Interview with Douglas Henslowe

INTERVIEW WITH DOUGLAS HENSLOWE:

Mr Henslowe was brought into the room clean shaven, with good posture, if in the need of a good haircut.  He is an older man and a bit out of shape, which is unsurprising. 

He was a bit fuzzy on some details (probably a result of the continual medication, and therapies which encourage him to both discourage and deny the occurrences), beginning with that there were 4 or 5 of them total, who travelled the country on the trail of a cult they had discovered.  He quite proudly described their merry band as true investigators, questioning people and gathering evidence, even taking pictures “like detectives”. 

Mr Henslowe described the group as “armed” with secret knowledge of the occult, and found it a terribly exciting time.  Mr Winston, he describes, as a businessman, who made good money, and acted as their leader.  It was Walter who gathered them together, to battle the perversity of this cult.  Mr Henslowe repeatedly referred to Walter Winston as “a good man”, whilst also expressing his disappointment that Mr Winston had abandoned him, left him here, and cut off all communication. 

He said their group “followed the drugs” (their method for tracking the cult) all the way to Los Angeles, where they conducted the bulk of their investigation.  He said LA was also “where everything terrible happened” (i.e., the location of the incident), where it “all went wrong”. 

In addition to Mr Winston, they were also accompanied by one Vincent Stack aka “the fixer”, who came in gun first and liked to drink.  Mr Stack was the one who waded in with a shotgun and “brought Hell” to some of those cultists.  They were also accompanied by a Katherine Clark, a “sharp girl” and archivist – the camerawoman who took most of their  notes.  She hated the idea that something like that cult could exist, in the underbelly of America.  She got close enough to take photographs – and it was she who figured out what would be happening that night “at that barn”.  According to Mr Henslowe, she died that night. 

The fifth member (now we know) was an F.C. Kullman, known far and wide as an occult expert, an American who did a lot of his own digging.  He was the man we’d heard referred to as in a wheelchair, and – according to Mr Henslowe – also died that night.  Douglas described F.C. Kullman as being stuck in a wheelchair, but with a real can-do attitude; and unfortunately a sitting duck during the incident.

Walter, he said, was the brains; he and Kullman did the research about what they were planning (“the summoning”), and figured they were using the drug money to fund their operation.  They determined that the cult was planning to summon some dreadful thing with a thousand mouths (or some incarnation of it) in the barn that night.  Walter had also said something about “the stars being right” that night.

When they rushed in, they were surprised at just how many cultists were there.  But they were “prepared” (with bombs and guns) to save the world.  Then came the horrific fire, the shootout, and “that thing” began tearing people apart.  He confessed to shooting some people that night, that in the heat of a moment like that you forget they’re still people.

And then “the thing came for us”.  Walter panicked, he saw it in his face.  And so Douglas ran.

Mr Henslowe confirmed he’d written it all down in a journal, and hidden it away with a secret key.  He gave us permission to retrieve it, and a letter for Frank Hickering (of whom Dr Keaton had never heard) whom he said we should contact at his mother’s estate.  He remembers spending some time there (the timing does correspond with letters and references to the journal), and seems to recall some unpleasant memories of that time.  His mother, he said, would not have fond memories of his last visit. 

The last bit we got from Mr Henslowe was a reference to symbols of protection.  He said to check the walls, that you have to know how to put the symbols there. 

Might this explain the strange symbols in Walter Winston’s office?  I’m certainly intrigued to investigate these symbols further.

The Investigation Begins

November 2^nd (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 4^th (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. 

An Interview with Janet

October 31^st  (Wednesday) 

I have conducted some minor investigations into the Mrs Winston-Rogers, her father, and his company.  Nothing particularly alarming has turned up.  George tells me that he mostly lost touch with Mr Winston in 1924 when the latter retired from business; but that on one occasion Walter had re-emerged and asked about forensics – specifically how to trace documents.  George had sought no further details, not wishing to intrude, but had been curious at the time.  There is no agency file on Janet , but Mr Winston’s business was (not unusually) investigated for possible criminality or tax fraud (as were many above a certain level of income). 

I arrived at the hotel in New York last evening and spent the day acclimating to the bustling city.  I was informed a car would arrive at 6pm, which it did quite promptly.  I was surprised to find myself travelling with three others, two gentlemen and a “lady” (I use the term loosely, in the manner I imagine she would prefer).  We spoke little on the drive, and I have much yet to learn of them.  All three are European, and travelled over on the same zeppelin, but do not seem to have become more then acquaintances.

The drive took us 45 minutes to depart the city, and an additional 45 minutes to reach the Floyd Bennet [air] Field.  There was one set of floodlights (attracting large moths) surrounding a single open hangar door.  A single airplane sat unassumedly nearby the little posh sitting lounge set in the hangar.  We were seen from the car by men in white gloves (a nicely planned detail designed, no doubt, to leave an impression). 

We there met a fifth gentleman invited like ourselves, and Mrs Janet Winston-Rogers, a beautiful woman in her forties, blonde and polished.  Mrs W-R apologized for all the mystery, and we were introduced to Richard, the head of her service, who conducted the research to select each of us.  She repeats to us that all of this is to do with her father, the late Mr Walter Winston. 

Mr Winston invested in hospitals during the war, and those which continued to treat recovering soldiers long after.  After he’d made his fortune, Mr Winston spent a few years travelling the world and developed an interest in local folklore – which blossomed into an interest in the occult.

It was then his family began to notice a change in Mr Winston.  He became focused on “battling something”.  She didn’t understand it, nor would he speak of it to his family, but the obsession went far from unnoticed.  When Mr Winston wasn’t travelling, he held secret meetings with people she and her mother didn’t know.  Her mother didn’t like it, couldn’t understand it, and began to drink heavily.  Mrs Winston passed in 1932.

In 1924, Mr Winston travelled more and more, most of that year “on the trail of bad people”. He would be gone for months at a time.  At this time, the German gentleman who had accompanied us interjected and showed Mrs W-R a list of books being researched particularly in 1924, but she did not recognize any of the titles.  What remains of Mr Winston’s collection of books are held here in this hangar.  None of us were able to pick out any of particular interest: most were reference books, but a few did have a similar theme of folklore and even occult fantasies.  Historic nonsense, really.

When Mr Winston returned in 1924 from his final trip he burned what she assumes were the more interesting titles, along with any journals, notes, and travel documents.  He was changed once more, and held no more secret meetings.  He was unwell, jumped at shadows, and even sought the help of a psychologist (mostly in his own home we understand).  He never spoke of his travels, however, or of what he feared.  The only words he would speak on the subject were “nothing mattered anymore”. 

Mrs W-R found a bundle of letters after her father’s passing, all from a Douglas Henslowe.  She believes he may have been one of those strange men who attended her father’s secret meetings.  She does not believe he ever responded, and has provided us with the letters.  Among those who frequented the meetings there was a man in a wheelchair, and maybe two other men and two women.  The letters continued to come after her father passed.  She does not believe there was anything unnatural about his death, but wants to know what her father was mixed up in, and whether there’s any remaining danger.

Mrs W-R has offered us each a stipend to look into the mystery, as well as the use of her plane and reasonable resources at her disposal.  We are to deal with Richard directly, and she will provide us (per our request) a few letters of introduction. 

After an inspection of the plane and wrapping up a few more details, my new colleagues and I made some brief arrangements.  The four of them would travel to the Boston area to visit the family home, and I to Virginia to put my affairs in order.  We will meet up at a hotel in Virginia on November 3^rd at 6pm, and travel from there to Savannah.  We hope to meet with Mr Henslowe, himself, and/or Mr Henslowe’s doctor, and further hope to obtain the journal.

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