Rmack
Van Allen Belt Sunbather
I've only alluded to this story in some of my past posts, so I thought I'd submit a more detailed account.
I was, for a few months, the 'Security Guard' at Bent Corydon's Riverside Mission in the late '70's. I was paid between $50 (once) and $5 a week (most of the time) for this 'post'. This entailed me staying all night at the property, doing occasional rounds, and making sure the doors were locked. I spent most of my time, between patrols, down in the excellent library of occult books that I suspect were mostly the Corydon's collection.
I survived at the time by collecting food stamps, about $50 bucks a month, and an unemployment check. I think it was about $90 bucks every two weeks. I lived in an apartment shared by three other members, staff from the Hawaii mission that were in California for training, or something. They were such assholes, I almost got disenfranchised.
Sometimes when I was on duty, for who knows what reasons, other Scios would be hanging around after hours (midnight, or so) or where playing basketball or ping-pong in the gym.
One night I was talking to some fellow Scio, don't remember the subject, when we both started hearing what sounded like a crowd of people talking, just out of range of coherent hearing. I think we were in the gym when we first heard it, and it seemed to be coming from the front of the building. We both walked toward the sound, only to have it masked by our footsteps. We stopped before getting to the lobby, the small bookstore part of the mission by the front steps. We heard it again, this time it seemed to be coming from upstairs, so I do a complete patrol of the mission. No one there.
I wound up running into this guy again back in the gym, and although I was mostly intrigued at the time, not scared, this guy quickly became obviously fearful when I told him I couldn't find anyone. He very nervously said he had to split. I tried to convince him that I would appreciate someone hanging around, as this is kind of freaky, and would prefer not being alone. I figured a fellow believer would have lot's of 'confront' of this kind of phenomenon. He couldn't leave fast enough.
What ensued was one of the most trying nights of my life. The phenomenon continued, on and off, for hours. If I moved, the sound of my own footsteps and air movement would mostly mask the sounds, as they were very faint, but whenever I stopped, it seemed to be coming from elsewhere in the building. I'd go to one area, and then it would seem that the sounds where coming from another, often the area I had just left.
I soon wound up just sitting in the front lobby, just listening. I can say that my Scientological indoctrination did sort of help me in this, as I figured it's just some 'thetans' doing something weird.
My mild uneasiness quickly escalated to a deeper concern when the noises seemed to be in the room with me, and they seemed to be changing. What had sounded like a mellow cocktail party going on in the other room changed to something else. Hard to describe, as it's been many years, and I tried to forget this for a long time. I guess it sounded like groaning or something, maybe many people going 'uhhh!' at different pitches, though always just on the threshold of hearing.
Both the phenomenon and my anxiety was reaching a crescendo when, I swear to God, a book flew off the shelf and landed in the middle of the lobby floor, several feet away from the base of the shelves.
I jumped up and yelled 'THAT'S IT', reacting to my indoctrination, and, to my surprise, the noise stopped. At least for awhile. I would apply the same technique for the rest of the night if I heard the sounds again, which I tried vehemently not to hear. I don't think the Mission had more 'security patrolling' on any other night than that one.
I couldn't wait to report this to my senior, and had hopes of maybe being let in on some secrets, but I was to be disappointed. He didn't believe me, and the other guy refused to comment, as far as I heard. I think my senior at the time was Joe Yasbeck, as the 'Ethics Officer' and he tried to get me to believe it was the air conditioner making noise. I had spent several nights in that building, and never heard anything like it before or after. Regardless of this, I was told that it must be my 'bank' somehow, and that made me doubt my own senses.
As an addendum, the janitor at the time working for Bent, Eric Boecher, (not sure about the spelling) who was my very good friend who first taught me rock climbing, related a similar story one time; he claimed he was woken up one night when he was sleeping in that old 'YMCA' building by a 'buzzing' bunch of thetans!
I was, for a few months, the 'Security Guard' at Bent Corydon's Riverside Mission in the late '70's. I was paid between $50 (once) and $5 a week (most of the time) for this 'post'. This entailed me staying all night at the property, doing occasional rounds, and making sure the doors were locked. I spent most of my time, between patrols, down in the excellent library of occult books that I suspect were mostly the Corydon's collection.
I survived at the time by collecting food stamps, about $50 bucks a month, and an unemployment check. I think it was about $90 bucks every two weeks. I lived in an apartment shared by three other members, staff from the Hawaii mission that were in California for training, or something. They were such assholes, I almost got disenfranchised.
Sometimes when I was on duty, for who knows what reasons, other Scios would be hanging around after hours (midnight, or so) or where playing basketball or ping-pong in the gym.
One night I was talking to some fellow Scio, don't remember the subject, when we both started hearing what sounded like a crowd of people talking, just out of range of coherent hearing. I think we were in the gym when we first heard it, and it seemed to be coming from the front of the building. We both walked toward the sound, only to have it masked by our footsteps. We stopped before getting to the lobby, the small bookstore part of the mission by the front steps. We heard it again, this time it seemed to be coming from upstairs, so I do a complete patrol of the mission. No one there.
I wound up running into this guy again back in the gym, and although I was mostly intrigued at the time, not scared, this guy quickly became obviously fearful when I told him I couldn't find anyone. He very nervously said he had to split. I tried to convince him that I would appreciate someone hanging around, as this is kind of freaky, and would prefer not being alone. I figured a fellow believer would have lot's of 'confront' of this kind of phenomenon. He couldn't leave fast enough.
What ensued was one of the most trying nights of my life. The phenomenon continued, on and off, for hours. If I moved, the sound of my own footsteps and air movement would mostly mask the sounds, as they were very faint, but whenever I stopped, it seemed to be coming from elsewhere in the building. I'd go to one area, and then it would seem that the sounds where coming from another, often the area I had just left.
I soon wound up just sitting in the front lobby, just listening. I can say that my Scientological indoctrination did sort of help me in this, as I figured it's just some 'thetans' doing something weird.
My mild uneasiness quickly escalated to a deeper concern when the noises seemed to be in the room with me, and they seemed to be changing. What had sounded like a mellow cocktail party going on in the other room changed to something else. Hard to describe, as it's been many years, and I tried to forget this for a long time. I guess it sounded like groaning or something, maybe many people going 'uhhh!' at different pitches, though always just on the threshold of hearing.
Both the phenomenon and my anxiety was reaching a crescendo when, I swear to God, a book flew off the shelf and landed in the middle of the lobby floor, several feet away from the base of the shelves.
I jumped up and yelled 'THAT'S IT', reacting to my indoctrination, and, to my surprise, the noise stopped. At least for awhile. I would apply the same technique for the rest of the night if I heard the sounds again, which I tried vehemently not to hear. I don't think the Mission had more 'security patrolling' on any other night than that one.
I couldn't wait to report this to my senior, and had hopes of maybe being let in on some secrets, but I was to be disappointed. He didn't believe me, and the other guy refused to comment, as far as I heard. I think my senior at the time was Joe Yasbeck, as the 'Ethics Officer' and he tried to get me to believe it was the air conditioner making noise. I had spent several nights in that building, and never heard anything like it before or after. Regardless of this, I was told that it must be my 'bank' somehow, and that made me doubt my own senses.
As an addendum, the janitor at the time working for Bent, Eric Boecher, (not sure about the spelling) who was my very good friend who first taught me rock climbing, related a similar story one time; he claimed he was woken up one night when he was sleeping in that old 'YMCA' building by a 'buzzing' bunch of thetans!
