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Speaker 1: Please be aware the following episode contained some adult themes.

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Speaker 1: You're listening to unexplained with me, Richard McClean smith, We

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Speaker 1: are the Witchcraft, Part three. The man introduced himself as

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Speaker 1: Captain Hubbard, though Jack could call him Ron, he said,

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Speaker 1: flashing a wide wolfish grin as he buttoned up his shirt.

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Speaker 1: Ron had just been showing some of the other guests

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Speaker 1: his battle scars when Jack walked into the kitchen. It

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Speaker 1: was the squeals of delight coming from the small crowd

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Speaker 1: surrounding the enigmatic guest that had first drawn Jack's attention,

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Speaker 1: as Ron repeated for his host, those scars just below

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Speaker 1: his ribs were from the arrows he had taken after

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Speaker 1: being attacked by a local tribe while journeying through the

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Speaker 1: South American jungle. Ron, it turned out, was quite the explorer,

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Speaker 1: as he went on to reveal having once come face

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Speaker 1: to face with a polar bear whilst sailing round the

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Speaker 1: Aleutian Islands of Alaska. He had apparently lassued the excitable

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Speaker 1: creature after it leaped onto the ship from a nearby

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Speaker 1: ice flow. Only after it had succeeded in chasing half

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Speaker 1: the crew off the vessel, had Ron finally been able

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Speaker 1: to bring it down. Jack could only laugh at the

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Speaker 1: audacity of it all that evening, as the party continued

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Speaker 1: late into the night, Hubbard entertained all with the extraordinary

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Speaker 1: tales of his daring adventures. For Jack, like many of

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Speaker 1: those who had been fortunate to escape the fighting, it

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Speaker 1: was Hubbard's war stories that excited the most, and Ron

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Speaker 1: was only too happy to oblige, telling the guests about

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Speaker 1: the one time he commanded anti submarine vessels off the

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Speaker 1: coast of Californy and had sunk at least two Japanese submarines.

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Speaker 1: Though he wasn't at liberty to divulge much about his

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Speaker 1: counter intelligence work, the thirty four year old naval officer

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Speaker 1: was able to reveal that he was currently on medical

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Speaker 1: leave due to injuries sustained whilst escaping the island of

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Speaker 1: Java on a raft he had built himself, including being

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Speaker 1: shot and breaking his foot. In truth, there had been

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Speaker 1: no sunken submarines or lassud polar bears, much less a

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Speaker 1: courageous escape from Java, but Hubbard was never one to

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Speaker 1: let the truth get in the way of a good story.

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Speaker 1: Though some were less taken by Hubbard's incredible yarns. Whether

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Speaker 1: he truly believed the tales or not, Jack recognized a

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Speaker 1: kindred spirit that night. As a prolific author of science

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Speaker 1: fiction and fantasy stories writing under the name l. Ron Hubbard,

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Speaker 1: Jack was well acquainted with his work. Hubbard's stories centered

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Speaker 1: on supercharged men with extraordinary powers of the mind, which

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Speaker 1: reminded Jack of the teachings of Thelama and Alister Crowley's

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Speaker 1: concept of magic as the mastery of will. Meeting the

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Speaker 1: magnetic Ron in person only cemented parsons suspicions that Hubbard

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Speaker 1: was a man of innate magical prowess. Ron, in return,

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Speaker 1: was pleased to finally meet the refined rocket scientist that

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Speaker 1: he had heard so much about, and was only too

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Speaker 1: happy to take Jack up on his offer to see

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Speaker 1: out the rest of his leave at one zero zero

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Speaker 1: three Orange Grove Avenue. A few days later, Ron duly

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Speaker 1: returned to the house, driving an old, beat up packard

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Speaker 1: and towing a small trailer behind with all his worldly possessions,

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Speaker 1: ready to join the many new inhabitants of the Agape Lodge.

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Speaker 1: It was September nineteen forty five, and the occupants had

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Speaker 1: much changed in the last few years. Things had much

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Speaker 1: changed for two by the beginning of nineteen forty three,

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Speaker 1: as global war intensified and the business of rocket science

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Speaker 1: was swept up in the USA's burgeoning military industrial complex.

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Speaker 1: Jack's position at both air Jet and as a founding

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Speaker 1: member of the Gausit Rocket research team was becoming untenable.

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Speaker 1: Five and a half thousand miles away, an extraordinary discovery

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Speaker 1: was about to come to light that would change the

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Speaker 1: industry forever and usher a final end to Jack's involvement

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Speaker 1: with the Gausit team. Inside the imposing Trent House, a

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Speaker 1: vast country home overlooking some eight hundred acres of parkland

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Speaker 1: on the northern edge of London, fifty or so German

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Speaker 1: army generals and high ranking officers were living out their

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Speaker 1: days as British prisoners of war in extreme comfort. Unlike

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Speaker 1: many of their compatriots, due to their military status, these

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Speaker 1: prisoners had not not only been put up in a

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Speaker 1: stately home, but had also been granted servants, as well

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Speaker 1: as access to entertainment, fine wine, and expensive food. So

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Speaker 1: surprised were they by their treatment, the prisoners often wrote

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Speaker 1: home to boast of their luck and laugh at the

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Speaker 1: weakness and stupidity of the British government for allowing them

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Speaker 1: such luxuries. What they didn't know, however, was that every

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Speaker 1: word that the prisoners uttered was being recorded, thanks to

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Speaker 1: a vast network of microphones that had been rigged up

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Speaker 1: throughout the house, hidden in everything from lampshades to the

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Speaker 1: underside of a billiard's table, threaded below carpets and into

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Speaker 1: the walls. In a secret room, a group of Jewish

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Speaker 1: Germans who had been forced to flee their home country

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Speaker 1: sat carefully listening to everything. One overheard conversation caused some confusion,

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Speaker 1: at first, having something to do with the secret weapons

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Speaker 1: manufacturing facility in the industrial town of Pina Munda in

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Speaker 1: northern Germany. One general was recorded discussing a weapon the

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Speaker 1: likes of which couldn't possibly exist, a fourteen meter high

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Speaker 1: rocket that could travel at three and a half thousand

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Speaker 1: miles per hour and deliver a ton of explosives over

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Speaker 1: a distance of more than two hundred kilometers. He claimed

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Speaker 1: that such a rocket would be ready to launch at

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Speaker 1: the United Kingdom within months. It was known as the

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Speaker 1: V two. When the British Royal Air Force carried out

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Speaker 1: a covert reki to the region a few days later,

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Speaker 1: they were shocked to discover it was all true. Back

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Speaker 1: in Pasadena at Caltech, when news arrived from US intelligence

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Speaker 1: of the German rocket program. The scientists were utterly stunned,

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Speaker 1: and the US government equally so. Finally understanding the rocket's

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Speaker 1: potential as a war machine, the United States military tasked

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Speaker 1: the Gaust team with developing an equivalent rocket of their own,

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Speaker 1: offering three million dollars if they could do it within

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Speaker 1: a year, and in that moment everything changed. The group

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Speaker 1: was substantially reorganized, adopting a far more professional approach, starting

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Speaker 1: with the changing of its name to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

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Speaker 1: Though Jack would continue to conduct experiments for the newly

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Speaker 1: formed j p L and his company, Aerojet. With so

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Speaker 1: much money and new personnel entering the business, not to

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Speaker 1: mention the concerns over his style of work and his

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Speaker 1: private life, he was fast becoming surplus to requirements. When

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Speaker 1: the Navy up to their JATO order to twenty thousand,

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Speaker 1: it was clear to Andy Hayley, who had been drafted

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Speaker 1: in to manage the company, that the business of rockets

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Speaker 1: was fast outgrowing them. In the autumn of nineteen forty four,

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Speaker 1: Haley convinced the wealthy General Hire and Rubber Company to

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Speaker 1: step in and take over on the one cond that

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Speaker 1: Jack Parsons and Ed Foreman be removed from the business.

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Speaker 1: Having started the company along with Frank Malina, Martin Summerfield

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Speaker 1: and Theodore von Carmen less than a decade ago at

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Speaker 1: a cost of two hundred and fifty dollars each, both

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Speaker 1: Parsons and Foremen were persuaded to sell their shares in

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Speaker 1: the company for eleven thousand dollars. By the turn of

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Speaker 1: nineteen forty five, at the age of thirty and thirty two, respectively,

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Speaker 1: Jack and Ed's rocketing career was over. Within fifteen years,

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Speaker 1: those shares would be worth ninety million dollars in today's money.

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Speaker 1: Although Jack was doubtless upset by the manner in which

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Speaker 1: it had all come to an end, he remained resolute

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Speaker 1: that together he and Ed would continue their work in

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Speaker 1: one capacity or another. But more importantly, he now had

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Speaker 1: more time to dedicate to his magic. With the sale

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Speaker 1: of his shares, Jack promptly bought the lodge house, which

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Speaker 1: he had only been renting up till then, and in

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Speaker 1: which much had changed over the last few years. Two

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Speaker 1: In early nineteen forty three, Parson's wife Helen, together with

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Speaker 1: the head of the Agape Lodge, Wilfred Smith, had borne

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Speaker 1: a son. However, both had been forced to leave the

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Speaker 1: home after Alister Crowley decided to remove Smith as head

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Speaker 1: of the organization due to his concerns that the members

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Speaker 1: of the lodge cared more about sexual gratification than the

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Speaker 1: true teachings of Thelama. It was Crowley's hope that Jack

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Speaker 1: would take over and restore the group's focus, and for

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Speaker 1: a time it worked. Although a reluctant leader, not wanting

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Speaker 1: to betray his friend Smith, Jack soon embraced his new role,

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Speaker 1: converting his bedroom into the house temple and leading the

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Speaker 1: Gnostic Mass with his lover Betty by his side in

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Speaker 1: place of Regina Carl who i had also left the

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Speaker 1: house having been left heartbroken by Smith and Helen's relationship.

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Speaker 1: A house resident and senior member of the Agape Lodge,

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Speaker 1: Jane Wolfe, soon grew concerned, however, that Parson's interests were

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Speaker 1: not entirely in the group's best interests. For the rebellious

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Speaker 1: anti authoritarian Jack, as much as he was sympathetic to

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Speaker 1: the philosophy of Thelama, for him It had always been

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Speaker 1: about the magic, the things that Alice to Crowley claimed

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Speaker 1: to have conjured up with the ancient spells. All the

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Speaker 1: ritual and the gathering of knowledge was merely a means

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Speaker 1: to an end. But for the impatient Jack, the end

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Speaker 1: was taking too long. Soon he was consulting the feigned

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Speaker 1: Lesser Key of Solomon and the ars Goetier, searching for clues.

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Speaker 1: As Wolfe had suspected, he was dabbling in black magic.

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Speaker 1: But Jack couldn't operate alone. Concerned what his fellow Thelamites,

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Speaker 1: would think, one night, he turned to the ever faithful Ed,

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Speaker 1: who was then staying at the lodge, to assist him.

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Speaker 1: Although Ed kept only a passing interest in Jack's esoteric fixations,

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Speaker 1: he was more than happy to help him out, even

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Speaker 1: if he did find the whole thing a little silly.

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Speaker 1: That night, in Jack's bedroom, the pair chalked out cymbals

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Speaker 1: on the floor under the flickering light of candles, before

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Speaker 1: Jack instructed Ed on how to take the pyote. Ed

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Speaker 1: then sat back and listened to Jack as he read

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Speaker 1: from the old books, chanting strange incantations into the air.

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Speaker 1: After a few hours, however, when nothing had occurred, the

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Speaker 1: pair decided to call it a night, but as Ed

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Speaker 1: made his way back to his bedroom, the whole house

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Speaker 1: began to shake in terror. Foreman ran to his room,

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Speaker 1: only to be confronted with the ific cacophony of shrieking

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Speaker 1: voices coming from outside his window. Uncovering his ears, he

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Speaker 1: pulled back the curtain to find three terrifying entities floating outside,

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Speaker 1: their grotesque faces contorted and mouths wide open. In a scream,

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Speaker 1: Ed bolted from the room and ran into two residents

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Speaker 1: talking quietly amongst themselves. Neither had heard the screams, but

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Speaker 1: both recognized the entities that Ed said he had seen.

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Speaker 1: They were screaming banshees, they said, a warning of a

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Speaker 1: coming death. By nineteen forty five, only Jack, the twenty

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Speaker 1: year old Betty, and Jane Wolfe remained at the property

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Speaker 1: as genuine followers of Thelema, with Wolfe soon to follow

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Speaker 1: Carl In moving out. When Carl died unexpectedly early in

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Speaker 1: the new year, something of the old order had irrevocably shifted.

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Speaker 1: May the United States government and its allies celebrated victory

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Speaker 1: in Europe with the fall of Berlin and the subsequent

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Speaker 1: surrender of the German Army War was coming to an end,

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Speaker 1: and whether it was the coming of Horace or not,

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Speaker 1: a new age was undoubtedly dawning. Such was the air

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Speaker 1: of secrecy that surrounded the Manhattan Project. Even those like

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Speaker 1: Jack and most of his former colleagues at Caltech had

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Speaker 1: not quite been prepared for the power that was soon

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Speaker 1: to be unleashed over the sands of the New Mexico Desert.

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Speaker 1: In nineteen oh four, Alister Crowley had received word from

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Speaker 1: his guardian angel that Horace would deliver a war engine

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Speaker 1: with which the peoples will be smited and none shall

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Speaker 1: be left standing, and from the ashes something new will arise.

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Speaker 1: On July sixteenth, nineteen forty five, that engine was delivered,

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Speaker 1: with the force of almost nineteen thousand tons of t

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Speaker 1: n T. We knew the world would not be the same.

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Speaker 1: A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people

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Speaker 1: were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture

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Speaker 1: the bag of ad Ghita. Vishnu is trying to persuade

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Speaker 1: the prince that he should do his duty, and to

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Speaker 1: impress him takes on his multi armed form, who says,

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Speaker 1: now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds the

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Speaker 1: atomic age had arrived. When it was revealed the following

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Speaker 1: month that the Japanese city of Hiroshima had been wiped

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Speaker 1: out by one single bomb, it was more clear than

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Speaker 1: ever to Jack that if the Age of Horace was

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Speaker 1: upon us, it was being dominated by its more destructive

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Speaker 1: masculine urges and was leading the world toward catastrophe. A

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Speaker 1: new force would be required to neutralize it, and a

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Speaker 1: strong ally was needed to help invoke it. But Jack

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Speaker 1: wouldn't be able to rely on Ed this time, who

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Speaker 1: had been left traumatized by their last experiment. Grady McMurty,

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Speaker 1: whose letter of distress to Alister Crowley had resulted in

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Speaker 1: Smith's ousting as the Agape Lodge leader, returned from military

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Speaker 1: service to find things little changed on Orange Grove Avenue.

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Speaker 1: Having met Crowley in person during his travels through Europe,

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Speaker 1: Crowley had once again asked him to keep a close

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Speaker 1: eye on proceedings at the lodge. If Crowley had been

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Speaker 1: hoping for greater order, would be sorely disappointed. Without full

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Speaker 1: time employment, Jack decided to rent a number of rooms

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Speaker 1: out to keep a steady income. He placed an ad

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Speaker 1: in a local paper requesting applicants must not believe in God,

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Speaker 1: and that only bohemians, musicians, atheists, anarchists, and artists need apply.

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Speaker 1: Although a few ot O members answered Jack's request, most

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Speaker 1: of the residents that Jack and Betty hand picked were

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Speaker 1: chosen for what they would bring to the social mix.

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Speaker 1: By the time Ron Hubbard turned up to stay, some

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Speaker 1: twenty people had moved in, such as scientist Robert Kornock,

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Speaker 1: who had assisted on the Manhattan Project, and future leading

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Speaker 1: journalist Nis and Himmel, as well as a number of

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Speaker 1: fortune tellers and enigmatic socialites. All were enamored with Jack,

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Speaker 1: and all were intent on taking complete advantage of each

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Speaker 1: other's company. Jack enjoyed theirs, too, but none more so

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Speaker 1: than Hubbard's, who continued to impress Parsons with his raw

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Speaker 1: magical capabilities. As Jack instructed Ron on the finer teachings

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Speaker 1: of Thelama, Ron in turn shared his own ideas about

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Speaker 1: how to rescue the human race from self destruction. It

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Speaker 1: quickly became clear that Hubbard might well be the magical

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Speaker 1: partner that Parsons had been looking for. One morning in September,

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Speaker 1: Robert Kornock walked into Jack's room and found Hubbard in

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Speaker 1: bed with Betty. As practitioners of Thelama, Jack, who continued

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Speaker 1: to experiment with other partners, had encouraged Betty to do

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Speaker 1: the same. In a way, they saw it as testament

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Speaker 1: to their love that they could transcend the petty jealousies

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Speaker 1: of conventional relationships and still find their way to each

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Speaker 1: other by the end of the day. That was until

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Speaker 1: she met Hubbard. Although it had all been obvious to

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Speaker 1: many of the residents, Jack had not seen it coming.

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Speaker 1: Hubbard left the house a few weeks later and booked

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Speaker 1: himself into a hospital, claiming to be suffering from terrible

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Speaker 1: pains caused by his war injuries. It was in fact

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Speaker 1: a stomach ulcer, which he was intent on fully exploiting

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Speaker 1: in the hope of being granted a pension from the Navy.

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Speaker 1: Despite Hubbard now having gone, Betty no longer came to

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Speaker 1: Jack's bed, and watching her pine for the absent writer

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Speaker 1: only served to intensify his heartache. Late one night, lodge

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Speaker 1: resident Alva Rodger's was woken by a strange, ominous noise

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Speaker 1: that sounded like death. Stepping into the hall, he could

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Speaker 1: see that Jack's door was slightly ajar with the flickering

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Speaker 1: of candle light coming from within. Having never had the

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Speaker 1: chance to see inside Jack's room and worried for its occupant,

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Speaker 1: Roger's tiptoed across the hall and peered inside. The room

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Speaker 1: was painted black and covered in bizarre cymbals. Thick and

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Speaker 1: sweet incense filled the air, and in the middle of it, all,

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Speaker 1: robed in black, with his arms stretched out, stood Jack

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Speaker 1: at the altar of the gnostic Mass. At his feet

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Speaker 1: was a large pentagram that he had drawn on the floor.

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Speaker 1: As Rogers continued to gorp, he realized that the groaning

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Speaker 1: was in fact chanting, indecipherable words that Jack repeated over

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Speaker 1: and over again. A few days later, a strange atmosphere

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Speaker 1: had descended over the lodge, with Rogers noticing a number

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Speaker 1: of OTO members variously rushing about the house in great distress.

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Speaker 1: Jane Wolf, who visited at the time, was prompted to

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Speaker 1: write to Crowley, deeply concerned that there was something strange

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Speaker 1: going on. Although it wasn't clear what Jack had apparently summoned,

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Speaker 1: Some suspected a demon, others an elemental Whatever had occurred

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Speaker 1: had changed him for the better. When Hubbard returned in

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Speaker 1: early December, Jack welcomed him with open arms, making no

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Speaker 1: effort to stand in his and Betty's way. What's more,

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Speaker 1: he had finally realized what he had to do. Are

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Speaker 1: you always taking care of your family? Do you often

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00:20:35,720 --> 00:20:38,760
Speaker 1: take care of others and not yourself? Now it's time

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00:20:38,800 --> 00:20:41,480
Speaker 1: to take care of yourself. To make time for you

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00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:44,919
Speaker 1: you deserve it. Tele adoc gives you access to a

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Speaker 1: speak to a licensed therapist by phone or video. Therapy

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Speaker 1: appointments are available seven days a week from seven am

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Speaker 1: to nine pm local time. If you feel overwhelmed sometimes

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00:21:03,440 --> 00:21:07,760
Speaker 1: maybe you feel stressed or anxious, depressed or lonely, or

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00:21:07,800 --> 00:21:10,439
Speaker 1: you might be struggling with a personal or family issue,

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00:21:10,880 --> 00:21:16,200
Speaker 1: teledoc can help. Teledoc is committed to facilitating great therapeutic matches,

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00:21:16,480 --> 00:21:19,040
Speaker 1: so they make it easy to change counselors if needed.

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00:21:19,280 --> 00:21:24,159
Speaker 1: For free teledoc therapy is available through most insurance or employers.

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00:21:24,880 --> 00:21:28,439
Speaker 1: Download the app or visit teledoc dot com forward slash

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00:21:28,520 --> 00:21:35,120
Speaker 1: Unexplained podcast Today to get started. That's teladoc dot com

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Speaker 1: Slash Unexplained Podcast. Crowley's Thelema dictates that the final stage

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00:21:45,640 --> 00:21:48,240
Speaker 1: for the a depth involves the crossing of an abyss,

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Speaker 1: inside which presides Coronson. Similar to the serpent in the

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00:21:53,560 --> 00:21:57,919
Speaker 1: Garden of Eden. Coronson is the metaphysical contrary of the

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Speaker 1: whole process of magic, intent on trapping the traveler in

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Speaker 1: a meaningless world of illusion. Yet, if the adept can

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Speaker 1: successfully negotiate the abyss, they will find Babylon waiting to

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Speaker 1: embrace them on the other side. The Book of Revelation

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Speaker 1: declared Babylon the mother of harlots and abominations of the Earth,

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Speaker 1: a female personification of evil and depravity. To Crowley, however,

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Speaker 1: she represented the counterpart to his beast, a passive, lustful receiver,

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Speaker 1: subduing the strength of whomever she lies with, completing oneness.

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Speaker 1: To Parsons, she was much more like the sword wielding

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Speaker 1: Virgin of the Gnostic Mass. Parsons considered Babylon to be

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Speaker 1: anything but passive. As poet and cultural theorist Amy Ireland

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Speaker 1: puts it, Parsons saw the purpose of Babylon not as

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Speaker 1: the nullifier of the masculine world, but its conqueror, destined

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Speaker 1: to bring an end to his world. She was the

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Speaker 1: flame of life and power of darkness, who will feed

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Speaker 1: upon the death of men beautiful horrible. This was whom

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Speaker 1: Jack needed to summon, and he would need Hubbard's help

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Speaker 1: to do so. Inspired by the sixteenth century magician and

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Speaker 1: adviser to Queen Elizabeth, the First, Doctor John D. Parsons

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Speaker 1: devised a plan for a magical working that would combine

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Speaker 1: Crowley's own magic with D's Inochian magic. Sometime during the

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Speaker 1: fifteen eighties, D, along with his seer Edward Kelly, undertook

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Speaker 1: a series of scrying sessions, whereby they claimed to have

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Speaker 1: made contact with angelic entities. Over the course of nearly

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Speaker 1: a decade, the pair received communication of a secret magical language,

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Speaker 1: which was delivered to them in a sea series of

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Speaker 1: mystical tables comprising what D considered to be the Real

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Speaker 1: Book of Enoch, a fabled text said to hold the

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Speaker 1: secrets of the true reality of things. Since Crowley had

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Speaker 1: written often of his success in using Anochian magic, it

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Speaker 1: was through D's tablets that Parsons hoped to invoke the

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Speaker 1: Goddess Babylon on January fourth, nineteen forty six, as Prokofiev's

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Speaker 1: Violin Concerto Number two played gently in the background. Parsons

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Speaker 1: and Hubbard prepared the magical squares, comprised of four twelve

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Speaker 1: by thirteen tables of Anchian symbols, and consumed piote. By

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Speaker 1: nine PM, as the slightest sliver of a waxing crescent

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Speaker 1: moon rose high into the sky, the pair were ready

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Speaker 1: to begin the Babylon working. Parsons picked his first square

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Speaker 1: from the Inochian tablets, and starting at the upper right

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Speaker 1: hand point, drew a pentagram in the air with the

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Speaker 1: magic dagger, followed by the invocation of the bornless One.

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Speaker 1: I invoke the bornless one, that dist create the earth

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Speaker 1: and heavens, that dist create the night and day, that

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Speaker 1: dist create the darkness and the light. The process continued

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Speaker 1: long into the evening, with each invocation of the square

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Speaker 1: culminating in the fertilizing of the parchment bearing the relevant symbol,

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Speaker 1: by ritual masturbation, and finally banishment. The working lasted for

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Speaker 1: eleven days in total, during which a number of strange

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Speaker 1: occurrences took place. On the tenth, Jack was awoken in

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Speaker 1: the night by the sound of nine loud knocks and

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Speaker 1: the smashing of a lamp thrown violently to the floor.

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Speaker 1: Four days later, the power in the house inexplicably cut out.

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Speaker 1: As Hubbard prepared candles to continue the operation, he was

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Speaker 1: struck forcibly on his right arm by something unseen, knocking

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Speaker 1: a candle from his hand. Jack found him wincing in pain,

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Speaker 1: staring up at a mysterious brownish yellow light that seemed

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Speaker 1: to hang seven feet in the air. According to Hubbard,

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Speaker 1: his arm remained paralyzed for the rest of the night.

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Speaker 1: By January fifteenth, however, despite the peculiar events and Hubbard's

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Speaker 1: insistence that he had seen various manifestations about the house,

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Speaker 1: the Goddess Babylon had failed to materialize. Three days later,

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Speaker 1: a disconsolate Jack made his way into the Mahave Desert,

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Speaker 1: accompanied by Hubbard, looking for guidance on how to proceed.

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Speaker 1: Jack had a favorite spot underneath the confluence of two

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Speaker 1: vast power lines, where he would often sit and practice

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Speaker 1: his magic. That morning, as Jack sat tuning into the

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Speaker 1: electric hum of the wires while the pink light of

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00:27:11,560 --> 00:27:15,280
Speaker 1: the desert sun rose above the horizon, he was struck

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Speaker 1: by a profound sense of certainty. Turning to Hubbard, he declared,

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Speaker 1: it is done. Just before New Year, at the lodge,

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Speaker 1: Parsons had been talking on the phone in his dressing

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Speaker 1: gown when he spied a stranger wandering around the house.

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Speaker 1: The red haired woman, who had recently been demobilized by

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Speaker 1: the Navy, had come looking for the mad scientist that

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Speaker 1: a friend had told her was living there. Jack disappeared

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Speaker 1: to get dressed, returning a few moments later to find

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Speaker 1: the woman playing records in a small alcove off the

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Speaker 1: main hall. The pair regarded each other for a moment

387
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Speaker 1: before Jack abruptly left. When he returned from his elatery

388
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Speaker 1: trip to the desert, that same woman was waiting for

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Speaker 1: him at the house. The woman was twenty three year

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Speaker 1: old Marjorie Cameron, also known as Candy. Born in Belleplaine, Iowa.

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Speaker 1: Cameron was a talented artist who had moved to Los

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Speaker 1: Angeles hoping to further her work. Unbeknownst to her at

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Speaker 1: the time, to Parsons, she was the missing link to

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Speaker 1: completing the Babylon working the elemental he had been trying

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00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:41,800
Speaker 1: to summon back in December. With Cameron, Parsons hoped to

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Speaker 1: conceive the very goddess he had been trying to deliver

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Speaker 1: to Earth. The pair spent the best part of the

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Speaker 1: next two weeks in bed together, before Cameron traveled to

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Speaker 1: New York to break up with a recent boyfriend, returning

400
00:28:57,320 --> 00:29:02,360
Speaker 1: in March to move in with Jack. In the meantime,

401
00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:05,680
Speaker 1: Parsons had returned to the Mahave Desert, where on the

402
00:29:05,760 --> 00:29:09,160
Speaker 1: last night of February he claimed to have received communication

403
00:29:09,320 --> 00:29:14,120
Speaker 1: from the goddess Babylon herself. He recorded the message in

404
00:29:14,120 --> 00:29:17,840
Speaker 1: a text called Liber forty nine that confirmed he would

405
00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:22,080
Speaker 1: indeed father a magical child, but not before, as the

406
00:29:22,120 --> 00:29:27,200
Speaker 1: messenger dictated, she shall absorb thee and thou shalt become

407
00:29:27,640 --> 00:29:33,800
Speaker 1: living flame. Back in England, Alicer Crowley, who refused to

408
00:29:33,840 --> 00:29:37,960
Speaker 1: recognize the legitimacy of Liber forty nine, was growing deeply

409
00:29:37,960 --> 00:29:42,440
Speaker 1: concerned about Jack's new ventures. Having always believed in Parson's

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00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:46,080
Speaker 1: potential and keen to take advantage of his wealth, he

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00:29:46,200 --> 00:29:48,600
Speaker 1: made a last ditch effort to deter him from his

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Speaker 1: chosen path, but Parson's mind was made up with a

413
00:29:53,680 --> 00:29:57,680
Speaker 1: goddess to conceive Jack would require more money, and Julie

414
00:29:57,680 --> 00:30:01,960
Speaker 1: began to seek employment. Hubbard had a better idea, however,

415
00:30:02,480 --> 00:30:04,880
Speaker 1: suggesting that the both of them pull their money and

416
00:30:04,920 --> 00:30:10,200
Speaker 1: talent together and go into business. Hubbard's first idea was

417
00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:13,360
Speaker 1: to purchase three yachts in Miami and sail them back

418
00:30:13,360 --> 00:30:15,520
Speaker 1: to California, where they could sell them on at a

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Speaker 1: vast profit. Trusting his friend, Jack thought nothing of pouring

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Speaker 1: most of his five figured savings into the venture, to

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00:30:23,920 --> 00:30:29,120
Speaker 1: which Hubbard contributed around a thousand dollars. In late April,

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00:30:29,600 --> 00:30:32,760
Speaker 1: Hubbard and Betty headed to Miami with ten thousand dollars

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Speaker 1: to buy the yachts. By June, Parsons had yet to

424
00:30:37,120 --> 00:30:41,800
Speaker 1: hear back from them. Fearing he had been swindled, he

425
00:30:41,920 --> 00:30:45,040
Speaker 1: traveled to Florida to confront the pair, finding that they

426
00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:48,720
Speaker 1: had indeed purchased three yachts, two of which he was

427
00:30:48,760 --> 00:30:51,960
Speaker 1: able to locate, but the third of which the pair

428
00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:56,960
Speaker 1: had used to evade him. That night, Parsons returned to

429
00:30:57,000 --> 00:30:59,680
Speaker 1: his hotel room, drew a magic circle on the floor

430
00:30:59,720 --> 00:31:04,240
Speaker 1: around him, and invoked the demon bartswal Spirit of Mars.

431
00:31:06,320 --> 00:31:08,959
Speaker 1: At about the same time, a few miles off the coast,

432
00:31:09,480 --> 00:31:12,680
Speaker 1: thick gray clouds were beginning to converge around a two

433
00:31:12,680 --> 00:31:16,200
Speaker 1: masted schooner being piloted by a plump, red headed man

434
00:31:16,480 --> 00:31:21,200
Speaker 1: and his young girlfriend. Within minutes, a squall swept across

435
00:31:21,240 --> 00:31:24,440
Speaker 1: the sea, forcing the pair back to land, where they

436
00:31:24,440 --> 00:31:28,440
Speaker 1: were immediately arrested by the US Coast Guard. It was

437
00:31:28,480 --> 00:31:31,400
Speaker 1: the last time that Parsons and Hubbard would ever speak

438
00:31:38,280 --> 00:31:41,280
Speaker 1: in August, although he hoped his fellow followers of Thelma

439
00:31:41,480 --> 00:31:43,480
Speaker 1: would be on hand to help usher in the new

440
00:31:43,520 --> 00:31:47,240
Speaker 1: aon he had started. Jack had been deeply embarrassed by

441
00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:52,720
Speaker 1: Hubbard's betrayal and formally resigned from the OTO not long after.

442
00:31:53,240 --> 00:31:57,000
Speaker 1: He and Cameron left ten zero three Orange Grove Avenue

443
00:31:57,120 --> 00:32:02,240
Speaker 1: for good. In October, the couple were married, and though

444
00:32:02,280 --> 00:32:06,800
Speaker 1: Parsons was convinced that Babylon would manifest, she remained elusive.

445
00:32:08,360 --> 00:32:11,000
Speaker 1: In need again of work, Jack took a break from

446
00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:16,680
Speaker 1: magic and focused instead on re establishing his career for

447
00:32:16,760 --> 00:32:20,200
Speaker 1: the next few years, drifting from one consultancy job to another.

448
00:32:20,720 --> 00:32:23,840
Speaker 1: He was hampered in nineteen forty eight after losing his

449
00:32:23,920 --> 00:32:28,000
Speaker 1: National security clearance. At first, he assumed it was down

450
00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:31,120
Speaker 1: to his involvement with the ODO, but it was another

451
00:32:31,120 --> 00:32:34,720
Speaker 1: witch hunt that had done for him. Though Parsons did

452
00:32:34,760 --> 00:32:37,680
Speaker 1: indeed have an FBI file full of references to his

453
00:32:37,760 --> 00:32:41,360
Speaker 1: involvement in a shadowy sex cult. His clearance had in

454
00:32:41,360 --> 00:32:45,160
Speaker 1: fact been revoked due to his apparent fraternizing with communists.

455
00:32:46,960 --> 00:32:50,520
Speaker 1: Unlike many of his contemporaries, Parsons was lucky only to

456
00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:54,920
Speaker 1: lose his security clearance, which was later reinstated then revoked

457
00:32:54,920 --> 00:32:58,080
Speaker 1: again after he was caught stealing plans from the Hughes

458
00:32:58,160 --> 00:33:02,840
Speaker 1: Aircraft Company, where he had recently been working. Inspired by

459
00:33:02,840 --> 00:33:06,480
Speaker 1: his friend Herbert Rosenfeldt, Jack had been hoping to reignite

460
00:33:06,480 --> 00:33:09,360
Speaker 1: his career in rocketry in the newly formed state of

461
00:33:09,480 --> 00:33:12,640
Speaker 1: Israel before he was caught trying to pass the plans

462
00:33:12,680 --> 00:33:18,320
Speaker 1: off to Rosenfeldt. In September nineteen fifty one, Jack and Cameron,

463
00:33:18,600 --> 00:33:21,880
Speaker 1: who had been living alone in Mexico, moved into ten

464
00:33:21,960 --> 00:33:25,840
Speaker 1: seventy one and a half South Orange Grove Avenue, barely

465
00:33:25,880 --> 00:33:29,840
Speaker 1: a stone's throw from the former a Gape Lodge. Their

466
00:33:29,880 --> 00:33:32,880
Speaker 1: apartments were located above a large laundry room on the

467
00:33:32,920 --> 00:33:36,480
Speaker 1: ground floor, which Jack promptly turned into a working lab.

468
00:33:38,080 --> 00:33:41,920
Speaker 1: Since getting married, Jack and Cameron's relationship had not been

469
00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:45,240
Speaker 1: quite as harmonious as might have once been promised, but

470
00:33:45,320 --> 00:33:49,480
Speaker 1: they were now determined to make it work. Having settled

471
00:33:49,480 --> 00:33:54,120
Speaker 1: again in Pasadena and Reinvigorated by Cameron's return, it wasn't

472
00:33:54,160 --> 00:33:57,520
Speaker 1: long before Jack was once again dabbling in his sacred magic,

473
00:33:58,160 --> 00:34:02,360
Speaker 1: and soon he and Cameron were establishing their bohemian reputations,

474
00:34:02,400 --> 00:34:06,400
Speaker 1: hosting parties long into the night. But when Jack's security

475
00:34:06,400 --> 00:34:10,120
Speaker 1: clearance is formally revoked in January, he and Cameron make

476
00:34:10,200 --> 00:34:14,640
Speaker 1: plans to take an extended leave from the States. By June,

477
00:34:14,960 --> 00:34:18,360
Speaker 1: the couple had wrapped up their various affairs and moved

478
00:34:18,360 --> 00:34:21,799
Speaker 1: into four to four, a royal terrace with Jack's mother, Ruth,

479
00:34:22,280 --> 00:34:25,080
Speaker 1: with the intention of traveling on to Mexico soon after.

480
00:34:26,640 --> 00:34:29,600
Speaker 1: On the morning of the seventeenth, with the couple's luggage

481
00:34:29,760 --> 00:34:33,400
Speaker 1: lining the corridors of the house, Jack receives a request

482
00:34:33,640 --> 00:34:36,560
Speaker 1: to mix a quick explosive device for a movie special

483
00:34:36,560 --> 00:34:40,640
Speaker 1: effects company he had been working for. Grateful for the

484
00:34:40,680 --> 00:34:43,600
Speaker 1: extra cash, Jack headed over to the lab at ten

485
00:34:43,760 --> 00:34:46,719
Speaker 1: seventy one and a half South Orange Grove and got

486
00:34:46,719 --> 00:34:51,360
Speaker 1: to work. In the meantime, Cameron headed out to the

487
00:34:51,400 --> 00:34:54,400
Speaker 1: local grocery store to get some last minute supplies for

488
00:34:54,440 --> 00:34:58,960
Speaker 1: the journey. Cameron had just exited the store when she

489
00:34:59,040 --> 00:35:02,800
Speaker 1: heard two huge explosions coming from the direction of Orange

490
00:35:02,800 --> 00:35:06,000
Speaker 1: Grove Avenue that were followed by a black plume of

491
00:35:06,040 --> 00:35:09,759
Speaker 1: smoke rising into the air at ten seventy one and

492
00:35:09,800 --> 00:35:13,960
Speaker 1: a half south Orange Grove. Lodgers Gregg Gancy and Martin

493
00:35:14,080 --> 00:35:17,319
Speaker 1: for Shog had both been upstairs when the explosion tore

494
00:35:17,400 --> 00:35:21,160
Speaker 1: through the house. Racing to the laundry room, they found

495
00:35:21,200 --> 00:35:24,759
Speaker 1: themselves staring straight out into the open air, the three

496
00:35:24,760 --> 00:35:29,520
Speaker 1: opposite walls having been completely obliterated. Dust clouds and smoke

497
00:35:29,719 --> 00:35:32,800
Speaker 1: were lifting into the sky as reams of shredded paper

498
00:35:33,120 --> 00:35:37,360
Speaker 1: covered in strange symbols flapped about the room, and just

499
00:35:37,600 --> 00:35:42,440
Speaker 1: audible from somewhere amidst the rubble, the pained groans of

500
00:35:42,480 --> 00:35:47,800
Speaker 1: a man spotting a pool of blood under an upturned

501
00:35:47,840 --> 00:35:51,320
Speaker 1: bath tub. Gregg pulled it from the wall and gasped

502
00:35:51,400 --> 00:35:56,640
Speaker 1: in horror. Jack's right arm had been completely torn off

503
00:35:57,239 --> 00:36:00,799
Speaker 1: and his leg bones shattered to pieces. One half of

504
00:36:00,840 --> 00:36:04,440
Speaker 1: his face had been ripped apart, revealing his jaw and teeth,

505
00:36:05,400 --> 00:36:08,640
Speaker 1: and out of the other side an eye. Desperately pleading

506
00:36:08,640 --> 00:36:14,200
Speaker 1: with Gregg for help. By the time Cameron makes it

507
00:36:14,239 --> 00:36:17,839
Speaker 1: to the hospital, it is too late. The thirty seven

508
00:36:17,920 --> 00:36:23,920
Speaker 1: year old Jack Parsons is already dead. Later that evening,

509
00:36:24,320 --> 00:36:27,560
Speaker 1: Jack's mother, Ruth, is informed of her only son's death.

510
00:36:28,600 --> 00:36:31,120
Speaker 1: Driven to a state of mania by the news, a

511
00:36:31,239 --> 00:36:35,480
Speaker 1: friend is despatched to fetch her some sedatives. After successfully

512
00:36:35,480 --> 00:36:38,560
Speaker 1: calming Ruth down, the friend heads to the kitchen to

513
00:36:38,600 --> 00:36:41,880
Speaker 1: fetch her a glass of water. By the time she returns,

514
00:36:42,239 --> 00:36:45,520
Speaker 1: Ruth is slumped in a chair and rapidly losing consciousness,

515
00:36:46,120 --> 00:36:48,759
Speaker 1: the empty bottle of pills on the floor beside her.

516
00:36:50,239 --> 00:37:00,239
Speaker 1: By nine p m. She too will be dead. A

517
00:37:00,360 --> 00:37:02,799
Speaker 1: number of theories will emerge as to the cause of

518
00:37:02,880 --> 00:37:07,880
Speaker 1: Jack Parson's death, with one friend declaring, like all great alchemists,

519
00:37:07,920 --> 00:37:10,920
Speaker 1: he had been attempting to create a homunculus when something

520
00:37:11,040 --> 00:37:16,080
Speaker 1: went terribly wrong. A more sober account suggests that Parsons,

521
00:37:16,360 --> 00:37:18,840
Speaker 1: who had often trod a reckless line with his handling

522
00:37:18,840 --> 00:37:22,600
Speaker 1: of chemicals, had been mixing fulminate of mercury in a

523
00:37:22,640 --> 00:37:26,719
Speaker 1: coffee tin when he had dropped it, causing a catastrophic explosion.

524
00:37:27,719 --> 00:37:31,160
Speaker 1: Cameron will later allege that the explosion had been caused

525
00:37:31,200 --> 00:37:35,319
Speaker 1: by something under the floor, suggesting Parsons, who as a

526
00:37:35,320 --> 00:37:38,080
Speaker 1: fresh faced twenty three year old, had acted as an

527
00:37:38,080 --> 00:37:42,880
Speaker 1: expert witness in an lapd corruption case may have been assassinated,

528
00:37:45,160 --> 00:37:48,719
Speaker 1: although Jack would not live to see it. On July twentieth,

529
00:37:48,920 --> 00:37:52,200
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty nine, the dream that had started it all

530
00:37:52,239 --> 00:37:56,960
Speaker 1: off was finally realized when Nassa's Apollo eleven lunar module,

531
00:37:57,480 --> 00:38:01,680
Speaker 1: powered by rockets developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory using

532
00:38:01,680 --> 00:38:07,440
Speaker 1: techniques invented by Parsons, touched down on the Moon, and

533
00:38:07,600 --> 00:38:12,000
Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy two, the International Astronomical Union named a

534
00:38:12,040 --> 00:38:14,760
Speaker 1: crater on the dark side of the Moon in honor

535
00:38:14,880 --> 00:38:20,040
Speaker 1: of the often forgotten genius of rocket science and what

536
00:38:20,239 --> 00:38:25,560
Speaker 1: then of Babylon. Though Jack himself had given up hope

537
00:38:25,640 --> 00:38:28,319
Speaker 1: that the intended results of his working would ever come

538
00:38:28,360 --> 00:38:33,080
Speaker 1: to be writing in an essay titled Black Circuit Code

539
00:38:33,080 --> 00:38:37,080
Speaker 1: for the Numbers to Come, Cultural theorist Amy Ireland makes

540
00:38:37,080 --> 00:38:42,600
Speaker 1: a startling observation. Back in nineteen forty eight, Parsons had

541
00:38:42,640 --> 00:38:45,800
Speaker 1: carried out a ritual known as the Oath of the Abyss.

542
00:38:47,040 --> 00:38:50,480
Speaker 1: In a subsequent two paced document he wrote, he declared

543
00:38:50,719 --> 00:38:55,399
Speaker 1: that Babylon the Scarlet Woman will manifest seven years later

544
00:38:55,960 --> 00:39:01,320
Speaker 1: and bring his work to fruition in nineteen fifty five,

545
00:39:01,840 --> 00:39:07,560
Speaker 1: precisely seven years later, computer scientists John McCarthy, Marvin Minsky,

546
00:39:07,840 --> 00:39:12,080
Speaker 1: and Nathaniel Rochester began making plans for a conference to

547
00:39:12,080 --> 00:39:17,640
Speaker 1: discuss the future of thinking machines. The team's subsequent proposal,

548
00:39:18,120 --> 00:39:22,120
Speaker 1: delivered on September the second, nineteen fifty five, marked the

549
00:39:22,200 --> 00:39:26,760
Speaker 1: first formal introduction of a brand new field of computational study.

550
00:39:28,080 --> 00:39:38,440
Speaker 1: They called it artificial intelligence. If you enjoy listening to

551
00:39:38,520 --> 00:39:41,759
Speaker 1: Unexplained and would like to help supporters, you can now

552
00:39:41,800 --> 00:39:47,400
Speaker 1: go to Unexplained podcast dot com forward slash support. All donations,

553
00:39:47,600 --> 00:39:54,879
Speaker 1: no matter how large or small, are massively appreciated. All

554
00:39:54,880 --> 00:39:58,120
Speaker 1: elements of Unexplained are produced by me, Richard McClain Smith.

555
00:39:58,480 --> 00:40:01,279
Speaker 1: Please subscribe and rate the show iTunes. Feel free to

556
00:40:01,280 --> 00:40:03,680
Speaker 1: get in touch with any thoughts or ideas regarding the

557
00:40:03,719 --> 00:40:06,560
Speaker 1: stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps you have an

558
00:40:06,560 --> 00:40:09,279
Speaker 1: explanation of your own you'd like to share. You can

559
00:40:09,320 --> 00:40:12,160
Speaker 1: reach us online and Unexplained podcast dot com or on

560
00:40:12,160 --> 00:40:29,680
Speaker 1: Twitter at Unexplained Pod. Hello, it's Jamie from my dad

561
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