Zenarchy signed by Kerry Thornley with illustration. Courtesy of Pope Zen Buffalo.
Upon seeing this missive, Historia Discordia team member Groucho Gandhi, K.S.P., immediately validated Kerry Thornley‘s signing of Zenarchy for Pope Zen Buffalo because he has a copy of the Illuminet Press published book with the same Discordian koan signed by Thornley in the Discordian Archives donated for the greater grok by a friend.
Zenarchy, signed by Kerry Thornley. Courtesy of the Discordian Archives.
So it appears Thornley signed copies of the book with this Discordian koan “Kill the Buddha! Smash the State!”
Let us know if you have a copy of Zenarchy, especially signed!
A letter (date unknown, but probably from the mid-70s) sent to Greg Hill from the Hospice of St. Polly the Friendly (whoever she may have been) located in Vallejo, California.
1970s letter to Greg Hill from Hospice of St. Polly the Friendly.
Included with St. Polly’s letter were five free tickets, one of which you see pictured below.
Hospice of St. Polly the Friendly's ticket, one of five, included in the letter to Greg Hill.
On this day in Discordian history, in the year of our Goddess 3135 (June 5, 1969), Malaclypse the Younger, KSC, with the assistance of Sister Deacon Iona K. Fioderovna, did perform a quiet marriage ceremony for Gregory Hill and Jeanetta Ross.
All Hail the Chick What Done It All!
Greg Hill 1969 Press Release and Significant Announcement.
The Lost Treasures of Eris, click the cover image to download a PDF. Courtesy of Alfred Vitale.By popular demand, we post in its entirety the rare Discordian classic, The Lost Treasure of Eris, as we previously revealed.
1980s Zine: A Discordian Directory No. 00024Reason Magazine’s Jesse Walker, author of The United States of Paranoia: A Conspiracy Theory—which delves a bit into Discordian History and the Bavarian Illuminati—just gave me a heads up about A Discordian Directory #24, a zine published circa late 1980s that he recently posted at Scribd.
The title at the top of page 1 looks distinctly like lettering/artwork produced by our old friend Roldo Odlor who, as noted in previous posts, collaborated with both Kerry Thornley and Greg Hill and was involved with producing artwork for other like-minded Discordian zines during the zenith of the Zine Revolution.
A Discordian Directory was produced by an outfit dubbing itself B.I.T.C.H (The Bavarian Illuminati Tennessee Chapter Headquarters) consisting of a six page listing of an eclectic hodge-podge of Discordian-SubGenius-Anarchist and conspiratorial tracts, among them an obscure book called The Lost Treasure of Eris we had discussed first here and then here, in addition to such alternative publishing mainstays as Mike Hoy’s publishing company Loompanics that helped revive interest in Discordianism with the re-publication of Principia Discordia in 1977.
Page 2 includes an ad for Kerry Thornley’s Spare Change as well as some outfit peddling Robert Anton Wilson tapes along with scattered images of the Golden Apple, Mr. Spock, and Bob Dobbs with only one eye on his forehead.
Other offerings include Arthur Hlavaty’s The Dillinger Relic, Bob Black’s notorious anarchist manifesto The Abolition of Work, Donna Kossy’s Kooks, and Elayne Wechsler’s Inside Joke, a zine which featured the work of many renowned Discordians such as Thornley, Hill and Roldo. Also listed is Mike Gunderloy’s Factsheet Five which was the go-to publication during this period to find out what was happening on the bleeding edge of the Zine Movement.
The Illuminati biker club card was also a nice touch, from an actual honest-to-Goddess cabal situated in these United States.
This just in from Bob Newport aka Rev. Hypocrates Magoun:
“For those of you who might have any interest at all into the personality of our PolyFather [Greg Hill], I am transcribing here a few poems that have recently turned up in a friend’s basement. Note: Original spellings by your PolyFather, not the transcriber. Rev. Hypoc.”
TO THE HUMAN RACE
Hurry thru Hell,
on your false footed steed.
Ashining in brilliant chrome.
Blunder thru flames,
draw wisdom form naught,
Mark a well lighted path in the void.
Dance, human, dance.
Gregory H. Hill
7-61 N.O.
July 1961 poem by Greg Hill, To The Human Race.
SYNDROME
Oh look into the stars, I say,
See all things beyond, I say,
so Grand and ah, so Bright.
Discover all, so that I say,
See all things profound, I say
devour Sadful Night.
The light! I scream, do help, I say,
Things around do play, I say,
with Me, my god; the Light.
“All will be well, doth let me now,”
Sayeth old physician,
“but bleed you son.
All will be well.”
Gregory H. Hill
3-62
March 1962 poem by Greg Hill, Syndrome.
EGO IPSE SOLUS SUM
I lay my pen to paper,
Driven by a soul incomprehensible,
And thoughts from the depths of a
mind unknowing.
A self much too tired for its years–
So, so young in years.
Yet lonely and in despair,
Silently groping for a shred of
reality other than its own indescribable
existance.
Confusion reigns in this frustrated mind,
Like an omlette make of oil paints.
My windows are colored–I sense it–
but I have no others.
Is there a door by which I may leave?
Is there a place to which leaving is desirable?
And, finallly, from whence would I be leaving?
And why?
Like an omlette of oil paints ever stirring,
Ever swirrling, Ever mixing.
Chaos to shaos, only the variety keeps me going.
Gregory H. Hill
1-63
January 1963 poem by Greg Hill, Ego Ipse Solus Sum.
'Flying Saucers Are Real' button produced by Whittier, California's own Gabriel Green of the Amalgamated Flying Saucer Clubs of America, Inc.Discordian Society founder Greg Hill remained interested in UFOs over the years, as revealed by clippings on the subject discovered in The Discordian Archives. In this regard, I suspect Hill’s interest was more concerned with the phenomenon’s sociological implications as opposed to any particular belief system (BS) he held in regards to whether UFOs were “real.”
Kerry Thornley, however, claimed that UFOs originated from below West Virginia, a notion he once shared with fellow Discordian Louise Lacey aka Lady L., F.A.B. (Fucking Anarchist Bitch.)
West Virginia—it should be noted—was a hotbed for high strangeness throughout the 1950s and 60s, first with the famous Flatwoods Monster sighting and then a series of UFO reports occurring in and around Point Pleasant, West Virginia during the same period as the fabled Mothman sightings reported by Fortean journalist John Keel in his classic The Mothman Prophecies.
How Thornley latched on to this West Virginia-UFO theory, I’m not quite sure, but by the mid-70s he began to connect man-made Nazi UFOs to the string of political assassinations of the late-60s as documented in an excerpt from a December 6th, 1976 letter sent to Greg Hill:
“The Nazis invented flying saucers during WWII and the assassinations and terrorism seem to have been part of an angry publicity stunt to bring to the world’s attention the engine in the UFOs, which uses no fossil fuels or uranium, but relies on electromagnetic principles to generate cheap, clean energy from the ions in the air or something. Gary Kirstein gave me all the hints I needed to put this thing together years ago, but I did not integrate them.
“See what I mean? It even gets weirder than that—at least more elaborate. But you get the idea. I’m a pawn in some stupid game of conspiracy politics.
“The outfit of Nazis who murdered JFK, MLK, RFK, and Tate were working for is a defense industry security agency called Defense Industrial Security Command (DISC). Hail Eris! An incredible amount of secret society terrorism within the Intelligence Community seems to have been carried out in the name of the Discordian Society.
“…It is possible I have a radio in one of my tooth fillings, installed by the CIA at Atsugi, and that I have dreams which are transmitted to me by the Nazi Shambala. It is also possible that both the CIA and DISC thought they had the transmitters for me and intended to use me, each to trick the other, in an abortive plot to overthrow the government. If this is the case, then I would appear to be a humanoid robot for freedom… You don’t have to believe this, but I am sincere, and it is one of the few premises that explains most of it…”
12/6/76 letter from Thornley to Greg Hill discussing UFOs, as well as RAW, Leary and Howard Hughes' double.
Early Discordian Louise Lacey.As for Louise Lacey, she witnessed a couple UFO sightings over the years, the first occurring in Texas as a child, and the second—and most mind-blowing—in Berkeley, California in the late 1970s, as recounted in this audio clip taken from an interview with yours truly.
I recently came across a UFO incident description with accompanying illustration at Albert Rosales’s very groovy Humanoid and other strange encounters facebook page that looks a helluva lot like whatever it was Louise witnessed. (Hail Eris!)
Here’s the description from Humanoid and other strange encounters:
Laughing humanoids, France 1959
Location. Aubagne Bouches du Rhone France
Date: end of October 1959 Time: 1800
Miss Moulet, 45, was hanging out her washing in the twilight, with her 3 children, when she saw an egg-shaped object descend silently, to hover just above her. Through a wide triangular window in its front, strongly illuminated, she could see about 20 persons, tall, with wavy blond hair and very light skin, wearing white suits and short sleeves. They were smiling or perhaps laughing at her. The air became very cold. After 10-15 minutes the object took off again, disappearing in 2 or 3 seconds, leaving a slight trail.
Roldo in the early-80s sporting a Sacred Chao button.In the early-80s, Kerry Thornley began corresponding with Canadian artist Roldo Odlor, which led to a number of collaborative projects between the two, including illustrations for Kerry’s irregular broadsheet, Spare Change.
Kerry put Roldo in touch with Greg Hill, which began a correspondence between the two with the prospect of collaborating on Discordian related projects.
These letters consisted of a number of rough sketches by Roldo, along with collaboration ideas, including small talk and various projects Roldo was working on during this period.
May 1983 issue of Kerry Thornley's Spare Change.
1980s Letter: Roldo to Greg Hill, House of the Rising Son of Eris.
In the above letter, Greg Hill cut out a section from the lower-left corner, which appears to have been an illustration I’ve dubbed the “Keep On Truckin’ Sacred Chao.” Afterwards, Hill utilized this Keep On Truckin’ Sacred Chao (KOTSC) as a paste-up for correspondence and collages. For example, Hill used the KOTSC in the letter below to Thornley where he sang the praises of Roldo: “I’m getting a real rapport with this guy. He is drawing pictures that I never knew how to draw. And he sees somethings like I see. This is exciting. I like Roldo…”
May 31, 1983 letter from Greg Hill to Kerry Thornley about Roldo.
In the letter below, Roldo provided some rough sketches of Greg Hill’s various Discordian personas: Professor Ignotius, Rev. Dr. Occupant and Mad Malik.
Sketches by Roldo of Greg Hill's Discordian personas.Roldo’s rough sketches of Malaclypse the Elder.
Perhaps Roldo’s most famous Discordian related work is The Great Seal which features a slew of Discordian-Illuminati references and images.
Discordians have enjoyed a long and perplexing connection with UFOs, dating back to around the time when the Revelation of Eris first lit up Greg Hill and Kerry Thornley’s pineal glands in the late 1950s.
As Greg Hill recalled: “Thru our mutual general interest in wondering just what was going on out there in that gigantic world, and our many common specific interests in Humanism, anti-religionism, an enjoyment for Omar Khayyam, a curiosity for the bizarre like black magic and hypnotism, plus our common warped sense of humor, (Kerry and I) formed a close friendship.”
Some of Greg and Kerry’s first outings together included attending meetings of a flying saucer club (or saucer cult, depending on your perspective) called Understanding Inc. located in El Monte, California not far from where our dynamic Discordian duo grew up in the conservative Orange County enclave of Whittier.
The leader of Understanding was famed UFO Contactee Daniel Fry, who in the late 1940s worked as an explosives technician at the White Sands Proving Ground in Alamogordo, New Mexico. According to legend, it was there on July 4th, 1950 that Fry witnessed what he referred to as an “oblate spheroid” come to a silent landing. Intrigued by the strange craft, Fry passed his hand over the exterior to test its temperature, and a telepathic voice cried out: “Better not touch the hull, pal, it’s still hot!”
After exchanging more telepathic pleasantries with an extraterrestrial named A-lan (pronounced “a-lawn”)—who remotely piloted the “oblate spheroid” from a “mother ship” located some 900 miles above Earth—Fry was whisked away for a quick show-me trip to New York and back in an astounding 30 minutes. In the weeks to follow, Fry was treated to additional trips as A-lan supplied him with a stunning array of knowledge on such subjects as advanced physics and the hidden history of Earth. Fry later recounted these extraterrestrial interactions in The White Sands Incident (1954).
After having all this Universal Wisdom dropped on him, Fry decided to expand his knowledge base even more by receiving a “Doctorate of Cosmism” from Saint Andrew College, a mail order outfit located in London, England that was keen on dispensing doctorates for the right price. Fry later remarked that he was “recognized by many as the best informed scientist in the world on the subject of space and space travel.”
In 1955—armed with all his new found cosmic knowledge—Fry founded Understanding Inc. which would expand to a nationwide network of “study groups” that at its height boasted 1,500 members in several cities in the U.S. According to Saucer Smear editor Jim Moseley, most of these “study groups” were headed by middle-aged ladies with whom Fry—during his many lecture tours across the country—could always find “understanding” and “a warm bed each night.”
From 1956 through 1979, Fry published a monthly newsletter, Understanding, and was prominent on the flying saucer lecture circuit.
The January 1956 cover of Daniel Fry's Understanding newsletter.
In 1972, Fry hooked up with fellow UFO Contactee Gabriel “Gabe” Green to serve as his running mate during Green’s 1972 Presidential run on the Universal Flying Saucer Party ticket, a campaign that was ultimately unsuccessful—at least in this space time continuum. Green—it just so happens—made his home in Whittier, the same youthful stomping grounds of Hill and Thornley, and home to the fabled Brunswick Shrine where they first received The Revelation of Eris.
1972 Gabriel Green Presidential UFO Flyer.
In 1974, Understanding Inc. was gifted a fifty-five (there’s that Law of Fives, again!) acre property in Tonopah, Arizona by one of Fry’s many aging female admirers, a Mrs. Enid Smith. A couple years later, Fry moved to the Tonopah property and established it as his base of operations. Not long after, an arson fire destroyed the Understanding Inc. library among other buildings at the site. This event—in combination with the dwindling funds in Understanding Inc.’s coffers—signaled the beginning of the end for Fry’s Ufological empire.
