Strange Angel (47 page)

“Let's work on the heavier stuff.” Lynn Maginnis, author interview.

“so long as he got a result.” Seckler,
In the Continuum,
IV.4, 41—42.

“alien and inimical.” Ibid.

“the adventurer is an individualist.” William Bolitho,
Twelve Against the Gods: The Story of Adventure
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1929) 1.

“weird and disturbing noises.” Rogers,
Darkhouse.

“I performed certain operations.” John Whiteside Parsons,
Introduction to the Record of the Invocation of Babalon
(unpublished, n.d.), OTO.

“that's not what I asked for.” Parsons, letter to Crowley, 21 January 1946, YORKE.

“struck strongly on the right shoulder.” John Whiteside Parsons,
The Book of Babalon
(unpublished, c. 1950), YORKE.

“Hubbard's right arm remained paralyzed.” Ibid.

“Hubbard's supreme magical sensitivity.” Ibid.

“It is done.” Ibid.

“giant red lips.” Maginnis, interview.

“‘mad scientist' owner.” It has been suggested by Martin Starr that Marjorie Cameron was dating Alva Rogers, one of the LASFS contingent living in 1003, before she met Parsons.

“I just couldn't wait to get there.” Marjorie Cameron, interview by Bill Breeze, n.d., OTO.

“I probably derided it.” Ibid.

“two weeks, the couple barely left Parson's room.” Ibid.

“beyond most of my actual knowledge.” Seckler,
In the Continuum,
IV.4, 43.

“some form of manic episode.” see the section on mood disorder criteria in
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM IV
(Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Association, 1994).

“performing magic with Parsons for nearly two months.” Parsons,
Book of Babalon.

“pale and sweating.” Ibid.

“a fatigued Hubbard.” Ibid.

“I must put the Lodge in [other] hands.” Parsons, letter to Crowley, 6 March 1946, YORKE.

“In the coming months the world approaches.” Parsons, letter to all Agape Lodge Members, 16 March 1946, OTO.

“move out by June 1.” Maria Prescott, letter to Grady McMurty, 13 April 1946, OTO.

“To pool and accumulate earnings.”
Parsons v. Hubbard and Northrup,
Case No. 101634, Circuit Court, Dade County, Florida, 11 July 1946.

“cement the ménage.” Seckler,
In the Continuum,
IV.4, 42.

“Hubbard came up with a proposal.” Seckler,
In the Continuum,
IV.5, 49.

“Parsons was easily persuaded.” Louis Culling, letter to Karl Germer, 12 May 1946, OTO.

“more of an adventure than a business proposition.” Grady McMurtry, letter to Maria Prescott, 27 April 1946, OTO.

“if Ron is another Smith?” Jane Wolfe, letter to Karl Germer, 16 May 1946, OTO.

“to visit Central & South America & China.” L. Ron Hubbard, Naval Personnel Record, file number 113392,
www.lermanet//-Ron_Hubbard
.

“he had no money for supplies.” Maria Prescott, letter to Grady McMurty, 13 April 1946, OTO.

“He told friends he was going to persuade.” Louis Culling, letter to Karl Germer, 12 May 1946, OTO.

“eating out of Ron's hand.” Louis Culling, letter to Karl Germer, 12 May 1946, OTO.

“I hope we shall always be partners.” Ibid.

“obvious victim prowling swindlers.” Crowley, telegram to Germer, 22 May 1946, YORKE.

“three sailing yachts.”
Parsons v. Hubbard and Northrup,
Case No. 101634, Circuit Court, Dade County, Florida, 11 July 1946.

“Hubbard's latest navy disability check.”
Claimant's Appeal to Administrator of Veterans' Affairs,
Claim No. 7017422, 4 July 1946. Hubbard gave his return address as P.O. Box 941, Miami Beach, Florida.

“forced him back to port.” Parsons, letter to Crowley, 5 July 1946, YORKE.

“waiting for the errant pair.” Ibid.

“The last of the OTO lodgers.” Seckler,
In the Continuum,
IV.5, 43.

“It seemed like a tombstone.” Robert Cornog, Federal Bureau of Investigation file.

“The more complete story of Hubbard.” L. Sprague de Camp, letter to Isaac Asimov, 27 August 1946, DE CAMP.

“continues his process of evolution.”
Dianetics—The Evolution of a Science
in
Astounding Science Fiction
(May 1950), 43–87.

“Even schizophrenia and criminal behavior could be cured.” Ibid.

“grow a new finger.” Forrest Ackerman, author interview.

“for only $600.” Williamson,
Wonder's Child,
184.

“the fastest growing movement in the US.”
Daily News,
6 September 1950.

“are central to its success.” Critics claim that the Church of Scientology membership numbers are much lower. See Russ Coffey, “It worked for Travolta. Would it work for me?,”
The Times
(London), 18 February 2004.

‘“black magic' cult.” The statement issued by the Church of Scientology in
The Sunday Times,
December 1969, reads: “Hubbard broke up black magic
in
America: Dr. [sic] Jack Parsons of Pasadena, California was America's Number One solid fuel rocket expert. He was involved with the infamous English black magician Aleister Crowley who called himself ‘The Beast 666.' Crowley ran an organization called the Order of Templars Orientalis [sic] over the world which had savage and bestial rites. Dr. Parsons was head of the American branch located at 1003 Orange Grove Avenue, Pasadena, California. This was a huge house which had paying guests who were the USA nuclear physicists working at Cal. Tech. Certain agencies objected to nuclear physicists being housed under the same roof.

“L. Ron Hubbard was still an officer of the US Navy because he was well known as a writer and a philosopher and had friends amongst the physicists, he was sent in to handle the situation. He went to live at the house and investigated the black magic rites and the general situation and found them very bad.

“Parsons wrote to Crowley in England about Hubbard. Crowley ‘The Beast 666' detected an enemy and warned Parsons. This is all proven by the correspondence unearthed by The Sunday Times. Hubbard's mission was successful far beyond anyone's expectations. The house was torn down. Hubbard rescued a girl they were using. The black magic group was dispersed and destroyed and has never recovered. The physicists included many of the 64 top US scientists who were later declared insecure and dismissed from government service with so much publicity.”

“in the skies over Yugoslavia.”
Los Angeles Times,
12 September 1946; 15 September 1946; 16 September 1946.

“Parsons worked in the laboratory.” John Whiteside Parsons, Federal Bureau of Investigation file.

“with his dagger to stop the wind.” Marjorie Cameron, interview by Breeze.

“Jack wasn't acting the way he used to.” Jeanne Forman, interview by Branson.

“a bit British.” George Frey, interview with Scott Hobbs, c. 1995, THELEMA.

“They were two very independent people.” Robert Cornog, interview by Scott Hobbs, n.d., THELEMA.

“She was a nice person.” Greenberg, author interview.

“Now I am a whip.” John Whiteside Parsons,
Desire,
unpublished poem, private collection.

“He began selling.” Wolfe, letter to Germer, 12 August 1946, OTO.

“atomic-like explosion.”
Los Angeles Times,
21 February 1947.

“never finished high school.”
Los Angeles Times,
13 March 1947.

“dreams of interplanetary travel were still keen.”
Pacific Rockets,
in
Journal of The Pacific Rocket Society
Vol. 2, No. 1 (Summer 1947).

“ostensibly to study art.” Wolfe, letter to McMurtry, 8 August 1947, OTO.

“and a phonograph needle.”
Los Angeles Mirror,
20 April 1953.

“My aim is to rebuild myself.” Parsons, letter to Crowley, c. 1947, YORKE.

“the usual dose being one-eighth.” Booth,
A Magick Life,
479.

“without a shudder.”
Time
magazine, 15 December 1947, 36.

 

12: INTO THE ABYSS

“science fiction fans with Communist sympathies.” Ackerman, author interview.

“he and his wife Liljan were living apart.” Frank Malina, letters to Liljan Malina, 18 March 1946 and 21 March 1946, MALINA.

“mysteriously reappear a few days later.” Liljan Wunderman, author interview.

“an alleged Communist Party Member.” John Whiteside Parsons, Federal Bureau of Investigation file.

“make the change as soon as possible.” Parsons, letter to Kármán, 20 September 1948, Theodore von Kármán Collection, CALTECH.

“sitting up on the roof just flying kites.” Jeanne Ottinger, author interview.

“He embarked on a series of magick rituals.” Parsons, letter to Germer, 19 June 1949, OTO.

“Thoughts of death and suicide possessed him.” John Whiteside Parsons, untitled chronology of the “Black Pilgrimage,” 17 November 1948, OTO.

“the coming of BABALON be made open.” Parsons,
The Book of Antichrist
(unpublished, c. 1949), OTO.

“who agreed to appeal his suspension.” George Frey, interview by Scott Hobbs, c. 2003.

“without sufficient cause.” Parsons, Federal Bureau of Investigation file.

“several reports.” Parsons, letter to Kármán, 15 June 1949, Kármán Collection, CALTECH.

“a number-one rocket engineer.” Robert Heinlein, letter to L. Sprague de Camp, 14 June 1949, DE CAMP.

“with a loose door wired shut.” De Camp,
Time and Chance,
212.

“‘offering' him Betty back.” De Camp, letter to Asimov, 5 August 1949.

“An authentic mad genius if I ever met one.” De Camp to Robert S. Richardson, 14 August 1949, DE CAMP.

“a local nobleman and a bullfighter.” Paul Mathison, interview by Scott Hobbs, n.d., THELEMA.

“the ‘Concrete Castle'.” Robert Cornog, interview by Scott Hobbs, n.d, THELEMA.

“she gives the place a nice feminine touch.” George Frey, interview by Scott Hobbs, c. 1995, THELEMA.

“It would be the last time he saw his old friend.” Malina, oral history interview by Wilson.

“the Committee had information indicating that Frank Malina.”
Los Angeles Times,
15 June 1949.

“Science, that was going to save the world.” John Whiteside Parsons,
Freedom Is a Two-Edged Sword and Other Essays
(Tempe, Arizona: New Falcon Publications, 1989) 10.

“Rosenfeld had fallen ill.” Parsons, letter to Kármán, 15 June 1949, Kármán Collection, CALTECH.

“dealt with many ‘isms' other than Communism.” Parsons, Federal Bureau of Investigation file.

“he could no longer hold his prestigious position.” Iris Chang,
Thread of the Silkworm,
150.

“she alerted the security authorities.” Parsons, Federal Bureau of Investigation file.

“an odd and unusual pair.” Ibid.

“the ‘Black Brotherhood'.” Frey, interview by Scott Hobbs, c. 1995.

“the jazz legend, Charlie Parker.” Frey, interview by Scott Hobbs, c. 2003.

“the police cars kept coming.” Greg Ganci and Martin Foshaug, interview by Brad Branson and Susan Pile, 2 September 1995, JPL.

“he was never really very bohemian.” Greg Ganci, author interview, 4 August 2003.

“an austere simplicity of approach.” Parsons, letter to Cameron, 22 January 1950, YORKE.

“comparative respectability of the explosives business.” Parsons, letter to de Camp, 8 May 1951, DE CAMP.

“due to lack of sufficient evidence.” Parsons, Federal Bureau of Investigation file.

“hysteria and depressing melancholy.” Parsons, letter to Germer, 11 February 1952, YORKE.

“re-establish the ancient glories.” Mathison, interview by Brad Branson, n.d., ADASTRA.

“But I shall come back.” Jane Wolfe, letter to McMurtry, 10 October 1952, OTO.

“Mr. Parsons is very inventive.” Kármán to Ward Jewell, 4 April 1952, Kármán Collection, CALTECH.

“Mexico where life was one big fiesta.” Greg Ganci and Martin Foshaug, interview by Brad Branson and Susan Pile, 2 September 1995, JPL.

“one of the most powerful explosives.”
Pasadena Independent,
19 June 1952.

“to start a ‘fireworks company' in Mexico.” Bartley, oral history interview.

“who would know about it in the long run.” Frey, interview by Hobbs, c. 1995.

“accompanied by their twenty-one year old friend.” Ganci, author interview.

“To Frey he seemed thrilled.” George Frey, author interview, 24 August 2003.

“was in a bit of a hurry to finish.”
Los Angeles Mirror,
18 June 1952.

“he had test tubes.” Ganci, author interview, 4 August 2003.

 

EPILOGUE

“His strong moral self.” Roger Malina, author interview.

“Chairman Mao himself.” Chang,
Thread of the Silkworm,
246.

“a totally different person.” Lynn Maginnis, author interview.

“physically abusive.” Jeanne Ottinger, author interview.

“The screaming of the banshees.” Lynn Maginnis, author interview.

“time-traveling big game hunters.” L. Sprague de Camp,
A Gun for Dinosaur,
in
Galaxy Science Fiction
(March 1956) 7–25.

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,
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Ace-High Western Stories,
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Ackermann, Forrest,
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Ad Astra Engineering Company,
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