Spotlight: Adam Gorightly

by Victor Thorn

1) As you point out in DEATH CULTS, the infamous 1970s Son of Sam killings
seem to stretch well beyond David Berkowitz involvement to include a group called
"The Process Church of the Final Judgment." Please give us a brief overview of this
secretive organization.

The Process was an offshoot of Scientology, founded in England in the mid-60’s by a

couple of former Scientologists, Robert and Mary Ann DeGrimston. Originally, their
organization was a psychoanalysis group known as Compulsions Analysis, which used a
“process” similar to Scientology’s “auditing”. At some point, however, the group got into
the occult and changed its name to The Process Church of the Final Judgment,
transforming from a self-help group into a spooky bunch of pseudo-Satanists. Famous for
their black capes and goth-like appearance, The Process promoted an End Times
theology and made a concerted effort to attract rock stars like Mick Jagger and John
Phillips into their ranks. In fact, Jagger’s girlfriend of the time, Marianne Faithful
appeared on the cover of a Process Church publication.

Around 1967, The Process started several branches in the U.S., including San Francisco,
Los Angeles, New Orleans and later, New York. The Process was in San Francisco at the
same time that the Manson Family was active there, and in fact they lived only a couple
of blocks from one another. Several witnesses have come forth over the years claiming
that Manson and The Process were connected during this period, and the evidence seems
to lean in this direction. From a philosophical standpoint, The Manson Family and The
Process shared many of the same philosophical tenets revolving around an apocalyptic
worldview. The parallels between their two philosophies have always appeared to be
much more than mere coincidence. Author Ed Sanders in his book The Family claimed
that The Manson Family and The Process were part and parcel of a larger occult
organization into all kinds of weird shit, including human sacrifice. This theme was later
expanded upon in Maury Terry’s controversial tome, The Ultimate Evil, published in the
late 80’s wherein Terry posited that The Process Church was involved in Hitler worship,
animal sacrifice, drug running, kiddie porn and, most significantly, complicity in the Son
of Sam murders.

These are some of the threads I try to piece together in Death Cults, as well as recent
revelations that have surfaced indicating that The Process is still among us.

2) You are also the author of SHADOW OVER SANTA SUSANA, which I feel is
the best book ever written about Charles Manson and his Family. If you could
encapsulate things into a nutshell, what do you think made Charlie tick during those
last few years of freedom between 1967-1969?

As I suggest in The Shadow Over Santa Susana, Charlie was a probable victim of
government sponsored mind control, and was thusly used as a scapegoat to undermine the
60’s counterculture. This was the theory that legendary conspiracy researcher Mae
Brussell first proposed: that the Tate-LaBianca murders were used to create what Mae
called a “strategy of tension” — a ploy devised to erode our civil liberties and bring about
a Police State. Many now contend that the World Trade Center tragedy of 9/11 was used
in a similar fashion, as a “strategy of tension” to stir up hysteria and create an atmosphere
where people are more willing to give up certain civil liberties on the pretext that it will
insure their safety against a potential terrorist attack. In this regard, 9/11 could be
considered Bush’s Reichstag. In other words, Hitler was a good American!

3) Roman Polanski, Sharon Tate, and many other Hollywood celebrities were
involved in the occult and other highly bizarre activities during the late 1960s. What
can you tell us about their interests that most people aren't familiar with?

Polanski and Tate were part of a hipster Hollywood scene that embraced hard drugs,
kinky sex and the occult. This is not to suggest that the victims “got what they deserved”
or that they were necessarily bad people. They simply may have gotten over their heads
in a scene that had some creepy overtones. This whole subject area opens up a
monumental can of worms that I believe is at the core of what went down on the nights of
August 8th and 9th of 1969 in Los Angeles. Some would contend that the Tate-LaBianca
murders were the result of a drug deal gone sour and that the Mansonoids were paying
back murder victim Voityck Frykowski for burning them. Other rumors suggest that Jay
Sebring got over his head in sadomasochism and black magic and that these activities
somehow led to his undoing. Mama Cass and John Phillips of the Mamas and Papas had
connections to both Manson and The Process, and were said to have been at parties that
The Family attended. Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys was a benefactor of Manson’s
and actually tried to help him get established in the music industry. After Manson was
picked up on charges for the Tate-LaBianca murders, many of the same people Manson
had associated with in the Hollywood fast-lane quickly clammed up, and created, what
author Ed Sander’s termed, a “veil of silence”. This is some of the ground I cover in The
Shadow Over Santa Susana.

4) There seems to be an underlying thread between Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard,

the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Jack Parsons of SEX AND ROCKETS
fame, the intelligence community, and the occult. How are they all tied together?

Jack Parsons was a pioneering rocket scientist and founding member of Jet Propulsion
Laboratories who met a fiery demise in the early 50’s when he apparently blew himself to
smithereens at his home in Los Angeles. However, Parsons’ death is shrouded in
mystery, and some suggest that he was actually murdered. Parsons was also a leading
member of the Pasadena branch of Aleister Crowley’s O.T.O., and it was through the
O.T.O. that he met and befriended then science fiction author, L. Ron Hubbard, who later
founded Scientology. Parsons and Hubbard got involved in ritual magic in a seemingly
hair-brained scheme with the intent of creating an elemental being, a homunculus. In fact,
it has been theorized that Parsons was alchemically cooking up this very same elemental
being when he blew himself up. As for Hubbard, he later claimed that he was on a covert
assignment for Naval Intelligence during the period that he and Parsons were conducting
their rituals, and that his mission in this regard was to infiltrate Parson’s “satanic cult”
and ultimately sabotage it. Along the way, Hubbard ripped off Parsons of his life’s
savings and also ran off with his wife. Whatever Hubbard’s true motivations, he no doubt
borrowed certain aspects of O.T.O. ritual magic and incorporated them into his own
Scientology smorgasbord. Whether he was actually an intelligence agent is another
matter. Check out my friend John Carter’s Sex and Rockets for the lowdown on Jack
Parsons.

5) How prevalent a role did mind control play in the assassinations of John and
Robert Kennedy, and other events such as the Jonestown murder/suicides?

The evidence certainly suggests that Sirhan Sirhan, RFK’s alleged assassin, was mind
controlled and used as a patsy in the assassination. Others have made the same assertions
regarding Lee Harvey Oswald; in particular a book by Lincoln Lawrence published in
1967 entitled Were We Controlled? Lawrence, through his connections with intelligence
agency insiders, learned of a secret CIA technology known as RHIC-EDOM, an acronym
for Radio Hypnotic Intracerebral Control and Electronic Dissolution of Memory,
purportedly used to program Oswald to murder President Kennedy. Lawrence also
suggested that Jack Ruby had been similarly mind controlled when he killed Oswald.

As for Sirhan Sirhan, during the course of his trial, it was established that he was highly
prone to hypnotic trance states, and in fact appeared to have been in a trance at the time
of RFK’s assassination. Aside from that, many odd things occurred at the Ambassador
Hotel on the night RFK was shot, including a statuesque young lady wearing a polka-dot
dress who was with Sirhan immediately before the assassination, and who many
researchers believe was one of Sirhan’s “handlers”. As it so happens, there are also some
disturbing ties between Sirhan and The Process. Among other things, author Ed Sanders
claimed that a Process member named Lloyd worked as a chef at the Ambassador Hotel
at the time of RFK’s assassination. Perhaps it was only a coincidence, but Sirhan visited a
friend at the Ambassador Hotel kitchen only a day before Kennedy was shot.

As for Jonestown, I would refer your audience to the work of conspiracy researcher John
Judge, and his piece The Black Hole in Guyana, which clearly outlines a behavior
modification experiment conducted in Guyana with the fingerprints of a certain
intelligence agency all over it.

6) In your latest book, THE PRANKSTER AND THE CONSPIRACY, you write
about a legendary 1960s figure named Kerry Thornley, who epitomizes the zaniness
of that era. For those who aren't familiar with this individual, tell us what made
Thornley so unique.
Kerry was a groundbreaker in many regards; and at the same time remains one of the
more obscure figures to emerge from the 60’s counterculture. Many things make
Thornley unique. First off, along with his pal Greg Hill, he was a founding member of
The Discordian Society. The Discordian Society, a spoof religion, paved the way for a
wave of other spoof religions that are with us today, from the Church of Beaver Cleaver
to the Church of the SubGenius. Along with Greg Hill, Kerry was the author of the bible
of Discordia entitled The Principia Discordia: Or How I Found Goddess and What I did
To Her When I Found Her. This tract was a big influence of Shea and Wilson’s
Illuminatus trilogy and, in fact, the first edition of Illuminatus was dedicated to Hill and
Thornley. If you do a web-search for Discordianism you will see that it is nowadays a
worldwide phenomenon, which was started as a simple joke between two nerdy buddies
in a bowling alley in Yorba Linda, California over 45 years ago. Hail Eris!

Of course, another thing that makes Thornley distinctly unique was his association with
Lee Harvey Oswald. Thornley met Oswald when the two served together in the Marines
in the late 50’s/early 60’s, and Thornley was actually writing a book based on Oswald
three years before to the Kennedy assassination. Thornley later came to suspect that both
he and Oswald had been used as patsies by the intelligence community, as well as being
victims of mind control. Thornley later became a key suspect in New Orleans D.A. Jim
Garrison’s JFK assassination probe, although charges against him were later dropped.

These are just a few of the things that made Kerry Thornley a unique individual.

7) I know you've been writing for underground publications for quite some time
now. Which do you consider to have been the best of them over the years, and how
has the alternative press changed and evolved over time?

Critique, Off the Deep End, Crash Collusion, Murder Can Be Fun, The Excluded Middle,
Pills-a-go-go, SteamShovel Press, ELF Infested Spaces, The Nose, Paranoia, FactSheet
Five — there were a lot of great mags that were published during the heyday of the zine
movement, many of which are still active. I could name many others that were as equally
influential. There was a lot of great stuff done during the halcyon days of the zine
revolution.

The late 1980’s was an amazing period, and opened up the doors to a lot of dissident
voices, such as myself, who--over the years--have been gradually working our way into
the mainstream, or at least have cultivated a larger audience due to our involvement in the
zine revolution. Jim Keith was the classic example of a zinester who was able to
transcend the categories of “conspiracy theorist” and “zine publisher” to become one of
the most important writers of his generation, in my opinion.

With the emergence of the World Wide Web in the early 1990’s, zines--for the most
part--fell by the wayside, and many of the alternative artists who found their voice as part
of the zine revolution have evolved to the Internet and are using it now as their medium
to exchange ideas and explored controversial subject matter.
 Politically, what type of psychological effect do you think images such as burnt
bodies hung from bridges, the prison abuse photos as Abu Ghraib, and Nick Berg's
beheading video have on people?

I don’t think it’s any accident that those disturbing photos from Abu Ghraib have made
there way into popular consciousness. They serve a purpose for those intent on bringing
about a New World Order. This is what Michael Anthony Hoffman II calls “The
Revelation of the Method”. The “Revelation of the Method” is a means of mass
indoctrination and processing the group mind of humankind to accept the horrors of
psyops, specifically of a psycho-sexual nature -- in essence training us to accept and
prepare ourselves for the eventual mass rape of our minds.

9) If you were the President of the United States, what would you do about our
debacle in the Middle East?

As long as we are limited to a “two party system” — The Skull and Bones — there’s
probably not much chance of Adam Gorightly becoming President…

10) Finally, you recently made news in relation to Mel Gibson and his
CONSPIRACY THEORY film. Fill us in on the details.

This whole thing with Mel Gibson started when I finally saw the movie Conspiracy
Theory for the first time a few months back and came to the sudden realization that the
central plot of this film may have been lifted from an article I wrote for Paranoia
magazine back in the early ‘90’s entitled Is the Catcher in the Rye a Mechanism of
Control? In that article I put forth the theory that both John Hinkley and Mark David
Chapman had been victims of MK-ULTRA mind control experimentation. And this was
the storyline presented in Conspiracy Theory, released in 1997 -- that there are still
sleeper agents amongst us who have been programmed to be Manchurian Candidates --
programmed assassins that can be awakened or activated with a certain coded trigger or
post hypnotic command. In the book, The Manchurian Candidate, this triggering device
was the queen of hearts from a deck of cards. In this regard, both Hinkley and Chapman
were found with a copy of The Catcher in the Rye in their possessions after Chapman
killed Lennon and Hinkley’s attempted assassination on then President Ronald Reagan.
Now what this suggested to me, and what I outlined in my article, was that The Catcher
in the Rye had been a triggering device, ala MK-ULTRA. And, as I recently discovered,
this was the basis of the plot of Conspiracy Theory. However, I contend that I was the
first one to make this connection, a full five years before Gibson’s movie, and stated such
on my email list.

Anyway, a reporter for Wireless Flash News took this information and put the spin on it
that I was accusing Mel Gibson of plagiarism, which I never exactly did. I just posed the
rhetorical question: “Did Mel Gibson rip me off?” Whatever the case, I’ll forgive all sins
if Mel would be kind enough to option the right to my latest book, The Prankster and the
Conspiracy. Of course, I haven’t heard a peep out of Mel, which means he must be
gearing up for a long legal battle with yours truly.

Source: http://www.wingtv.net/issue6/gorightly.html