Stephen Decatur.
The Commodore's power moniker is appearing lately in conjunction with some disturbing stories.
Friday, September 19, 2014. Decatur, Georgia. Friday afternoon around 2:00, Decatur (Georgia) Police got several phone calls that a man acting in a "bizarre" matter, running into traffic near B&B Trailer Park. One caller reported the man, later identified as Jose Dorsett, said "someone" was trying to kill him. He reportedly ran into traffic, and several cars had to swerve to avoid him. He was said to be foaming at the mouth. Dorsett charged the officer who responded to the scene, and the officer used his K-9 to detain him. The K-9 bit Dorsett in his thigh, and the officer was able to get him down. Another officer arrived to help handcuff Dorsett. He was taken to the Decatur Morgan Parkway Campus Emergency Room. According to hospital staff, Dorsett was under the influence of cocaine and was likely experiencing a drug overdose. On Saturday, Dorsett was declared brain dead. Source.
Sunday, September 21, 2014. Decatur, Indiana. Stephen Cox, 30, of Decatur, Indiana, died Sunday at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, according to the Hamilton County Coroner. The crash in which he sustained his injuries occurred September 14 at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Ohio. the crash occurred during an event called the Rusty Wallace Racing Experience. During the event, which is offered at the speedway on most weekends, people can pay to ride in or drive race cars. Source.
Monday, September 22, 2014. Decaturville, Decatur County, Tennessee. The latest suspect, John “Dylan” Adams, 26-year old younger brother of earlier suspect Zachary, in the Holly Bobo case was arraigned in Decatur County Court. Holly Bobo, a 20-year-old nursing student, was abducted from her home outside Parsons, Tennessee, about 100 miles west of Nashville, on the morning of April 13, 2011. Her remains were found by two farmers in a rural area outside Holladay, Tennessee, in Decatur County on September 7, 2014. The timeline of the events can be found here and here.
Monday, September 22, 2014. Decatur, Alabama. A toddler found submerged in a tank of baptismal water in an Alabama church died of accidental drowning. Brayden King, who was two months shy of his second birthday, was under the supervision of a sister in her early teens when he fell into the tank on Friday at the Pentecostal House of Prayer in Decatur, about 75 miles north of Birmingham. The toddler was found in 33 inches of water and declared dead after unsuccessful attempts to resuscitate him. Source.
The Rebirth of Pan (1st edition, Firebird Press, 1983)
Mysterious America (1st edition cover, Faber & Faber, 1983)
Decatur again. Yes. We are aware that Decatur interacts with bizarre news. Jim Brandon pointed out "Decatur" as a "power name" in his The Rebirth of Pan in 1983, and I wrote about it as part of the "Name Game" in Mysterious America, also first in 1983.
Decatur, Illinois's iconic Transfer Station use to be located in Lincoln Square, named after the assassinated Illinois president, Abraham Lincoln.
My old hometown’s name, Decatur, (of Decatur, Illinois) has a Fortean mystique and synchromysticism about it that has created all kinds of synchromojo.
Several locations are named "Decatur" across the United States of America. Such sites are named after the War of 1812′s Navy hero, Stephen Decatur, who also fought against the Barbary pirates. Stephen Decatur at one time conducted tests in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey in 1804, and allegedly fired on the Jersey Devil. The records say that Stephen Decatur identified the winged creature as a “devil” – pale in color, with leathery bat-like wings. Decatur perforated one of the thing’s wings with a fired cannonball, but it seemed unfazed, which disturbed everybody who was there at the time. It flew off.
The word decatur (French in origin) is loosely translated as “dweller at the sign of the cat.”
Stephen Decatur, a Masonic figure of some noteworthiness, is responsible, as well, for the Stephen Decatur House in Washington D.C., which is located on Lafayette Square.
The USS Bainbridge, which organized the 2009 US Navy rescue of an American ship captain (Captain Richard Phillips) from Somali pirates, was named for Commodore William Bainbridge, who was held prisoner by North African Barbary pirates from 1803 to 1806.
Commodore Bainbridge commanded several famous naval ships, including the USS Constitution and saw service in the Barbary Wars and the War of 1812. Bainbridge was also in command of the USS Philadelphia when it grounded off the shores of Tripoli in North Africa, resulting in his capture and imprisonment for many months. In the latter part of his career he became the U.S. Naval Commissioner.
Lieutenant Stephen Decatur commanding the USS Intrepid executed a night raid into Tripoli harbor on February 16, 1804 to destroy the Philadelphia. Admiral Horatio Nelson is said to have called this "the most bold and daring act of the Age."
It is worthy of pointing out that James Shelby Downard's research in King Kill 33 notes that Bain relates to Bane (fatal cause of mischief), and in Scottish legend, the Bain Fairy is a death fairy who is the keeper of the Bain Bridge. King Kill 33 noted the American battleship Bainbridge, which was dedicated by Lyndon Baines Johnson, is a harbinger of death, according to Downard.
On March 22, 1820, Commodore Bainbridge served as the second for Commodore Stephen Decatur (a Brother Mason) in the duel with fellow Navy officer James Barron that cost Decatur his life at the age of 41. His wife Susan called the seconds Decatur's assassins. The Decatur name game is a book unto itself.
Decatur's name dots the landscape of America.
U.S. Naval Academy
117 Decatur Road
Annapolis, Maryland
The chorus: "That Decatur old Neptune's proud trident shall bear, And the laurels of Vict'ry triumphantly wear" appears in the song Stephen Decatur, as noted in The Life and Character of Stephen Decatur; Late Commodore and Post-Captain in the Navy of the United States, and Navy-Commissioner by Samuel Putnam Waldo (1822).
(Thanks to Robert Schneck for pointing out the Decatur, Alabama story to me.)
2 comments:
I'm trying to figure out the meaning of that Naval Academy motto on the seal. Some sources read it as "Ex tridens scientia" and say it means "From the sea, knowledge," but most give it as "Ex scientia tridens" and translate it as either "Through Knowledge, Sea Power" or "From knowledge, power over the sea."
I have the feeling that "ex scientia" must be the correct interpretation because "tridens" is a nominative and not an ablative (or so says the remnants of my high school Latin) and that the original 19th century meaning got twisted around when Star Trek adopted "Ex astris scientia" as the motto of Star Fleet Academy. But there's something a bit weird about the resulting ambiguity -- not to mention the question of why the word "tridens" would unquestioningly be taken to mean a form of power.
The train station in the picture of Decatur Illinois seems to be in a huge Crossroads, which would correlate with a portal to the Unseen World in many occult belief systems.
Also the Cat would be sacred to the Demoness Astaroth, who is said to be in charge of the Americas in some magic grimoires.
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