Long John Nebel

by Way Out World

  In March of 1945, Amazing Stories published a piece called “I Remember Lemuria.” The author was identified as Richard Shaver. Although the publication was a science fiction magazine, the implication was strongly present that the material was an actual “report,” and that, if not all fact, it certainly had its basis in fact. According to the editor of Amazing Stories, Ray Palmer, the immediate response was astounding. First, thousands of letters, then tens of thousands, poured in—all reflecting a reaction to the Shaver tale. The normal monthly mail was some fifty pieces. Sales of that particular issue had zoomed more than 50,000 extra copies. Dealers were demanding more. The “Shaver Mystery,” as it came to be known, was an over-month sensation.

  As described by Ray Palmer, the background to this affair was a little offbeat, but not unique in itself. He had received a letter from Shaver detailing an ancient alphabet which “should not be lost.” Admitting the alphabet to be a strange one, the writer anticipated rational argument by stating blankly that language experts would have no chance of understanding it, since they operated on incorrect principles.

  The first point one should learn is that English is the original and universal language, it is the tongue employed throughout the entire cosmos. It is also the communication technique used by angels, according to Shaver. Of course, in its original dialect it was called “Mantong.”

  To say that Mantong alphabet is mildly imaginative would be a fair appraisal, but it’s certainly not a brilliantly creative effort, no matter who dreamt it up. Conveniently, it has twenty-six letters; as a matter of fact they’re the same twenty-six letters as we have in the alphabet we use, the Phoenician. And this is pretty clever of it, since according to scholars two of our letters are quite modern additions. Another claim Shaver makes for his original language and alphabet is that all the languages of the world are descended from it. If the philologists can’t find much of a connection between it and the old and younger tongues of Sanskrit, Chinese and Egyptian, he shouldn’t worry; since the man who brought Mantong to light doesn’t think they know very much anyway.

  The alphabet itself is comparatively simple, if kind of arbitrary and irrational.

  THE MANTONG ALPHABET

  A—Animal.—(Used AN for short)

  B—Be. —To exist (Often used as a “command”)

  C—Con. —To see (C-on; to understand)

  D—De.—Detrimental, disintegrant energy (The second important symbol in the alphabet)

  E—Energy.—(An all-pervading concept including the idea of motion)

  F—Fecund. —(Used “fe,” as in fe-male—fecund man)

  G—Generate. —(Used “gen”)

  H—Human.—(A very metaphysical concept here, not fully understood, but used in the sense “H-youman”: a human is an H-Man)

  I—Self. Ego.—(Same as our English I)

  J—Generate. —(A duplication of G, but with a delicate difference in shade of meaning. Actually Ja, in contrast to Ge, is a very important distinction. G is the generating energy, while J is animal generation per se)

  K—Kinetic. —(The force of motion)

  L—Life.—

  M—Man.—

  N—Seed. —Spore (Child, as “ninny”).

  O—Orifice. —(A source concept).

  P—Power.—

  Q—Quest. —(As “question”).

  R—Horror. —Danger. (Used AR, symbol of a dangerous quantity of disintegrant force in the object)

  S—Sun. —(Used “sis”; an important symbol, always referring to a “sun” whose energy is given off through atomic disintegration)

  T—Integration, Growth. —(Used TE; the most important symbol of the alphabet; the true origin of the cross symbol. It signifies the integrative force of growth; as all matter is growing—the intake of gravity is the cause. The force is T. TIG means the science of growth. Integration-I-Con (understand)).

  V—Vital.—

  U—You. —(Used as VI; the stuff Mesmer called “animal Magnetism”)

  W—Will.—

  X—Conflict. —(Force lines crossing each other)

  Y—Why.—

  Z—Zero. —Nothing. Neutralization (A quantity of energy of T neutralized by an equal quantity of D Futility.)

  But, neighbors, if that seems wild to you, it’s nothing compared to Shaver’s explanation. Just starting at the top and taking the letter “A” we find that “when Adam named the animals, he was using the basic, unchanging meaning of the sounds (letters), and he named correctly…When Adam said “Ape”…did he say “A-pe”? Shaver thinks he did. He feels that we have lost the vital accent “e.” And what is the importance of that final vowel? Well, according to the mystic alphabetized, this is the way it goes. The initial letter “A” indicated that the subject was an animal. The second letter “p” represented power, therefore Adam added that to the “A”. Now he has an animal of power. Now, the only way for the animal to express this power was via movement, or motion, which was an expression of energy. The letter for energy was, of course, “e”. And so, to describe an animal whose power was expressed in energy, he naturally put down the letters “A-p-e.” And that, I guess, is how you make a monkey out of someone.

  However, to get back to the general picture of the “Shaver Mystery,” after Ray Palmer had printed the alphabet and its accompanying letter, a number of people wanted to know more about the bit. In answer to a request for more information, Shaver replied with the ten-thousand-word letter that Palmer turned into the manuscript called “I Remember Lemuria!”. As a matter of fact, the editor often admitted that while he assures us that the original material comes from Shaver, he has edited most of it prior to its publication.

  Mr. Shaver has made many mad and fantastic claims regarding the inner Earth and what goes on there. According to him, the outer crust of the Earth is honey-combed with great caverns. In fact, these caves are so tremendous they cover more area than the entire surface of this planet. The fact that this idea is in complete conflict with accepted scientific ones regarding the structure of the Earth, the increase of temperature as one descends into it, and the like, doesn’t bother him at all.

  As his revelations continue, and he has frequently asserted in print that this is all fact, he tells about the “abandonderos” who live down there. According to Shaver, these “deros” (to use his abbreviated name for them) are what is left over from a very ancient race who lived on this planet about 12,000 years ago. At that time certain, radiation of the sun had made it impossible for the people to remain on the Earth. These rays were radioactive, and they were penetrating into the bodies, saturating the water, infecting the food, contaminating the air, and, in general, giving old mankind a pretty rough time of it. The solution that was being shot around at the time was that the inhabitants of the Earth would have to drop everything and go to live on another nearby planet, or possibly on one with no sun at all. Some thinkers took the position that everyone would end up living out in what they called “dark space.” These people, by the way, were named “Titans,” or “Atlans.”

  After several unsuccessful attempts to escape, the “Titans” began moving down into the natural caverns of the Earth, and setting up cave-keeping.

  Unfortunately, although they were used to living for many thousands of years, now that their systems were polluted with this radiation their life span was cut down to a meagre half-century, or so. As the centuries went by, these abandoned people, these “abandonderos,” or, rather “deros,” were not only protected from the deadly sun rays, but they also lost the benefit of the healthy sun rays. As a result, they couldn’t win either way, and they began to degenerate in all of their aspects. Finally they became, as they are today, distorted, midget idiots, whose complete personality is evil. Whose main drives and desires are morbidly sadistic. In other words, they have become most unattractive devils. And if you want more information take the word “dero” and match it up with “Mantong Alphabet.”

  Yet, in spite of all this degeneracy right here un
der our feet, there is another group in this lower region. They are called “teros.” This was a much smaller clique who, by the use of chemicals, machines, and beneficial rays, were able to prevent their own deterioration. Although they too die in a matter of fifty years, they have been able to maintain a high degree of intellectuality. However, Mr. Shaver is sad to report that they are so few, and the deros are so many, that they are almost powerless to prevent the war of evil the little monsters wage.

  Although he never explains how such mentally degenerate people were able to maintain and operate such amazing and advanced ancient machines, Shaver reports that these evil undergrounders have some extraordinary devices at their disposal. They have a vision apparatus which penetrates hundreds of miles of solid rock; with this they can pick up scenes from all over the world. They have mental machines which can produce three-dimensional, apparently concrete illusions, which are used to confound and deceive surface inhabitants. They have short and long range death rays, interplanetary space craft and rockets. As a matter of fact, even before Kenneth Arnold had his experience, which led to the coining of the term “flying saucers,” the Shaver stories described, in considerable detail, the kind of ships that seemed to become so plentiful later.

  Another of the dero devices which aroused considerable interest was the “stim machine.” This instrument’s sole purpose was to revitalize the sexual power and desire of the users. Shaver makes it quite obvious in his stories that this is the most popular of all their inventions since, according to him, the majority of their time is spent in orgies. As a matter of fact, he pictures these sexual marathons as being so violent as to horribly deform many of the participants. Fortunately, for them, they also have what they call “ben” rays, which revive and restore the body when it is over-exhausted and crippled by the bizarre activities of the deros.

  The surface people, Palmer and Shaver tell us, are descendants of the original Earthians who didn’t get down into the network of subterranean caverns. This part of the human race was reduced to a state that produced the Neanderthal man. Most of these died off, but enough remained to develop into the present day man.

  Of course, Shaver insists, the deros not only still exist below, but they are responsible for almost all of our troubles. War, transportation accidents, homicides (incited with destructive rays), suicides, and even nightmares.

  Although, through Ray Palmer, Shaver introduced deros to the world, and was the sole authority on them for some years, in more recent times other gentlemen have offered reports on the same subjects. Among such are included Dominick Luchesi, Augie Roberts and Curtis Gibson.

  Dr. George Mario, referred to earlier in this book in one of the chapters on flying saucers, also advances the idea, which he calls fact, that something strange is going on “down there.” This particular prophet of the offbeat claims the earth is hollow, and that it’s filled with birds, animals and people. He points out that the great mastodons didn’t die, they went to live inside the earth.

  And so the legends of the deros and dero-like creatures goes and grows.

  Off in an entirely different direction is the fantastic story of mysterious Ceylon, as told by Aung Lin, an ex-Buddhist monk.

  During the time he was in holy orders on the other side of the world, Aung Lin found himself in residence in a monastery just outside a small village. Around these two islands of humanity the Asian jungle spread out for hundreds of miles. After a short time, Aung Lin became aware of dark and curious stories that were told by the other monks, and by the village people, about a renegade monk who lived by himself on the edge of the steaming forest. He soon realized that everyone in the vicinity was very fearful of the twisted, evil-looking little man.

  One day, as he was walking along the dry and dusty road toward his monastery, with several of his spiritual brothers, they encountered the ancient recluse coming from the other direction. Without warning, Aung Lin’s companions fled off the opposite way. He, lacking the ingrained fear, and also being extremely curious, stood his ground and spoke a greeting to the monk. In return, he was invited to the hut of the monk, and he accepted.

  As they proceeded along the road, Aung Lin noted that his new acquaintance was extremely dirty, and that his robes were shredded and filthy. Arriving at his “home,” he discovered that it was even less appealing than the old man who lived there, if that was possible.

  Later, seated opposite one another in the dank hovel, they conversed—although the monk actually said very little. When he did make an observation or ask a question, he almost always repeated it.

  “So you are from the United States. Ah, so you are from the United States.”

  The face of the man was the most interesting thing about his appearance. It looked as though he had been immersed in evil for so long that it had had its effect upon his face, which was gross and very coarse. Aung Lin could begin to understand why the native population so feared “the monk that practices magic.”

  The weirdest of all the tales told about the old monk was that he kept a mummified, or as Aung Lin prefers to call it, a “preserved”, child in his home. An incredible little creature who did all of his evil bidding.

  Apparently the renegade monk had, some time earlier, excavated the cadaver of a two-year-old child from its grave and taken it home. He then proceeded to “tan” the dead thing, “much as you would leather.” From that point on he was able, with mystical rites and forbidden incantations, to raise and activate this preserved child by calling forth spirits of the darker worlds and projecting them into the little dried-up body. Now, filled with the evil animation, the leather doll-like thing became a miniature monster, doing the will of the ancient witch—robbery, assault, even to murder, killing his enemies as they slept.

  When the horrid deed was finished, the half-living thing returned to its master and the diabolical spirits were withdrawn and the “child” became inanimate once more. The old monk then lifted it up and put it on a shelf, pausing only to dust it once in a while, until he needed its evilness again.

  Of course, although intrigued by the legend, Aung Lin hardly accepted the tales as fact. That is, until one night some time after his original meeting with the devil-monk. He was taking an evening stroll along the road from his order’s retreat. The moon was high and silver. The hills rolled away into the shadows on either side of him. The tall thick grass moved silently in the gentle breeze. And then, suddenly, he saw it. A small, leathery figure, not more than a dozen feet away, moving swiftly through the grasses, with a slender, shining, thin-bladed knife in its hand, the moonlight catching it up for a moment as though in a spotlight. The mummy child!

  From that moment on, Aung Lin believed. When he speaks of it today, he’s almost matter-of-fact about it. Speaking in the way one does when they’ve told an obvious story many times, he often concludes: “…and that is all there was to it.” All I can say, neighbors, is that I’m glad there wasn’t any more.

  However, if you toss aside the deros and the mummy child, as being too unbelievable, remember that all of the stories about the strange unhuman creatures on this earth aren’t quite so easy to reject. One example of this are the reports of the so-called “Abominable Snowman.” Stories about this strange creature have been filtering back from the Orient for over half a century, many going back to the days when Westerners had to disguise themselves to get into Tibet where the original semi-men were supposed to come from.

  Although the first word of the snowmen precedes the ‘90’s, it wasn’t until thirty years later that the “evidence” supporting the existence of the things began to gain strength. At that time a company of climbers trying to conquer Mount Everest reported that they had observed at some distance a group of upright living creatures far above them in the peaks. Later, at around 25,000 feet, they discovered footprints of enormous size, three or four times as large as a human being’s. The leader of the expedition decided that they were the tracks of a giant wolf, but all of the native guides insisted that they were th
e marks of the metch kangmi or “the abominable snowman.”

  The early descriptions of these upper elevation animal-men were pretty far out as well as far up. They were supposed to be enormously large semi-human creatures who lived in the highest caves of the mountain ranges. The faces were white, but the bodies were entirely covered with thick dark hair. These monster-like things were very wild and dangerous, living on the meat of yaks, and occasionally of humans, and even each other.

  Tales of the snowman have come from hundreds of places thousands of miles apart, ranging all the way from Burma to Western India and up to Mongolia. But it should be pointed out that the snowman exists more than just in the minds of little-or un-educated natives. An Englishman named Knight claimed to have seen one of these creatures many years ago, and to have seen one carrying bow and arrows! In 1925, a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society reported and described in considerable detail the snowman. Among the things his observations pointed out was the “fact” that the metch kangmi were ten to twelve feet tall.

  Over the years many reputable Westerners, a number of them supposedly practical-minded Englishmen, saw the prints left by these creatures, or so they felt. In many of these cases the descriptions of the footprints have been remarkably detailed, and in a number of instances photographs of the tracks have been brought back to the civilized world for closer examination. All through the Twenties, the Thirties, and the Forties, the material poured into the files of the researchers interested in the mysterious monster of the Himalayas. By the Fifties the fascination with the subject, far from diminishing, had increased; the conviction as to the truth of the claims had not weakened, it had strengthened.