The Copycat Effect Is Real, Notes The FBI

"The copycat phenomenon is real," said Andre Simons of the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit in 2014. "As more and more notable and tragic events occur, we think we're seeing more compromised, marginalized individuals who are seeking inspiration from those past attacks." ~ "FBI report: Dramatic increase in U.S. mass shootings in recent years," Haaretz, 25 September 2014.

When I wrote, and then Faber and Faber published my book, Suicide Clusters, in the late 1980s, few acknowledged that "suicide clusters" even existed. I brought to bear historical evidence that they did occur. I pointed to pages of data, beginning with the fact that the first documented suicide cluster, a wave of self-hangings by young maidens, occurred during the fourth century B.C., in the ancient Greek city of Miletus. I took scientific papers detailing studies from the 1970s that showed the Werther Effect (a term coined by American sociologist Dave Phillips in 1974) resulted in future events. But few read my book. It was not time for those interested in doing something about these incidents to be heard.

Suicide Clusters. Boston: Faber and Faber, 1987. (Psychotherapy and Social Science Book of the Month Club, Alternative Selection, August 1987.)

So, I tried again. On a sporting front, I gave a paper at a suicidology conference (22nd Annual Conference of the American Association of Suicidology, San Diego, California, April 14, 1989). I wrote to MLB Commissioner Peter Ueberroth, warning of a coming series of baseball suicides. 

When it happened, I was not surprised. Sports reporters at newspapers (like Ira Berkow at the New York Times) called me after Donnie Moore's suicide. 

I was interviewed by producers of television documentaries about baseball player suicides, in terms of clustering and copycats.  ESPN SportsCenter (1989) and ESPN Classics (The Donnie Moore Story, 2001) had me discuss the Donnie Moore attempted murder-suicide, after I forecast the baseball player suicides, which did occur during the time period I predicted.

I summarized my research for a professor who asked me to include a discussion of the matter in his sociology of American baseball.

Baseball and American Culture: Across the Diamond. “Boys of Summer, Suicides of Winter: An Introduction to Baseball Suicides.” NY: Haworth Press, 2003. Edward J. Reilly, ed.

But little changed globally, in terms of copycat awareness or prevention. (I was glad to learn, nevertheless, that the MLB players' Baseball Assistance Team, actively instituted more suicide prevention counseling in 1989. Sometimes prevention victories are little ones.)

A pattern underlies many of the events we hear about in the news every day. ... The pattern is called the "copycat effect." It is also known as "imitation" or the "contagion effect." And what it deals with is the power of the mass communication and culture to create an epidemic of similar behaviors. ~ Loren Coleman, The Copycat Effect, 2004.

In 1987, when Simon and Schuster published my Suicide Clusters, few considered that the clustering occurred. In 2004, I challenged myself and the media when The Copycat Effect was released. But only one newspaper in North America reviewed it. The Boston Globe ran a biting, skeptical critique. The media wanted my book to be ignored or even worse, just go away.

Dr. Steven Stack, a sociologist at the Center for Suicide Research, agreed in 2003, to write a cover blurb. He summarized what was happening, perfectly: "The media are still largely in a state of denial on how their coverage of death contributes to the violence and destructiveness in our society -- but Coleman's book should wake them up!"

Perhaps it did, a little, but the journey to the recognition of the reality of the "copycat effect" has been a long time coming. And more work needs to occur.

The Copycat Effect: How the Media and Popular Culture Trigger the Mayhem in Tomorrow's Headline. New York: Paraview Pocket-Simon and Schuster, 2004.

Still, I see inroads in the thinking beginning to change. The statement from the FBI's Andre Simons was encouraging to read. Yes, indeed, "The copycat phenomenon is real," Agent Simons. Past events are predictive of future acts of violence, in the current media climate.

The validity of the copycat effect is undeniable. ... The media’s graphic coverage of rampage shootings, celebrity suicides, bridge jumpers, school shootings, and the like is triggering vulnerable and angry people to take their own lives and that of others. ~ Loren Coleman, The Copycat Effect, 2004.

Decatur Again In Weird News

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.)

Slenderman in Paranoia

Loren & Jenny Coleman's cover article, "Slenderman Becomes Too Real," is in the new PARANOIA, #59/Fall 2014. The selection looks at the series of recent crimes connected to the fictional character Slenderman. You may order a copy online here. 

The Table of Contents of this 65 page issue follows:

In the August 2014 issue, #317, of Fortean Times, Jenny Coleman's "Shadows of the Thin Man" appeared. It was an article detailing another part of the mystery, the popular cultural history of Slenderman and its link to similar entities in film and fiction. That magazine, too, used that topic as their cover subject. http://ww

UPS Shooter Identified

Just before 9:30 am, on Tuesday, September 23, 2014, a United Parcel Service employee fired on Monday, returned to his place of employment to kill two supervisors and himself. The UPS customer service center and warehouse is at 4601 Inglenook Lane, Inglenook, near Birmingham, Alabama.

After the "active shooter" call was received, officers arrived and entered the building. They soon discovered three dead people inside the business. "It appears it was the shooter still wearing his UPS uniform and two other employees,'' Birmingham Police Chief A.C. Roper said.

"We are deeply saddened by today's events and offer our condolences to the families and employees impacted by today's tragedy. Chief Roper and the BPD have our full support as we investigate and get answers for all involved," said Birmingham Mayor William Bell (pictured). (More on the Bell syncs of late, see "The Bell Tolls....")

The shooter is a 45-year-old white married father, identified late in the day as Joe Tesney. He is said to be from the Argo area. You may recall, in Greek mythology, the Argo (in Greek: Ἀργώ, meaning "swift") was the ship on which Jason and the Argonauts sailed from Iolcos to retrieve the Golden Fleece. It was named after its builder, Argus. For more about the links found with the name Argo, see "Argo, Aurora, and AARGAU."

This is the second shooting at a delivery company facility this year. In April 2014, a 19-year-old FedEx Corp. package handler opened fire at a ground facility in Kennesaw, Georgia, injuring six people and leaving one in critical condition. The alleged shooter, identified by police as Geddy L. Kramer of Acworth, Georgia, died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. See more at "Rambo-Style Shooter Goes Postal at FedEx," and "Aurora Name Game & FedEx."

Ninjas Attempt Kidnapping

It happened around 4:00 a.m., on Friday, September 19, 2014, in West Jordan. Ninjas attacked. This didn't occur in the Mideast. It took place in Utah.

On a quiet location near the corner of 9300 South and 4800 West, West Jordan, Utah, what seemed like the beginning of a home invasion was caught in progress by the home owner. But it quickly turned into something unexpected.

Two sister wives, apparently married to a polygamist, were disguised as ninjas. They were discovered trying to break into the home of a 15-year-old girl who was due to testify at their shared husband's rape trial. The women, armed with stun guns and knives, reportedly tried to abduct the teenager from her West Jordan home in Utah.

Everyone involved - the suspects and the home’s occupants - are all part of an extended family, reportedly. The two ninja women claim to both be married to an uncle of a child living at the home.

Hearing a sound, then silence, a male relative of the targeted girl said:

I went to the bottom of the stairs and saw a couple of ninjas coming down. They were all dark gray or black, and they had black rubber gloves on and masks. All I could see was their eyes. My adrenaline was pumping so bad. They grabbed for me and one of them covered my mouth, and the other grabbed my throat, but they were both pretty small so I threw them back and started shouting to get anybody awake that I could.

The two ninja-clad women, aged 18 and 22, allegedly assaulted the home's two adults, but the homeowner managed to subdue one attacker without using any weapon, then subdued the second woman, who had a stun gun, by using a samurai sword.

Is there a samurai/Ninja subculture in Utah that most of us are unaware of?

Police do not believe the women and the uncle belong to a polygamist church.

Law enforcement authorities are not releasing any names to protect the privacy of the teen rape victim. If a name game is being played, it remains hidden for now.

Sources: 1, 2, 3. (Thanks to Chris Woodyard for the initial news tip.)

The beginning of the 4800 West block, in West Jordan, Utah, 

where the incident occurred.

Some past Ninja episodes have been deadly and criminal.

In 2013:

A ninja in Sioux Falls, South Dakota who put a man in a chokehold and stole his backpack. Once police tracked him down, the ninja ran and was soon arrested, but not before busting up a cop's knee.
A ninja in Uniontown, Pennsylvania who stole a woman's cellphone as she was unloading groceries in her driveway.
A ninja in Vancouver, Washington who busted into a bar with an expandable baton and demanded money from the cash register. When the bartender told him it was empty, the ninja left.
A ninja in Houston who cut a hole in the top of a Walgreens, repelled down and stole a bunch of Hydrocodone. He remains at large.
A ninja in Santa Cruz, California who threatened his neighbor with Chinese throwing stars and nunchuks that he was "swinging wildly in the air."

Source for 2013 incidents.

Ninja robbers, South Florida, Sept. 2012.

Surveillance video at a convenience store in Dania Beach, Fla. on Friday, Sept. 7, 2012 allegedly shows one of two men who have been on a robbery spree in Ninja garb

CBS MIAMI

Ninjas crime wave, Pittsburgh, April 2011.

On the 1st of September 2008, in Johannesburg, Morné Harmse, an 18-year-old matric pupil (one who is in the final year of high school in South Africa) allegedly killed a fellow student with a sword. Harmse apparently had envisioned a widespread bloodbath in his school. A follower of the band Slipknot, he had on a Corey Taylor-styled clown mask, three swords, including a smallish Katana and a Sekizo Ninja sword, in his belt, and gloves. He beheaded one fellow student and injured three others. Source.

On the 11th of October 1991, five days before the Luby's Cafeteria massacre, there was a highly publicized "going postal" situation tied to the US Post Office in Ridgewood, New Jersey, which left 4 dead. The killer in that case, Joseph M. Harris, was arrested wearing a gas mask and bullet-proof vest, and also dressed in black military fatigues, black combat boots and a black silk Ninja-style hood, with a 9-millimeter Uzi handgun, a .22-caliber machine gun with silencer, a samurai sword, three hand grenades and some homemade bombs. Source.

Yom Kippur ninja murder case, West Los Angeles, Sept. 25, 1985.

The Bell Tolls White House Invasions and Mass Murders

No man is an Iland, intire of it selfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as well as if a Mannor of thy friends or of thine owne were; any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee. ~ John Donne, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, Meditation XVII, 1624 (original spelling).

Synchronicity is strange. It plays games with your mind, leading you down one road, and dropping you off on another path that leads you right back to the beginning.

Let's take one down the synchromystic journey that appears to be going back and forth in time, starting with a horrible incident that occurred in a microscopic town in the South of the USA.

On Thursday, September 18, 2014, it was Bell, Florida, where a "spirit" - Donald Charles Spirit, 51, - killed his adult daughter (Sarah, 28) and six grandkids, before killing himself. The children who died were identified as Kylie Kuhlmann, 9, Kaleb Kuhlmann, 11, Johnathon Kuhlmann, 8, Destiny Stewart, 5, Alanna Stewart, born June 28 of this year, and Brandon Stewart, 4. The fathers (James Lawson Stewart and Edward Kuhlman) of both sets of children were imprisoned at the time of the shootings.

If that wasn't bad enough, the history here was mysterious and murderous:

Media reports indicate that Spirit accidentally shot and killed an 8-year-old son, Kyle, during a hunting trip to Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area near Kenansville, Fla., on Nov. 14, 2001. During a walk through the woods, Spirit pointed out some rust on the muzzle of a gun and it fired, hitting Kyle in the head, officials said. He was sentenced to three years in prison for illegal possession of a firearm. Spirit pleaded guilty in exchange for a minimum sentence just as his trial was about to begin. After that incident, the family moved from Tampa to Bell, according to published reports. Source.

The Bell killings occurred on the same day, a Taco Bell in Antioch (named after the ancient warring Greek city founded by one of Alexander the Great's generals), California, announced it would be closing its inside area from 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm, Monday through Friday. This was an attempt to deter high school students using their place as a fight club. After school brawling had routinely broken out in that Taco Bell. Fights had occurred in the previous days.

Also on Thursday, Kenneth Osako, 46, allegedly used a bar-bell at a gym in South San Francisco to beat Diego Galindo, 43, to death. Source.

Meanwhile, a few hours before, late on Wednesday night, September 17, 2014, a high speed chase in Bell Township, Pennsylvania, ended when multiple law enforcement departments' pursuits came to an abrupt stop after police shot driver Joshua Jesse of Monroeville, after he allegedly fired on officers. Source.

Also on September 17, the Denver Chapter of National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution rang their Colorado Liberty Bell replica for the first time in 40 years, on Constitution Day. Constitution Day commemorates the formation and signing of the U.S. Constitution by thirty-nine men on September 17, 1787, recognizing all who are born in the U.S. or by naturalization have become citizens.

Even "celebrity news" got involved in this cycle. See "Kristen Bell's Husband Dax Shepard Got a Bell Tattoo on His Ring Finger in Honor of His Wife!" (h/t Todd Campbell).

Something seemed to be in the air regarding "Bell," needless to say.

Soon my attention was drawn to the White House. Here too, a Bell was in the twilight there.

Appearing online, this image has now been turned into

a political statement of undetermined meaning.

You will recall that on September 11th, a man wearing a Pokémon shirt & cap and carrying a Pikachu doll, climbed the fence, got onto the White House lawn, and created quite a scare. Turns out the guy was named Jeffrey Grossman, 26, from Rensselaer, New York, who has mental disabilities. He wanted to ask President Obama about healthcare, allegedly. Grossman has a Bachelor of Science degree in business from College of Saint Rose in Albany.

Grossman (shown) was a graduate of Chatham High School in Chatman High School. On September 19, the school put out an alert "about children in Colonie and Berkshire County being approached by a man in a gray car with New York plates, which police are investigating as possible attempted abductions. While there have been no reported incidents in our immediate area, today we took the opportunity to remind all our students to be vigilant about their safety when out and about."

Grossman's White House intrusion was disturbing, but what happened next was even more concerning, considering the White House is suppose to be the best guarded location in the Free World. 

On Friday evening, September 19, 2014, Omar J. Gonzalez, 42, who allegedly is from Bell County, Texas, jumped the White House's North Fence, darted across the lawn and through the unlocked North Portico doors before officers finally tackled him. It was announced on Saturday that he was carrying a knife. The President and his family had just left for Camp David, and the White House was evacuated. When Gonzalez was apprehended he told Secret Service agents he was "concerned that the atmosphere was collapsing" and needed to contact the president "so he could get word out to the people." Certainly for Gonzalez, the bell was tolling for him.

Update 22 September 2014: White House intruder had 800 rounds of ammunition in his car.

Newer Update:

On September 22, 20014, USA Today made this observation:

Samantha Bell, Gonzalez's ex-wife, said she and Gonzalez married in 2006 and lived together in Copperas Cove, near Fort Hood, until she split up with him in 2010 because of his worsening mental condition. After his second tour in Iraq, Gonzalez began carrying a .45 on his hip at all times and kept three or four rifles and shotguns behind the doors in their home, said Bell, who remarried and now lives in southern Indiana.

Yes, that's correct. His ex-wife is named Bell.

Gonzalez is listed as living in Copperas Cove, Texas, which partially overlaps into Bell County. Records indicate Gonzalez was born and married in Bell County. Waco, Texas, is nearby, and Fort Hood is too. Fort Hood is the scene of murder-suicides and mass shootings. The month has been filled with child murders and homicidal/suicidal acts.

The federal government's action at Waco allegedly triggered the Oklahoma City bombing, which caused the new security measures at the White House. This is all getting to be circular.

On Saturday, September 20th, there was the third recent incident at the White House. The Associated Press shared the slimmest of details:

Less than 24 hours after Gonzalez's arrest, a second man was apprehended after he drove up to a White House gate and refused to leave, the Secret Service said, prompting bomb technicians in full gear to search the vehicle as agents shut down nearby streets.

Where is this going? We shall see, for whom does the bell toll? It tolls for thee.

Bells, tridents, beheadings. White House invasions, child endangerment, NFL players being charged with domestic violence. What are these times we are experiencing. The bell is tolling for thee. Is it really something distance, or are these events close to home?

Why Bells now? Is the metaphor ringing as a herald of news? Or of danger?

I have talked of "Bells" in synchrocinema before. See, for example, 2008's "The Brotherhood of the Bell" and my recycled thoughts on "Yeti, Jimmy Stewart, Bell and Book."

In Jim Brandon's 1983 book, The Rebirth of Pan: Hidden Faces of the American Earth Spirit, he writes, regarding the "name game":

I'm not talking here of such spooky tongue-twisters as H.P. Lovecraft's Yog-Sothoth or Arthur Machen's Ishakshar, but of quite ordinary names like Bell, Beall and variants, Crowley, Francis, Grafton, Grubb, Magee/McGee, Mason, McKinney, Montpelier, Parsons, Pike, Shelby, Vernon, Watson/Watt, Williams/Williamson. I have others on file, but these are the ones which I have accumulated the most instances.

In my 1983 Mysterious America, I wrote:

Cryptologic or coincidence? Jim Brandon should be credited with calling attention to the name Watts/Watkins/Watson, and its entanglement with inexplicable things. Some other names involved in mysterious events pinpointed by Brandon are Bell, Mason, Parsons, Pike, Vernon, and Warren. The influence of such names as Mason, Pike, Warren, and Lafayette, for example, issues, in some cryptopolitical and occult way, from their ties to the Masonic tradition.

From the original source, the Dictionary of American Family Names (Oxford University Press, 2013), the following is shared for the meaning of the name Bell:

Scottish and northern English: from Middle English belle ‘bell,’ in various applications; most probably a metonymic occupational name for a bell ringer or bell maker, or a topographic name for someone living ‘at the bell’ (as attested by 14th-century forms such as John atte Belle). This indicates either residence by an actual bell (e.g. a town’s bell in a bell tower, centrally placed to summon meetings, sound the alarm, etc.) or ‘at the sign of the bell’, i.e. a house or inn sign (although surnames derived from house and inn signs are rare in Scots and English). 

Scottish and northern English: from the medieval personal name Bel. As a man’s name this is from Old French beu, bel ‘handsome,’ which was also used as a nickname. As a female name it represents a short form of Isobel, a form of Elizabeth. 

Scottish: Americanized form of Gaelic Mac Giolla Mhaoil ‘son of the servant of the devotee.’ 

Jewish (Ashkenazic): Americanized form of one or more like-sounding Jewish surnames. 

Norwegian: habitational name from a farmstead in western Norway named Bell, the origin of which is unexplained. 

Scandinavian: of English or German origin; in German as a habitational name for someone from Bell in Rhineland, Germany, or possibly from Belle in Westphalia. Americanized spelling of German Böhl or Böll (see Boehle, Boll).

The bell and the trident - and beheadings - appear in combination in many cultures.

Black Swans, Jareds, Black Suns, and Two Suns

Social media plays all kinds of games. In 2011, for example, "Celebrities Gone Black Swan" was a passing phase. Above is Jared Leto given the Black Swan treatment. Source.

Black swan may be back in vogue, again.

Todd Campbell has a new posting noting that we are entering an intriguing time, a period of the "Here Comes the (Black) Swan". Campbell points out that the Jared Lee Loughner shooting in Tucson ("two sons") happened right before mass blackbird deaths in some central states. Now he notices that hurricane/tropical storm Odile (which translates as "black swan") is intersecting with other links from the past. See his detailed notes on all of this and more here.

See also his The Black Swan Part 1.

Campbell follows the lead found throughout conspiracy and synchromystic writings of translating "Tucson" as "two suns" and "two sons." But this is more than a twilight language translation, please observe. Tourist and business names (e.g. Tucson's Two Suns Enterprises, Two Sun Baby, and Two Suns Fan Force or even Tucson's Two Sons Barbershop, Two Sons Citra, and Two Sons Band) routinely use both "two suns" and "two sons" to brand themselves with Tucson.

Nevertheless, traditionally, the Spanish name of the city, Tucsón is derived from the O'odham (Papago-Pima is a Uto-Aztecan language) Cuk Ṣon, meaning "(at the) base of the black [hill]," a reference to an adjacent volcanic mountain.

Thus, Tucson links back to "black."

Perhaps we should be looking for two suns, one yellow and one black?

The Black Sun in Mesoamerican mythology has many mystical meanings, among them it is connected to the god Quetzalcoatl and his penetration in the Underworld through the west door after his diurnal passage on the sky. For the Aztecs there were two suns, the young Day Sun and the ancient Dark Sun. Some scholars regard the mythological Black Sun as the ancient female origin of all, it is both tomb and womb.

The term Black Sun (German Schwarze Sonne), also referred to as the Sonnenrad (the German for "Sun Wheel"), is a symbol of esoteric and occult significance. Its design is based on a sun wheel mosaic incorporated into a floor of Wewelsburg Castle during the Nazi era. Today, it may also be used in occult currents of Germanic neopaganism, and in Irminenschaft or Armanenschaft-inspired esotericism—but not necessarily in a racial or neo-Nazi context. Despite its contemporary use, the Black Sun had not been identified with the ornament in Wewelsburg before 1991, although it had been discussed as an esoteric concept in neo-Nazi circles since the 1950s. 

If the suns weren't enough, the news today is also of the "rediscovery" of location in Israel that is turning academic heads. The ancient site was dismissed as only portion of a settlement, but a new analysis has revealed it to be a "Moon God" monument of Nanna/Sin.

Meanwhile, on another planet, of sorts....

Jared Loughner, with UFO imagery

created by Red Pill Junkie, a Fortean blogger.

 Jerad Miller

There was another Jerad, Jerad Miller, who killed in that other Sun City, Las Vegas.

For more on my past Jared Loughner's posting, see:

Dr. David Bowman of 2001 and 2010.

"Mind Control" Mass Shooter: Jared Loughner

Loughner: A Copycat?

The Loughner Space Coincidences

Two Sons/Two Suns/Tucson's Kelly brothers.

Under the "Space Coincidence" postings, I detailed these groupings:

1) NASA Obsession

2) Giffords' NASA Astronaut Husband

3) Giffords' Husband's Astronaut Twin

4) "Erad"

5) The Very Strange Name Game Coincidence of the Two Dr. David Bowmans

Loughner & Mars

For other points of view, see also the Red Dirt Report's "MK ULTRA at work in Tucson attack?" and The Libyan Sibyl's "The (Un)Safe Way - Thoughts on the Arizona Massacre." Also all the Happy Creatures' "The Child of War Comes Crashing Down," and, of course, Goro Adachi's "Risen in Egypt" for some temporal contextual insights.

Crocodile Suicides, Alligator Attacks, and 9/11

On the afternoon after September 11, 2014, a woman from Bangkok died by suicide when she jumped into a crocodile pit at Samut Prakan Crocodile Farm. She had carefully removed her shoes before jumping into the water below. The "taking off and neatly placing shoes" behavior has been observed frequently by suicidal individuals jumping from bridges and buildings.

Crocodile Pit Suicides

This Bangkok pit contains hundreds of adult crocodiles, and the Samut Prakarn Crocodile Farm and Zoo houses a reported 100,000 crocodilians. Wanpen Inyai, the 65-year-old depressed woman from Thailand's Min Buri district, reportedly knew what she was doing, as much as anyone who dies by suicide can.

"A similar incident allegedly took place in September 2012, when a man lodged a complaint with the Crime Suppression Division after his wife went missing. He suspected she jumped into a crocodile pond because she had planned to visit the farm before she disappeared. That case is still a mystery as the crocodile farm has declined to comment," reported the Bangkok Post.

Ms. Wanpen's "death mirrored that of a woman who killed herself in 2002 the same way at the same farm, and another suicide reportedly took place a decade before that," said the BBC.

There, it turns out, have been several suicides by crocodile.

The 2002 story broke on August 11, 2002.

The Indian Express published an account on September 6, 2012, in which the 36-year-old wife of Sunai Jisathra, was seen by workers at this same crocodile farm to have "jumped intentionally" into the crocodile pit. Source.

Weird Universe lists the following compilation of crocodile suicides, with sources:

1990: A woman climbed the fence at the same crocodile farm, Samut Prakarn, and was swarmed by crocs as hundreds of tourists watched in horror. [LA Times]
1994: Following the death of President Felix Houphouet-Boigny of the Ivory Coast, a man declared that without the president life wasn't worth living and jumped into the crocodile-infested moat outside the presidential palace in Yamoussoukro. Crowds watched for two days as the crocs chewed on his body. [Glasgow Herald]
2002: Again at Thailand's Samut Prakarn croc farm, a depressed woman waded into the crocodile pit. A spectator later said, "The moment the crocodile grabbed her body, she even hugged onto him. It was horrifying." [The Nation]
2011: A South-African farm worker, depressed after a fight with his lover, waded into the crocodile-infested Lepelle river. No one saw him actually being eaten, but someone later reported seeing a human leg dangling out of a crocodile's mouth. [Daily Mail]

There could be many more.

Crocodilians include crocodiles, alligators, and in total, 23 different species. There is only one place in the USA to see all 23 known species - St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park.

While extremely rare, near fatal interactions with American crocodiles (Crocodylus acutus) do occur. American crocodiles are dangerous to humans; attacks in Mexico, Costa Rica, and Panama are not unprecedented. In May 2007, two instances occurred within one week of children being attacked and killed by this species—one in Mexico just south of Puerto Vallarta and one in Costa Rica. Even this year, on August 24, 2014, a man and his female companion were swimming in a canal in Gables by the Sea, a community in Coral Gables, Florida, when they were bitten in the shoulder and the hand by an American crocodile.

"Summer of the Gator" - 2001

Youth with trident personifying a thriving new country spears an American alligator on the Washington Monument in Eakins Oval; photographed near the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Cable television has institutionalized "Shark Week," in which programming and documentaries take the "fear factor" within humans regarding sharks and translate it to the small screen. Of course, it all goes back, during our modern era, to Jaws, for before the successful movie Steven Spielberg made in 1975, there was Peter Benchley's 1974 book Jaws.

They seem to have not discovered "Croc Week," or "Gator Week," per se, yet.

Beginning in 1976, when the first records in Florida started, fatal alligator attacks have been on the increase. Some occur in the late summer and early fall. For example, on September 28, 1977, George Leonard, 52, was killed by an alligator while swimming in the Peace River Canal, Charlotte County, Florida. On September 10, 1978, Philip Rastrelli, 14, was killed by an alligator while swimming across the Hidden River Canal of Bessie Creek, Martin County, Florida.

But still, shark attacks generally get more attention by the media.

There seemed to be so many shark attacks on humans right after the turn of the century that Time declared, in the Northern Hemisphere, at least, that 2001 was experiencing “The Summer of the Shark.”

But there was something more sinister waiting in the wings. First, however, the "Summer of the Gator" was about to happen.

In my earlier twilight language book, The Copycat Effect: How the Media and Popular Culture Trigger the Mayhem in Tomorrow's Headlines (NY: Simon and Schuster, 2004), I noted:

The summer of 2001 began quietly enough, with local newspapers in Florida talking about some deathly events, which before it was over, had everyone wondering if every lagoon in the Sunshine State was crawling with human-eating alligators. At first, the stories were only of local interest. On May 4, 2001, an 8-foot alligator in a Venice pond killed Samuel Wetmore, 70, near his home in Sarasota County, Florida. On June 23, 2001, little Alexandria Murphy, 2, wandered from her Winter Haven back yard, then was dragged into Lake Cannon in Polk County, Florida, by a 6 1/2-foot gator and killed.

Then all hell broke loose, with the media engaging in epidemic reporting, taking up the thread of 'gator and crocs as the next big new threat on the horizon. Alligators were popping up everywhere. By the end of that month, I had accounts crossing my desk of out-of-place caimans, alligators, and crocodiles being seen and caught in downstate New Hampshire (a 2.5 ft caiman), Central Park New York City (a 2 ft caiman), and on the same day, June 27, 2001, from Buffalo, New York (a 4 ft alligator caught) and off an island in the middle of the Rhine River, Germany (a 5 ft “crocodile” sighted but not caught).

The alligator attacks concentrated in Florida, however. On Sunday, July 1, 2001, a human arm that “appeared to have been bitten” off by an alligator, was found in a canal west of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The rest of the body could not be found. A sort of high sad comedy was reached when the Florida papers published this kind of remark from a member of the Broward County Sheriff’s Department: “We're sure if they survived and they're missing a right arm, they would have come forward by now. Detectives have no idea what happened with this body part, whether it was some sort of accident and the person was eaten by an alligator and this is what's left.”

During the next week in July, echoes of the Florida ‘gators were heard in the Midwest again. Authorities were reporting the sightings of three alligators near Andrews, Indiana, in the Wabash River close to the Highway 105 bridge. No one was hurt but armed officers were trying to locate the critters.

Back in Florida, Tammy Woehle, 22, was out walking her dog, Lady, before dark, on Big Talbot Island, near Jacksonville, when an 8-foot-long alligator attacked her, according to a report from July 9, 2001. The gator grabbed and ripped part of the muscle out her leg, and pulled her to the ground. The news accounts almost made you feel the gator was a sneaky bastard because it crept up to her as she stood on a sandy beach, away from the water’s edge and away from high grass. She escaped with a six-inch wound on her thigh. Before the attack, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission had held a news conference to calm the public. They had noted that the seven alligator attacks in Florida in 2001 were slightly below average. Talk about bad public relations timing. The media would have nothing to do with it. The Woehle attack was widely reported, and it was clear to the public, from what they were hearing in the press, this was a dangerous summer. Then drumbeats announced that a much more sinister danger was lurking just offshore.

A few pages later, I wrote:

Ellen Steele, 81, heard the screams of her 81-year-old husband Robert on September 11, 2001, and couldn’t do anything to save him. But most people never heard about Robert, and how an 11-foot-long alligator near Sanibel, Florida, fatally attacked him as he walked his dog that day. There was something much larger on the media horizon that day. On September 11, 2001, four jet airliners, with Flight 11 being the first, were involved in the largest single homicidal-suicidal effort in history to bring bloodshed, death, and terror to the core of American society.

The Southeastern Outdoors Florida fatal alligator attacks site gives Mr. Steele a different age:

Sanibel, Florida – September 11th 2001, 82 year old Robert Steele was attacked and killed while walking his dog on a trail between two wetland areas in the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge. FWC officers later killed a 10’9″ and 6′ alligator.

The State of Florida’s “Alligator Attacks – Fatal” sheet has this:

Robert Steele, 82, was attacked near his house on Rabbit Road in Sanibel on September 11, 2001. Steele was walking his terrier on a narrow path that ran between two wetland areas close to JM “Ding Darling” National Wildlife Refuge when a 10’9″ gator attacked him and dragged him into the water severing his leg. FWC officers destroyed the gator. Another six-foot alligator was also removed.

Robert Steele is no longer a forgotten deaths of 9/11.