podcast, the first and only person to publicly claim he worked directly on a craft of non-human origin.
  • 2 (11:03) **Childhood and the Rebel Scientist** - Lazar describes his early life as a rule-breaking, inquisitive kid who took apart clocks and had a deep problem with authority.
  • 3 (17:34) **From Jet Car to Los Alamos** - Lazar explains how he got his job at Los Alamos National Lab by sending a resume that highlighted his personal projects, including building a jet engine from scratch and putting it in his wife’s Honda Civic.
  • 4 (24:30) **Working at Los Alamos and the MIT Question** - Lazar details his work at Los Alamos, which involved building high-voltage power supplies and maintaining experiments on a half-mile-long linear particle accelerator.
  • 5 (30:35) **George Knapp’s Verification and the Path to S4** - Lazar recounts taking journalist George Knapp to Los Alamos, where guards recognized him and he still knew door combinations, proving his employment there.
  • 6 (39:54) **Arriving at S4 and Project Galileo** - Lazar describes his first days at S4: being called in randomly, flying on a Janet flight, and taking a bus with blacked-out windows to a facility built into the side of a mountain.
  • 7 (50:15) **Meeting Barry and the Reality of the Craft** - Lazar meets his lab partner, Barry Castillo, who was “very enthusiastic” and showed him around. The work was already advanced; the lab was nonchalant, with people touching the craft as if taking apart a car engine.

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Guests on this episode

Bob Lazar Jesse Michels

Show Notes

Today’s episode is brought to you by Kraken. Go to https://kraken.com/AA to learn more, and get $25 in bitcoin. Watch Bob’s new movie "S4: The Bob Lazar Story" here: https://www.wearenotalone.com/ Today’s episode is also sponsored by KetoneIQ: Visit https://ketone.com/ALCHEMY for 30% OFF your subscription order PLUS receive a free gift with your second shipment—or find Ketone-IQ at Target stores nationwide and get your first shot free! Pre-order the NEW Believe merch drop at https://www.americanalchemymerch.com/ and check out some of our other items like the Cowboy UFO t-shirt and Atomic Age t-shirt while you're there. The Believe drop is a limited run so grab yours today. Our American Alchemist this week is Bob Lazar. Bob Lazar sat down for the longest and most scientifically rigorous interview he’s done since blowing the whistle on covert Navy UFO reverse engineering programs at Nevada Test Site’s S4 in 1989. He goes deep on UFO science, how the crafts actually fly, talks gravity-altering propulsion with NASA lead electrostatics scientist Charles Buhler, analyzes newly-leaked footage of a UFO flying at Area51 and unpacks his full experience working on the Sports Model UFO: its test flight, how it was found during an archeological dig on the ocean floor, its Element 115-fueled reactor and gravity-altering emitters. He also describes seeing 9 other UFOs in the Hangars at S4, the directed energy and time-manipulation programs he was briefed on and being recruited to the program by Manhattan Project pioneer, Edward Teller. Finally, Lazar says that he now knows how to recreate the exotic, gravity-altering force employed by the UFO he worked in the 80’s but this time in his own personal lab with his own equipment ----------------------- Support Our Other Projects Below! Grab Your American Alchemy Merch Here ➤ https://www.americanalchemymerch.com/ Join The American Alchemy Magazine Here ➤ https://americanalchemymagazine.substack.com/ Subscribe To Our Clips Channel (10 Minute Highlights!) ➤ https://www.youtube.com/@UC8ZKTXN9trt5dhixz6b6l6w ----------------------- JOIN OUR WHOP (Early/Ad Free Episodes) ➤ https://whop.com/jessemichels Instagram ➤ https://www.instagram.com/jessemichelsofficial TikTok ➤ https://www.tiktok.com/@itsjessemichels X ➤ https://twitter.com/AlchemyAmerican Spotify ➤ https://tinyurl.com/jessemichelsspotify Clips Channel ➤ https://www.youtube.com/@jessemichelsclips Apply For Jobs ➤ [email protected] Sponsor Inquiries ➤ [email protected] Media Inquiries ➤ [email protected] Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 05:08 Sponsors (Kraken/KetoneIQ) 10:13 Bob's Childhood and Science Obsession 17:53 The Jet Car and Getting Hired at Los Alamos 19:42 Meeting Edward Teller at Los Alamos 24:20 Working on the Particle Accelerator 27:27 The MIT and Caltech Credentials Question 30:15 George Knapp's Visit to Los Alamos 32:39 Teller's Referral and the Path to S4 36:17 The EG&G Interview and Redirect to S4 40:26 Arriving

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