Callum Morgenstein, a businessman from Tampa, Florida, who was in the hotel at the time of the incident said he still cannot believe what happened. "The police were escorting this guy away then suddenly let go of him. There were no flames, but the heat must have been intense because you could see the police trying to shield themselves from it. I could feel it through the window and I was two storeys up. The guy just blackened and broke up and within a minute there was nothing left of him." Guests of the hotel appear to have posted harrowing smartphone videos onto Youtube, some of which show Pearl appearing to disintegrate in front of shocked police officers.
The Crown Hotel later confirmed that Pearl had been arrested for the murder of Patrick Wells, but refused to give any further details. It is understood the band are no longer staying there and their whereabouts is unknown.
Daily Mirror
Did Your Advent Calendar Go Up In Smoke?
Whilst we predicted, successfully, that Toten Herzen's reunion tour wouldn't pass off without incident even we were taken by surprise by the events at the band's hotel in Rotterdam following the riot-torn no show at the Ahoy Arena the previous evening. So, if you can provide evidence, preferably video, of your Toten Herzen Black Advent Calendar spontaneously combusting, we will offer you a month's free subscription to the Daily Mirror.
Upload your video to Youtube and we'll get back to anyone who we believe has witnessed yet another appalling Toten Herzen hoax.
Guardian Comment - Andrew Rice
Was Terence Pearl Right all along?
Forget the riot. Forget the coach fight and the injuries to Tom Scavinio. Forget the murder of Patrick Wells, a relative of proto-band member Peter Miles. Terrible as they are, the real story is not to be found there. Forget the predictable told-you-so press reaction and knee jerk responses from publicity starved MPs. There is absolutely no story there.
Consider, instead, some of the writings of the internet blogger Terence Pearl, whose immolation outside the Rotterdam Crown Hotel, was described by one eye witness account as spontaneous human combustion. Whilst many of his ideas were fanciful Pearl was probably the last person on earth to take them seriously. Described by residents of Westerfield, the small village outside Ipswich where Pearl lived, as a vain attention seeking man, Pearl was adept at doing what many internet bloggers crave: provoking thought and reaction.
His wild ideas became part of a culture of conspiracy theory that has plagued Toten Herzen since their formation in 1973. The band's image, concocted and exploited by their scrap dealing manager Micky Redwall, was centred around the band's rumoured reputation for vampiric behaviour and exacerbated by The Dead Heart Weeps, a novel written in 1977 by Gothic author Jonathan Knight. For many this way of life was all part of the big rock and roll cliche that extreme behaviour sells records and concert tickets, along with newspapers and magazines.
But in the cold light of day let us spend a moment to reassure ourselves that this 'veneer of decay,' as Clarke Delorean of Rolling Stone magazine attributed to Toten Herzen way back in 1977, has no substance in reality.
Apart from the stupidity, why would four apparently healthy young people sleep in a tomb in Highgate Cemetery? Did their manager Micky Redwall really die after being savaged by his own guard dogs? How would the band's alleged killer Lenny Harper die at the hands of a sword wielding murderer in southern Germany earlier this year? And the ever present question of the disappearance of Peter Miles is an all too real tragedy. The stories so far all have one common link: the victims are potential players in a series of publicity stunts, none of whom are here to own up.
However, none of that explains the fates of Sony and Terence Pearl, neither of whom can remotely be considered willing participants in Toten Herzen's grand plan. Much has been said of the tragedies that occurred in Boston, New York and Washington, but little attention has been given to a medical report commissioned by Sony for insurance purposes prior to the band signing a deal. (A deal which ultimately never materialised.) A copy of the report seen by this newspaper, and I should add the Guardian is not a willing accomplice either, contained evidence of unusual physical properties relating to eyesight, hearing, cardio-vascular abnormalities and cholesterol levels never seen before by the laboratory conducting the medical checks. A later genetic report, commissioned in secret by the band's manager, Tom Scavinio, suggested that the four members of the band had higher than average levels of telemerase, an enzyme that controls the stability of chromosome 'caps,' or telemeres, which are necessary for continuous cell reproduction.
We can entertain ourselves with the notion that the reports would produce these results if the tests were carried out on a vampire, but we live in a rational world and such things don't exist. But in the confused conspiratorial world of Terence Pearl such things do exist and his fate followed the traditional myth of a vampire being exposed to sunlight. The villagers of Westerfield are no more accomplices of Toten Herzen than are the police officers and unsuspecting hotel guests in Rotterdam who witnessed Pearl's bizarre death. Dutch police have confirmed that the event was not a hoax and that a criminal investigation is still ongoing.
If Pearl's death has taught us anything it is that we can never be one hundred percent certain that science has found all the answers. Folklore has often muddied the waters around scientific explanations for natural phenomena, so maybe we should put aside our readings of Bram Stoker, Sheridan le Fanu, Byron and Montague Summers, forget our memories of Hammer Horror's portrayals of Dracula, the teenage adventures of Buffy and Twilight and the myriad interpretations of the vampire legend and ask, one more time, just to be absolutely clear: who are Toten Herzen?
WE ARE TOTEN HERZEN
AND FINALLY...
Thank you for reading We Are Toten Herzen. That's not just a platitude, it's a genuine thank you for investing the time and a bit of cash. I probably don't have to tell you it's not easy being an author in the 21st century and having my novel picked from the millions that are out there is gratifying.
Thank you.
Can I ask you for one more tiny favour (or two)? Leaving a quick review on a site of your choice would go a long way towards spreading the word, either for this book or for me. If you can find a few more minutes to leave an honest review I would be doubly grateful.
And if you enjoyed my storytelling and can't get enough of it (I'll pause here until you stop laughing) there are several options for you.
The TotenUniverse can be explored here at:
TotenUniverse.com
This is my ambition to create a new mythology around the rock band Toten Herzen and the Malandanti network of covens. You'll find more articles, features, interviews and short stories to fill the gaps between the novels and expand on the issues and episodes contained in the stories.
Don't forget, by signing up to the newsletter you'll get your free ebook The Excitement of Solitude...
FREE DOWNLOAD
To date there are three other novels in the TotenUniverse available and if you haven't already found them they're described in the following pages:
TOTEN HERZEN MALANDANTI
After the disastrous events in the previous novel 'We Are Toten Herzen,' the band are forced to count the costs and the repercussions of their comeback tour. The focus turns to the safety of the recording studio and their first album in forty years. Things can't get any worse.
But this is Toten Herzen, the dead rock band: murdered in 1977, discovered alive in 2013. Guitarist Susan Bekker wants to sing, antagonising lead singer Dee Vincent whose catastrophic interview in Hullaballoo magazine leads to a multi-million dollar lawsuit. Rob Wallet, the band's publicist, flirts with insanity when he isn't flirting with Lena, the seductive former terrorist and leader of a network of covens known as the Malandanti.
The story sets down amongst the isolated mountains of the English Lake District, with excursions to post-communist St. Petersburg and Bamberg in Germany, scene of the 17th century witch trials. Along the way the band are assaulted by a
n ever growing list of mysteries. Why has a Russian voice coach arrived uninvited at three in the morning? Why are the Malandanti searching for a book owned by Dee Vincent? What is Susan Bekker's Big Lie? And is the valley pictured in a 14th century painting the source and home of the first European vampires?
Blue hair, black magic, talking sheep, murderous bushes, necromancy, alchemy and leather-clad litigation. All captured on film by a deafening Dutch director in Toten Herzen Malandanti. Book two in the authorised account of the band's astonishing and some would say unbelievable comeback.
WHO AMONG US...
Disowned by her family and deranged by anger, Jennifer Enzo views the world as a demonic garden, a film script and a list of names to be assassinated. But when she finds her own name on the list she is forced out of her insular world to counter a sinister threat to her life.
Professor Virginia Bruck’s world is divided between her research in artificial intelligence and posing for her husband, the eccentric German artist Earnst Bruck. Suspected of being the source of a destructive rumour she decides to do what her semi-aristocratic family have never done throughout centuries of rumour, and fight back.
Frieda Schoenhofer, a self-made millionaire, is determined to explain the death of a local witch. Police are equally determined to explain a baffling double murder and Frieda becomes their first suspect after the body of a man is found hung above the north door of Bamberg Cathedral.
All three women share a common association: the Malandanti, a four hundred year old network of covens on the brink of collapse following rumours of a plot to kill the leading members. As the conflict intensifies and the familiar world disappears, they will be forced to reassess their own ambitions, confront the nature of guilt and innocence, and question how their beliefs explain the supernatural forces they each control.
THE ONE RULE OF MAGIC
Frieda Schoenhofer is dead, murdered in Rotterdam. For her grief-stricken parents the true story of their daughter's life is about to begin.
Her father, slowly demolishing the world around him, tries to eradicate painful memories by throwing out his lifelong collection of film memorabilia. Her mother is convinced Frieda has been reincarnated as a new born foal.
But Frieda isn't dead. She is travelling Europe hoping to rescue her father's discarded collection. A journey of redemption that takes her to Nice, Prague, Turin and Vienna, where she meets a crooked dealer in antique silverware, joins a funeral party full of mourners who can't stop laughing, falls in love with a beautiful marionette, and discovers a plan to destroy the legacy of Mozart.
The One Rule of Magic explores Frieda's attempts to make amends for the crimes of her old life, come to terms with what she has become, and prepare her parents for the bizarre truth surrounding their daughter's disappearance.
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Thanks for your support and I hope you can continue on this bizarre literary journey with me.
C Harrison
We Are Toten Herzen (TotenUniverse Book 1) Page 32