James Shelby Downard
Encyclopedia
James Shelby Downard was an American
conspiracy theorist whose works, most of which have been published in various anthologies from Feral House
, examined perceived occult
symbolism, twilight language
and synchronicity
behind historical events in the 20th century. Vankin and Whalen write of Downard,
in the first edition of the book Apocalypse Culture, which speculates that the Freemasons were responsible for the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The essay was removed from the second edition of the book and replaced by another essay by Downard, “The Call to Chaos”. Apocalypse Culture II contains another Downard essay, “America, The Possessed Corpse”. Jim Keith
, editor of yet another Feral House
publication, Secret and Suppressed: Banned Ideas and Hidden History, included “Sorcery, Sex, Assassination”, the original article of which King Kill/33 is an abridgement.
Included in Cult Rapture is “Riding the Downardian Nightmare”, a piece written by Parfrey concerning a visit to Downard in Memphis, Tennessee.
Friend and mentor to researcher Michael A. Hoffman II
, author of Secret Societies and Psychological Warfare, Downard's influence is evident in Hoffman's work.
Hoffman's website released the full manuscript of “King Kill/33” and “Carnivals of Life and Death”.
Downard was assisted in many of his earlier works by his good friend, William N. Grimstad. Grimstad is better known as Jim Brandon, author of the Fortean
classics, Weird America: A Guide to Places of Mystery in the United States and The Rebirth of Pan: Hidden Faces of the American Earth Spirit. In the early 1970s he was assisted in his writing and editing by John and Darlene Cox in Lake Havasu; then, later in the early 1980s he resided with John and Karen Bissell in Estacada, Oregon where Karen typed his manuscripts and John assisted with research.
It is in "Weird America" that we find this entry by Grimstad (as Jim Brandon) for the Dallas - FT. Worth Area; the first published piece on Downard's theory:
Downard died in 1998 while working on his autobiography
, the first volume of which, The Carnivals of Life and Death, was published in 2006 and deals with his childhood in the Deep South
, where he was first exposed to the Freemasons and Ku Klux Klan
.
Downard's body of work has gained a sizeable cult following
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
conspiracy theorist whose works, most of which have been published in various anthologies from Feral House
Feral House
Feral House is a book publisher owned and operated by Adam Parfrey. The publisher itself describes the books it sells as "pure information", and says the topics of the books are "forbidden"....
, examined perceived occult
Occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
symbolism, twilight language
Twilight language
Twilight language may refer to:*A conspiracy theory proposed by James Shelby Downard and embraced by Michael A. Hoffman II*The Twilight Language, a polysemic language and communication system associated with Tantric traditions...
and synchronicity
Synchronicity
Synchronicity is the experience of two or more events that are apparently causally unrelated or unlikely to occur together by chance and that are observed to occur together in a meaningful manner...
behind historical events in the 20th century. Vankin and Whalen write of Downard,
Biography
Downard is probably best known for his essay “King-Kill/33: Masonic Symbolism in the Assassination of John F. Kennedy”, originally published by Adam ParfreyAdam Parfrey
Adam Parfrey is an American journalist, editor, and the publisher of Feral House books, whose work in all three capacities frequently centers on unusual, extreme, or "forbidden" areas of knowledge.-Life:...
in the first edition of the book Apocalypse Culture, which speculates that the Freemasons were responsible for the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The essay was removed from the second edition of the book and replaced by another essay by Downard, “The Call to Chaos”. Apocalypse Culture II contains another Downard essay, “America, The Possessed Corpse”. Jim Keith
Jim Keith
Jim Keith . American author best known for the books "Black Helicopters Over America" and "The Octopus", co-written with Kenn Thomas, which details conspiracy theories around the death of reporter Danny Casolaro...
, editor of yet another Feral House
Feral House
Feral House is a book publisher owned and operated by Adam Parfrey. The publisher itself describes the books it sells as "pure information", and says the topics of the books are "forbidden"....
publication, Secret and Suppressed: Banned Ideas and Hidden History, included “Sorcery, Sex, Assassination”, the original article of which King Kill/33 is an abridgement.
Included in Cult Rapture is “Riding the Downardian Nightmare”, a piece written by Parfrey concerning a visit to Downard in Memphis, Tennessee.
Friend and mentor to researcher Michael A. Hoffman II
Michael A. Hoffman II
Michael Anthony Hoffman II, , is an American journalist, conspiracy theorist and Holocaust denier who describes himself as a "heretical writer." Hoffman is the managing editor of the newsletter Revisionist History....
, author of Secret Societies and Psychological Warfare, Downard's influence is evident in Hoffman's work.
Hoffman's website released the full manuscript of “King Kill/33” and “Carnivals of Life and Death”.
Downard was assisted in many of his earlier works by his good friend, William N. Grimstad. Grimstad is better known as Jim Brandon, author of the Fortean
Fortean
Fortean refers to:*Charles Fort's ideas and philosophy and the people and things inspired by it*Fortean Society, formed by New York's literati led by Theodore Dreiser, Booth Tarkington, Ben Hecht...
classics, Weird America: A Guide to Places of Mystery in the United States and The Rebirth of Pan: Hidden Faces of the American Earth Spirit. In the early 1970s he was assisted in his writing and editing by John and Darlene Cox in Lake Havasu; then, later in the early 1980s he resided with John and Karen Bissell in Estacada, Oregon where Karen typed his manuscripts and John assisted with research.
It is in "Weird America" that we find this entry by Grimstad (as Jim Brandon) for the Dallas - FT. Worth Area; the first published piece on Downard's theory:
Downard died in 1998 while working on his autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
, the first volume of which, The Carnivals of Life and Death, was published in 2006 and deals with his childhood in the Deep South
Deep South
The Deep South is a descriptive category of the cultural and geographic subregions in the American South. Historically, it is differentiated from the "Upper South" as being the states which were most dependent on plantation type agriculture during the pre-Civil War period...
, where he was first exposed to the Freemasons and Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
.
Downard's body of work has gained a sizeable cult following
Cult following
A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a specific area of pop culture. A film, book, band, or video game, among other things, will be said to have a cult following when it has a small but very passionate fan base...
.
Sources
- Brandon, Jim, Weird America: A Guide to Places of Mystery in the United States, New York, NY.: E. P. DuttonE. P. DuttonE. P. Dutton was an American book publishing company founded as a book retailer in Boston, Massachusetts in 1852 by Edward Payson Dutton. In 1986, the company was acquired by Penguin Group and split into two imprints: Dutton Penguin and Dutton Children's Books.-History:Edward Payson Dutton founded...
, 1978.3 - Brandon, Jim. Dunlap, Ill. The Rebirth of Pan: Hidden Faces of the American Earth Spirit, Firebird Press, 1983.
- Downard, James Shelby, The Carnivals of Life and Death, Feral HouseFeral HouseFeral House is a book publisher owned and operated by Adam Parfrey. The publisher itself describes the books it sells as "pure information", and says the topics of the books are "forbidden"....
, September 2006. - Gorightly, Adam; James Shelby Downard's Mystical War, Virtualbookworm.com Publishing, November 2008.
- Hoffman II, Michael A., Secret Societies and Psychological Warfare, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.: Independent History and Research, 2001.
- Jonathan VankinJonathan Vankin-Biography:Vankin was formerly a news editor of San Jose, California's Metro newspaper and is the author of several books and comics. He has also written for the TV series The Crow: Stairway to Heaven. His graphic novel, Tokyo Days, Bangkok Nights was published in January, 2009...
and John Whalen, The 70 Greatest Conspiracies of All Time (Citadel Press, 2001) ISBN 0-8065-2033-7 - “Sorcery, Sex, Assassination”, in Keith, Jim ed. Secret and Suppressed. Portland, Or.: Feral HouseFeral HouseFeral House is a book publisher owned and operated by Adam Parfrey. The publisher itself describes the books it sells as "pure information", and says the topics of the books are "forbidden"....
, 1993. - “America, The Possessed Corpse”, in Parfrey, Adam ed. Apocalypse Culture II. Venice, Calif.: Feral House, 2000.
- “Riding the Downardian Nighmare”, in Parfrey, Adam. Cult Rapture. Portland, Or.: Feral House, 1994.