Kerry Thornley: Anarchist, Bard, Etc.

Kerry Thornley was many things to many people. Discordian, anarchist, Zen Buddhist, JFK assassination conspirator, acid gobbling hippie, pornographer, paranoid schizophrenic and MK-ULTRA mind control victim—to name but a few of his many personas, or how he was perceived.

The old Kris Kristofferson song sums up Kerry quite succinctly:

“He’s a walking contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction, taking every wrong direction on his lonely way back home.”

Or to quote Walt Whitman:

“Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself. I am large, I contain multitudes.”

One person who saw Kerry Thornley in a quite positive light was Barbara Blackman who was friends with both Kerry and Greg Hill during the 70s.

In the following passage, Barbara recalls how she first met Kerry:

“My friend was taking her children for the prerequisite visit to their father during summer vacation. He had kindly arranged for us to stay at Stone House, a Quaker Commune. I was trying to find my spiritual self I suppose & connected with Kerry on a very high level. I had never sat with someone & meditated in the purpose of the two beings focused together in meditation. For me he was very much the Indian Yogi walking a path of spiritual awareness. Sometimes he was a whirling dervish, others a Shakespearean bard, then Krishna with his lovers. He was asexual in that he made love with the world.”

Below: Letter from Kerry to Barbara Blackman dated January 1, 1971. Courtesy of Barbara Blackman.