Terrors

by Richard A. Lupoff

  Shades of a Japanese Sci-Fi Flicks! This musta been the stuntman out for lunch!

  And that’s where we think the old Intelligencer is this month: Out 2 Lunch!

  Speaking of which, I haven’t had mine yet this afternoon, and if I don’t hurry up and have it pretty soon it’ll be time for dinner and then I’ll have to eat my lunch for a bedtime snack and that’ll confuse the dickens out of my poor stomach! So I’m off to hit the old fridgidaire (not too hard, I don’t want to spoil the shiny finish on my new spaceman’s gloves!), and I’ll see you-all nextish!

  Whoops, here’s our saucer now! Bye-bye,

  Cap’n Oof-oh.

  Following the extraordinary spiritual message service of June 13, Mother Akeley was driven to her home at 176 Pleasant Street in National City, a residential suburb of San Diego, by her boyfriend, Marc Feinman. Investigation revealed that she had met Feinman casually while sunning herself and watching the surfers ride the waves in at Black’s Beach, San Diego.

  Shortly thereafter, Elizabeth had been invited by a female friend of approximately her own age to attend a concert given by a musical group, a member of which was a friend of Akeley’s friend. Outside of her official duties as Radiant Mother of the Spiritual Light Brotherhood, Elizabeth Akeley was known to live quite a normal life for a young woman of her social and economic class.

  She accompanied her friend to the concert, visited the backstage area with her, and was introduced to the musician. He in turn introduced Elizabeth to other members of the musical group, one of whom Elizabeth recognized as her casual acquaintance of Black’s Beach. A further relationship developed, in which it was known that Akeley and Feinman frequently exchanged overnight visits. Elizabeth had retained the house on Pleasant Street originally constructed by her grandfather, George Goodenough Akeley, when he had emigrated to San Diego from Vermont in the early 1920s.

  Marc had been born and raised in the Bronx, New York, had emigrated to the West Coast following his college years and presently resided in a pleasant apartment on Upas Street near Balboa Park. From here he commuted daily to his job as a computer systems programmer in downtown San Diego, his work as a musician being more of an avocation than a profession.

  On Sunday, June 17, for the morning worship service of the Spiritual Light Brotherhood, Radiant Mother Akeley devoted her sermon to the previous Wednesday’s séance, an unusual practice for her. The sexton of the church, a nondescript looking Negro named Vernon Whiteside, attended the service. Noting the Radiant Mother’s departure from her usual bland themes, Whiteside communicated with the Federal Agency which had infiltrated him into the Church for precisely this purpose. An investigation of Mother Akeley’s background was then initiated.

  Within a short time, agent Whiteside was in possession of a preliminary report on Elizabeth Akeley and her forebears, excerpts from which follow.

  AKELEY, ELIZABETH — HISTORY AND BACKGROUND

  The Akeley family is traceable to one Beelzebub Akeley who traveled from Portsmouth, England, to Kingsport, Massachusetts aboard the sailing caravel Worthy in 1607. Beelzebub Akeley married an indentured servant girl, bought out her indenture papers and moved with her to establish the Akeley dynasty in Townshend, Windham County, Vermont in 1618. The Akeleys persisted in Windham County for more than two centuries, producing numerous clergy, academics, and other genteel professionals in this period.

  Abednego Mesach Akeley, subject’s great-great grandfather, was the last of the Vermont Akeleys to pursue a life of the cloth. Born in 1832, Abednego was raised in the strict puritanical traditions of the Akeleys and ordained by his father, the Reverend Samuel Shadrach Solomon Akeley upon attaining his maturity. Abednego served as assistant pastor to his father until Samuel’s death in 1868, at which time he succeeded to the pulpit.

  Directly following the funeral of Samuel Akeley, Abednego is known to have traveled to more southerly regions of New England including Massachusetts and possibly Rhode Island. Upon his return to Townshend he led his flock into realms of highly questionable doctrine, and actually transferred the affiliation of his church from its traditional Protestant parent body to that of the new and suspect Starry Wisdom sect.

  Controversy and scandal followed at once, and upon the death of Abednego early in 1871 at the age of thirty-nine, the remnants of his congregation moved as a body to Providence, Rhode Island. One female congregant, however, was excommunicated by unanimous vote of the other members of the congregation, and forced to remain behind in Townshend. This female was Sarah Elizabeth Phillips, a servant girl in the now defunct Akeley household.

  Shortly following the departure of the remnants of Abednego Akeley’s flock from Vermont, Sarah Phillips gave birth to a son. She claimed that the child had been fathered by Abednego mere hours before his death. She named the child Henry Wentworth Akeley. As the Akeley clan was otherwise extinct at this point, no one challenged Sarah’s right to identify her son as an Akeley, and in fact in later years she sometimes used the name Akeley herself.

  Henry Akeley overcame his somewhat shadowed origins and built for himself a successful academic career, returning to Windham County in his retirement, and remaining there until the time of his mysterious disappearance and presumed demise in the year 1928.

  Henry had married some years earlier, and his wife had given birth to a single child, George Goodenough Akeley, in the year 1901, succumbing two days later to childbed fever. Henry Akeley raised his son with the assistance of a series of nursemaids and housekeepers. At the time of Henry Akeley’s retirement and his return to Townshend, George Akeley emigrated to San Diego, California, building there a modest but comfortable house at 176 Pleasant Street.

  George Akeley married a local woman suspected of harboring a strain of Indian blood; the George Akeleys were the parents of a set of quadruplets born in 1930. This was the first quadruple birth on record in San Diego County. There were three boys and a girl. The boys seemed, at birth, to be of relatively robust constitution, although naturally small. The girl was still smaller, and seemed extremely feeble at birth so that her survival appeared unlikely.

  However, with each passing hour the boys seemed to fade while the tiny girl grew stronger. All four infants clung tenaciously to life, the boys more and more weakly and the girl more strongly, until finally the three male infants—apparently at the same hour—succumbed. The girl took nourishment with enthusiasm, growing pink and active. Her spindly limbs rounded into healthy baby arms and legs, and in due course she was carried from the hospital by her father.

  In honor of a leading evangelist of the era, and of a crusader for spiritualistic causes, the girl was named Aimee Semple Conan Doyle Akeley.

  Aimee traveled between San Diego and the spiritualist center of Noblesville, Indiana, with her parents. The George Akeleys spent their winters in San Diego, where George Goodenough Akeley served as Radiant Father of the Spiritual Light Brotherhood, which he founded in a burst of religious fervor after meeting Aimee Semple McPherson, the evangelist whose name his daughter bore; each summer they would make a spiritualistic pilgrimage to Noblesville, where George Akeley became fast friends with the spiritualist leader and sometime American fascist, William Dudley Pelley.

  Aimee Doyle Akeley married William Pelley’s nephew Hiram Wesley Pelley in 1959. In that same year Aimee’s mother died and was buried in Noblesville. Her father continued his ministry in San Diego.

  In 1961, two years after her marriage to young Pelley, Aimee Doyle Akeley Pelley gave birth to a daughter who was named Elizabeth Maude Pelley, after two right-wing political leaders, Elizabeth Dilling of Illinois and Maude Howe of England. Elizabeth Maude Pelley was raised alternately by her parents in Indiana and her grandfather in San Diego.

  In San Diego her life was relatively normal, centering on her schooling, her home, and to a lesser extent on her grandfather’s church, the Spiritual Light Brotherhood. In Indiana she was exposed to a good deal of political activity of a right-wing extremist nature. Hiram Wesley Pelley had foll
owed in his uncle’s footsteps in this regard, and Aimee Semple Conan Doyle Akeley Pelley took her lead from her husband and his family. A number of violent scenes are reported to have transpired between young Elizabeth Pelley and the elder Pelleys.

  Elizabeth Pelley broke with her parents over political disagreements in 1976, and returned permanently to San Diego where she took up residence with her grandfather. At this time she abandoned her mother’s married name and took the family name as her own, henceforth being known as Elizabeth Akeley. Upon the death of George Goodenough Akeley, Elizabeth succeeded to the title of Radiant Mother of the Spiritual Light Brotherhood and the pastorhood of the Church, as well as the property on Pleasant Street and a small income from inherited securities.

  Vernon Whiteside read the report carefully. Through his position as sexton of the Spiritual Light Brotherhood Church he had access, as well, to most church records, including the taped archives of the Sunday worship services and Wednesday message services. He followed the Radiant Mother’s report to the congregation, in which she referred heavily to the séance of June 13, by borrowing and listening carefully to the tape of the séance itself.

  He also obtained a photocopy from Agency headquarters, of the latest issues of the Vermont UFO Intelligencer. These he read carefully, seeking to correlate any references in the newsletter with the Akeley family, or with any other name connected with the Akeleys or the content of the séance tape. He mulled over the Akeleys, Phillipses, Wilmarths, Noyeses, and all other references. He attempted also to connect the defunct (or at least seemingly-defunct) Starry Wisdom sect of the New England region, with the San Diego-based Spiritual Light Brotherhood.

  At this time it appears also that Elizabeth Akeley began to receive additional messages outside of the Spiritual Light message services. During quiet moments she would lapse involuntarily into her trance or trance-like state. Because she was unable to recall the messages received during these episodes, she prevailed upon Marc Feinman to spend increasing amounts of time with her. During the last week of June and July of 1979 the two were nearly inseparable. They spent every night together, sometimes at Elizabeth’s house in National City, sometimes at Marc’s apartment on Upas Street.

  It was at this time that Vernon Whiteside recommended that Agency surveillance of the San Diego cult be increased by the installation of wiretaps on the church and the Pleasant Street and Upas Street residences. This recommendation was approved and recordings were obtained at all three locations. Transcripts are available in Agency files.

  Excerpts follow:

  July 25, 1979 (Incoming)

  Voice #1 (Definitely identified as Marc Feinman): Hello.

  Voice #2 (Tentatively identified as Mrs. Sara Feinman, Marc’s mother, Bronx, New York): Marc.

  Voice #1: (Pause) Yes, Ma.

  Voice #2: Markie, are you all right?

  Voice #1: Yeah, Ma.

  Voice #2: Are you sure? Are you really all right?

  Voice #1: Ma, I’m all right.

  Voice #2: Okay, just so you’re all right, Markie. And work, Markie? How’s your work? Is your work all right?

  Voice #1: It’s all right, Ma.

  Voice #2: No problems?

  Voice #1: Of course, problems, Ma. That’s what they pay me to take care of.

  Voice #2: Oh my God, Markie! What kind of problems, Markie?

  Voice #1: (Pauses, sighs or inhales deeply) We’re trying to integrate the 2390 remote console control routines with the sysgen status word register and every time we run it against –

  Voice #2: (Interrupting) Markie, you know I don’t under-stand that kind of –

  Voice #1: (Interrupting) But you asked me –

  Voice #2: (Interrupting) Marc, don’t contradict your mother. Are you still with that shicksa? She’s the one who’s poisoning your mind against your poor mother. I’ll bet she’s with you now, isn’t she, Marc?

  Voice #1: (Sighs or inhales deeply) No, Ma, it’s Wednesday. She’s never here Wednesdays. She’s at church every Wednesday. They have these services every Wedn –

  Voice #2: That isn’t what I called about. I don’t understand, Markie, for the money that car must have cost you could have had an Oldsmobile at least, even a Buick like your father. Markie, it’s your father I phoned about. Markie, you have to come home. Your father isn’t well, Markie. I phoned because he isn’t home now but the doctor said he’s not a well man. Markie, you have to come home and talk to your father. He respects you, he listens to you God knows why. Please, Markie. (Sound of soft crying)

  Voice #1: What’s wrong with him, Ma?

  Voice #2: I don’t want to say it on the telephone.

  July 25, 1979 (Outgoing)

  Voice #3: (Definitely identified as Vernon Whiteside): Spiritual Light Brotherhood. May the divine light shine upon your path.

  Voice #1: Vern, this is Marc. Is Liz still at the church? Is the service over?

  Voice #3: The service ended a few minutes ago, Mr. Feinman. The Radiant Mother is resting in the sacristy.

  Voice #1: That’s what I wanted to know. Listen, Vern, tell Lizzie that I’m on my way, will you? I had a long phone call from my mother and I don’t want Liz to worry. Tell her I’ll give her a ride home from the church.

  Feinman left San Diego by automobile, driving his Ferrari Boxer eastward at a top speed in the 140 MPH range, and arrived at the home of his parents in the Bronx, New York, some time during the night of July 27-28.

  In the absence of Marc Feinman, Akeley took agent Whiteside increasingly into her confidence, asking him to remain in her presence day and night. He set up a temporary cot in the living room of the Pleasant Street house during this period. His instructions were to keep a portable cassette recorder handy at all times, and to record anything said by Mother Akeley during spontaneous trances. On the first Saturday of August, following a lengthy speech in the now-familiar male New England twang, Akeley asked agent Whiteside for the tape. She played it back, then made the following long-distance telephone call:

  August 4, 1979 (Outgoing)

  Voice #4 (Tentatively identified as Ezra Noyes): Vermont Bureau. May we help you?

  Voice #5 (Definitely identified as Elizabeth Akeley): Is this Mr. Noyes?

  Voice #4: Oh, I’m sorry, Dad isn’t home. This is Ezra. Can I give him a –

  Voice #5 (Interrupting): Oh, I wanted to speak with Ezra Noyes. The editor of the UFO Intelligencer.

  Voice #4: Oh, yes, right. Yes, that’s me. Ezra Noyes.

  Voice #5: Mr. Noyes, I wonder if you could help me. I need some information about, ah, recent occurrences in or around Townshend.

  Voice #4: That’s funny, what did you say your name was?

  Voice #5: Elizabeth Akeley.

  Voice #4: I thought I knew all my subbers.

  Voice #5: Oh, I’m not a subscriber, I got your name from—well, that doesn’t matter. Mr. Noyes, I wonder if you could tell me if there have been any unusual UFO sightings in your region lately.

  Voice #4 (Suspiciously): Unusual?

  Voice #5: Well, these wouldn’t be your usual run-of-the-mill flying objects. Flying saucers. I hope that phrase doesn’t offend you. These would be more like flying creatures.

  Voice #4: Creatures? You mean birds?

  Voice #5: No. No. Intelligent creatures.

  Voice #4: People, then. You mean Buck Rogers and Wilma Deering with their rocket flying belts.

  Voice #5. Please don’t be sarcastic, Mr. Noyes. (Pauses) I mean intelligent, possibly hominoid but non-human creatures. Their configuration may vary, but some of them, at least, I believe would have large, membranous wings, probably stretched over a bony or veinous framework in the fashion of bats’ or insects’ wings. Also, some of them may be carrying artifacts such as polished metallic cylinders of a size capable of containing a—of containing, uh, a human—a human—brain. (Sounds of distress, possible sobbing)

  Voice #4: Miss Akeley? Are you all right, Miss Akeley?

  Voice #5: I’m sorry. Yes, I’m
all right.

  Voice #4: I didn’t mean to be so hard on you, Miss Akeley. It’s just that we get a lot of crank calls. People wanting to talk to the little green men and that kind of thing. I had to make sure that you weren’t –

  Voice #5: I understand. And you have had –

  Voice #4: I’m reluctant to say too much on the phone. Miss Akeley, do you think you could get here? There have been sightings. And there are older ones. Records in the local papers. A rash of incidents about fifty years ago. And others farther back. There was a monograph by an Eli Davenport over in New Hampshire back in the 1830s, I’ve got a Xerox of it….

  Shortly after her telephone conversation with Ezra Noyes, Elizabeth Akeley appealed to Vernon Whiteside for assistance. “I don’t want to go alone,” she is reported as saying. “If only Marc were here, I know he’d help me. He’d go with me. But he’s with his family and I can’t wait till he gets back. We’ll have to close the church. No, no we won’t. We can have a lay reader conduct the worship services. We can suspend the message services ’til I get back. Will you help me, Vernon?”

  Whiteside, maintaining his cover as the sexton of the Brotherhood, assured Akeley. “Anything the Radiant Mother wishes, ma’am. What would you like me to do?”

  “Can you get away for a few days? I have to go to Vermont. Would you book two tickets for us? There are church funds to cover the cost.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Whiteside lowered his head. “Best way would be via Logan International in Boston, then a Boston and Maine train to Newfane and Hardwick.”

  Akeley made no comment on the sexton’s surprising familiarity with transcontinental air routes or with the railroad service between Boston and upper New England. She was obviously in an agitated state, Whiteside reported when he checked in with his superiors prior to their departure from San Diego.

  Two days later the Negro sexton and the Radiant Mother climbed down from B & M train #5508 at Hardwick, Vermont. They were met at the town’s rundown and musty-smelling station by Ezra Noyes. Noyes was driving his parents’ 1959 Nash Ambassador station wagon and willingly loaded Akeley’s and Whiteside’s meager baggage into the rear cargo deck of the vehicle.