I-35: Highway to Hell

People have emotional relationships with the highways on which they have to drive often. Interstate 35 is one such road. Writer Sherry Claypool Kuehl once called I-35 "Satan's Parking Lot."

Let's look at it as a "highway to hell" in the wake of the Austin bombings and a quick reflection on its troublesome history.

This map by "Jenny Almond" was originally published on February 5, 2018, on Merovee's blog.  It showed predictive insights regarding the Austin bombings. For example, bomber Mark Anthony Conditt's suicide occurred in Round Rock, which is visible on her map.

Other items that Jenny Almond and Tom Mellett have noted should be added to the map include:

~ The Alamo, The Battle of the Alamo, San Antonio, February 23 – March 6, 1836;

~ The Ebola outbreak at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, Dallas, October 12, 2014;

~ The Smiley Face Balloon Crash, near Lockhart, 30 miles south of Austin, July 30, 2016.

Considering how finite the limits of Almond map are, it is intriguing to note how many of the Boyms' "Buildings of Disaster" are represented on her graph.

Texas School Book Depository, November 22, 1963.

University of Texas Tower, Austin, August 1, 1966.

Waco, Texas, April 19, 1993.

Oklahoma City Federal Building, April 19, 1995.

Texas A&M Bonfire Tower, November 8, 1999

Interstate 35 is closely tied to the controversy surrounding the so-called NAFTA superhighway. 

"The proposed Trans-Texas Corridor toll-road project included one proposal (TTC-35) to primarily parallel I-35 from the Mexican border up to the Oklahoma border." Source.

Interstate 29 and Interstate 35, described by the Ministry of Transportation for the province of Alberta as the "NAFTA superhighway."

Perhaps we need to watch I-35 a bit more closely.

For example, notice Ardmore, Oklahoma is on I-35. That's the childhood home of James Shelby Downard, which blogger Matt Forney wrote was "a town straight out of a David Lynch movie: wholesome on the outside but hiding deep dark secrets."

Between 1967 and 1972, "The Enema Bandit" (see Michael H. Kenyon) terrorized Norman, Oklahoma (which sits right on I-35).

The I-35 corridor in this part of the country may be "Satan's Parking Lot," after all.

Aurora Fire: A Self-Immolation?

The Aurora fire in the FAA air traffic control tower appears to have been a probable suicidal event.

Charged with one count of Destruction of Aircraft or Aircraft Facilities was Brian Howard of 1307 Ivy Lane, Apt #201, Naperville, Illinois, in connection with the fire at the FAA Air Route Traffic Control Center in Aurora, Illinois.
ABC News reports:

According to the complaint, Harris allegedly entered the facility at 5:06 a.m. dragging a black hard-sided roller board suitcase. The complaint alleges that at 5:36 a.m., a message appeared on a Facebook account held in Howard’s name, and that message, containing a reference to ZAU, the three-letter call number for the facility, was subsequently forwarded to law enforcement authorities.
Paramedics from the Aurora Fire Department, responding to a 911 call at 5:42 a.m. by an individual at the facility, entered the basement and followed a trail of blood that ultimately led to an individual later identified as Harris, according to the complaint.
Thomas told reporters this morning, "It appears to be a fire set by a contract employee. There was no terrorist act."
The suspect was taken to the hospital with burns all over his body and self-inflicted knife wounds, a federal law enforcement source told ABC News. Howard was not an FAA employee but authorized to be in the facility, according to two sources. His motivation is still unclear.
A federal law enforcement official told ABC News “It sounds like it [the fire] was intentionally set,” though adding “it does not sound like it was an attack on the facility.”

Various 2014 and 2013 incidents of self-immolations are noted here, here, here, and here.

The postcard, at top, of Aurora, Illinois, the "City of Lights," is from 1911.

Black Joker Hits Tower, Many Killed

The port tower of Genoa was hit by a ship named the "Jolly Nero," which has the nickname of the "Black Joker." Reports of several killed are being noted by media accounts.

• John Hooper in Rome
• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 8 May 2013 08.59 EDT

The container ship smashed into the 170 ft (50 meter) tall tower of Genoa, bringing it crashing down and killing up to 10 dead. Four people, including a pilot and two coast guards, are confirmed drowned. On Wednesday morning, the death toll was reported to have climbed to seven. Another three people were missing.

Various theories are being developed for why the accident occurred.

John Hopper writing for the Guardian noted:

According to other accounts, however, it was the stern of the vessel –a 40,594-tonne container ship – that brought down the tower. The ship involved in the collision was the Jolly Nero ("Black Joker"), belonging to Ignazio Messina & C.
Stefano Messina, the managing director, said: "We are very upset – more than that. It is something that has never happened before. We are distraught."
The head of the port authority, Luigi Merlo, said the ship was coming out of the port when it struck the tower. There was no obvious explanation for the disaster, he said. "It was a perfect evening. The sea was calm. There was no wind. Visibility was perfect." But he added: "The manoeuvre ought not to have been carried out in that area."
One theory voiced on Wednesday was that one of the Jolly Nero's two engines might have jammed, making the ship impossible to control.
The coast guards operating from Genoa's imposing port tower were responsible for the northern sector of the Tyrrhenian sea. Radar installed in the operations room at the top of the tower could detect ships up to 40 nautical miles away. The tower hosted the offices of the coast guard and the pilots who guided ships in and out of the port.

Genoa = Genua was a city of the ancient Ligurians. Its name may derive from the Latin word meaning "knee" (genu; plural, genua), i.e. "angle," from its geographical position at the center of the Ligurian coastal arch, or it could derive from the Celtic root genu-, genawa (pl. genowe), meaning "mouth," i.e., estuary; thus akin to the name of Geneva.
"The Dark Knight/Joker name game continues to play out," writes BG, who contributed this news.

Evil Clowns: Summer 2009

We live in strange times, it seems, with politicians viewed through the character of an evil clown who was played by a famed actor who died young.

Take this summer of 2009. Look at the new posters called "unpleasant," "disturbing" and a "fake grassroots movement" by liberal bloggers, and pointed out by conservatives as some kind of "popular" commentary. The original image was apparently created by Firas Khateeb, a student living in Chicago. However, whoever adapted it as a poster and added the legend, "socialism," is still a mystery.


Photos by Chris, via Tammy Bruce.

Made by persons unknown, the posters started showing up around Los Angeles. They are of President Obama as a version of Heath Ledger's Joker character in The Dark Knight, with a none-too-subtle "socialism" message attached to them.

It gets to be very cryptopolitical and weird out there. [Update: See SMiles' "Alex Jones as The Joker."]


LA Weekly.

Of course, such visual expressions were used against the previous administration too. Drew Friedman, in July 2008, drew President George W. Bush as "The Joker" for Vanity Fair. He entitled it "No Joke."



Clearly, the Joker's impact lives on today.



Even sightings of past stars are recorded in terms of their old Joker roles this summer. For example, see how Philadelphia Inquirer entertainment columnist Michael Klein mentioned one such actor on July 20, 2009:

Jack Nicholson, shooting the James L. Brooks comedy in town, was spotted sitting near home plate at Monday's Phillies-Cubs game in a white Yankees cap. Fans gave him a pass because, well, he's Jack Nicholson. The Phillie Phanatic came out on the field in a Batman costume and pretended to take on "The Joker." Nicholson played along, shaking his hands to signal that he was going to "get him."

Meanwhile, the movie's star Reese Witherspoon, who starts before the cameras Tuesday (7/21) in the Brooks comedy, was Jake Gyllenhaal-less at dinner with her kids and nanny Saturday at Plate restaurant at Suburban Square in Ardmore. She's living on the Main Line.

For future reference, be aware of the Joker, Donnie Darko's Jake Gyllenhaal, and the name "Ardmore," in Michael Klein's short passage.

As I have mentioned recently in "Top Ten Evil Clown Stories of 2008", "Evil Clowns 2008", and "Phantom Clowns Are Back", sinister clowns are an active Fortean and cultural phenomenon.

Now, something wicked this way comes, or, at least, a new momentarily appearance of same.

On August 11, 2009, WSBT 24/7 News broadcast the following breaking story, "Clown reportedly chases man near Ardmore Trail."

Police looking for a man dressed as a clown were unsuccessful in locating him early Tuesday [August 11, 2009] — that’s after a driver told St. Joseph County authorities the stranger chased him around just west of South Bend.

The man called 911 shortly before 3 a.m. and said the person in a clown suit was on foot, but chasing him as he was in his truck in the 55500 block of Melrose Avenue.

The clown then disappeared back into the woods, police were told.

Officers who responded to the scene were unable to locate the clown, according to 911 dispatch.

Clearly, in this seemingly near "abduction" case, it reminded me of the "Phantom Clown" cases where clowns were seen, children were threatened with kidnappings, and the clowns then merely vanished.

So I searched around a bit.

Guess what? On Thursday, August 6, 2009, there was a near-abduction of a little girl in...get this...Ardmore, Oklahoma!

Daniel Armbruster of KXII-TV reported:

Ardmore Police say a 10-year-old girl was riding her bike near her home Thursday evening when a man approached her and asked her to get into his car. Now a seemingly quiet neighborhood is on edge.

The 500 block of H Street Southwest in Ardmore is described by residents as peaceful and a great place to raise children. But since last Thursday evening some residents have become concerned that their small neighborhood may no longer be the safe place they one believed....

Ardmore Police say the only description the little girl could provide is that the man was light skinned. They say it was the skills her parents taught her about strangers that possibly saved her life, because she refused the man's invitation to get into his car and immediately ran home.

Ardmore, Oklahoma having a near-child abduction and Ardmore Trail, Indiana being the focus of "clown" attention on 8-11 are bizarre and very Fortean. What name game is behind "Ardmore"?

The name Ardmore is a Gaelic word signifying high grounds or hills. John A. Keel would often point out that hilltops (literally the "keels" of the high grounds) were the best places to observe Forteana.



Most of the uses of the word "Ardmore" link directly back to Ardmore, Ireland.


Round tower and ruins of St Declan's Church, Ardmore, Ireland.

On a hill above the village of Ardmore, Ireland, is a well-preserved 30m high, 12th-century round tower and the ruins of St Declan's church and oratory dating from the 13th and 8th centuries respectively. One of the outer walls of the church features some stone carvings retrieved from an earlier 9th-century building. The carvings include a very early image of a harp, and of Adam and Eve in the garden.

The Ardmore church also contains two Ogham stones (ancient alphabet message phallic carved rocks, see one below), which rest in small alcoves.



Where does "Ardmore" pop up in the USA?

Ardmore, Oklahoma was named after the affluent Philadelphia suburb and historic Pennsylvania Main Line stop Ardmore, Pennsylvania, which was named after Ardmore, Ireland (the oldest Christian settlement in Ireland) by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1873.

Another Ardmore is a city in Giles and Lincoln counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee, and borders its sister city, Ardmore, Alabama. That Ardmore is a town in Limestone County, Alabama, and is included in the Huntsville-Decatur Metro Area. It is home to the Saturn 1B Rocket, at the Alabama Welcome Center, just south of the Tennessee border, on Interstate 65.

On April 22, 1966, Ardmore, Oklahoma, was the site of the worst plane crash in Oklahoma history, which killed 83 people.

And now a "clown" is appearing along the Ardmore Trail in Indiana, and a child kidnapping phantom in Ardmore, Oklahoma. BTW, as aferrismoon points out, synchromysticism's Godfather John Shelby Downard was born in Ardmore, Oklahoma.



Ardmore is the site of Downard's imagined or real horrible Masonic childhood abuse memories.



For more on "Phantom Clowns," see Mysterious America (NY: Simon and Schuster, 2006). For more on symbolic criminal behavior, see The Copycat Effect (NY: Simon and Schuster, 2004).

Thanks to Dan Shideler for the first hints of the Ardmore Trail events.