Paranoia Magazine's "Al Hidell" Dies

"Al Hidell" a/k/a David McGuirl, died on February 5, 2022.

On February 7, 2022, "Joan d'Arc" posted on Facebook:

"My good friend since we met three decades ago, David McGuirl, passed away on February 5, 2022 after a battle with ALS. Dave and I met at the Providence Conspiracy League at Newspeak Bookstore, and we co-founded Paranoia Magazine in 1992. He wrote under the pseudonym, Al Hidell, a tip to the 'other' I.D. found in Lee Harvey Oswald’s wallet. Together with a great team of artists and writers, Paranoia enjoyed an international following, publishing 52 issues and several books between 1992 and 2011. A talented graphic artist, Al Hidell designed many of the magazine’s provocative covers, inside illustrations, and stellar layouts. He penned the highly-anticipated Paranotes section—inventive narratives that tied curious events together synchronistically. There could not be a better friend or business partner in the world. Al Hidell will be missed by his family, friends, and dozens of team members from his twenty years in the 'conspiracy' business."

Joan added a footnote privately to me: "It was unexpected. He was not in late stages of ALS, although it had progressed quickly in just under a year."

David J. McGuirl, a/k/a "Al Hidell" ~ February 9, 1966 - February 5, 2022.

Lee Harvey Oswald's SSS card showing his use of the "Alek Hidell" name.

Bill Gaess writes on February 6, 2022:

"A friend of mine, David McGuirl, passed away yesterday morning. I barely knew him when he reached out to me last spring to help him ship some high end audio gear that he wanted to sell because he was having problems with his legs. He eventually gave me the keys to his condo and I had to sell the gear as well as ship it because he couldn't walk and wasn't improving. I organized his condo and helped him sort through his belongings, especially albums, which he had a ton of. His uncle was the late Paul Motion, talented and super famous jazz drummer, so he had many many jazz records among other genres. We shared a love for music and audio gear, and humor too. I got to know him very well and appreciated his trust. He had been at a nursing home, then his mom's house, then a hospital, and finally another nursing home. I couldn't visit him toward the end because he had tested positive for Covid (with no symptoms) and was in restricted quarters. We emailed, texted and talked on the phone until he lost the ability to use his hands. Thank God I visited him, Thursday. I brought him some tasty food and we had a few laughs. I told him to take it easy as he struggled to speak and stay awake. I stayed by his side as long as I could, then I woke him and said goodbye. I had planned on visiting again yesterday and playing some music for him on a Jambox, but God had other plans for him. He was the author of a published, fringy book, loved his cat (who died recently), his friends, his family and music. He was an intellectual with a gentle soul. I wish I knew him better before he became ill. I told him so and he wished the same thing. I also let him know I would help his sister and mom as much as I could. He was very concerned that he would burden them. He told me he had expected to be fully paralyzed with a breathing tube and an inability to talk or eat, which he managed to avoid. I know he is in a better place, listening to some jazz with his cat on his lap. I will miss David greatly and am honored to have become one of his best friends. He said I always made him smile. Keep on smiling, David!"

The Woodlawn Funeral Home published the following on February 12, 2022:

David J. McGuirl, 55, passed away on February 5, 2022, at Briarcliffe Manor in Johnston, Rhode Island, after a battle with ALS.
Born in Cranston, Rhode Island, on February 9, 1966, he was the son of Sarah A. (Motian) McGuirl and the late Peter T. McGuirl. He graduated from Cranston High School second in the Class of 1984, and went on to get a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1990 from Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. He resided in West Warwick and was the office manager at the International Brotherhood of Police Officers in Cranston for many years.
David was an audiophile who avidly collected and sold vinyl records and audio equipment. He collected and listened to music of all kinds, from early R&B and Rock and Roll, to Modern Jazz and Classical. His love of jazz had its roots in his family, and Dave was proud of the fact his uncle was the legendary jazz drummer, Paul Motian. Dave’s love of stereo equipment ranged from his early playing of 8-tracks on his 2-xl toy robot to sophisticated vacuum tube electronics and audio streaming equipment.

David was the co-founder and co-editor of Paranoia Magazine from 1992 to 2012 under the pseudonym, Al Hidell. The award-winning conspiracy and paranormal magazine enjoyed an international following, publishing 52 issues and several books. A talented graphic artist, he designed many of the magazine’s provocative covers, inside illustrations, and stellar layouts. He penned the highly-anticipated Paranotes section—inventive narratives that tied curious events together synchronistically.
David is survived by his mother Sarah (Motian) McGuirl of Cranston, sister Tracey McGuirl of Cranston, sister Cindy McGuirl of Thomaston, Maine, niece Kalie McGuirl of Oakland, California, cousin Rosemarie Caito of Johnston, aunt Barbara McGuirl of Cranston, good friends Al Hill and George Hanley both of Cranston, friend and business partner, Joan Ratcliffe, and several cousins. He is predeceased by his father, Peter McGuirl, his aunt, Rose Bowden, and his uncle, Paul Motian.
The family will hold a private memorial. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the ALS Association at https://www.als.org/donate.

The literary work of David McGuirl can be sampled by reading various issues of Paranoia Magazine, and the compilation, The Conspiracy Reader.

David was a bright and creative man. I was happy to have had my works critiqued by Joan and David in Paranoia, and to see my name appear in its pages and their Conspiracy Reader. 

David, rest in peace.

EYES Before Christmas

The EYES have it.

Tom Cruise is an actor in Eyes Wide Shut and Vanilla Sky (a/k/a Open Your Eyes).

Alicia Witt, an actor in Dune, Eyes Wide Shut, Vanilla Sky and Walking Dead, discovered her parents died 20 Dec 2021.

Loren Coleman tweets:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEDxKzDATv8

Variety announced on December 22, 2021, that an actor in 99 films, Jack Hedley, 92, had died on 11 Dec 2021. 

His best-known role was Carole Bouquet's father, Sir Timothy Havelock, (shown right before he was killed) in the 1981 James Bond film For Your Eyes Only.

In 1962, in Lawrence of Arabia, Hedley played a reporter at Lawrence's funeral.

Red-Shirted Fakenauts

Glen de Vries

On October 13, 2021, William Shatner (age 90), the actor who played Captain Kirk on the Original Star Trek series, boarded a Blue Origin sub-orbital capsule and successfully flew to space becoming the oldest person to fly to space. The flight was ten minutes long.

The vehicle was New Shepard 4, and reached 341,434 feet (106 km).

Shatner flew to space on Blue Origin's second sub-orbital human spaceflight, Blue Origin NS-18, on October 13, 2021. He was accompanied by Chris Boshuizen, Glen de Vries, and Audrey Powers aboard the RSS First Step, the New Shepard suborbital rocket capsule, from Blue Origin's Launch Site One in West Texas. Aged 90 years, 6 months and 22 days, Shatner became the oldest person to fly to space, surpassing Wally Funk, who flew on Blue Origin's first human spaceflight at the age of 82 in July 2021.

In a televised post-flight conversation with Blue Origin's founder Jeff Bezos, who had invited him to join the flight, Shatner articulated experiencing what is called the overview effect, a deep awareness of the fragility of planet Earth and its relatively thin-atmosphere.

Due to Shatner being on the flight, spoof sites and meme builders had "fun" with the crew. Fake photos of the flight members were shown with red shirts versus Shatner's senior official uniform. The not-too-subtle meaning being that on Star Trek the first individuals killed in encounters were those wearing red.

These jokes seemingly appeared to be prophetic. 

On November 11, 2021, Glen de Vries, 49, died in a small plane crash. De Vries is one of the most common Dutch surnames. It indicates a geographical origin: "Vriesland" is an old spelling of the Dutch province of Friesland (Frisia). Frisia, is a province of the Netherlands located in the northern part of the country. Hence, "de Vries" means "the Frisian". The name has been modified to "DeVries", "deVries", or "Devries" in other countries.

Since the late Middle Ages, Friesland has been renowned for the exceptional height of its inhabitants, who were deemed among the tallest groups of Indo-Europeans. Even early Renaissance poet Dante Alighieri refers to the height of Frisians in his Divine Comedy when, in the canticle about Hell, he talks about the magnitude of an infernal demon by stating that "not even three tall Frieslanders, were they set one upon the other, would have matched his height."

Where Glen de Vries was killed is a topic of social media conversation.

"The Time I Went to Aleister Crowley's Burial Site"

Or not...

 

"On 1 December 1947, Crowley died at Netherwood of chronic bronchitis aggravated by pleurisy and myocardial degeneration, aged 72....Crowley's body was cremated, his ashes were sent to Karl Germer in the US, who buried them in his garden in Hampton, New Jersey." Source.

Also worthy of your reading time...

Chris Knowles on Astroworld, here and here.

Halloween's Tokyo Joker Attack

A man, 24, dressed as Batman's Joker, attacked passengers on a Tokyo train line on Sunday evening, October 31, 2021, injuring 17, as many party-goers headed into the city center for Halloween. The suspected attacker was arrested on the spot.

According to Reuters, the attacker had spread fluid around the train and started a fire.

A video on Twitter showed a bespectacled man dressed in a purple suit and bright green shirt, as worn by the Joker, seated in an empty train puffing on a cigarette, his legs crossed and looking calm. He can be seen through the window being surrounded by law enforcement in a subsequent clip.

Origins

As David Charles Plate observes, "Alan Moore's The Killing Joke was the first instance of The Dark Knight rendition of Batman along with The Man Who Laughs rendition of The Joker. The Thelema connections are numerous."

It is apparent that the alleged attacker's outfit was copycatted from Heath Ledger's Joker in the "Dark Knight" costuming (which, of course, has a long history before modern cinema). However, the Tokyo individual's costume was a bit off; he was wearing a green shirt, different tie, and a purple vest, as opposed to Ledger's outfit.

The attack occurred on the Keio express line bound for Shinjuku, the world's busiest rail station, at around 8 p.m. (1100 GMT).

Phantom Clowns and Jokers

In March of 1982, in Fate magazine, and then in 1983, in my book Mysterious America, I first used the term "Phantom Clowns" to talk of May 1981's Boston, Massachusetts accounts of individuals wearing multicolored clothes who reportedly were trying to entice school children into coming along with them. The eyewitness accounts of clowns in vans bothering children were discussed for the first time comprehensively in a work of Fortean wonders.

The ultimate modern "Killer Clown" was the Joker, which evolved into the killer Dark Knight, appearing in full form at Aurora on July 20, 2012 (see here at "red dawn," with many links therein).

The copycat effect continues....

On October 27, 2021, a Joker character with a knife ~ in Boise, Idaho, was seen but no suspect was apprehended. That would case be a classic Phantom Clown sighting (as per my Fortean clown classification system). The Japanese incident on Halloween 2021 is a physical manifestation of the Killer Clown.

Family Trees

Created in 1998 by artist Jeffrey Vallance.

Phantom Clowns, Killer Clowns, Jokers, and Dark Knights issue forth from the same, sometimes deadly, "Trickster"/"Clown" tree. 

Created in 2008 by artist Jeffrey Vallance.

With the change of season, we may see the appearance of members of the "Wildman"/"Santa Claus" family tree, as captured above a decade after Vallance's "Trickster" family tree.

See also here, here, and here.

h/t AProdigiosus, Chris Farnsworth, Tim Binnall, Jeffrey Vallance

#Cryptokubrology, #Batman, #Joker.

Footnote: My wife, Jenny appeared to be picking up on this Joker energy on Halloween, and said several things about Batman throughout Sunday. Humm...