When did Carl Allen begin to grasp that he was no longer an invisible, insignificant drifter but an exotic mystery man, earnestly sought after by “those who ponder the elusive disks” (Gray Barker’s phrase), himself as elusive as any of them? That Hispanicized Carlos Allende had become a hero of … [Read more...]
The Philadelphia Experiment – “One Can Go Nuts …”
In my last post, I quoted from the reminiscences of those who knew the youthful Morris Jessup at first or second hand. He comes across as a rebel without any clearly discernable cause—a teenage “brain,” contemptuous of those he deemed less brainy. Something of a brat, actually. Not a fellow you’d … [Read more...]
The Philadelphia Experiment – The Mysterious Señor Allende
“So what have I learned from my first day in the Barker archive?” I wrote in my diary on Tuesday evening, September 7, 2004. “That Carl Allen, far from being an elusive and mysterious figure (as I once fondly imagined), was a tedious and persistent lunatic who bombarded Gray Barker with tons of … [Read more...]