The New World? -Occult Volusia County

This post shall focus upon the namesake of this blog and our organization, Volusia County. I suppose it may seem somewhat self important to write on a place that's primary claim to fame is the Daytona 500 and other ties to NASCAR yet the bizarre history and energy of this place has made it a magnet for powerful men over the years. Nestled between St. Augustine, the oldest European city in the entire United States, and the 28th North degree latitude, one of the mystery parallels, Volusia is classic Americana -a sleepy Southern beach community with secrets dark and deep enough as to be totally numbing to its populace at large.

I first became aware of this state of affairs during a vacation to Savannah, GA in the early part of this decade. One night while getting drunk in my hotel room (I was under 21 at the time) I wondered out briefly to get a cigarette lighter at a neighboring convenience store and was confronted by this drunk at the staircase, leading up to my room floor.

This guy had been on quite a bender -he was shirtless, flabby and oozing sweat from the summer heat and humidity in addition to being homeless. He hit me up for a beer and started rambling off a series of questions. In the midst of trying to shake this guy before heading up to my room I let it slip that I was from the Daytona area. He immediately went pale and shook his head. The drunk went on to tell me that he was from the Daytona area and that  the people there had given him the name 'Evil' because he had never been any account. But, he insisted, it was the place, Daytona, that had made him this way. It was quite a performance, expressing the special kind of madness the place sends many unstable sorts into after years of living here.

Recent arrivals here are often shocked by he underlining sleaze of the environment, but that only scratches the surface of a deep pit that in recent years has included links to the September 11th terrorist attacks via our local flight school, Embry Riddle, as well as an unusually high concentration of serial killers that include Aileen Wuornos, Gary Ray Bowles, and Gerald Stano. It's quite possible other high profile killers such as Ted Bundy, Henry Lee Lucas, and Otis Toole also visited these seedy streets. Presently the city of Daytona has an unknown serial killer at large known only as the Daytona Beach Killer. Here we shall focus on how it came to be this way.

It all began with the Timucua tribe that controlled most of northern-central Florida prior to the rival of the Spanish. Much mystery surrounds these fierce peoples. The Timucua were semi-agricultural people living in small villages containing between 30 houses and 200-300 residents. To the Spanish they were shockingly tall, among other odd physical features. Of them Fortean researcher William Grimstad writes:

"The Timucua were first mentioned by Ponce de Leon in 1513. Little is known about them, and there is no indication of any special affinity with other Amerindian tribes. They were heavily tattooed, went largely unclothed, and practiced human sacrifice and at times cannibalism. What is known of their language also suggests a Pacific rather than American orientation."
(Weird America, pg. 66)

The Catholic Encyclopedia also makes some interesting observations about the Timucua practices. Obviously anything in this Encyclopedia should be taken with a huge grain of salt, but I'll toss it out there anyway:

"Prisoners of war and their descendants constituted a slave class. Their military organization and methods were superior to what was found among the northern tribes. Scalping and mutilation of the slain enemy were universal, and the dismembered limbs were carried from the field as trophies or to serve for cannibal feasts. Polygamy was customary. Gross sensuality was prevalent. The chief gods were the Sun and the Moon, the Deer and other animals. They were extremely ceremonious, celebrating planting and harvest seasons, fishing and hunting expeditions, the going and return of war parties, marriages and funerals, each with special rites of prayer, fasting, feasting, dancing and purification by means of the "black drink" brewed from the leaves of the Ilex cassine. On certain great ceremonial occasions the first-born male infants of the tribe were delivered up by their mothers to be sacrificed to the Sun, in whose honour also a sacred fire was kept always burning in their temples."

All in all these rituals sound very similar to the practices of the Phoencians and other Baal worshippers who were also known to keep sacred flames and occasionally sacrifice their first-borns there-in to the Sun god. The Timucua were also Mound Builders like the equally mysterious Hopewell and Adena. The Adena also had an equally murky origin as well, baring little physical relation to the Hopewell or other tribes that preceded them. I've written far more on the topic of these northern tribes and their ruins here.

The Timucua made their mounds primarily out of sea shells rather than earth as the Adena and Hopewell did. The largest of these mounds, as well as the largest shell midden in the nation, is located right here in Volusia County, on our side of Cape Canaveral. It is known as Turtle Mound. Presently it stands 50 feet high and 2 acres wide but in its heyday it may have been over 75 feet tall.

The Timucua were hardly the only mystery to greet the Spanish upon arriving in central Florida. There was also the odd geomagnetic characteristics of the area, best embodied by the St. Johns River, only one of three rivers in all of North America to flow northward despite being on the northern side of the Equator. To continue with Grimstad, writing of the nearby St. Augustine:

"I have always been a bit awed at how unerringly the Spaniards went to areas of geomagnetic anomaly -such as this one -in their early explorations. Another such site is the spot they selected as the first capital of colonial California, Monterey
(Weird America, pg. 66)

It seems possible the Spanish were drawn to this area as well as St. Augustine. In New Smyrna, the second or third oldest city in Florida depending upon the source, there are a series of ruins built into the side and top of an Indian mound known as Old Fort Park. The ruins within this structure are made of coquina, a substance commonly used by the Spanish to build forts and missions in Florida during that era. This has led many to believe that the ruins are either of a Conquistador fort or a Jesuit mission erected in the 16th century by persons under the command Pedro Menendez de Avilies, the first Spanish governor of St. Augustine.

The Spanish would not long remain the only European power in the area. By the very early 17th century British 'privateers' (read: pirates) began using Ponce's Inlet, near what is now New Smyrna Beach, as a staging ground for raiding Spanish ships coming from Havana through the Gulf of Florida as well as St. Augustine. One of these privateers happened to be Sir Francis Drake, a close friend of Sir Francis Bacon, a major visionary of British expansion in the 'New World' and suspected Rosicrucian. This could have potentially put the English in direct conflict with the Spanish on American shores shortly after the beginning of the 17th century. The presence of Rosicrucian-affiliated privateers vying with the Conquistadors and /or Jesuits of the New Smyrna based Old Fort for control of the area certainly makes for interesting speculation.

The first official English settlement, or any kind of European settlement, in Volusia County occurred in 1768 with the founding of the New Smyrna Colony. The colony was named after Smyrna, an important religious city of Anatolia (now Turkey) in both paganism and Christianity. Ancient Smyrna was based near a legendary river known as the Medes which allegedly was the birthplace of the epic poet Homer. This led the pagans to place important religious significance on the river. Smyrna the city was also home to Roma, a female deity that personified the city of Rome. In Christian times it became home to Bishop Polycarp, who was martyred there in 153 AD. It was also the birthplace of St. Irenaeus and is home to one of the seven churches mentioned in the Book of Revelations.

Ancient Smyrna was certainly an apt namesake for New Smyrna, which was founded by Scotsman Dr. Andrew Turnbull shortly after the English take over of Florida in the 18th century and supposedly named in honor of his Greek wife. Turnbull was also the first to begin a bizarre series of linkages between Volusia and ancient Egypt. In Turnbull's case he had a series of Egyptian style canals built around his massive plantation, many of which survived well into the 20th century when they were finally paved over to make for modern expansion.

Many of the original 1200 colonist, charitably referred to as 'indentured servants', were of Greek and Minorcan stock with a few Italians and Sicilians thrown in for good measure. 148 of these 'colonists' died during transportation to the New World while another 700 died in the first three years of New Smyrna's operations. Naturally the colony was profitable, if unlivable, by 1771.

Shortly after arriving at New Smyrna some 300 colonist staged a rebellion that was quickly put down by a British frigate. This led to two colonist (the leaders) being executed, and the rest sent back to the gentle grips of Turnbull. Finally in 1777 after 964 total 'colonist' had died in less than 10 years, and many of whom survived were still being kept on the plantation years after their indentures expired, another rebellion occurred. About 70 remaining servants marched up Old kings Road to St. Augustine and demanded their rights from the British governor, Tonyn. Given the appalling state of the 'servants' and the fact that their contracts had expired, freedom was quickly granted and the Turnbull plantation was totally abandoned shortly thereafter.

The systematic liquidation of the Turnbull servants as well as the Timucua Indians, via disease, places a lot of blood on this area. Some researchers such as Michael Tsarion have proposed that the Cryptocracy performs mass killings, either through wars, massacres, or the like, at certain geographically important regions to 'feed' the negative entities that reside there. For more information on this topic, check out what I've written here. If there's any truth to these claims, Volusia would certainly seem like an attractive feeding ground.

Another tradition that notes a unique energy here is that of the Spiritualist community known as Cassadaga. This was an off shoot of the Spiritualist Church based out of Lake Dilly, New York. The founder of Cassadaga was a Spiritualist and seer known as George Colby who first encountered the area in the late 1870s. Colby claimed to be have been led to the area that is now known as Cassadaga by three spirit guides -Seneca, the Philosopher, and the Unknown. According to local tradition Cassadaga is built at the crossroads of several ley lines, which makes the veils between two worlds thinner here than other areas. It's considered one of 20 places on Earth with a unique energy vortex that makes communications from beyond idea here. Again, we're confronted with bizarre traditions of a odd 'energy' surrounding Volusia and nearby areas.

It was also around this time that Volusia, along with other areas along Florida's eastern coast, became a popular tropical retreat for various high society types. Chief among them was John D Rockefeller I himself who ultimately bought a home known as the Casements here, in Ormond Beach. He would eventually die there in 1937. Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Harvey Firestone would be frequent guest at the Ormond Hotel (across the street from the Casements) as would Henry Flagler, who owned it.

A homegrown product known as Bert Fish would continue our connection to ancient Egypt in this era as well. Fish, a local judge, would go on to become the financial director of the Democratic National Committee and FDR's Florida campaign manager during the 1932 election. As a reward he was appointed to ambassador to Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and would be instrumental in helping US oil companies gain the rights to drill in the later. This would mark the beginning of what has become an epically exploitative relationship between the US Cryptocracy and the House of Saud. Bert Fish was also a great lover of ancient Egyptian culture and a 32nd degree Freemason.

Slightly south of Volusia, in Brevard County, is the Kennedy Space Center, which plays heavily into the theories of James Shelby Downard and Michael Hoffman expressed in their legendary King Kill 33 essay. They believed that the Cryptocracy had three goals to accomplish in order to bring about the 'total decay of matter.' These goals were:

*the Creation and Destruction of Primordial Matter

*the Killing of the Divine King

*the Bringing of Prima Materia to Prima Terra

The first two were accomplished along the 33rd North latitude, the first with the destruction of the atomic bomb at the Trinity site at White Sands, New Mexico; the second, with the assassination of JFK in Dallas along Bloody Elm. The third, the bringing of moon rocks to Earth, was put in motion with the launch of Apollo 11 from the Kennedy Space Center.

Unlike the prior two acts which were committed near the 33rd North latitude, the third stage was accomplished at the 28th North latitude. In the Scottish Rite the 28th degree is the Knight of the Sun degree, which takes up by far the longest chapter in Albert Pike's Morals and Dogmas. According to Downard in King Kill 33 the number 28 is one of the correspondences to Solomon in Kabbalistic numerology, the Solomonic name assigned to 28 being 'Beale.'

I've proposed before that alchemical workings are performed along ley lines to harness the unique energy of these areas. There is ample evidence that Volusia and much of the surrounding area along this stretch of Florida's east coast (from roughly St. Augustine to Titusville), is such an area. From Jesuits, Rosicrucians, Freemasons, Spiritualists, and so on, the entire area has proved attractive to secret society adepts for centuries on end. The foundlings of Cassadaga and the Kennedy Space Center, and possibly St. Augustine, seem to be have been accomplished along occultic principles specifically to harness the forces that reside here.

Further, the atmosphere of this area is a fine testament to anyone who has lived here. As previously noted, a rather high number of serial killers have operated out of here. In general this place seems to be a mecca for sexual predators. Many chalk it up to Daytona's status as kind of a heartland for the Redneck Riviera, and that inevitable adds to it, but a malevolent side to the area has existed since the time of Turnbull. I've had numerous people that have lived around here over the years express a kind of insatiable anger that seems to perpetually grip this quiet beach community.

Again I must ask, is this land truly the new world? There are surely forces here that would beg to differ...


UPDATE:

Today I made another, rather startling connection between Volusia and ancient Egypt. Presently I'm researching 'the Nine', the ancient gods of Egypt who were all individual parts of the great creator god, Atum. Beginnings in the 1950s several well connected individuals became convinced that they were channeling these entities, who were in fact of extraterrestrial origin, through mediums put in a hypnotic state. The chief mover and shaker of this 'Council of the Nine' was a scientist and physician named Andrija Puharich, who also happened to be a key researcher for the CIA and DoD at the Edgewood Arsenal.

Over the years Puharich used numerous individuals to channel these entities, most famously Israeli psychic Uri Geller. Puharich also came into contact with another medium named Phyllis Schlemmer who would go on to found the Psychic Center of Florida in Orlando and surely must have been aware of the nearby Cassadaga. At the center she would meet a man known only by the pseudonym 'Bobby Horne' who was a cook from Daytona Beach. Horne showed remarkable psychic ablities and it was not long until Puharich was on the scene to run some tests.

Needless to say, Puharich was impressed and Bobby Horne would spend much of the summer months of 1974 channeling the spirits of ancient Egyptian aliens for a CIA doctor and a wealthy race car driver, Sir John Whitmore. The experience was to much for Mr. Horne and he soon became suicidal to the point that he was eventually removed from the project. Nothing is written on him past this point.

Still, I can't help but marvel how even the saga of Nine leads back to here with 'Horne' and even the nearby Phyllis Schlemmer, who's still doing her thing out there in Orlando.