Blue Oyster Cult: Occult Symbolism [PT3]

SOME ENCHANTED EVENING

If my math is correct, 1978's S.E.E. is Blue Oyster Cult's 7th full length release, and 2nd live album within their first 6 years of recording. That's an average of 1 live album every 3 years! Apparently, S.E.E.'s decidedly short recording was hastily rushed out to satiate a rapidly growing audience while the band took a short break from their non-stop touring and recording.

The concept here, with regard to the artwork, is about as simple and basic as the Cult ever gets. Reaper on a black horse, scythe in hand, BOC logo in clear view. All the basics are here, as ubiquitously covered in previous blogs: symbolism that had probably become laughably cliche at that point. And it wasn't even 1980 yet!

This simple artwork aligns perfectly with the record label's purported vision for the album, which seemed to focus on "hits" [or live crowd-pleasers] and nothing else. From that view, the artwork can be seen as simply capitalizing upon the then recent success of "Don't Fear the Reaper." The inclusion of 2 covers out of 7 total tracks screams even louder that the delicate balance between art and commercialism was definately leaning towards the latter. So while I often make the case that there is some kind of social engineering agenda going on with BOC, I'm not denying there is a financial aspect at play as well.

Enchanted means being under a magic spell or feeling deeply charmed, delighted, and fascinated by something - Google A.I.

The title of this live album was apparently taken from the 1949 Rogers and Hammerstein musical called South Pacific, which was made into a film in 1958. The central theme seems to revolve around the idea of "love at first sight," and how one must take hold of that love or spend the rest of their life dreaming [or something like that]. I suppose this was a clever marketing strategy where the band wants you to view them as a lover that you can't let slip away - which of course goes both ways. They want to "take hold" of YOU, before YOU slip away. So while the word "enchanted" hints at a mesmerizing divine rock and roll experience, it's being conflated with ACTUAL spontaneous love. Pretty ingenius in a way, and definately operating on multiple levels.

The back cover reveals the desolate desert landscape our black rider hastily glides through under the full moon. The combination of what appears to be a dead bush within the desert context recalls biblical themes. Particularly, Moses speaking to God [or an angel] via the burning bush. We are also reminded of Christ's temptation by the devil in the desert, while death rides, laughing in mockery of it all.

MIRRORS

Mirrors are a negative space...With a frame and a place for your face...They reveal what the rest of us see...They conceal what you're likely to be

The mirror, as a symbol, plays one of the more prominent roles in Sandy Pearlman's "Imaginos" mythology. Its' role here, however, is more generally metaphorical than it is specific to that mythos - while also throwing a bone to it. I am tempted to articulate the oh so symbolic meaning behind driving forward while observing what is behind, but I'm going to try and stick to the more occult level, thin as it may be.

This image upon the inner vinyl sleeve of "Mirrors" is taken directly from the famous "house of mirrors" climax of Orson Welles' 1947 film noir classic, The Lady from Shanghai. In the movie, the hall of mirrors scene serves as a visual metaphor where characters shoot at reflections, unable to distinguish what is real from what is merely an illusion.

"Even the greatest stars...Discover themselves in the looking glass" -Kraftwerk, "The Hall of Mirrors" 1977

[Back cover art for the album "Mirrors"]

The back cover of "Mirrors" seems to be a dry self-mockery of the band's "occult" image. Again, while ubiquitously referencing the oh-so-symbolic mirror, they seem to be poking fun at Sandy Pearlman's "dead serious" Imaginos mythology - by sort of ignoring it completely and emphesizing the generically poetic cliche of "the mirror" as a symbol.

The band member's dead serious stares [with the exception of one of em, who looks like he's about to bust up laughing] is locked upon the viewer, glowing hands brandished as if preparing to release their lazer powers upon you.

[Inner vinyl sleeve for the live album, "On Your Feet Or On Your Knees."]

The sky backdrop matches the cover, but also recalls a shot from the inner gatefold sleeve of their first live album "On Your Feet Or On Your Knees" [pictured above]. If you recall, the image from said live album plays along with the theme of a rock concert as a sort of sermon or church-going religious experience, or even a revelations-type divine event. This playfully portrays the band members themselves as "divine beings" or perhaps the "Agents of Fortune" working on behalf of the ancient aliens guiding humanity within the Imaginos world.

I don't know that peeling the layers back here any further is really necesarry. In my opinion, the key that "picks this lock" is that there is no treasure in the safe. The safe is open, the contents are all neatly stacked on the table, and you are invited to inspect it all. In short, we're just in it for the money at this point.

CULTOSAURUS ERECTUS

"Cultosaurus" is a fictional, pseudo-scientific word rather than a real Latin term, but its roots can be translated using a mix of Latin and Greek. It translates conceptually to "worship lizard" or "cult lizard" - Google A.I.

BOC's 7th studio album burst them into the dawn of the 1980s with the ominously titled "Cultosaurus Erectus." Obviously the title was made to sound like a dinosaur species, pretend-latin and all. But a closer look reveals that Mr Erectus is not of this earth, whether from a million or 10 million years ago! Is the thing supposed to even be alive? Is it fossilized? Has it been reanimated or is it frozen in time? Ah, nothing like an ancient alien dinosoar to get us in the proper mood to rock out with BOC!

The band is clearly drifting further away from Sandy Pearlman's "Imaginos" world in 1980, disappearing off into sci-fi fantasy with one of the great writers of the genre to assist with lyrics, Michael Moorcock - who also collaborated with the band Hawkwind for a period of time. This crossing over of sci-fi fantasy writer and heavy metal is an interesting juxtaposition, taking what bands like Rainbow and Wishbone Ashe flirted with in the 1970s and firmly planting both black leather boots into the wet concrete known as "the heavy metal genre."

[Note this specific wording: "the power and the glory," in the above promotional advertisement. This is a phrase which appears in the King James Bible version of the Lord's Prayer. British band Saxon also used this phrase as an album title in 1983]

Notably, C.E. [Christian Era?] features Martin Birch as producer, who recorded Deep Purple's 70s material and would go on to produce all of Iron Maiden's classic 1980s albums. This would seem to contribute to the idea that BOC was part of a grand and deliberate effort to develope this new heavy metal genre, but I do have a little bit of an overactive imagination...

BOC's manager Sandy Pearlman also started managing Black Sabbath at this time, which might have had something to do with the manifestation of the now legendary "Black and Blue" tour, occuring that same year C.E. came out. It seems both Britain and the United States were chosen to be launching pads from which this new sound and lifestyle would take off officially.

The above promotional poster for a film documenting this lean, but powerful bill, contains a very interesting name in the production credits: George Harrison. Yes, that's right. George Harrison of the Beatles! Could it be that an original member of the "British Invasion" was now joining in a new invasion of another sort?

It wasn't enough to pair these 2 giants from either side of the Atlantic together and have them tour. No, a film documenting the tour had to be made and it had to play in theatres so that those that missed the concert or missed the memo that "heavy metal is now a thing" could be informed that George Harrison and Michael Moorcock want you on this bandwagon. What are you waiting for???

The above promotional poster seems to be far more loaded than the C.E. album art, so let's unpack it for a moment. There are 2 motorcycle gangs here representing the bands, or perhaps more specifically, their countries of origin. The gang on the left flies the cross pattée upon their flag, which is found on the Queen of England's crown. This would seem to represent the Black Sabbath/British element, while the gang on the right flies the BOC hook/cross, from the Unites States of course. They come together in the center of the image and combine into 1 symbol. Kinda like 2 chapters of an international motorcycle gang coming together. 2 corporations merging? 2 countries enacting the same kayfabe psyop?

Lasers seem to shoot out from the center, incinerating familiar landmarks, recalling BOC's controversial laser shows of the late 70s. It looks like Big Ben and the Empire State building are 2 of the more prominent structures getting incinerated 9/11 style - reminding the viewer that we're talking about a psyop involving Great Britain and the United States primarily.

A giant fist forming the now ubiquitous "sign of the horns," popularized by Ronnie James Dio and Gene Simmons in the 1970s, towers behind the central symbol. Down it goes, into the same wet concrete our leather boots stand firmly pressed into for eternity. Kinda like how the "Freedom Tower" replaced the Twin Towers a few years back...A new symbol, and new order, formed out of the destruction from the old. HEAVY METAL IS HERE! YOU ARE A HEAVY METAL SOLDIER! NOW GO MARCH OR DIE!

In all seriousness though, we're talking about the establishment of a new subculture. One which can take Americans, Britains, and probably just about anyone from anywhere out of their own culture, and place them into this newly contrived one. Have you ever thought about how much power and influence that puts into the hands of those who control these bands?

Look, I was a Metalhead in the 80s and still enjoy some of it to this day. But it never really occured to me, as a young metalhead, that what I thought was some real individual freedom seeking path in life was one I was actually lead into by those who intended to control me AND others who believe they are members of the same "organically spawned" counterculture. I'm pissed off and I want my money back!

The inner sleeve artwork is hilarious, spoofing a National Geographic type documentary, chronicling the apparently fossilized Cultosaurus Erectus findings. Interestingly, Oyster Bay is mentioned, which was near the original location of Stoney Brook University, where the members of BOC met. Stalk Forrest [a fictional place] is also mentioned, and is one of the names BOC used before assuming their current one. This is interesting because Sandy Pearlman has claimed in interviews that he came up with the name Stalk Forrest Group while eating chinese food and observing that the mushrooms on his plate looked like "stalks." BOC is now using this title in reference to a PLACE. Not on a plate, but in this alternate world of Mr Erectus. Hmmm...

Unfortunately our menacing Cultosaurus is reduced to something resembling a giant long necked tadpole when its' entire body is shown. The irony here is thick and the humor is dry as a fossilized re-animated alien dinosaur bone.

The inner vinyl sleeve seems to have included a young child on either side, both depicted wearing red and sitting inside what I presume to be Mr Erectus' footprint. Only, Mr Erectus could not have made such a footprint because he slithered around like a giant land tadpole! Maybe those nutty guys in BOC or the nutty artist they hired just wants to throw in a generally nostalgic throwback photo to being a kid in a museum which displays dinosaur bones?

This is all very silly and almost Monty Python-esque in its' dry mockery of the audience beholding it, but what is the real point here when we look past all the sarcasm? Is there an occult message, or are we just making another BOC salad packed with all the cliches we can throw in?

FIRE OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN

I remember staring at the above promotional poster for the 1981 animated film Heavy Metal, as it sat gathering dust upon the wall of the comic book store I frequented. This place had a small alcove with 3 or 4 arcade games, which I rarely had the money to play. So when I wasn't trying to figure out how to most effectively spend my 3 or 4 quarters, I was falling in love with the chick on that poster - wondering what her world was like, and how I could transport myself into it. This was the world I would come to know as Heavy Metal, and it existed mostly in my head. But that wouldn't stop me and thousands of others from trying to convince the world otherwise! After all, THEY are just boring people who don't know how to rock and don't understand the majesty and mystery WE stand in league with! No, they didn't "get" Heavy Metal - but that's ok, WE didn't need THEIR approval anyway!

But ironically Columbia Pictures, the same corporation behind Blue Oyster Cult's releases, was funding both the band and the film. I'm glad this major corporation was around to fabricate MY imagined world/lifestyle and feed it to me so that I could have an "individual" identity for the next 40 years or so!

Unsurprisingly, both BOC and Black Sabbath were a couple bands that were featured on the film's soundtrack. But I must admit that both the film and the soundtrack didn't seem that "Heavy Metal" to me when I finally snapped out of my trance of lusting after the lady in the poster and checked out the actual content therein. But this goes back to my earlier observation about how the definition of Heavy Metal has changed throughout the years. And who was I anyway, to try and lecture Columbia Corporation regarding the legitimacy of something they themselves helped define initially in the 1980s?

Several of the songs from BOC's "Fire of Unknown Origin" were intended for the soundtrack of the animated film, such as "Vengeance (The Pact)," the lyrics of which follow in detail the plot of the "Taarna" segment of the movie. However, only the song "Veteran of the Psychic Wars" (not originally written for the film), co-written by science-fiction author Michael Moorcock, ended up in the film's final version and soundtrack.

Aside from the Corporate sponsored agenda to refine heavy metal into an acceptable counterculture thing, the Cult seems to have returned to Sandy Pearlman's Imaginos world for F.U.O., at least with regard to the album cover. As the mystical hooded individual hints, while presenting a blue oyster to the viewer, this would seem to be THE mythical Blue Oyster Cult. These "fictional" individuals are clearly doing the bidding of those wacky unseen aliens working to steer humanity into various directions, in order to fullfill THEIR plan.

While it is all fun and entertaining to play along with the Cult and their fantastical heavy metal cosplay, there is a sinister feeling about it all. Perhaps even a desperately yearning feeling that what we are dealing with here is not necessarily fiction. That there there may be a certain reality to what is being depicted here. That our world IS, in fact, being "guided" by unseen individuals and dark forces. But maybe they aren't from some distant planet. Maybe they are just a few hundred miles from where we sit!

A fire of unknown origin took my baby away...

I'm living for givin' the devil his due...And I'm burnin', I'm burnin', I'm burnin' for you

Anytime we see triangles/pyramids, references to alchemy and the occult - the recurrence of FIRE references take on multiple levels of meaning. We've got a fire of unknown origin, which invites the querent to delve deeper and try to solve the riddle of this fire. Is it love? Is it a woman? Is it literal fire? Is it a magical invisible fire? All of the above, most likley.

Lucifer means "light bringer" or "morning star." The name Luke is a version of this, which is why Luke Skywalker weilds a LIGHT sword and is a SKYWALKER [sun metaphor]. In Lucifarian terms, light, flame, fire, lightning, burning, the sun, horus - can all be vague references to the same thing. So when we find that BOC's first real hit of the 80s "Burning for You" contains all of this loaded symbolism, it's probably a good bet that genuine occultists are at work here on some level. But the band members themselves might very well just be along for the ride upon a ship named Columbia.

To get a bit more Freemasonic about it, the fire as depicted in Albert Pike's "Morals and Dogma" is a metaphor for the human intellect. As-in how we refer to a smart person as being "bright." But it also exhalts the human intellect as being the highest aspect of our being, and here is where God doesn't really exist. It is our FAITH in God, our intellectual perception that is the highest power. At least, that is my understanding of the concept based upon my studies [see my series on Morals and Dogma, link at bottom of the page].

The back cover features an illustration of an astrolabe, an ancient astronomical instrument used for measuring the positions of the sun and stars. Following the general theme of magic cults, beings from another planet, and fire/intellect. Our friend John Dee [007], who you may recall from part 2, was a big fan of these, and probably helped further develope that technology.

PART 1

PART 2

Related:

MORALS AND DOGMA

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Blue Oyster Cult: Occult Symbolism [PT2]

In part 1 we looked at the history behind the name Blue Oyster Cult and found that it was coined by Sandy Pearlman, the band's manager at the time. The iconic logo itself, we are told, was created by artist Bill Gawlik, who seems to have vanished from the face of the earth upon completing the artwork for B.O.C.'s 2nd album "Tyranny and Mutation." We left off looking at what some consider to be the last in a 3 part trilogy, "Secret Treaties." This trilogy being the first 3 albums, whos' artwork was mostly rendered in black and white - hense the "black and white trilogy" moniker frequently used by fans and critics.

[back cover artwork for the B.O.C. album, "Secret Treaties." Note the PL-01 on the side of the plane]

Before moving on to B.O.C.'s 4th album, in part one I said we'd revisit the "PL-01" [shown on the plane in the image above] if I found out what it stood for. Turns out, it's no big secret. It was Czechoslovakia's first version of Germany's ME-262, known as the Avia S-92 series. It would seem to stand for "PLANE #1". Here is an alleged photo of it:

This augments a potential layer of meaning within the art, which is that the band members as portrayed are "play acting" the appropriation of a Nazi plane - similar to how Czechoslovakia historically appropriated that same plane, in actual fact. Pretty clever, and plays well into my observations detailed in part 1.

One alternative theory out there says that the PL stands for PearLman, as-in Sandy Pearlman. Definately a stretch, I'm gonna go with the former explanation.

ON YOUR FEET OR ON YOUR KNEES

Upon completion of their "Black and White Trilogy," Blue Oyster Cult was yet to have achieved a big hit song, though they seemed to be touring extensively. Early 1976 saw the release of their first live album, "On Your Feet Or On Your Knees."

As I dig deeper into BOC's history, I am continually surprised at how influential they seemed to have beeen upon the original branding of the heavy metal genre, which was only in it's infacy at the time. As I stated in part one, I never really considered BOC to be a heavy metal band, but I guess it really depends upon one's definition of the phrase and what era we are talking about. I suppose in 1975, that's how BOC was marketing themselves and that's therefore what heavy metal was AT THAT TIME, as far as the public was concerned.

Blatant blasphemy was apparently the first mandatory "heavy metal stereotype" the boys needed to establish with regard to the artwork. As we'll see, they drive the point home in multiple ways, ensuring the public knows where they stand on the controversial topic of religion ;)

Gracing the cover is a big black intimidating 1973 Cadillac Fleetwood Seventyfive Limousine, which sits parked in front of a Church pictured through a distorted lense. The BOC logo sits conspicuosly up on the front end of the car, about where a processional flag would be if this was a funerary or government automobile. Black, being the color of lead, the heaviest of metals, seems precisely appropriate. The color's association with Saturn is another point we covered in part 1. I wonder what day this was? [since Saturday is the day allocated to Saturn]

The decidedly metallic-rendered logo was the work of Gerard Huerta, who also designed AC/DC's "lighting Bolt" logo apparently. It seems this style in particular is regarded as the proto heavy metal logo, which makes sense when you compare it to later ones by Judas Priest, Motorhead [who also had an umlaut in theirs], Metallica, Megadeth, and of course AC/DC.

The title "On Your Feet or On Your Knees", when taken in context with the cover art, is obviously a reference to the way people worship - and makes a comparison between going to church and going to a rock concert. This would make the concert a metaphorical "religious experience" and the musicians, or the music itself, divine or godly. Oh, the blasphemy!

The inner Gatefold LP contains a live concert scene where BOC is depicted "rocking out" [without drums] against the turbulent sky/heavens, inside what appears to be an old church. This creates a dramatic "sistine chapel" sort of effect, as if the band is "the artwork" depicting a divine scene ala Michelangelo. That might be laying it on a bit thick, but I think this is where their heads were at.

And just for good measure, the back album image features what appears to be a holy bible, held in hands with black leather gloves [what sort of pastor is this? We'll find out in a moment!] The text has been replaced with song titles and credits. I wonder what on earth the band was trying to say here??? Kidding aside, the Doors famously compared their concerts to a "ceremony" or a "religious experience," so The Cult [a nickname fans gave to BOC] wasn't the first Rock band to use this clever association as a gimmic - but they seem to be one of the first to really cram it down your throat in that ever so gentle way that BOC is known for delivering their brand of darkness. [bonus points if you are asking yourself why the band The Cult and their album "Ceremony" is suddenly floating around in your brain]

The Live Gospel...unleashed in the temples of rock and roll...It's live. It's scripture. It's Blue Oyster Cult. - promotional ad

While we're mocking Christianity [or whatever religion they might be VAGUELY referring to], let's go ahead and throw some S&M bondage themes into the mix! Let our "pastor" don a leather gimp mask, whip in hand, preaching from the podium - which has the BOC logo etched into the front of it!

As far as "occult symbolism and themes" within the artwork, this is not one of BOC's more cryptic examples. Their marketing strategy was essentially the same as Black Sabbath's at the time: blasphemy and sensationalism, delivered with enough humor for plausible deniability, but enough mystery/ambiguity to make some fans wonder if they really mean it or not.

Don't forget, this was 1976. Judas Priest and Kiss were just starting out and Iron Maiden wouldn't release their first LP for another 4 years. The standard was being set here mostly by Sandy Pearlman and the think tank behind bands like BOC, Black Sabbath, and a few others. The 'Cult didn't have any hits yet, and clearly weren't primed to be the next "big thing," but that didn't stop Pearlman and his associates off in the shadows from whipping the public into submission in order to accept this new rock and roll gospel of heavy metal!

AGENTS OF FORTUNE

BOC's 4th studio album is known as the one containing their first, and probably biggest hit, "Don't Fear the Reaper." Without delving too deeply into that song's lyrics, the title seems to say it all. Come on baby, don't fear death! Something about Buck Dharma's soft vocal delivery provides a decidedly ghostly atmosphere to the whole thing, as opposed to the stereotypically "brutal" heavy metal approach established by songs like Sabbath's "Iron Man" or even Judas Priests' "The Ripper." No, this is something more subtly sinister and eccentric, more reminiscent of darker prog rock from the early 1970s...

The Grim Reaper is traditionally depicted carrying the scythe, a tool which is allocated to the Roman god Saturn, god of harvest, time, life, and death. I don't think it's a coincidence that the BOC logo is also presumed to be a version of the astrological symbol for Saturn, but I'm just shooting in the dark here...

A.O.F. more or less INSTRUCTS you to try and decode the deeper occult meanings contained within the art work. The individual on the front becons you, holding Tarot cards in one hand, pointing to the cryptic BOC logo with his other, tempting you to find the connection I suppose. For many years I had no idea who this individual was supposed to be specifically. He appears to be some sort of croupier [card dealer], but what card game are we playing here? I don't think you'll find any Tarot decks at the dealer's table in Las vegas!

Turns out the individual depicted on the cover is Belgian magician Servais Le Roy (4 May 1865 – 2 June 1953) He is known as the inventor of the classic levitation illusion Asrah the Floating Princess. At one point, his troupe was billed as The Comedians de Mephisto Co.

Although anyone who calls him/herself a "magician" will always be presumed to flirt with dark occult forces, Servais would seem to be of the Houdini/Copperfield carnival variety, as opposed to the sort of "Magick" Aleister Crowley practiced, which was rooted more in the solitary ritualistic, spirit conjuring, alchemical tradition. And yet, the image depicts Servais holding Crowley's Thoth tarot cards, portraying him as he probably was not. Sure, he may have had a Rider-Waite deck laying around somewhere, but the Thoth tarot wasn't published until 1969, well after Servais died.

So what exactly is an "Agent of Fortune?" Despite how well it rolls off of the tongue, it doesn't seem to be a common phrase. However, the phrase "Soldier of Fortune" is.

A soldier of fortune is a mercenary who fights for money, profit, or personal adventure rather than for loyalty to a specific country or political cause - Google A.I.

I assume A.O.F. is a play on the above phrase. And so based upon that assumption, we now need to swap the word "soldier" for the word "agent."

An agent is a person, entity, or substance authorized or having the power to act on behalf of another, produce a specific effect, or execute tasks

So is Servais trying to tell us that he is some sort of representative for the opportunistic endeavors of BOC? At this point, it's probably useful to take a brief look at the lyrics to E.T.I. (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence), since it contains the title of the album in it:

Dead leaves always give up motion
Well, I no longer feel emotion
When prophecy fails the falling notion
Yes, don't report this
Agents of fortune

In Sandy Pearlman's Imaginos lore, the "Blue Öyster Cult" is a secret society of human servants or a group of aliens who have been covertly guiding and altering human history for centuries. The "Agents of Fortune" mentioned in the song are the enforcers of this conspiracy. They act on behalf of "Les Invisibles" (alien, Lovecraftian sky-gods) to manipulate global events, politics, and wars.

Although Pearlman's Imaginos writings seem to have influenced much of BOC's first 3 albums, "Agents of Fortune" is where the band seems to pair it down to just the one song: "ETI", despite essentially referencing the mythos directly in the album title. The band's apparent choice to shift in and out of using Pearlman's mythos throughout the years clearly provides a great deal of the "mystique" we get from BOC, as they themselves probably couldn't tell you exactly where it all begins and ends at any given point in time!

Continuing along with this theme of a croupier and gambling, the inner vinyl LP sleeve reveals BOC all dressed up and playing Roullette...on the moon! Now I must digress for a moment because there is something surprisingly random about this image, beyond what is plainly obvious already...

You see how the roullette table is sitting directly upon the moon's surface? That's a pretty creative [or odd] depiction when you think about it! For starters, where are their feet? Are they just floating solidly upon the blackness of space or perhaps a lower lunar level we can't see beyong the outer visible summit? And yet somehow it all looks strangely plausible! I believe we are looking at an attempt to mimick [or mock] the Front Projection Effect, a technique allegedly used in images and film associated with the Apollo 11 moon landing.

[this late 1960s image is one of many you can find that are all purported to be genuine pictures taken from the moon]

Maybe the artist who put this all together on AOF was just having fun with it? Or maybe different layers of potential conspiracy are just being piled on gratuitously to constantly "up the ante". I mean, if you're gonna try and top something like "Tyranny and Mutation" or "Secret Treaties," you gotta get creative!

A closer look reveals that the croupier here is actually a woman, holding the "chip rake" or cropier stick. At the very least, we are talking about gambling which, as the saying goes, is "the devil's road to poverty." And of course "Russian Roullette" is a game where 2 people put a single bullet randomly into their respective 6 chamber gun and take turns pulling the trigger while holding it to their own head. So there's some death on the table here I'd wager [pun intended]. I suppose on one level, this could be depicting the band's own deal[s] with the devil.

There is also another possible level here, relating to the Imaginos mythos - which basically frames the members of the band as the "agents of fortune" working on behalf of the E.T.I., which is probably code for an actual 3 letter agency [such as the C.I.A. or the F.B.I.]. Is BOC subtly telling you who they really work for and what's really at stake here in the larger scheme of things? Are "the Extraterrestrials" and this "conspiracy to covertly guide mankind" really just paper thin metaphors telling you exactly who THEY really are and what their literal purpose is? That's enough to put a big shit eating grin on your face isn't it?

The back cover depicts a pyramid with Saturn floating on top, a new [or waning] moon in the sky. The pyramid/Saturn juxtaposition slightly echos the "Tyranny and Mutation" cover which features a sort of pyramid motif and the BOC logo [Saturn] floating above the top point.

I assume the artist, Lynn Curlee [who also painted the album cover for Black Sabbath's "Heaven and Hell"], was likely instructed on what to paint to a degree [although in an interview found at black-sabbath.com, he claims he chose to paint the magician holding the cards]. The signifficance of Saturn, or the BOC logo above the pyramid points towards, I believe in some way, the occult forces behind the band. This is related to the Columbia Records "all seeing eye" iconography and/or the "illuminati" if you prefer. The ones BOC would have presumably gambled away their souls to.

SPECTRES

BOC's 5th studio album features another one of their biggest hits, "Godzilla." I just spoke with someone the other day who said they didn't know any Blue Oyster Cult songs. Then I sang a couple lines from "Godzilla," and they went "oh yeah, I know that song!" The band was big-time at this point, and so was their mission to freak their fans out!

The group is gathered in an old-school study, dressed as if they are gangsters plotting their next move during the prohibition era. The clock reads 12 [midnight, I presume] and a scary looking cat statue is placed conspicuously on top of the bookshelf. Laser lights jump around the room and a disembodied hand seems to be reaching in from a sort of mirror or gateway into another world. There is also a crystal ball on the lower left, which is hard to make out, but has the BOC logo imprinted upon it.

A spectre (spelled specter in American English) is a ghost, phantom, or a frightening future threat that causes worry. - Google A.I.

First off, why is BOC spelling SPECTRE in the British way, rather than the American? BOC is an American band, after all. I found an interesting explanation for this within Ian Flemming's fictional James Bond world, where the global criminal syndicate led by Ernst Stavro Blofeld is an acronym for SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion or S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Flemming was known to be a former British Intelligence agent, and the James Bond stories are presumed to contain at least some truth derived from his own experiences. And so again we have this recurring theme of shadowy intelligence figures from 3 letter agencies, such as MI5, operating within the BOC narrative.

The crystal ball and mirror symbols recall Sandy Pearlman's Imaginos mythos, by way of John Dee and his tools used to communicate with otherworldly entities. This all gets a bit confusing if you haven't read part 1, but it's worth noting here that John Dee used to sign some of his letters with a "tubal cane" or 007. That is also what James Bond's code name was in Flemming's series - so the connection doesn't seem random here. Did you think I was exagerrating when I mentioned earlier that the band was on a mission to freak their fans out?

The lasers played a prominent role in BOC's concerts during the "AOF" tour and on through the "Spectres" era. Apparently, BOC was somewhat of a pioneer in this area, and laser lights at concerts became popular around this time, as well as at other places such as Studio 54 in New York. But then OSHA took notice of the potential risk of concert goers being blinded by the powerful lasers, should they get one directly in the eye. And so the impressive display provided by David Infante's Laser Physics Inc was somewhat short lived. I don't know that the potential to get fatally "zapped" by Eric Bloom's reflective wrist band at a BOC show was some sort of psy-op, but it certainly created a palpable moment of controversy for the band, which is well documented if you wanna look into it.

The back cover of the album hones in on this laser concept and seems to integrate it into the otherworldy gateway concept which we noted on the front cover. Apparently the band had a few somewhat choreographed sections of their show where members reflected lasers off of their wrist bans and guitars and then onto the crowd, in some kind of suggestive display.

For some reason I'm reminded of Judas Priests' album "Stained Class," released within months of "Spectres" and also on CBS records. The cover art for that album seems to integrate a similar sensibility with lasers, as well as a similar color scheme. The metallic head plays along with the theme of reflection and refraction, while seeming to absorb the stylised "laser beam." [bonus points if you go out and listen to the intro to the song "Invader" and tell me it doesn't sound like the sonic version of a laser slowly pearcing you through the brain!]

This album was the subject of a controversal 1985 incident where 2 American teens decided to enter into a suicide pact, inspired by what they believed to be messages delivered to them by Judas Priest. The song "Better By You, Better than Me" from Stained Class in particular was singled out in the court proceedings. I did an entire blog about this, which I will link below.

I grabbed the above image online somewhere showing how the lasers are potentially tracing out the band's ubiquitous symbol. Somebody clearly thought these newly utilized laser effects were the next level in heavy metal entertainment, culminating ultimately into the aforementioned "laser light controversy", which feels more and more like some sort of psyop the more I think about it. But I'll have to come back to that if/when some sort of revalation presents itself to me.

PART 1

RELATED:

IMAGINOS MYTHOS EXPLAINED

JUDAS PRIEST TRIALS REVISITED

This blog was researched, written, and continues to be maintained by 1 person. If you enjoyed it and would like to encourage more of them, donations can be made by clicking the button below.

Manson and MK Ultra [PT2]

Charles Manson was released from federal prison on March 21st, 1967. At age 32, he had spent more than half of his life in various reformatories, juvenile facilities, and adult correctional institutions. Most of Manson's crimes were related to car theft and check forgery type offenses, although there is a rape of a young man mentioned in O'neil's book.

Upon his mandatory release from Terminal Island prison, Manson was initially processed under the jurisdiction of the federal probation office in Los Angeles. Less than a month later, Manson traveled north to the San Francisco Bay Area. Because leaving his designated area without permission technically violated his release conditions, he contacted the local San Francisco probation office. Rather than penalizing him, authorities transferred his file to federal probation officer and criminology doctoral researcher Roger Smith. At the time, Smith had about 40 individuals under his watch, but abruptly reduced his case load down to 1 client, Charles Manson.

It was Roger Smith who recommended Manson move to San Francisco. And not just to any random location there, he was urged by Roger to move into the Haight Ashbury district so he could be near the Haight Ashbury Free Medical Clinic [HAFMC], a place you may recall me discussing in part 1. Manson and his early followers regularly went there so Manson could check in and maintain his parole compliance.

Like David Elvin Smith and Dr Jolyon West, Roger Smith had an academic history of studying human behavior under the influence of drugs. After attending the Berkeley School of Criminology, he studied the relationship between drug use and violent behavior in Oakland gangs. He then did the same type of thing in the Haight/Ashbury, where he was assigned to David Smith's Fed funded Amphetamine Research Project [ARP], which studied the relationship between Amphetamine usage and violent behavior in hippies. I wonder if the decision to move Manson to the Haight in violation of his parole had anything to do with the "studies" being conducted there?

STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND

I first heard of the 1961 book "Stranger in a Strange Land" from British Heavy Metal group Iron Maiden, who had a song of the same name included on their 1980s album "Somewhere in Time." Turns out, this was a highly influential Science Fiction book, writted by Robert A. Heinlein - a peer and friend of L. Ron Hubbard. Hubbard wrote the 1950 book "Dianetics," which was the basis upon which Scientology was originally established.

Legend has it, Heinlein and Hubbard made a bar room bet one day to see who could establish a real-world religion the fastest. The alleged result was Hubbard's Dianetics and Heinlein's later published work "Stranger in a Strange Land." Although it's unclear whether this "bet" really occurred, Hubbard famously stated in the 1940s that the true way to make a million dollars was to start a religion—which he eventually did by transforming his self-help system, Dianetics, into Scientology. But what about Heinlein's work? What "religion" did he establish?

Charles Manson was supposedly obsessed with "Stranger in a Strange Land," and kept a copy on him. One of his nicknames for parole officer Roger Smith was Jubal Harshaw, the name of a character in the book. Manson also named his child after the main character, Valentine Michael Manson [now Michael Brunner], born April 1968 to Manson Family member Mary Brunner.

The plot of Heinlein's book almost sounds like it could have been the blueprint upon which the Manson family was created. In it, protagonist Valentine Michael Smith founds a communal religious movement based on free love and a radical reshaping of human society, paralleling how Charles Manson built an isolated, commune-style following in California that drew loosely on 1960s spiritual and literary tropes. The messianic figure of Valentine parallels Manson, who was sometimes called "J.C." [Jesus Christ] by members of his "family."

“Is it a conspiracy that the music is telling the youth to rise up against establishment? It is not my conspiracy. It is not my music. I hear what it relates. It says rise. It says kill. Why blame it on me? I didn’t write the music.” - Charles Manson

The concept of incorporating a particular book, film, or song into Mind Control programming is a well known concept to those who have spent any time studying the subject. The Manson family's defense itself focused on a motive which involved the music of the Beatles, specifically the song Helter Skelter. But was this merely a cover story for something much deeper and disturbing? Was Charlie himself "programmed" on some level to do the things that he did? Was "Stranger in a Strange Land" part of that programing template?

In 1971 "The Family" by Ed Sanders was published. In it, Sanders claimed an individual by the name of William Deanyer [real name Burnie William Smith] taught Charles Manson techniques of hypnotism. During this time, which would have been the late 50s/early 60s, Sanders was involved with a nightclub on the Sunset Strip and performed hypnotisms live for entertainment purposes. We don't know which specific club he operated or where he performed for various reasons, but him using multiple aliases over the years could certainly be one.

Newspaper and military records place him stationed in Hawaii during the mid-1950s, where he got into some legal trouble. By September 1956, while still active as a 33-year-old Navy yeoman, he was already publicly known and legally documented in local Hawaiian court cases as a "professional hypnotist."

In Tom O'neil's book, he documents how he tracked down Deanyer's daughter and got her confirmation that she personally witnessed her father teaching Manson hypnotism. While this can't be proven, it's interesting nonetheless when taken into account with all of the mind control themes popping up here. It's also noteworthy that both Deanyer and Dr West both seemed to have honed their "skills" while serving in the Military. In the case of Dr West, we know that this was related on some level to the very practical military applications of "brainwashing."

SPEED KILLS

The phrase "speed kills" in reference to amphetamines was coined by Dr. David Smith, physician and founder of the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic in San Francisco, during the late 1960s drug crisis. He would have known, since he and Dr Jolly West recieved funds from the CIA to observe how speed affected hippes during the Summer of Love!

Susan Atkins said the Family got speed from Hells Angels and got violent from that point. Linda Kasabian said they all took a capsule of speed the night of the murders, but testified she hadn’t taken any drugs. Charles "Tex" Watson—the primary gunman and stabber during the Tate and LaBianca murders—explicitly stated he was heavily under the influence of speed (amphetamines) at the time of the killings.

At this point you might recall that in part 1 we noted Dr West's findings regarding "brainwashed" POWs returning from Korea, where he noted specifically that SLEEP DEPRAVATION was the most crucial tool in the soldier's mind alterations. What does Speed do? It keeps you awake for days, possibly even weeks!

["Helter Skelter" was published in November 1974 and co-authored by Vincent Bugliosi, lead prosecutor against the Manson Family]

Despite the presence of Speed and it's known tendancy to instill violent behavior, it's role was specifically downplayed by prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi, who wrote the book "Helter Skelter". Bugliosi noted the Family’s speed use primarily to establish their erratic behavior, but he intentionally kept it from becoming a major theme during the trial or in his definitive book.

Bugliosi's entire case relied on the "Helter Skelter" motive—that Manson ordered the killings to spark an apocalyptic race war. He feared that if he emphasized the killers' heavy speed use, the defense could successfully argue the murders were just the result of a "paranoid speed psychosis" or a messy, drug-fueled robbery, which would derail his conspiracy charge against Manson.

This brings us back to the issue I raised in part 1: how did Manson get charged for murders he did not directly commit? The answer is that Bugliosi apparently convinced the jury and the public that Manson BRAINWASHED his followers into believing his "Helter Skelter" conspiracy theory to the point of committing actual murder under his command.

"They made it into 'Helter Skelter.' It wasn't 'Helter Skelter.' They said it was a race war. It wasn't a race war." - Charles Manson

While members of the Family, who were obviously suceptible to mind control, seemed to play along and admit to being part of this conspiracy, Charles Manson himself vehemently denied this was the case. He claimed Helter Skelter was an invention of prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi to secure a conspiracy conviction. While one could pass off Manson's denials easily enough, Bugliosi's motive to do this couldn't be more plausible. He'd get paid by successfully prosecuting one of the most high profile cases in modern American history, and he'd make a killing selling the story via his book, "Helter Skelter."

SO WHAT?

I think for most people none of this really matters until we look at what is happening today and note the very obvious and observable fact that everything that went into manufacturing the Manson Family murders are still in operation.

1: RACE WAR

Racial issues are continually promoted by the mainstream news media. Whether it is the George Floyd incident or the Karmelo Anthony incident - black/white relations are clearly being intentionally degraded, by sensationalizing or even MANUFACTURING black/white divisiveness. This blog should give you a taste of the very REAL ability rogue CIA factions have to actually PROGRAM people to perform illegal/violent acts for purposes which they themselves may not even be aware of. The culling of all non-white races into this same category of "those oppressed by whites" bleeds into the narrative of illegal immigration, falsely portraying the securing of America's borders as being entirely based in some sort of "racist" intent - and NOT about safety and national security, which benefits American citizens of ALL racial profiles!

2: FREE LOVE

Apparently Heinlein's "Stranger in a Strange Land" had a profound impact upon the "free love" philosophy of the 1960s hippie movement. Before this, the idea of monogomy and a proper family with a mom and dad at home was considered the ideal [imagine that!]. A clear line from this irrisponsibly promiscuous "free love" mentality [masked as "freedom"] can be seen directly today in the sexual identity confusion, the proliferation of single mothers/divorce, the incesant promotion of drugs and promuscuity in popular culture, and a general emphesis upon appearances over intellect.

3: MIND CONTROL

During the COVID 19 pandemic America saw both the highest unemplyment and the highest number of individuals on government assistance IN HISTORY. But perhaps the scariest thing about the pandemic wasn't the economic numbers or even the illness itself, but rather the utter willingness of Americans to relinquish their freedoms and completely conform to the larger mainstream narrative at every turn out of ignorance and FEAR. It's not just that people had differences in the way they percieved the pandemic, but the near civil war level of divisiveness over an individual's right to have an OPINION of their own if it didn't align 100% with the status quo established by the Mainstream Media. This is the very same propaganda machine which was in operation during the Manson trials, promoting the idea that yes, brainwashing and mind control exists, but ONLY when it's committed by a small shifty-eyed criminal named Charlie Manson.

RELATED:

Acid, Music, Mindcrime [PT1]

SCIENTOLOGY AND THE OCCULT

SYD BARRETT: FOLLOW THE ACID [PT 1]

This blog was researched, written, and continues to be maintained by 1 person. If you enjoyed it and would like to encourage more of them, donations can be made by clicking the button below.

Manson and MK Ultra [PT 1]

I'd never delved that deeply into the Charles Manson topic before researching this blog, but I probably knew about as much as your average "conspiracy theorist." I knew that Manson had some sort of ability to control other people in his cult/commune of the late 1960s. I knew that the Manson Murders were part of some "race war" that was allegedly described within lyrics of the Beatles' music and that Charlie was in and out of prison for most of his life up to that point.

Aside from the basic shocking details, I always found it very strange that although this horror seemed to originate somewhere in that psychotic gaze of Manson's, he never actually killed anyone himself. Not that we know of, anyway. Maybe that's not so shocking to people, but I found it to be a very troubling detail! How can a man be charged for a bunch of murders without actually murdering anyone? Why does popular culture consistently, year after year, revise the public's fear, awe, and mystique of this seemingly mad bafoon? And so began an unconscious mission to one day try and get to the bottom of it...

Fast forward a few years and I find myself watching a podcast where a man was being interviewed. This guy knew A-LOT about Charles Manson, and was casually revealing shocking details I'd never heard before. What captivated me most was what he said about Manson's parol officer, and how Charlie had been sort of "let out" into society, despite violating his parole repeatedly. And although I can't for the life of me remember who that guy on the podcast was, my subconscious mission became more conscious, eventually leading me to Tom O'Neill, who's book "CHAOS: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties" I eventually picked up.

While it's a fascinating read with an exhaustive amount of detail, I feel it's ultimately a very well written reference book for others, like myself, to expand upon. What I found was essentially the next installment of my blog series "Acid, Music, Mindcrime" - where I explored Courtney Love and her connections to the 60s LSD mind control experiments, via her father Hank Harrisson. That's what this blog is.

DR. JOLLY

[Louis Jolyon West, Chief of Psychiatric Service at Lackland Air Force Base, early 1950s]

We are told that Operation Mk Ultra began in 1953, but when and where was the first official Mk Ultra experiment? We'll probably never know for sure, but one disturbing incident described in Oneill's book is probably one of the earlier examples on record: the case of Jimmy Shaver.

On the night of July 3rd, 1954 Chere Jo's parents left the three-year-old girl alone while they were inside the Lazy A Tavern in San Antonio, Texas. After she went missing, a car was found parked with the girl's underwear hanging from its door. The girl's body was located nearby, having been raped and murdered.

Jimmy Shaver, a technical instructor stationed at the local Air Force base, was found shirtless and covered in scratches - presumably near the crime scene. Shaver had no criminal record, wasn't drunk, and was found to be in a trance-like daze. On the day of his arrest, he apparently stated "If she was raped and if she is dead then I must be responsible since I was the one who picked her up and put her in my care." He didn't recognize his wife and recalled nothing for 2 months, until a psychiatrist named Louis West showed up.

Louis Jolyon West was assigned as Chief of Psychiatric Service at the 3700th USAF Hospital at the Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas at the same time Jimmy Shaver was stationed there as a technical instructor. West was ordered to conduct a psychiatric evaluation of Shaver. West hypnotized Shaver and injected him with sodium pentothal in an attempt to remove his amnesia. While Shaver was under hypnosis, his amnesia seemed to break, and he confessed to killing the young girl - though he appeared to be in a trance for the duration of the trial. Shaver was eventually executed on July 25th, 1958.

Now I don't know what's more disturbing here - Shaver's seemingly unmotivated act of brutality towards the little girl, or West's apparent ability to successfully manipulate Shaver's trance-like state. Because if West had the ability to penetrate and manipulate Shaver's trance-like state, did he also have the ability to INDUCE it?

["In 1952, China, North Korea, and the Soviet Union launched a major international propaganda campaign alleging that the United States military was dropping insects infected with plague, cholera, and anthrax. The US government denied these allegations, and declassified Soviet and Chinese archives from 1998 confirmed that the germ warfare claims were entirely fabricated." - Google A.I.]

We are told Dr West assumed his position at Lackland airforce base in 1952, roughly 2 years before the Jimmy Shaver incident. Sometime in 1953, West helped “deprogram” POWs [Prisoners of War] back from Korea who were allegedly brainwashed. Dr West got them to “renounce” their claims about the United States using biological weapons against the Koreans.

"What we found enabled us to rule out drugs, hypnosis or other mysterious trickery...[i]t was just one device used to confuse, bewilder and torment our men until they were ready to confess to anything. That device was prolonged, chronic loss of sleep." - Dr West

He then published a paper with the title "United States Airforce prisoners of the Chinese Communist. Methods of forceful indoctrination: Observations and Interviews."

In Tom O'Neil's book, he speaks of a document he unearthed among Dr West's records which included a letter dated June 11th, 1953, in which he wrote to someone with the initials "S.G.". This is thought to be Dr Sidney Gottleib, head of Operation MK Ultra. Goals were to extract info from unwitting subjects, followed by amnesia. Also, techniques for implanting false info and inducing mental disorder. Also discussed were creating “couriers of info.” [presumably, individuals with information "implanted" into their mind without their knowing, to be "extracted" at a later date]

At least one individual of note seemed to be somewhat aware of Dr West's activities. Decorated War hero General Robert B. Williams "strongly opposed," and may have played a role in Dr West's transfer to the Oklahoma School of Medicine, where he was head of the Psychiatric Department. He lied about his covert intentions there, and was financed by another MK Ultra front, the Geschicker Fund for Medical Research.

JACK RUBY

Most of you probably know who Jack Ruby is, the guy who murdered John F Kennedy's murderer, Lee Harvey Oswald, on November 24th, 1963.

“What am I doing here? What are you guys jumping on me for?”

This is what Jack Ruby said immediately after shooting Lee Harvey Oswald, according to Lawrence Schiller, a journalist who was Ruby's "Ghost Writer" for a period. These quotes seem to indicate that Ruby was in a state of dissociation immediately following the shooting, indicating accute mental issues which were not officially acknowledged until months later. But how credible is Schiller? I don't know but his resume and high profile clients over the years does carry some weight.

Although the "official account" given by police on the scene describes a decidedly more lucid Jack Ruby, shouting things like "somebody had to do it!" and "I'm Jack Ruby, you know who I am!" - these alleged statements by Ruby don't seem to be corroborated by any witnesses, so in the end, it's really a battle of narratives. The narrative convenient to the prosecution vs the one convenient for the defense [reasons of mental insanity in the case of the latter].

Now guess who they called in to "examine" Ruby in his jail cell, among a few others? Dr Louis Jolyon West, of course! This occurred on April 26th, 1964 - about 5 months after Ruby shot Oswald and 1 day after allegedly attempting to commit suicide by banging his head up against his jail cell wall [a "fact" which seems to be in dispute by at least 1 jail guard].

Following several hours alone with Ruby, Dr. West announced that he had suffered an "acute psychotic break". He officially diagnosed him with acute psychosis, a paranoid state, and suicidal tendencies. It is from this point forward that Ruby seemed hopelessly convinced that a 2nd holocaust was occuring and that Jews [like himself] were systematically being exterminated. Was it a coincidence that Ruby seemed, by all accounts, to have absolutely lost his marbles right after being visited by Dr West? Sure, he was probably already "crazy" to a degree to have committed the murder, but that's a different kind of crazy than hiding under tables terrified Jew hunters are after you!

In April 1956, 8 years BEFORE West "examined" Jack Ruby, he reported in a paper called “The Psychophysiological Studies of Hypnosis and suggestibility” in which he suggested he could REPLACE true memories with false ones without the individual knowing. Through drugs, hypnosis, LSD, Amphetamines, reserpine, and chlorpromazine. Documents with this information were not given to the senate [1970s Church?] hearings. In October of 1963, West told the Mental Health Association of Oregon that he could INDUCE insanity.

Keep in mind, few people knew about Dr West's connections to MK Ultra at the time he examined Ruby [or of MK Ultra's existence at all, for that matter]. As far as the majority involved with Jack Ruby's case knew, Dr West was as reputable as any other Dr who evaluated him. However, there was one Dr William Beavers who wondered if Ruby had been tampered with or drugged by an outsider. Did West INDUCE Ruby's insanity? Did West actually PLANT this anti-Jewish conspiracy into Ruby's mind?

[Susan Atkins, Manson Family member]

LSD RESCUE PROJECT

I can’t get him out of my head! He’s still in my brain! - Susan Atkins

Susan Atkins was a member of the "Manson Family" who is believed to have participated in the "Helter Skelter" murders of 1969, for which she was sentenced to jail for the rest of her life. Although she had confessed to participating in the murders at some point, she frequently contradicted herself and even changed her story entirely. 10 years after the incident, she stated that she couldn't get Charlie out of her head. "He's still in my brain!" Atkins clearly had mental issues, but was there something more to it? Was the Manson Family the result of some kind of MK Ultra Mind Control experiment gone RIGHT?

[Hank Harrisson was featured in the CBS documentary, "The Maze: Etched in Acid."]

[Harrison, allegedly "talking down" an individual from a "bad acid trip."]

Here's where the connection to my earlier blog series, "Acid, Music, Mindcrime" comes in, which deals alot with Courtney Love's father, Hank Harrison.

Although Harrison's early connection to the Grateful Dead [who were probably called the Warlocks at that point] doesn't seem to be denied publicly, Jerry Garcia himself later denounced Harrison and his writings about the Dead as full of lies - which says something when we consider Jerry's generally laid back and non-confrontational nature. It would seem one aspect of Harrison's incessent need to attach himself to the Dead and the Summer of Love was simple grift. But I don't think that's the whole story. I believe Tom O'neil's book may provide some explanation, which may connect him to the larger Mk Ultra Operation happening in the Haight/Ashbury at that time.

Years before writing a book about how his daughter, Courtney Love, had her husband Kurt Cobain murdered, Harrison was quite active in the Haight Ashbury. According to his ex-wife Linda Carroll [Courtney's mother] Hank was basically a broke con-artist who could bullshit a group of hippies so well they'd gather around him like some sort of spiritual guru. After preaching the gospel of freedom and LSD for a while, Harrison seems to then do a complete U-Turn, dons a suit and tie and starts talking about the DANGERS of LSD. This activity seemed to peak in the 1967 CBS produced documentary, "The Maze: Etched in Acid" where he speaks of the San Francisco LSD Rescue Project. Well what the hell is that? According to Harrison, it was basically a service provided to the young LSD taking public [hippies], to help them come down from "bad acid trips." According to an interview with KPIX's Pat Obrien, the number of "rescues" per week were in the single digits.

The fact I couldn't find out anything about this LSD Rescue Project outside of Harrison's own testimony and the short CBS documentary was probably the most nagging question mark my aforementioned blog series left me with. Then I found Tom O'neil's book, which seems to detail the blueprint behind the "LSD Rescue Project." The only problem is, it didn't seem to involve Hank Harrison at all! It did however involve someone you may have heard of recently, Dr Louis Jolyon "Jolly" West.

RATS IN A CAGE

Before we get back to Dr Jolly West, we need to talk about David Elvin Smith, founder of the Haight Ashbury Free Medical clinic in June of 1967. According to Tim O'neil's book, private federal grants fed the HAFMC. One specific project which was carried out through the clinic was called the Amphetamine Research Project [ARP], which was funded by the National Institute of Metal Health [NIMH] via the CIA. While this may or may not have involved David Smith's research on rats, where he injected them with LSD and Speed, the results were the same on humans to a degree: injecting speed into them while confined increased their violence by 4x. Coincidentally, the drug speed exploded onto the streets of the Haight/Ashbury at the same time HAFMC opened its doors. Just as I insinuated in my "Acid, Music, Mindcrime" blog series, the Haight/Ashbury itself was a sort of "laboratory" within which experiments where being condicted on the hippies who were flocking there to experience the "Summer of Love" first hand.

“They behaved, quite naturally, like rats in a cage” - David E Smith

Locals affectionaltely referred to Smith as "the friendly fed." Given Timothy Leary's specific approval of the CIA's role in releasing LSD into the public, I think it's fair to say that the idea of feds mingling with the hippies in the Haight was oddly normalized to a degree. It was KNOWN that the feds were playing a role! And so it behooved the Feds to just sort of blend in like any other group of freaks!

[Hank Harrison and an unknown individual, speaking in January of 1966 about their LSD Rescue Mission]

Although Hank Harrison CLAIMED to have recieved a grant which enabled him to start the LSD Rescue Mission [LSDRM], this is not officially acknowledged anywhere. But given the fact that we know the CIA was funding organizations such as the HAFMC and projects like the ARP, it seems plausible that Harrison DID recieve money from the feds to sponsor LSDRM. But the only thing we can point to which shows that this organization existed in reality is an alleged "hotline" and CBS produced footage of young people, presumably hippies, speaking with Allen Cohen and others who played the role of LSD Rescuer in front of the camera. And so the question is, if this was all a "front," what was it a front for and why was Harrison being paid to play it out?

Around this same time, Dr Jolly West accepted a personal invitation from David E Smith to work out of the HAFMC. He was given an office and was instructed to recruit subjects for LSD research. A fake "hippie crash pad" was created just a couple blocks away on Frederick street, where subjects would be lured for study. This project was financed by the Foundations Fund for Research in Psychiatry Inc, which was bankrolling West's other projects, according to records in files Tim O'Neil unearthed from UCLA, where West served as chair of the Department of Psychiatry later in his life. According to O'neil, the FF was a CIA front.

6 students were installed at this "hippie crash pad on Frederick," and were instructed to “dress like hippies” to “lure” actual hippies on LSD into the apartment. Stanford Psych Graduate Kathy Collins lived/worked at HAP (Haight Ashbury Project) for a summer, and worked at the "crash pad." About that project she commented, “what the hell have I gotten myself into and what the hell is Jolly [West] doing? It’s like a zoo. Is he studying us or is he studying them?” She was essentially getting paid to do nothing, hardly anyone came through apparently. Hippies looked on the house with suspicion.

I believe the above is the REAL, DOCUMENTED "LSD Rescue Mission," and that Hank Harrison's earlier 1966 prototype version was a 100% media created Psyop. I can't prove this of course, but many things fit very well within this lense.

1: The "grant" Harrison bragged about getting was probably, in reality, some sort of payment to participate in the psyop. And being the broke, sociopathic, nacassistic con artist he was, of course he'd jump at the opportunity!

2: Money WAS being put into observing hippies on drugs during this time and can be traced back to the Feds.

3: Harrison's obviously contrived LSD Rescue Mission's stated purpose resembles the actual documented LSD Research conducted in the Haight only months later in the same neighborhood.

It's probably worth noting here as well the parallels to what was going on in London's Psychedelic scene at the same time. Specifically, the activities occuring at 101 Cromwell Road, where a certain Syd Barrett lived for a time [link at bottom of the page].

My guess is that the remainder of Hank Harrison's life was basically him grifting off of and milking whatever he could from his little brush with the feds, and saw himself as a "secret agent" of some sort. Of course, his brief connection to the Grateful Dead and his now famous daughter provided endless material of which he could endlessly sensationalize and claim ownership of - while few would be the wiser with regards to what was truth and what was lies. In reality, he was probably a very low level agent provocateur who's ego was too out of control to make him very useful in the end.

[Hank Harrison died on January 22nd, 2022 in Gault, California. I hadn't even heard about this until I starting writing up this blog! R.I.P. Lord have mercy on your soul.]

RELATED:

Acid, Music, Mindcrime [PT1]

SYD BARRETT: FOLLOW THE ACID [PT 1]

This blog was researched, written, and continues to be maintained by 1 person. If you enjoyed it and would like to encourage more of them, donations can be made by clicking the button below.