Downard Redux
Adam Gorightly - March 14, 2009
Up on the Binnall of America site is a recent interview focusing on my latest book, James Shelby Downard’s Mystical War. In response, Chris Knowles over at his Solar Satellite blog suggests that Downard was a paranoid schiz who was perhaps institutionalized and subjected to Jungian analysis, thus the “creation” of his theories. In other words, Jungian synchronicities formed a vast Masonic conspiratorial world view in Downard’s seemingly mad mind. However, it should be noted, I’ve come across no evidence whatsoever suggesting that Downard ever visited a loony bin. (Other than this one we all live in!)
One area discussed in the Binnall interview was the issue of Downard’s actual existence, and how I came to the conclusion that it certainly appears he was an actual living, breathing entity, as opposed to the popular theory that “James Shelby Downard” was a literary hoax. In this regard, after hearing said interview, an email correspondent sent me the following link, attesting to the Downard Family tree branching out to JSD’s probable birthplace in Ardmore, Oklahoma.
Tags: James Shelby Downard
PERFECTIBILISTS: The 18th Century Bavarian Order of the Illuminati
The Ascendancy of the Scientific Dictatorship
Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism
Fire in the Minds of Men: Origins of the Revolutionary Faith
America's Secret Establishment: An Introduction to the Order of Skull & Bones
March 21st, 2009 at 4:40 pm
Anyone here ever read that “Kingkill 33″ thing of Downard’s before? Kinda weird stuff.
February 21st, 2012 at 10:26 am
Downard’s “King Kill 33″ is great poetry, to be sure, but avoid “Carnivals of Life and Death” like the plague. If Downard was actually trying to pass this off as “real” then he was a lunatic….for thinking people would believe it! As metaphor, it’s still crap. I only read it because I’d ordered it from Amazon. If I’d had an opportunity to skim it I’d have never bought it and if I’d checked it out of a library would have closed it after the first 10 pages. It truly is a boring and godawful book. The literary equivalent of a Chinese gumball.
If this Gorightly book is as thoroughly flawed as his book on the Process Church, I’d avoid it, too. Discordian journalists may be fun, but if you’re looking for someone to draw a clear line between fact and fantasy, this may not be your book.