November 2nd (Friday)
The remainder of the
investigative team met me for an overnight in Virginia, and were perfectly
punctual in their arrival. I still have
much to learn of each of them, but as every hour passes we become a bit more
comfortable in each other’s company. We
have a catch-up over dinner, and I learn the following from their exploits in
the Boston area.
We’ve been given:
1.
A letter to Mr
Winston’s doctor giving us permission to access notes from his file.
2.
A catalogue of his
belongings which were sold off. (This was verified by Erik, who handled the
auctions through his consultation service.)
Mr van Achthoven has met
with Dr Udko, Mr Winston’s therapist and learned the following:
§ Mr Winston let the Dr go after his wife’s death
§ The doctor, who was less interested in the incident
itself than in the results of his psychosis/suffering, had no luck in breaking
down the walls. Mr Winston simply
refused to speak about it and had put up many mental barriers, preventing the
Dr from getting through. He alluded to
an incident in 1924 and a loss, but never gave any names.
Journal page 4
§ Mr Winston had certainly been shocked by something, and
was suffering in a manner similar to returning soldiers.
§ Mr Winston experienced rages and ranted about a need to
“purge the filth around him”.
§ The Dr recommended he make a journal, but Mr Winston
never wanted anything written down.
§ The Dr always went to the house, as Mr Winston only
felt safe at “his family home”.
Mr van Achthoven, Mr Wolf
and Mr O’ Neill visited the family home and learned the following:
§ Mr Winston experienced terrible rages (“get the filth
out”; “this place must be cleansed”) according to one house servant
§ The pair observed strange stains in the library/study
on the wallpaper, alike but in different position. It has possibly been cleaned as it seemed
faded.
Mouth image from Walter Winston's study wallpaper |
The wallpaper itself, when
they showed it to me, looked merely like old staining. But the sketch, made my Mr O’Neill, on the
other hand, looked just as they had described it – resembling a mouth. Creepy.
November 3rd (Saturday)
Early today we flew on to
Savannah. The plane is remarkably
comfortable, as is the hotel Mrs W-R booked for our stay in Georgia, the Hotel
De Soto (in suites, of course). Mr Wolf
took some time out to order a summer suit, as it is unseasonably warm, even for
the deep South, and the Europeans have only the limited luggage they were able
to bring over on the zeppelin.
The Hotel deSoto |
Journal
page 5
We researched the two
addresses we found in Mr Henslowe’s letters.
We learned the first,
23 Old Hope Road,
is the Henslowe
Family mansion and grounds. Located
13 miles south of the main city, the land has been in the family since 1801,
and is still home to a Virginia Henslowe (whom we’ve learned since is Douglas’s
mother). The land is an unusual estate –
a peninsula, which is occasionally an island during times of heavy rains, known
as Moss Island Peninsula. Like most
plantations of the area, the land isn’t nearly as valuable or busy as it would
once have been, but it’s nice to see one kept in the family – so few were,
really.
The second address,
513 W. Henry Street,
turned out
to be the location of Joy Grove
Sanitarium – which wasn’t much of a surprise, really, other than that we
expected the two addresses to be opposite in their disposition based on the
dates and frequency of the letters’ origins.
The sanitarium is only about 40 years old, and located in an old
Antebellum Hospital, not far from town.
November 4th
(Sunday)
The evening before, Mr
Wolf and I decided to pay a visit to the Sanitarium, to see Mr Henslowe’s
doctors. After a lengthy discussion with
our peers about what strategum to use to retrieve the journal, and anything Mr
Henslowe could possibly share with us, we decided I would use my FBI
credentials to try to get ahold of patient files and as much of the story as
was feasible from his doctors. It
worked, mostly. They did ask to follow
up on my credentials, and I’ve given them George’s phone to call. I hope he’ll understand, in consideration of
my great curiosity, and our long-standing friendship.
We there met a Dr Keaton, who joined the staff of the sanitarium
in 1924, and therefore has been present for the entirety of Mr Henslowe’s
treatment. Before long, we learn that Mr
Henslowe is not the only patient here of interest to us – a surprise indeed! There is also a man here called Edgar Job, who was also involved in the
cult business and the incident.
From Dr Keaton, we glean a
little of what was going on. Mr
Henslowe, and his companions (including Walter Winston) were hunting down a
cult. A cult in which Edgar Job was
involved. The two men hate each
other. Mr Job came from Los Angeles
specifically to confront Mr Henslowe, there was a fight which turned nasty and
involved a knife.
Journal
page 6
Both men were arrested,
and before long found themselves interred here at the Joy Grove Sanitarium. After
Mr Wolf had an unexpected, disturbing and unprovoked confrontation with another
patient (he was bitten by a Mr Culver), we were able to interview both men.
(see enclosed interviews)
Following the interviews,
Dr Keaton invited us back to his office, where we hope to review the patient
files. In the course of the interview
with Douglas Henslowe, he gave us a letter to take to his mother’s estate. The letter is addressed to a Mr Frank Hickering, and grants us
permission to retrieve the journal.