A few posts down, I mentioned Anton LaVey, founder of the Church of Satan, and noticed that I did not have a tag for him, which makes me think that dropping his name there might have been confusing.  So let me explain his connection.

As far as I know, LaVey was not a Fortean, at least not explicitly.  But, he did have a collection of the works of Ben Hecht, a writer who ran in Tiffany Thayer's circle and was a founding member of the first Fortean Society.

By itself, that doesn't say much: lots of people read Hecht.  But, LaVey was also in San Francisco by the 1950s and spent time with George Haas, Robert Barbour Johnson, and Clark Ashton Smith.  There's a semi-famous picture of them together, which LaVey titled, "Headmasters in a School for Ghouls."  By the 1960s, Haas told Ashton Smith's wife that he no longer heard from Lavey--"since he became Satan."

But, it's clear there was a substantive connection between LaVey and the Bay Area Forteans and so understanding something about LaVey--who has more written about him--helps explain the Forteans.
 


Comments

Loren Coleman

Mon, 31 May 2010 11:19:19

Oh, Josh, this is rather disappointing to read. I had high hopes your book on the early history of Forteans would be worthwhile.

But this business, "so understanding something about LaVey--who has more written about him--helps explain the Forteans," is like saying that "understanding Hitler - who has more written about him - helps explain the Germans."

LaVey was an exaggerated personality who had little or nothing to do with the worldview of being a Fortean. I hope you discover that before your book goes to print.

Bucky Fuller was a Fortean. Ivan T. Sanderson was a Fortean. Oliver Wendell Holmes was a Fortean. There are plenty written out there about the other Forteans, as opposed to using LaVey as your pivotal example.

~ Loren Coleman

 

joshua buhs

Mon, 31 May 2010 20:49:14

Thanks for your note, Loren. I think that you misunderstand the nature of my interest in LaVey. I am focused on his activities in the late 1940s and early 1950s, when San Francisco Forteanism seemed to be at its peak. LaVey was undoubtedly hanging around with Forteans at the time. That is not true of Fuller, Sanderson, or Holmes.

I think your Hitler comparison is quite apt. It is, indeed, possible to find out something about Germany in the 1920s, say, through the life of Hitler. Before he became THAT Hitler. The same is true of LaVey, who in the 1940s and 1950s seemed to be on the fringes of society, but did not become Satan, and start developing the myth of himself, until the 1960s--long after my interest in him stops. (I make no claims that there is a connection between Forteanism and the Curch of Satan.)

 



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