A Chat with Mr. Mysterious Middle East

Bernie O'Connor digs up some High Strangeness in the Middle East

The Supernatural History of the Middle East

by Bernie O’Connor - bernieoconnor109@gmail.com  

Is there a gateway to hell in Yemen? Do ghouls inhabit the cemeteries of Iraq and Egypt?  Are Atlantean Giants still alive in Syria today? What is Afghanistan’s terrifying supernatural legacy? If you are looking for answers to these questions, then the aptly named YouTube channel, Mysterious Middle East is your destination.

In truth though, very few Westerners are familiar with these mysteries and the paranormal legacy of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). This area of the world had many thriving cultures going back before Antediluvian times. The region also hosts some of the longest, continuously inhabited cities in history. These historical facts about the Mideast result in developing a rich culture of legends, mythologies, and the creation of an intriguing and incredible supernatural heritage.

So, to find out more about Sand Demons, the location of the seven towers of Satan, and if Arabian giants actually built the pyramids, I reached out to Mr. Mysterious Middle East, and he kindly granted me an interview.

B: Thank you for agreeing to speak to the readers of The Observer, Mr. Mysterious, or should I call you Mr. East?

MME: LOL Bernie! That was so long ago, I can’t even remember using that name. It was on my very early videos, when the channel was just starting out. Please, call me by my nickname, Meedo.

B: Thank you Meedo. Now please tell me, how did you become interested in the paranormal? You refer to the channel as “The X-Files of MENA.” How exactly did the show, The X-Files influence you? Also, did you read books about the paranormal? If so, which ones and were they imported or published in the Middle East?

MME: To be honest, I am more interested in the arcane than the paranormal. I think my interest  began when my mother bought me a copy of Arthur C. Clarke’s Chronicles of the Strange and Mysterious. Where I am in the Gulf, you can pretty much get everything you can get in the West at any bookshop. When I discovered The X-Files TV show, I became more interested in the paranormal. It felt grounded in reality like a cop show because it is loosely connected to the Law & Order franchise. So I loved the way it went from fantastical stories dealing with ghosts and cryptids, to very grounded tales about serial killers and government conspiracies. This overall grounded feel (at least in the early seasons) made me believe that many of these stories could have a kernel of truth to them. So I used that show as a template for my channel on the type of topics I would deal with.

The initial goal was to cover a wide variety of mysteries from aliens and conspiracies to serial killers and strange phenomena that cannot be categorized (like The X-Files). But only focused on the MENA and its immediate neighbors.

But because YouTube has restrictions on the type of topics I can cover without getting into trouble with the algorithm, stories about serial killers and anything related to current military conflicts had to be quickly dropped. I still do conspiracy theories but with a great deal of self censorship so they do not come across as overly fantastical, politically motivated nor exploitative.

B: I want to congratulate you on your high quality, production values. Do you have formal training in video production, or is it self-taught? And, how are your videos funded?

MME: Thank you very much for the kind compliment. I used to work in media and marketing that had a little filmmaking involved, so with a couple of friends we established a media production company called One Nine 7 One, that focuses on post production services. It is with this company I trained myself on how to edit because I didn’t have any formal training before.

However MME was (and is) virtually a one man show independent of One Nine 7 One. That company has a team of people working on their productions, while I am by myself with MME. But I’m lucky though to know many people who kindly volunteer their time and talent to record their voice overs for my content.

All episodes are independently funded from my own pocket and through the generous support of family and friends. I do not accept sponsors because I want the MME series to have a cinematic aesthetic and not a YouTube aesthetic, if you get my meaning. So you won’t see me plugging video games, VPNs, kitchen knives or hair replacement products. LOL!! The goal is to produce content that looks like it is made for Netflix or HBO, while not actually being expensive. Hopefully being on YouTube will just be a stepping stone to actually appearing on a real streaming service like Netflix.

B: Have you ever experienced a paranormal event in your life?

MME: Three instances: Firstly I sometimes dream of future events in advance with a high degree of accuracy, or become aware of events taking place halfway around the world, before actually hearing of them. But this was when I was younger and rarely happens anymore. Secondly my best friend and brother, who is a hardcore skeptic, did admit to having a Djinn encounter centered around a relative of ours who later died of an unrelated illness.

The third and most significant event is the Mandela Effect. It is actually my experience with this anomaly that inspired me to launch the YouTube channel because I know other people (including friends) around the region from Kuwait to Egypt who had experienced this. Learning that it is a worldwide phenomena taught me that regardless of language, race, color and culture we are all essentially the same with only cosmetic differences. This is partly why the channel is in English, so it can reach a broader audience.

B: How do you decide on a subject for a video and how do you research it?

MME: I mainly cover anything that interests me that is safe for YouTube. As the channel has grown, historical videos related to archaeology, demonology, Lovecraft and Biblical history have become my most popular videos, so I have leaned more into those topics. They are not my personal favorite, but it is what is fueling the success of my channel. I personally prefer exploring mysteries that don’t fit into specific categories like strange events, time anomalies, cryptid encounters, unsolved or extreme crimes and other oddities not related to history. My first few videos were like this, but YouTube doesn’t take true crime stories lightly and the algorithm can be pretty unforgiving when it comes to crime.

B: When working on paranormal content like this, movie and video production companies often report unusual production problems. Like cameras malfunctioning, batteries draining, lights exploding  and sometimes a general uneasiness in the atmosphere. Have you ever experienced anything like that?

MME: Not really. Only once have I been truly unnerved and creeped out by a topic: That being the Jerusalem Syndrome that I covered in 2022, where some travelers to that city would undergo an inexplicable personality change to the point of being hospitalized. Even though I have never traveled to Jerusalem, the subject filled me with a horrible sense of dread due to its unusual nature, scale and ever increasing frequency.

On a lighter note, recently I did have an issue concerning the recording of the growls of alleged demons from the Euphrates. The recording was proven fake, but whenever I tried to use it in my own video, the editing software would continuously crash. I have been editing for more than 5 years now, and have never encountered an issue where an audio file would corrupt a video file in this manner, even when deactivated. But ultimately I found this problem more annoying than creepy, so I ended up deleting the file completely.

B: In your opinion, what country in the Middle East is a person most likely to experience a paranormal event or encounter a supernatural entity?

MME: Maybe Oman? I regularly travel there, but I have never actually covered that country on my channel in any detail. Regionally it does have a reputation concerning Djinn and magic, but how much of that is real and how much is only exaggerated folklore is unclear, so I just avoid talking about it all together.

Beyond that, I believe Turkey. They have a whole range and variety of high strangeness, from encounters with sea monsters and aliens, to time-slips and reportedly, the deployment of illegal fringe weaponry. But that has not been verified, so it must remain hearsay.

B: I see that you have produced quite a number of videos dealing with the topic of the Djinn. I am fascinated by these beings and the contemporary reports of them. What do you think of them? And how prevalent are they in everyday life in the Middle East?

MME: I am Muslim, and most if not all practicing Muslims accept the fact that the Djinn are a part of our reality. It comes with the religion, so most people in the Middle East believe they exist. However when it comes to possessions, sightings and other interactions, you will also find that most of us (including myself) are somewhat skeptical, as our faith also explains that there is a veil separating our two worlds.

Therefore in the instances that I report on, these are extraordinary examples of the rare occasions that the veil that separates our worlds has thinned, making them noteworthy to talk about. Also I try to make it clear on my channel that Djinn and demons are not the same thing. They are more like invisible humans, and it’s only the evil Djinn (called Shaitans) that we should be wary of, because they are demon-like. But humans can also be Shaitans as well. Clinically they are known as psychopaths and sociopaths which results in abhorrent behaviors.

B: Of all the videos you have produced, what ones are your favorites, or the ones you’re most proud of?

MME: The episode on the similarities between Irish and Moroccan demonology, history and genetics was special because it surprised me with how well received it was. Even though the topic is somewhat different from the rest of my channel, it turned out to be one of my top performing videos.

B: I can easily see why, it was so different and it covered a topic I never heard about. Being of Irish descent, I was especially interested in the historical aspects of the video.

MME: Following that one is an episode I did on a mind altering designer drug that became popular in Libya and Egypt during the 2010s, that led to several deaths. It was a form of DMT, called  “Blue Elephant” that allegedly removed the veil separating our world and the world of the Djinn.

B: DMT entity themed videos promoting the use of this drug is a hot topic on YouTube right now. Unfortunately, most of them don’t address the dangers surrounding its usage without proper medical sourcing and supervision.

MME: Yes, the episode got a lot of criticism for a variety of reasons, but after a very slow start with average views, it suddenly got picked up by the algorithm becoming the second video on my channel to cross the 1 million views mark. So I’m guessing the popularity of DMT on YouTube helped garner so many views. I hope to do more topics like this in the future.

B: Do you have a favorite paranormal topic that you like to continually explore and produce videos on?

MME: Like I said, I don’t want to do just religious and historical videos related to the Djinn/paranormal, but also modern day encounters, conspiracy theories and other weirdness that can’t be classified. But I think my channel needs to reach a certain size where I can be more liberal with my topics.

B. You are headquartered in Azerbaijan. Were you born there, and do you travel throughout the Middle East to produce your videos?

MME: I am not actually from Azerbaijan. I am from further south, in the heart of the Gulf. Access to information is easily available via books, articles, and journals, so traveling is not really a requirement. I hope when the channel gets big enough, I can hire a crew from One Nine 7 One and start filming on location.

B: Is there one type of paranormal event that is prevalent throughout the Middle East? An event or an entity type that you see reoccurring over and over again?

MME: Beyond Djinn encounters and the occurrence of the Mandela Effect which is global, no. Each geographic area, be it The Gulf, The Levant or North Africa, has mysteries that are more or less specific to the area. However there are recurring entities that are extremely similar that you will see across the globe concerning human/animal hybrids, like humans with animal limbs etc. We have these in Gulf folklore and perhaps in other parts of the Arab World as well, but they also appear in Latin American and Caribbean culture. Whether these are legitimate Djinn, psychological Jungian archetypes, or just the variation of a folklore that was transmitted from the MENA Region to Latin America via the Spanish and Portuguese since they invaded everywhere from Oman to Trinidad.  This question makes for a good episode topic for me to look into. So thanks for the prompt.

B: I notice there is an absence of UFO videos on your channel, is there a reason for avoiding this subject?

MME: I would like to do more on UFOs, it’s just not that popular with my audience, and no longer fits the format of my channel. I mainly speak about the lore and context for historical and modern day paranormal phenomena instead of simply trying to prove that the paranormal exists. So you won’t see me posting grainy UFO videos on my channel or talking about a person’s encounter, without having to go into detail about the historical context of these events.

B: Meedo, let me thank you for taking the time to speak to me about your research and the present and past paranormal activity in MENA. It was an eye opening and enlightening experience.   How can someone get in touch with you?

MME: Thank you Bernie, I’m glad you found it interesting. The best way people can reach me is through my business email in the “ABOUT” section on my YouTube channel.

B: I’ll be looking forward to your next video and the one after that. Stay well.

MME: Thank you Bernie, you too. And my best to your readers.

Follow all the Mysteries of the Middle East:

• YouTube: youtube.com/@MysteriousMiddleEast/videos 

• Instagram: instagram.com/mysterious_middle_east

• Twitter: twitter.com/EastMystery

• Facebook: facebook.com/Mysteriousmiddleeast

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