North East

There seems to be an amalgamation of evidence in the northeastern corner of the american continent. is this due to the atlantic seaboard providing ports accessible from the transatlantic european shipping lanes? it would make sense, given the anglo-european involvement already uncovered.

This all has the effect of making more intrigued by the Buick wreck in Maine - it's just up the road from Boston, but isn't really on the way to anywhere in a northerly direction. However, it would be somewhere someone may pass through if they were going from, say, a northeastern shipping port such as eastport or calais, or even halifax, nova scotia to somewhere near the canadian borderline, such as the great lakes.

there are so many coastal towns in the nova scotia region which borrow heavily from british naming conventions; st. andrews, digby, yarmouth, chester, bedford, guysborough, truro, halifax. i am unsure if this is of significance or not?

Another Hunch

Just been researching Melissa Parrish. I have found her (though she is two people, remember – Melinda and Belinda sharing an alias. She claims a military education, now in the faculty at an Art School, along with marketing and health background. We have her… She’s hiding out in Wasington DC. Close enough to Boston for you??

‘property accounting chief’ – that sounds like hiding a city to me. I suspect the listing of two locations as main place of education must be to cover both individual…

Of course I now see I mistakenly supposed Melissa to be the alias of Melinda and Belinda, when of course, it is Melinda (Packet) who is the alias of the other two. Two many names to keep track of…
So… I assume what we are seeing is proof that Melinda has now separated back into her 2 individual elements, and that what we read is all pretty exclusively Melissa’s personal history. In which case, where is Belinda Eckhart? Another search required…

A Hunch

I have a feeling that Searly’s poetry rival, who produced the winning poem ‘from the sun’, may be worth investigating. I hear that often rivalries in poetry result in bonds stronger than brotherhood. (See J. L. Borges – a story of two artists in Argentina; the rivalry between them occupies every fibre of their being – it is their main drive in life, without it they would be nothing. If such a rivalry did indeed form between Searly and the author of ‘from the sun’, then we may find the same man (if a man) throughout Searly’s adult life, always there, in the background, informing Searly’s choices throughout. Every Newtonian needs an equal and opposite force to react against… Without it we could not move an inch.

Just a hunch. I always go with a good hunch…

Outline of a case-room

The case room is small; cramped; poorly lit. Desk piled high with cuttings, black and white photos, old receipts… Shelves of fossils; old keys; old phone directories… Empty bottles of cheap red wine litter the floor. The most recent one was an 8% ‘wine’ bought for around £3 – went down okay last night while listening to steve still’s wah on season of the witch and Patti Smith singing GLORIA. Red and blue lined diagrams on square ‘math book’ style A4 paper. One of those manoeuvrable lamps with about three flexible joints with springs like a rusty metal model of a dinosaur limb. A red bulb lightbox for studying transparencies taken in ‘aura-chrome’… Some great shots… Case notes on the backs of envelopes. Drawing pins in the walls holding overlapping depths of information like a busy shop noticeboard in November. It is a grotto… A cavern of information, most of it irrelevant and possibly half of it false... Corrugated cardboard coffee cups stacked on papers leaving golden olympic rings.

The balls of string dispense from the centre, cut by pocket knife to connect Wyoming with Winnipeg, and the Niagara with the Angel Falls. Maps of Europe, UK, U.S., Norfolk Broads, Antarctica, the Moon… Maps of city centres. Maps of the London Underground and the Trans Europa Express. Maps of the human brain… Maps of the eye. Maps into the human ear. Images of the back of busseats. Textures… Maps of the inked thumbprint of a stranger from a motel room in Duluth… Mazes… Labyrinths…

Hologram

Right. Yes. That’s the kind of thing. So – the theory is, that the eyes are actually still able to see such random texture patterns when shut, and that we identify shapes within them, which are our actual dream images. The natural progression from this theory is that our actual waking perceptions, of objects in an apparent 3D world, could similarly be our mind identifying shapes and image in a much much wider array of texture and pattern, which our eyes actually see, but which we select from. Hence two ways of seeing – change the focus and you can see the florescent fibres of the hologram… This whole world as perceived is one of many ways of viewing a selection of the whole of what sense data we actually receive.

In Reply

Sounds like the same theory as the Rorshach test.

Also apparent, in my experience, when looking at the marble-effect vinyl floor tiles in my bathroom whilst in the relaxed state that comes with passing a stool. i've seen some marvelous monsters in those innocent vinyl squares, the effect being somewhat amplified by the ingestion of fungi containing psilocybe.

Potentially Unrelated

Since a mental spring clean through action of whisky and strawberry milk while on investigations, cobwebs have been cleared out allowing fresh neural pathways to develop in absence of staid old brain routeways. On the return journey bus I developed a technique of mirroring the formation of vivid, real, dream images by the mind finding and tracking real patterns on the diffuse random textured patterns of the retina/back of eyelid. Staring at a random pattern, one can either let the mind find whatever faces or figures or object images it will, in the patterns, or one can seek something in particular, at whatever level of detail you want, eg. find the shape of an angry face, find the shape of a bear, find a guy with his arm in the air, find some monster…

I was doing this by staring at the back of a bus seat (usual random textured plush fabric pattern not unlike the patterns you see with your eyes shut). My feeling is that in sleep, the brain does this very same thing and finds the real actual images within the image seen with the eyes shut. (This being first thought likely by my previously waking up and noticing the lingering dream object having an actual location on the field of vision seen with shut eyes.) In order to find moving images, one needs to search much harder in the patterns/textures of the field of view seen with shut eyes, to find frame by frame images of objects in various stages of movement.

This, I assume, is the entire explanation for rapid eye movement – the eye is flitting about fast because one is searching for images with which to construct real time dream vision.I don’t know how this relates to the case…

In Reply

Attention seeking youths may indeed pass on more information than they actually know.

My French is not quite good enough to know if the Cargo Cult deal in wool trafficking. They may. I am as of 1 minute ago in conversation with a wool outfit based in Wales. I am seeking delivery information.

Independent film-maker disguise eh? I feel that is a case of the disguise being a lack of disguise…

Cargo Cult

were The Cargo Cult involved in under-the-radar wool transportation? what evidence do we have of their operating from Boston? no-one in this town is talking - yet. just booked a room for the next 4 nights; must re-disguise myself and head for the campus, posing as an independent film-maker - attention-seeking youths are known for letting on more than they intend.

In Reply

I never trust a dentist. Never. But that’s just me. I might trust you if you were a dentist – like I would maybe trust a 19 yr old T-shirted Californian smelling of reefer to inspect my teeth with sharp objects over the usual business-suit power-trip zombie tooth doctor who x-rays children’s brains and fills their gums with mercury to pay towards his holiday villa in Spain. Fuckers…I can’t find it easy to think that these people will BELIEVE you to be a dentist. But maybe your disguise is good. Adding 10 years of wristwatch wearing classic FM squareness and subtracting 30 years of true knowledge. In which case you are truly THE master of disguise.I assume nothing was learnt from Sally about the disappearance of Melody Nelson and the involvement in this of the Cargo Cult? Have you been down to the university campus for clues? The film and media department could be worth a try. Tell the professors you want to talk about the Wizard of Oz. Say you’re looking for ‘Dorothy’.

From Warren Leno

Indeed, indeed. I think 'Randy' is Ryan's 30-years-junior alter-ego, which i may have spotted in some sort of spritiual shape-shifting moment. I recall a record producer once telling me how he would watch Bob Dylan in the studio, appearance resembling an 80-year old bluesman and and 8-year old child within a matter of minutes, or even seconds. Said it was like watching a shape-shifter - 'he was that child and he was that 80-year man as much as he was his 54-year old self'. 'Randy' is who Ryan once was and who he would now like to be again.

Anyway, further developments on the Boston angle... Called in on Sally Gainsbourg, she barely remembered Searly and struggled to recall him even upon seeing the CCTV footage. Seems it was his first time in the library by all acounts - seven staff members viewed the footage and none recognised him. I asked them to call me if there is any more activity on his account, which they agreed to do so, viewing me as an impeccable family friend prepared to go to any lengths to reassure a worried ageing couple. (I left them a card which claims my occupation to be 'dentist'. Everyone trusts a dentist.

Considering my options over a cream cheese bagel. Must remember to rent a short-stay room before sundown.

Typo

i see. duly noted. a simple typo. amazing the confusion they can cause.

-/-

Who knows how the truth shall reach us. Quite possibly by misprint.

In Reply

“I give Ryan the name Searly and ask if he would be so kind as to check … if evidence could be found that he is alive and well, I tell Ryan. Classic story, always works, and Randy duly obliges in accessing the security tape of the day the account had been used.”

To quote you. I don’t know if Randy is Loboda. I assumed Ryan had very briefly assumed the name Randy, then slipped back again after getting you the CCTV footages. I recall the Holy Land pass-through on your way north. You had a camera and had some opportunity to take some great shots, if I remember correctly. Though perhaps limited by weather?

Midges are my only excuse for ever emptying bladder into a drinking receptacle. Though I hear sailors do it for the sake of drinking. I do recall you washing the flask very well. As for sailors, if ever at sea without drinking water, a far safer, and theoretically ongoing, system of imbibing waters, is to use seawater instead of urine, taken from the rear rather than orally. The lower intestine absorbs the water content, blocking out the saline content. After which I assume one shits a bit of salt. If only the great explorers had known this technique, many lives could have been saved. Perhaps the Atlanteans knew. The magician, the physician, the rectal fluid intake technician…

In Reply

Randy as in Loboda? I do not believe Randy and Ryan to be the same person. Randy had a brief period of infamy and as such is a publicly recognised figure, though not particularly high profile in the collective conscious. Ryan doesn't fit the bill - too short, too old, too staid. This leads me to question why someone would use a pseudonym so similar to their real name. Is it due to ease of signature forging - the handwriting appearing more natural as it is closer to the familiar form of one's own real signature, or does it stem from something deeper, perhaps?

The idea that a name close to your original moniker allows for more natural reaction in a person-to-person setting. See low-grade tv actors/actresses who play characters which share their forenames, allowing for more natural reactions due to the multitude of historical instances where the person has been called by this name. This investigator suggests that it would be better for a person wishing to hide their identity to pick a name very different from their own and put in the time and effort required to develop a natural handstyle for signatures and a natural response style to the new name in social settings.

I appreciate your concern that law enforcement may frown upon my vehicular sleeping situation, but I shall keep no grog in the car and shall sleep under a pile of old coats in order to make the car appear unoccupied. I am a seasoned pro at such an arrangement, which leads me to recall the time I slept in my car on the high street of the Holy Island after spending the evening drinking with priests in one of the charming local taverns. After meandering back to my car, located by the post office/bakery, I consumed two brandy and cokes before sleeping in the passenger seat, waking only to empty my bladder into my thermos, before falling once again into the dreamy realm and only surfacing back to waking life once the morning birdsong had reached its peak.

A Query

Are Randy and Ryan the same man? I wonder about the lineage of Ms. Gainsbourg. The mysterious ‘Cargo Cult’ involved in the disappearance of a Ms. Melody Nelson, as reported to us by a Mr. Gainsbourg, may be of relevance to the case. Did you pack a wah-wah pedal?

And remember, while sitting in car with scotch sleeping – ‘watch out for the polis!’ I was busted three times in one night once, while parked up trying to sleep with a bottle of beer. Guilty until proven innocent.

Boston (pt 1)

So, Boston. First Stop; the library. Speak to receptionist (short, darkhaired wiry man, namebadge calls him 'Ryan') about a 'friend' of mine who has been uncontactable for some time, whom it would appear had used said library branch at some point in the last month. I explained to Ryan that this 'friend's' family are distressed by his disappearance, and since being made aware that his library card had been used, they had called on an old friend (me) to see if he could be traced. I give Ryan the name Searly and ask if he would be so kind as to check the account for activity. It would really help ease the burden and stress of uncertainty on the ageing members of the Searly family if evidence could be found that he is alive and well, I tell Ryan. Classic story, always works, and Randy duly obliges to access the security tape of the day the account had been used.

With the timestamp on the account activity, it was easy to pinpoint which customer on the footage was Searly - fastforward to 2.38pm of March 26th and there he is strolling through the main door with a slow, long stride. The CCTV is an old system - 32 shades of blurry green with poor frame-rate, offering little to go on. 'Searly' is wearing a fisherman's hat and 3/4 length jacket, walking with a slight stoop and looking floorward the whole time. Possible beard, but hard to tell on this lo-res footage - could just be shadow. Looks a little like Serpico all the same. Library clerk who processed his fines and renewal on the CCTV footage barely pays attention to him, so I doubt she will be able to shed much further light on the encounter. However, Randy gave me her name - Sally Gainsbourg - and she is on shift tomorrow, so I shall call in for a chat with her and see what she can recall.

Forgot to find myself any accomodation in the midst of all this, so am sat drinking scotch in an isolated corner bar in an effort to dull my senses enough to sleep in my car tonight. I feel like the guy wearing the hat in Edward Hopper's Nighthawks.

An anecdote

Here goes official account of my meeting two days ago at the Cumberland Club.

Thursday: Successful hitch to Ullapool with a young lady from Brighton (and her mother), the young lady is not relevant to the case except to point out that she had the most wonderful soft light brown hair on her arms, and was a wonderful human being besides. I was weak as a dog from throat infections. Bus journey to Edinburgh uneventful.

Friday: Kooper Bloomfield Stills Super Session acquired in backbeat, along with Patti Smith Horses also on vinyl. Also Pearl Jam Ten on vinyl acquired previously in Vinyl Villains.

Saturday:
8.00pm: Acquired around 12 black ballpoints from pizza express Sat pm. (The owner was dumping them after 10 mins of use, due to ease of acquisition and basic mental and emotional disassociation with resources) – sufficient ammunition for any remaining journalism to occur, though case was at this point forgotten to the investigator.
10.00pm: Approached the Cumberland Club. Drinking screwdrivers.
12.30: Contact A sighted, being interrogated by R.G.
1.00am: Contact A approached. Introduced by R.G. through accusation by R.G. of Contact A’s hair being flicked backwards into face of the investigator (false).
Name is Candy, from Port X on the coast of L. Huron. Various information. Investigator decided to come clean about the case. Contact A suggests L. Superior most likely location of the hidden State of Michigan; ‘because Lake Superior is bigger than the State of Michigan’. Contact A corrects investigator’s pronunciation of Michigan (Should be ‘Mishigan’, not ‘mitchigan’ as investigator had been saying).
1.30am: Contact B approaches investigator. Accent like Loyd Grosman only more drug-addled.
‘That’s my wife you’ve been talking to.’
‘I know’ (smilingly).
Contact B reveals he is a freelance photojournalist who tracks urban foxes. ‘There’s this one, but I can’t tell you, or they’ll...[slurring – I don’t know who they are or what they would do.]

Contact B tells investigator the location of said urban fox. For now at least, this investigator will refer to location as E.B.G. “My friends tell me send these pictures to the newpapers. I can’t do that…” … He is still on its trail. “I would give myself a 97% chance of tracking this fox.” At this point investigator has grabbed 1 of his ballpoints and is hastily scribbling notes on the back of contact B’s business card. He notices; looks alarmed or confused. ‘It’s okay, I’m just making a few notes.’

The Dreamer

The following piece of new age hokum comes direct from the spare parts collective, a group of unknown membership (possibly only one person with many aliases).

The tripartite ontology is as follows: the dream, the dreamer and the dreamt. The dream refers to the wholeness of experience; the dreamer is the consciousness witnessing this experience; the dreamt (or dreamee) is the consciousness created by the dreamer. One can influence the dream, but so long as one is within the subject matter of other dreaming consciousness, one is also being dreamt. In other words, it is harder to retain free will over the ones dreaming, if one is simultaneously the subject of other dreamers. One will find it harder to perform great feats if one is being witnessed by others who, by virtue of their beliefs about the nature of the dream, do not wish you success or believe you can succeed. They will try to shape the world in one way, while you try to shape it the other. Thus arises conflict. The universe as we see it is the sum total of the conflicts and harmonies of all consciousness and will.

A further result of this theory: Consciousness can create consciousness. Conjure up a being, and the being can conjure back… Unless, there are a whole host of false beings (unconscious but with the appearance of consciousness).

Is this the false eidolon?

From Kojak asa400

The attached image is from Harry Delacroix. The reference to Keegan and Rosta is clearly either an accidental or deliberate misnaming of Regan and Costa. Harry claims the map is from the personal belongings of a Canadian-born Religious Studies student who spent a few semesters in one of the new ‘prefab’ universities in the UK, in the late 1990s. A contact of Harry’s got the map from the R.S. undergraduate’s washbag while canvassing her halls of residence for an RPG club. He also claims to have seen an abundance of knitting paraphernalia in the room, and a Joni Mitchell album sleeve pinned to the wall, with ‘joni for ever’ written in the bottom corner in biro. Apparently, the undergrad was forced to abandon one course unit because some of her theories were too far out for the professors. She reportedly told them: ‘I can prove this’…
The ‘where have they gone?’ question on the map possibly refers to Regan and Costa rather than the larger disappearance circa 2005, if the dating to the late 90’s for this artefact is correct. Unless it refers to something else altogether.

Note to Warren Leno

On your travels, watch out for the chance meetings - they will come to you... You've just got to recognise them when they approach you. I have myself just been approached by an archaeologist researching an ancient site in the lowlands, keen to acquire antler, for comparisons with ancient samples found on the dig. This was while I was investigating thermafleece wool-based building products online (for my own non-case use - building things out of wool...). The archaeologist did not give me anything obvious towards the case, except for some kind of primitive spiritual non-verbal encouragement. But she was a soft sweet thing. Her name was unusual... began in a V, as pronounced, but spelt with a gaelic Mh. Vandeloo... Vermott.. You could very well be digging in the right place. Watch out for 'M's desguised as 'V's and vice versa. I feel it could be a lead.

Further thoughts on the case so far

Many of the links between Searly and the Michigan group seems to involve de Leon, Vandeloo, Vermott and James/Robert Long.

Were these people Searly's go-betweens? His trusted messengers? I am increasingly leaning toward the theory that Jack Vermott and James/Robert Long are psedonyms for Jack Vandeloo and Jose de Leon. The only traces of Long and Vermott are entirely connected to appearances of de Leon and Vandeloo - it seems they are aither a tightly-knit group (excuse the pun), or two people with aliases. The similarity between the names Vermott/Vandello and de Leon/Long incline me toward the latter explanation, something which I believe we should take into consideration when viewing the wider picture.

Also, while trying to indentify the mid-point between Costa and Regan during Black Cat, it struck me that the only known link between the two individuals is Paul Kozyra. Kozyra is their go-between, the middle-man, and most likely was found at the mid-point between the two during the experiment in question. It occurs to me that in all likelihood Black Cat was Kozyra's gig and Regan and Costa were possible collaborators but more likely pawns in his game. Perhaps by looking more closely at Kozyra we will reveal the required knowledge of Costa/Regan and more importantly, the details of Black Cat.

I must hurry now as I am due to fly to Boston in a couple of hours to pick up the scent of Searly, starting at the library.

Eidolons

not sure if this is intra or extra investigations, but was synchronicitously sent the following link below, pertaining to the whole particles-connected-over-distance field of enquiry...

Subject: RE: viva la sangria
oh, watch this if you get a spare 10 minutes at work...is good stuff.
http://www.bbc5.tv/news/story/amazing-holographic-universe

[From this article:] “In 1982 a remarkable event took place. At the University of Paris a research team led by physicist Alain Aspect performed what may turn out to be one of the most important experiments of the 20th century. […] Aspect and his team discovered that under certain circumstances subatomic particles such as electrons are able to instantaneously communicate with each other regardless of the distance separating them. It doesn't matter whether they are 10 feet or 10 billion miles apart. […] A hologram teaches us that some things in the universe may not lend themselves to this approach. If we try to take apart something constructed holographically, we will not get the pieces of which it is made, we will only get smaller wholes. […] This insight suggested to Bohm another way of understanding Aspect's discovery. Bohm believes the reason subatomic particles are able to remain in contact with one another regardless of the distance separating them is not because they are sending some sort of mysterious signal back and forth, but because their separateness is an illusion. He argues that at some deeper level of reality such particles are not individual entities, but are actually extensions of the same fundamental something. […] Such particles are not separate "parts", but facets of a deeper and more underlying unity that is ultimately as holographic and indivisible as the previously mentioned rose. And since everything in physical reality is comprised of these "eidolons", the universe is itself a projection, a hologram.”

See the reference to 'eidolons' as a name for remotely connected particles (or different views of the same goldfish, in one theory). Eidolon - a false idol? A connection? I wonder if our colleague's chance summer evening conversation with Dr. Epstein was indeed more connected than we realise. Sometimes the agents of change and of enlightenment and of reconnection of the shards of the great self come along when we feel we are ready. During verdent wooded walks past hedgerows in the wolds; on patio edges with the smell of charcoal and sizzling fat and dry mown grass; in stuffy libraries to the sound of prolonged rainfall; in our dreams at 5am...

What, then, if it is true? Then we are free to re-believe; free to shape the great dream as we desire; to follow our pure folly and to quell suffering and spread joy in our own disparate pathways of awareness; free to believe in what magic we will.

Note from Lone Wolf

It may be that Costa was associated with the Canadian music scene. A song "Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl appears on the album 2004-09-17: Austin City Limits, Austin, TX, USA. Broken Social Scene is a Canadian indie rock ..." group formed in 1999. (source: internet.)

However the similarity between song titles (one singular, one plural) may be a coincidence. Costa's singular version makes much more sense, for a single song. Alternatively, it may be the same song. Perhaps she ghost wrote for Broken Social Scene or was even a member of the band. I don't know how close to the great lakes scene the band was located. I feel they were either very close, or else vancouver-based.

Note from Kojak 400asa

Simultaneous with these insights, about which this investigator is very excited, especially the woolly knoll meeting, the following can now be reported. A cryptic answerphone message, the voice recognisably that of investigator Harry Delacroix, was left on a hotel room phone, into which a mobile answerphone had been attached by our friend the room guest. The message was spoken without the natural emotion of straight dialogue, and so I feel it to be a reading of a transcription, and it has itself been transcribed as follows:

“I don’t know why they wouldn’t take it more seriously. I mean, sure, it was all a joke, but a serious one. We were gonna build this thing. It was a folly, yeah. But I meant it. No point going halfway, might as well just curl up. And there was no better time in my life before that – even the Tahoe days. Nothing like feeling the wind in your hair as you cut through the evening in the backseat with your comrades – yeah we were comrades, more than just friends, and I don’t mean anything political yunno. Wool everywhere. Needles dancing. That’s where it’s at. But we had to wrap it up – get it hidden. They made that clear… Searly… Message ends. Sometime 2006. See ya.”

I believe Harry found this old interview with a soft core member archived and got it out to reach us in this manner. The last word, Searly…

Why I Ran

Some interesting light has been shed on this case in the last 24 hours - the mixtape in particular giving us great insight into the scene we are dealing with. The connections are coming together like a healthy capilliary system, but we are still short of a main artery or two. The Searly connection is still vague, all we know is that it seems to involve automobiles, possibly roadtrips, nutritional strategy and the beefheart associations. To help turn the corner in the investigation, I have been reviewing my notes in an effort to further understand the character of our quarry.

Looking more closely at the man, we know he is a sports fan - the betting slips, bowling tokens and baseball tickets i found in his garbage tell us this. He is also a bookworm, possibly even a writer himself, going by the library fines and Octopiithagoas. His library account was highly active until eight months ago, then all of a sudden he stopped using it. It would have all the hallmarks of a missing persons case, except three weeks ago he apparently returned all borrowed books in his posession to a library in Boston, paying all due fines and renewing one book - 'Why I Ran' by Randy Loboda.

When I first saw the title on the library ticket, I read it as 'Why Iran?' and thought it was some political spook text, then I realised what it was - the autobiography of an eighties hotshot middle-distance college athlete who went off the rails in his early twenties who ended up fleeing police in a highway chase which went all the way from Denver to Los Angeles before he ran out of gas (ironically only 200 yards after passing a gas station). It is the third longest known police chase in America's history and Randy's crime never actually went on the record; his official final charge being that of a faulty brakelight. The book, published after seven years' silence, was intended to explain the motivation for his running both as an athlete and a fugitive. It was a commercial flop, but gained nortoriety as an unofficial manual of evasion techniques, becoming a cult text for those involved in underground movements wanting to avoid the authorities and providing source material for some of the early Obfuscationst manifestos.

It is interesting to know of such recent activities from Searly and his posession of this book provides some insight into his state of mind.

Rendevous at Wooly Knoll? Part One

Excerpts from notes from botched interview with 'Earl Regan'. Identity of source withheld. Location, times and date not forthcoming. Some items in parenthesis added later.

Intention to meet Regan somewhere in the Yorkshire Wolds was raised sometime ago with 'Saul', friend of 'Stefan' [co-contributor of arts/literature journal, small scale publication, pre-internet boom]. 'Saul' claims Regan had decamped to small Wolds village and drifted into semi-obscurity, but meet up was 'not out of the question'.

Village seemed strong term, single pub and number of cottages, church and graveyard, antique shop. As it was the only venue of any description, headed to the pub [name crossed from notes, word 'Duke' vaguely legible]. Flaking paintwork and worn wood. Bar looks new, selection of ales seems idiosyncratic; choice titles inc. 'Ewe Pokey', 'Crooked Hook', 'Old Heady', 'Black Cat' and 'The Hex'. Latter is to all intents the stronger of the selection and popular with locals - from what I saw. Asked for a shandy...

Staff seem reticent to engage in protracted conversation, mention of Regan draws little reaction. Reviewing directions and suggested routes to village when man on the next table interrupts, stilted conversation reveals some information about Regan and seems to confirm his whereabouts in the area. However, likelihood of rendevous is remote. Regan is, it is believed, only a sporadic presence and is currently not at home.

[Further notes in this section erased or crossed out. Series of sketches and symbols - to follow with other notes from book 2 - fill remainder of pad].

The Invisible Man/Mixtape

The Invisible Man

A strange white A4 ‘window’ style envelope was posted within the UK with dubious postage payment. The contents included a treatise entitled ‘Everybody Looks at the Invisible Man’. It essentially gave examples of the same techniques previously outlined. The notion was that what isn’t seen, or is very barely seen, or is noted by its absence, is picked up on subliminally by the mind, enabling it to gain widespread acceptance in the cultural psyche without anybody realising it overtly. Such a technique perhaps could be employed to spread illusions, such as the relocation of cities, for example. The full content of the treatise is thought still to be in existence, somewhere. However, it is not at present visible to the eye of this investigator.

Note:

31 different shades of merino wool found. That is an interesting numerical coincidence, but probably one to discard in any hunt for meaning.

The connections are suddenly stronger between the Searly affair and the Soft Michigan enigma. A theory: Searly acted as dietician to the soft Michigan core. De Leon and Vandeloon were go-betweens passing communications to and from the South American woolfields, through the Castro regime in Cuba, while based in Florida, but whether they acted for the genuine craft scene contingent of the Michigan core or for the military operatives involved in the same or a similar project, is unclear. Vermott I am still hazy on. Meanwhile Robert Long I assume impersonated Vermott (badly), and was silenced, by the military element? And the Buick? Where was it going? Was it perhaps used then abandoned and destroyed by the handicrafter core of soft Michigan, to hide evidence generally. Was the presence of the phone directory evidence that the handicrafter core silenced Long? I feel I’m trying to polarise everyone into good guys and bad guys with no middle ground. Perhaps really most of it is in the middle. But historically, I think polarisation is genuine. I need to find the third location. The threads are all there, but I just can’t yet get them all to knit together…

Recall in earlier forum excerpts from the Michigan core, the following:

but then again, we looove roadtrips.

see you then!

mostly i just stinking LOVE knitting.

really really happy.

I think we now know the vehicle and the purpose of these road trips. Things are coming together. I see Cate, Grant, Melissa, Belinda and Gert, perhaps with Searly, perhaps with Costa, on the road, hair flying out of open buick windows, speed knitting, sleeping, driving, collecting packages…

The mix tape tracklist recently unearthed from forum excerpts is enlightening (see below). I feel sure from the titles that it is self-recording, possibly by Grant and others, going on the reference to ‘his music’, (also below). I feel we should trace the singer/s behind these songs.

grant and i listened and danced to his music on valentines day

he is the perfect mix to me of blues and folk and funk and feeling

1 make stuff knit

2 april

3 fond of

4 Crochet Stack

5 noon 8

6 layering

7 7mos

8 afternoon

9 sleepy mama

10 waiting for me

11 Theres only one captain on this boat

12 Very Special Scarves

13 Michelle Williams ?

14 new drawing corner

15 the other side

16 Untitled

17 pride and joy

18 steven alan imitation

19 atthestove

20 Untitled

21 film207

22 hi

23 Working

24 Lashes

25 s t i l l morning quiet time

26 anthem for a 17 year-old girl

27 Untitled

28 reasons for staying

29 Untitled

30 book girl

31 Untitled

32 ships ahoy

33 juk box

34 [?]

35 grapefruit & new curtains

36 gams [?]

Reply to Kojak asa400

A mid-point is a mid-point, and to me, all three which you propose seem equally valid. The idea of a euclidian mid-point is extremely interesting, given that we have already been told that a certain part of the Soft Michigan project involved moving things underground - hollowed mountains, submerged cities etc. Could it be that a city was submerged for the purpose of being utilized as a hard-to-find (possibly unfindable) operational centre? This deserves deeper investigation, literally.

I have further developments relating to other parts of the case. According to the police forensics report on the Buick which was found crashed in Maine, several types of wool fibres were recovered from the scene, including thirty-one different shades of Merino wool. Now, even a station wagon at maximum occupancy would not allow for this amount of different colours being accounted for by passenger clothing, even if they were all wearing odd socks. It would seem that the Buick had been used as a delivery/transportation vehicle by the Michigan core group for some time.

We are fortunate to have this information as, due to the unofficial nature of our investigations and the way we operate, we do not have approved access for police files. However, one of my underground contacts is able to bribe a certain law enforcement official in his neighbourhood whom he holds sensitive information on. In order to protect my contact, he must remain unnamed at this time. Suffice to say, his inquisitive nature and loyalties to our cause are a great asset. As my old mentor Bob Palindrome used to say, 'being a detective is not something you do; it is something you are'.

In Reply

Midway point between them: I assume you are suggesting midway epicentrally, ie. on the world’s surface, rather than euclidean midpoint which would be somewhere within the earth, at a depth depending on their distance apart, and increasing with distance apart to a theoretical maximum depth if located at opposite sides of the world (midpoint then being the core). Alternatively it could be a non-euclidean midpoint. Or perhaps a point located so as to form a (curved) equilateral triangle upon the world’s surface. This would produce two possible locations, if we knew their positions, dependent upon the latitudinal orientation of the triangle. I think of the supposed right angle triangle formed geographically by Stonehenge, the location in the Blue Mountains from which the stones were taken, and the mysterious island of Lundy (Island of the moon).

Perhaps the third point between Regan and Costa may even be a point in space, eg. a satellite?

To get a fix on this third location I suggest we revisit the instinctive insights of our colleague, centring on the Droitwich area. (The mysterious ‘Droitwich Fix’.)

I feel a new cosmological theory is close, leading to the postulation of a third state to accompany wave and particle, thus mirroring the solid, liquid, gas triplicacy. But is it a liquid zone between the solid particle and the gaseous wave, or is it a hazier state further beyond the liquid of the wave? We shall see.

Mid Point

THE IDEA of a marketeer being an expert in elusivity is not such a paradox when viewed in light of modern marketing techniques.

In the nineties, the due to advances in satellite broadcasting, the population of the general western hemisphere became oversaturated with 24/7 advertising pitches and began to see through the mechanisms of sales persuasion. The marketing industry's response: to go covert - obscure the message; advertise without mentioning the product. Sub-conscious persuasion by evasion and mis-direction - car adverts with no mention of the product, except for maybe a manufacturers logo silently displayed ad the end of the commercial, are a classic example. It is a basic trick of the Obfuscationists, so beware. When they say 'look left', you better look right.

Further thoughts on the case so far: It seems I was presumptuous in my proposal that Kozyra was funding Michigan operations. there is no evidence to suggest this - as yet. One thing that struck me though, in light of the Black Cat experiments occuring in two locations at the same time. Following the theory behind the dual particle experiments I mentioned earlier, it seems possible that the real Black Cat experiment was actually taking place at the midway point between Regan and Costa's locations at the time; Regan and Costa's actions being a by-product of a much larger experiment being carried out somewhere equidistant from the two Obfuscationists. This surely merits some further investigation. If we can pinpoint Regan and Costa's exact locations during the Black Cat experiment(s) then we should be able to indentify the location of the midway point where the possible larger experiment would have taken place.

Zero Carb

The paradox of a marketeer, normally involved in promoting something into the limelight, being a seasoned pro at being elusive, makes sense to me. Know one thing and its opposite becomes natural too. It certainly ties in with project 31 – promotion of the false in order to hide the genuine. One story I feel to be apocryphal is that Costa herself infiltrated the soft core and struck up a personal friendship with Cate and Grant, the Michigan couple responsible for the ‘conception diet’ regime of low to zero carb. Costa took the strictness of this diet more seriously than the others (many of whom talked about it excitedly while also eating Hersheys on the side), and the story goes that this proved too much for her, leading to her abandoning the soft core and returning, one dress size thinner, to Earl Regan.

The adherence to strict diets could itself be a connection to Ronald Searly:

Recall the acquaintance between Searly and Captain Beefheart (a man who we should remember surrounded himself in aliases, and never called a man by his real name). Beefheart legendarily imposed a strictly controlled diet of plain pulses upon his musicians during recording sessions. Perhaps Searly taught this technique to Beefheart, or else learnt it from Beefheart. Either way, Searly may then have had a hand in the dietary impositions years later in Michigan State.

But what is the real purpose of such a regime?

Minnesota Marketing

My contact tells me that a think tank based in Minnesota has supposedly spent considerable time researching the means of elevating the mythology and iconography behind would-be political key players, to generate idolatry cults around such figures. It has always been assumed that this was purely for electioneering purposes, used by the right to generate gun-toting cowboy imagery, subliminally and more overtly, and also often used by the supposed left to generate false mythologies of hipness onto public figures among campus populations. This involves creating a fake underground, often intended to infiltrate the genuine underground.

Marketing teams behind the branding and creation of by-all-appearances ‘independent’ fashion labels and music acts actually generated by and owned by global corporations, have been consulted by the think tank, some actually joining the think tank. The lead singer of corporate rock act Stiltskin, an act created to sell clothing, appeared before the think tank panel, I am informed, and advised them: ‘Build your heroes as if they had built themselves. Rock and roll can start on the outside. Get the surface right – that’s where it counts; don’t keep it all inside.’ He added: ‘An illusion identical to a reality is itself a reality. Look at me, this is no mask, this is my face…’

It is thought that the think tank began to see further avenues for this approach…

---

False Idol

The false idol angle is an interesting one. Fabrication woven into reality. This ties in with the core concept behind the suspected enterprises of Project 31. Earl Regan and Ellena Costa are known Obfuscationists, thought to have a hand in the op-art affairs noted earlier. Reports from their rookie days, before they knew how to wear the mask, describe them as chalk and cheese, Earl being brash in style and always happy to tout the press, while Ellena kept a notoriously low profile. All I have so far managed to find on record about her is an article in a marketing journal published in 1976. It doesn't give much away; buried in 2,400 words of the writer's speculation, the only direct quote from Costa was "me - hard to find? only a little".

Regarding Kozyra

I have heard the angle that the wealth itself was a bluff – an image built up to mask huge debts from gambling on and investing in a variety of projects. The idea being to look rich enough for banks etc to lend him more. Of Kozyra, Earl Regan reportedly said: who is richer, ‘the banker or the shepherd?’

Three different interpretations of this statement come to me, all of which may be valid – firstly, that Kozyra is the ‘banker’ who may handle money, but is in real terms not rich from it. Secondly – a shepherd, in the biblical sense, is a guide, who supports and protects a group of people along a chosen path. Kozyra could be considered a shepherd in this sense, and could be considered richer for this role, successfully fostering projects by guiding them towards fruition, than any possessor of money. Thirdly, it could refer to wool being the new power currency, ahead of money, hence the shepherd being the possessor of wool, being richer than the possessor of money.

I don’t think the implication was that Kosyra was the shepherd in the third sense, ie. a dealer in wool, but I may be wrong. Perhaps Kosyra was a pawn in someone else’s game, being controlled by those to whom he was in debt?

I haven’t yet heard back from my political marketing contact.

Black Cat

from investigator's notebook (in reference to duality experiment):

... The Ellena Cortez [or Costa] and Earl Regan story related to an experiment called 'Black Cat'. Took place at the same time put in different hemispheres...Cortez and Regan never met, and by all accounts never had any communication - at least not in any obvious, tangible form.

---

Black Cat seems to be related to Paul Kozyra, a Polish immigrant and survivor of WW2. Disgustingly rich...the only link between Cortez and Regan, as a benefactor it seems. Claimed in his lifetime to have a host of extra sensory and paranormal abilities - in some places known as the real life Magneto a la X-Men - but proof of this is wholly anecdotal and is put down to myth building around the man. Earl Regan came up with the Standardised Model for Creating a False Idol. A manifesto of sorts related to his creation of the Melanie Doll.

--Query: are you saying Kozyra was funding the Michigan operation, or possibly some other wing of Project 31? OR was he involved in promoting a false idol, such as Searly - a fake guy for the people to believe in (not that i suspect Searly to be un-real, of course)?--

You surmise that. Regan's idea of a False Idol point to this, but a Standardised Model? Curious. Kozyra was a wealthy man, I'm working on his story at the moment, but it is possible he had a hand in the financing at least. What is funny is that Earl Regan rose from a largely unsuccessful plumber to be a eminent member of Black Cat and a conceptual artists [or 'imaginer' as he was called]. Though as yet I've yet to find any concrete information about Black Cat...

In Reply

Ah, your inquistive nature serves you well, as does your skepticism. You were absolutely right to suspect that Epps and Epstein are corruptions of the same name - we are investigtors by nature and profession, after all. However, you were also right to conclude that they are in fact different people - a coincidence which would be far too canny, something from the realm of fiction, even. I can assure you that I have met Dr. Epstein in person on several occasions over recent years, him being an acquaintence of my wife from her Ph.D. days. He is a brilliant yet quiet man, a professor of theoretical physics who lectures at a noted British university - I forget its name - not one of the big three, but certainly a well respected red-brick. To my knowledge, he has no understanding of, nor interest in, photography, and has certainly never displayed any attention toward my Nikons when they have been lying around the home. In the interests of the profession, I am happy to casually raise the subject at our next acquaintence should you wish me to.

From Kojak 400asa

I assume ‘Dr Epstein’ and the mysterious photojournalist ‘Jacob Epps’ are not one and the same man? Coincidences do occur, especially with so many names floating about in investigations. To suppose that one must be a pseudonym or corruption of the other, in this investigator’s opinion, would be unprofessional, and amount to little more than an unfounded conspiracy theory. On this basis I will lay the similarity aside, and concentrate on digging up more on the case of Melissa Parrish and Belinda Erkhart living together in hiding under the assumed joint name of Melinda Packett while constructing with others a giant state replica from wool, with involvement in some form from the Peruvians.

In Reply

I RECALL a conversation with my wife's friend, Dr. Epstein, a professor in the fringes of quantum physics, towards the dusky end of a garden party last summer, where he explained to me the background of scientific research into recognised non-linear events. Epstein told of an experiment which registered simultaneous changes in two separate particles emitted from a shared source - some sort of particle gun (the finer details of such science have always escaped my comprehension). One particle would be somehow forced to split into two particles, which would travel in opposing directions - when any kind of characteristic was measured in one particle, the same could be found to be present in the other particle at the exact same time, even though the the two pieces of matter were geographically separate.

This, he reasoned, provided proof of an instantaneous non-linear connection between two particles of common origin. The how or why of this is not something I was able to grasp, but Epstein assured me that this experiment produced reliably observable, measurable and repeatable results. If this is so, it is easy to extend this logic to apply to simultaneous shared realisations by unconnected individuals.

Given that we all come from stardust, to put it in laymn's terms, it would seem common sense that unconnected individuals will from time to time hatch ideas, seemingly spontaneously, yet entirely in synch with one another - as the molecule fires across the synapse in one brain, creating the new thought, so must the connected molecule in the other brain, creating the same thought simultaneously.

As I have stated, my scientific understanding of this is slight, but it would seem to me that this could be a possible explanation as to how two identical thoughts could occur simultaneously in peoples unconnected.

Note from Kojak asa400

THIS REMINDS ME of the following incident this investigator picked up on. While investigating the mysterious Nazca Plains large scale engravings, a pair of drop-out crypto-geography enthusiasts from New Zealand, who later visited the UK, got talking to a local Chilean family. They were keen to investigate the settlement growth patterns of mystery cults and ancient settlements, to see how clearly they followed the linear/nucleated patterns in the modern world.

The pair questioned the family about the documented trance rituals of the ancients walking single file along the vast shapes of monkeys, snakes, and strange aparallel ‘runway’ lines engraved at a macro level on the plains. The son of the family told them ‘yes, it still happens; I have walked that path’. The pair were interested in connections with other ancient civilisations using vast building projects, such as the Egyptians, who it has recently been theorised were constructing a giant star map using pyramids. The son when questioned said ‘yes, they wanted to construct a replica of their own world. Now, who can tell which is which? Who can tell in which we now are dwelling? And is this a replica in a replica in a replica? Only the hermit can see it from above…’

This is merely meant as an anecdote, and is not meant to suggest any link with project 31, except perhaps a link of ideas. I do not know if ideas can travel abnormally, but different inventors are often noted to invent the same thing in different continents at the same time with no known links between them.

Further Evidence of the SA influence in the Woolgate affair

As investigations progress across Europe, Safelight is proving to be most insightful and has now provided further corroboration (as yet untested) of South America's role in Woolgate. He recalls a discussion he had with a fellow photojournalist while waiting in a temporary military installation to be flown out of the middle east circa 2004 after completing a 7-month embed with an unnamed batallion. This photojournalist, believed to be Jacob Epps, recounted a project he undertook in 1996 to photograph the catacombs of the latin american region.

In Lima, Peru, Epps claimed to have found (and taken photographic evidence of) a strange secret room in the catacombs which boasted a large map of the united states crudely yet accurately engraved on it's wall. There were minimal details and markings on the map - no towns or cities for instance, but apparently the Great Lakes were all marked on the map, with 4 of them distinguished with large crosses.

The strangest detail of this story as Safelight recounted it, was that Epps seemed convinced the lines from which these crosses were constructed appeared to look like two knitting needles overlayed in a cross arrangement. Whether this was deliberate or an accident achieved through the crude method used to make the engravings is as yet unknown, but Safelight has agreed to make off-the-record enquiries within his press contacts to track down Epps, or at least some of the photos he claims to have taken in the underground networks of SA.

In Reply

SAFELIGHT'S suppositions would appear to be sound. This would follow the supposed straining of the UK-US intelligence relationship under the republican administration, and the ‘woolgate’ affair may have exacerbated this strain through further years. It points towards wool entering the realm of ‘power’ currency alongside oil and technology. Currently, the South Americas, politically dominated by the leftist governments of Venezuela and others, but with Mexico (central America) currently leaning more towards the capitalist western model, have a stronghold on the wool market, with the llama and sheep wool-unit being strong against its counterpart in the US. The nationalisation by SA governments of woolstocks, away from the control of US-dominated wool giants backed by the IMF, has further strengthened the hand of the leftist South Americans. Money was injected into the acrylic and polyester industries and polycotton-recycling technology in the US. Much of the actual labour was outsourced to the far east, with stocks of acrylic-mix wool returning by tanker. A plan to ship the product as helium-filled ‘clouds’, which would reach the US by trade winds, has reportedly been drawn up. (Anonymous source.)
However, real 100% wool, in particular merino, will dominate. As military insiders have reported ‘it’s just soooo much softer’…

Pan-Euro Operation: Preliminary Report

INVESTIGATIONS into the Michigan Flotilla have progressed to England, UK. The whereabouts of the mysterious 'Ike' as at this time unknown, though one of our agents has heard word of a loyalty group known as 'The Ikettes'; individual members of which are still unidentified as of this writing. However, this branch of investigation led us to make contact with a freelance photojournalist whom we can only refer to in this text as 'Safelight'. Safelight recounted to us a project he undertook a few years back, documenting the foot and mouth outbreak of 2001, a project which took him all over the UK for a period of 14 months.

One of the main methods of combatting and containing the outbreak was extensive culling of livestock, notably of sheep, and particularly of breeds which were farmed for their wool as opposed to their meat. Safelight's reportage made no attempt to hide the horror and inhumanity of this method of risk-management and in the text he wrote to accompany his images he continually expressed his digust at the government for forcing the farmers to bear the economic burden of their preferred solution, something which won him the trust of the rural communities.

This trust meant that legions of farm workers were prepared to confide their suspicions of the culling program to Safelight. Many farmers insisted that the structure of their farms meant that contamination was impossible unless intentionally carried out. There were signs of deliberate foul play at many of the infected sites, but most of the media reports centred around speculation from supposedly un-named locals that UFOs were seen in the area, with the hypothesis that biological studies of cattle were the ET's prime motivation for interfering with the livestock.

However, both Safelight and our own investigators could find nobody in these small, close-linked communities who ever claimed to have spoken to the media about such suspected UFO activity. Several individuals, however, told us of a group of Americans who had visited various farming regions of the UK in the previous year - they were intially believed to be tourists but were later understood to have been enquiring about a large-scale transatlantic wool purchase program.

Safelight, based on evidence offered by several senior agriculturists, has proposed that the foot and mouth epidemic was a government-sponsored program carried out to provide a seemingly legitimate pretext to destroy a large proportion of its wool-bearing livestock. Threading such strands of evidence into a theory, it would seem likely that the UK government had become aware of the Soft Michigan Project (31) and was attempting to minimize the raw materials available in the Western hemisphere for the group to exploit, in order to reduce their effectiveness and level of activity. It is obvious that there would not be enough wool in the USA alone for a life-size replica to be reproduced in the country itself, and the project would sooner or later have to buy wool from abroad. Given the UK farmers' dire economic situation, it seems likely that the government was worried that the farmer's would accept the Michigan group's demands and so a pre-emptive strike was taken to undermine the available wool surplus for the next few years.

Latest development

RESEARCHERS now reveal that the blog/internet forum of a US resident known as ‘Bezzie’, primarily devoted to knitting, contains references to reading up on the state of Michigan. It is suspected that at least some of those posting entries (many under pseudonyms) may be involved with the core group behind the Soft Michigan project. One individual called Melissa may be the same as Melissa Parrish, who struck up a friendship with Belinda Erkhart. Both are thought to have vanished. However, an ‘individual’ named Melinda Packett has been traced through pizza orders in the bay area. It is suspected by this investigator that both Melissa and Belinda are still at large, living together, sharing the pseudonym of Melinda Packett. This is substantiated by a bulk order for auburn ‘realcolor’ hair dye to a bay area address. They may have gone into hiding together after the disappearance of others involved in Soft Michigan. Another theory which arises, however, is that the whole group are in hiding, fearing a military clampdown on their work…

The Stitcher

Note to 'The Stitcher':

It is believed that Jose de Leon was involved in the research wing of Project 31; his reason for attending the Michigan boating trade fair being investigations into principles of buoyancy and large-scale cargo transportation. A sales rep who was present at the fair spoke to one of our investigators under condition of anonymity. He recalled a man of short stature with an out of town accent inquiring about large-scale inflation methods who referred to something possibly called the 'Michigan Flotilla'. The short man apparently displayed a physical nervousness which betrayed his calm eyes and wanted to know how to 'float something the size of a city'.

Whether he was an active member of the project or the suspected inside man working for the feds is as yet undetermined but the theory has been raised that he may have been the link between Pinsk, James Long and/or Vermott. The current leading theory is that 'Vermott' may be a codename for de Leon, who was assigned the task of silencing Pinsk by executing a staged crash in Maine for which James Long was made to look responsible. However, it could be that this theory is flawed and de Leon and Vermott are separate entities, either of which could have been an insider or an outsider with regard to Project 31.

Note from 'The Stitcher':

On 15 June 05 (before the disappearance of the soft Michigan core group), a mysterious letter was sent to a part-time Maryland woodland ranger by the name of Phipps. This letter was passed to a friend of Phipps, who herself was acquainted with the sister of a Baltimore man. This Baltimore man heard of our investigations after researching the subject of the letter online, and obtained a transcript of the letter for our researchers. It contains anonymous allegations claiming to be from a military source, that pertain to an alleged conversation between a military man and an Englishman known only as ‘Ike’. The military man, in some excitation, suggested that a city on a lake could be bettered by putting a city under a lake. He outlined a plan of individual vats which he called suspension chambers. The other man (‘Ike’) declared: ‘It is happening again…’ The military man, it is claimed, had a map on his wall of the US, with rings around 4 of the Great Lakes. A photocopied photographic image of this map accompanied the letter.

Addendum

It has been postulated that it was through dealings with college campuses in the mid sixties that now-Michigan-based ex- art students became involved in project 31. However it is unclear whether the recent soft Michigan project is a govt sponsored inclusion in project 31 or rather a counter culture retaliation to oppose the govt led project. If the latter is true, then the disappearance of all the soft Michigan circle core members could have a more sinister explanation. One informer vehemently maintains that the core were silenced, or removed, after a particular individual became aware of their activities and gained their trust. ‘This guy didn’t quite ring true. He had the terminology, like ‘that fabric’s sooooo the thing; my lovely little life…’, but he misused phrases occasionally; got words out of context. I thought it was odd at the time, but now I think he’d learnt it by rote in a short space of time – he was no genuine handicrafter.’
A third theory is that the circle did not know of project 31, but came up with the soft Michigan concept at random. However once word got out, the real project 31 people assumed they were ‘in the know’, and working against them. Perhaps they were indeed working against a secret military project without even knowing it…

Warren

In Reply

Since the late fifties, this investigator understands that covert alliances were formed between national transport network strategists and the military. This alliance later sent feelers into the art and tech college scene, resulting in the development of op-art, as a means of improving visual cloaking technology. The result was the development of a ‘blindside’ area surrounding major towns and cities, whereby op-art techniques were incorporated into road networks, the close twists and spirals of fly-overs and switchbacks distorting time and space and distracting vision to the extent that entering a city seemingly at location 1 can actually take the driver many miles elsewhere to location 2 while still believing themselves to be in location 1. The Google search engine company have gained their global dominance by support given by the US govt in exchange for collusion in future ‘re-imaging’ of online photographic mapping images, to continue the illusion of town and city location. The one hole in this system has always been pedestrians, who, by crossing over roads while not being restricted within the road network, could more easily detect the visual illusions being perpetrated and see beyond the matrix of road systems to the ‘real’ space around them. As such, the crime of jaywalking has been heavily enforced, along with other measures such as out of town shopping precincts, lack of footpaths, and media car culture marketing, to ensure that non-car users were in effect outlawed from travelling in and out of major towns. Stories passed among the tramp subculture have trickled into the urban myth mainstream, suggesting the existence of a strange zone around certain locations, with roads cutting at strange angles veering suddenly into different counties; guard dogs patrolling fenced enclosures; wooden mock up facades hiding fake suburbs… Certain areas are as a result avoided by bums and hoboes. However some areas much like the west coast ‘Slabs’ eco city (itself formed on the concrete foundation remains of a ‘moved’ city) are developing as bum settlements in the locations marked on maps as major settlements and business centres. The supposed location of the headquarters of an IMF sub-division are actually a flat area the size of 20 baseball diamonds, currently occupied by the airstream caravans of hedgehog eaters.

Note to Warren Leno

ANECDOTAL EVIDENCE from a Coloradoan known only as 'Pinsk' outlines further possible details of Project 31. As a specialist in pressurized storage facilities and the go-to man in the mid-south-west for sub-zero fluid delivery systems, he was often called on as a consultant by the US military and associated intelligence corps to advise on a narrowly defined field of operational activity. 'Pinsk' became a vauable military asset, assisting them for several years, even eventually coming to have a permanently reserved parking space at a govt. base in the Rockies. In time he became so trusted that he could roam the base freely and was never asked to show an ID at internal checkpoints.

He was of course sworn to secrecy on all matters, but a traffic accident involving a Buick in Maine (which some theorists believe was a botched assasination attempt by the same black op agencies who had recruited him, their motive being the fear that he had somehow gained access to secret operational files and codestrings) left him horrifically injured and no longer able to work. He underwent intense reconstructive surgery and made a recovery beyond doctors' expectations. However, due to the severity of his injuries and subsequent surgery, he was physically unrecognisable from his former self, with vastly different facial topography and further disfigurements including distorted fingerprints. Pinsk basically became an Unknown Individual, unrecognisable, untraceable. In light of the accident and its suspected perpetrators, Pinsk decided it was in his best interests to remain an unkown, especially given that he had actually gained access to far more information than his former unofficial employees suspected.

One such clasified area of intelligence he was aware of was a Project 31. He believes that the basis of said project was to geographically relocate major US cities as a measure to avoid terrorist attacks. Methods proposed included making inflatable versions of landmarks which would discreetly replace statues, buildings, streets and eventually whole towns. the plan was to keep this secret from the general American populace as well as overseas threats. By doing it gradually and quietly in the night, the theory went, nobody would notice. Some parties, particularly a Harry Owl, voiced concerns that the idea was too far-fetched, but in the end an agreement was made to test the theory by trying to replace one state with an inflatable version of itself then, if successful, the operation would be rolled out nationally. 'Pinsk' belives that Michigan state was selected as the test area after a certain Mr de Leon had visited a boating supplies tradefair there and declared it the kind of state where you could get away with that kind of thing.

'Pinsk''s location and real identity are currently unknown, but in response to being quizzed on where the original towns were to be stored once replaced by inflatable effigies, he was heard to utter the words 'hollowed mountains' before silently slipping away into the shadows of the Pittsburg night.

Project 31

The mysterious project 31 is thought to have arisen in the Michigan area around a crafts club for thirty-somethings. However, despite its beginnings as presumably a crafts project it clearly developed into something far more secretive and unknown. One ex-member of the crafts circle, hobbyist knitter Gert Schrubb, was heard to confess to a stranger in a bar ‘the whole thing started as a joke, but then so many boxes of the stuff started arriving – we had to go through with it. That’s when I bailed out…’ It’s unclear what the boxes contained. However in Duluth in fall 06 agent Harry Delacroix tracked down high school appliqué starlet Stacey Williams, then 24, and formed the following theory from her dealings on the edge of the Michigan. Harry supposes that an advert was placed on an online forum requesting materials to form a giant soft play version of Michigan, in actual size. When the boxes started arriving, he theorises, the small circle set to work and began the project. He doesn’t offer a theory as to where this actual size soft Michigan, once begun, was stored. Stacey Williams reports to Delacroix that she spoke to close friend of Gert, and one-time member of the circle, speed sewer, Jason Kendrick. Jason, who she claims developed a pill habit to maintain his edge, told her ‘we just loaded stuff on the tables to make some room down on the floor.’ The mystery deepened when core members of the circle all ceased to frequent local bars and coffee shops around the same period in 2005. Delacroix suggests they were by then working on the project ‘from the inside’. The theory of soft Michigan is of course too extreme to be believed…

When asked why it was called project 31, Delacroix declares ‘Michigan is the 31st state’.

In Reply

Good sleuthing from ms Kingsbury P.I. BA Phil.
The big fish is indeed in the water.

I note the mention of a certain Jack Vandeloo of Ottawa, and a Jose de Leon, both also ketch ‘enthusiasts’ who many investigators considered likely to be involved in the notorious quota fraud around the Halifax, Novia Scotia bay area in the early 1990’s. The same faces came up again several years later in the Baton Rouge area, after an interim period without any trace as to their whereabouts or activities. In Florida, they were suspected (but later released without charge) in the case of the poaching of young crocodiles to supply private zoos in Mexico. A certain Mr ‘Vermott’ was later to be charged and then convicted of a lesser charge associated with this same crime.

It is unknown whether Vermott was an associate of the other two, or if he was framed by them or others, or whether Vandeloo and de Leon were wholly innocent of the Florida accusations. Vermott was released early and subsequently has been untraced. An ex-work colleague from the Manatee Boat Supplies Company claim he had ‘always talked of visiting Mexico’. Vermott has no known associations with R Searley/Surley/Searly, however a Pasadena phone directory belonging to a James Long was found close to the wreckage of a Buick stationwagon in Maine. In this directory, the name of an R Searle is circled in blue ink with the word Vermouth under it followed by a question mark. Theories have been made that Vermott was an alias, however my contacts feel a more likely explanation is that Vermott used Searle as an alias, intending to pose as Searly, but based on incomplete or incorrect personal information. This supports the theory that both existed and did not know each other directly. Whether foul play can be suspected in the Buick incident, and whether this was conducted by Vermott to silence Long, is unknown.

Memo to Kojak 400asa

Well, I am in a top secret training session today, so it is hard for me to man this operation first-hand right now. Fear not, though, as I have a good team sleuthing out Further Evidence of Ron. One of my most esteemed researchers, a Miss C. Kingsbury, has presented me with some compelling documentation pertaining to our quarry's interest in the nautical.

Now, you're maybe not going to believe this, but there is evidence that our man had/has links to a boat refurbing company called - you'll love this, (though rather than providing answers, will only deepen the mystery); yes, the company was called WhitbyBoat. Read into that what you will. To put it in context, here is a sample para from the document; Note, he is using the surname spelling of Surley here, as oposed to Searly, but that could easily be an editorial typo and in no way can be taken as proof that we are onto the wrong guy.

We have a Whitby Connection now - we are closing in on the beast... [document classified]

Appendix 1.a. poetry transcriptions

Octopiithagoas

Behold the
Eight
tentacled
plane vision of the
architects of night

they dwell here
among us dreamers
they construct our dream
from eight eyes
one for each hue
the eighth eye is the eye of dark light

the rods thread us
through the eye
of the needle hurricane
we are one

behold
this creature has no name


From the Sun

Stript down t’ carburettor
Burnished sun eyes
From the sun

Spectral displays
Boreal lights
Flee the catastrophe

Youth seeks its own answer
Under t’ hood
Clouds parted by some Moses in corduroy
Beaming smile gracefully descends and then ascends
From the sun

Who Is Ron Searly?

ALL THINGS EXIST in spacetime, including Mr. Searly. He's on someone's paper round, someone's Christmas Card List. A Ron Searly is registered at the Jonestown library. A car registered to a Ron Searly was photographed by a traffic safety camera as it ran a red light on some Main St. in Massachusetts (it is unknown as to whether Mr. Searly was present in the car at the time). A Ron Searly paid the cheque for a birthday lunch enjoyed by three unknown white females at a Steak-n-Cake in Reno. He never said a word - they only discovered his deed when they asked the mousey waitress for the cheque. A Ron Searley collected $18.71 winnings from a bookmakers in Brooklyn for a bet he placed on a dodgers game, April 27th 1998. A Ron Searley was there when Beefheart formed his first band. He is reported to have told the captain 'don't do it that way - there's no coming back'.

Note from an interested party:
Find the tokens for Saturday bowling sessions with the mysterious ‘jimmy’. Find the empty tins of dogfood in his long island beach pad, with no other signs of pet ownership. Recount the strange notes found scribbled in his phone directory on the page of a certain Xavier Rheiner, coworker in the Bentley Cane Refinery, Florida.I want the FULL STORY of this guy…

My sources tell me: A Ron Searly has $3.51 of outstanding fines on his account at the North Carolina State Library and two overdue books - one on alternate food sources and an almanac of sewing techniques. Archival clippings from an April edition of the 1982 Pennsylvania Herald confirm that a teenage Ron Searley won second prize in the town's annual poetry contest, coming second to an R. J. Beasley, with poems titled 'Octopiithagoas' and 'From the Sun' respectively. Clippings from an edition of the Milwaukee Tribune, dated September of the same year, indicate that a Ronald Searley was cautioned after being found in a parking lot standing next to a bin fire with ash-tipped fingers and ashen face. He claimed it was like that when he found it. Without witnesses, the prosecution could not proceed with the case and all charges were later dropped. There is a bungalow in a southwestern suburb of Boston, the deeds of which bear the name 'Ron Searly'. No-one has ever seen anyone enter or leave the building, but delivery trucks are observed arriving regularly, sawing and hammering are often heard punctuating the afternoon calm, and the silhouette of a man was seen pacing between the two largest trees in the back yard after dusk a couple of weeks back. Neighbours have been known to ask 'what's he building in there?'