H.P.
Lovecraft and the Occult Legend of The Necronomicon
An Interview with Daniel
Harms and John Gonce authors of
The Necronomicon Files: The Truth Behind the Legend
What
is The Necronomicon?
Daniel
Harms
The Necronomicon was a fictional book mentioned
in the stories of a twentieth-century horror and
science fiction writer. Since then, it's become
something of an underground phenomenon - movies,
books, stories, poems, music, computer games,
T-shirts, you name it.
John
Gonce
The Necronomicon is an imaginary book of
spells and forbidden lore that could be used to
summon a group of imaginary extraterrestrial demons
called the Great Old Ones. The book's contents
are supposedly so terrible that the reader might
go insane if he or she found any correlation between
the contents of the book and events or artifacts
in the "real" world. The idea of this terrible,
forbidden book grew out of horror fiction.
What intrigued you about The Necronomicon rumors enough to write a book?
Daniel
Harms
I blame John, frankly. He made the first inquiries and got
me interested in the hoax Necronomicons. After that,
it was one of those topics that you realize that has all sorts
of different facets, and it intrigued me that no one else
was working on it.
John
Gonce
What intrigued me was the realization that so many people
believed in this fictional spellbook, and believed that hoaxed
versions of the book were authentic. People have taken one
forged version of The Necronomicon so seriously that
they've built cults around it and used it to practice magic.
Who is H.P. Lovecraft and how does he fit into all of this?
Daniel
Harms
Howard Phillips Lovecraft lived from 1890-1937, and during
that time he wrote a number of pioneering works for the horror
and science fiction genres. It was his creative genius that
gave birth to The Necronomicon. The book appeared in
his stories for the pulp magazines, starting with "The Hound"
written in 1922. As time went on, other writers for the pulps
used The Necronomicon in their own stories, and people
started to wonder whether it could be real. We should remember
that Lovecraft didn't seek for anyone to be fooled into thinking
the book was real. People wrote him to ask, and he'd always
write them back to say that he made it up. Near the end of
his life, he was concerned because so many people thought
it was real. By then his health was failing and his money
was running out, so he never really had a chance to say much
about it.
John
Gonce
H.P. Lovecraft was the greatest horror fiction writer of the
20th century. His work was unique because his perspective
was cosmic rather than human, and he blended genres like science
fiction and horror in ways undreamt of before. Unfortunately,
he was also the accidental creator of The Necronomicon hoax. Lovecraft created the idea of a mind-shattering spellbook
called The Necronomicon to make his horror fiction
more entertaining. But Lovecraft himself had no intention
of making people believe that this imaginary spellbook was
real. It was Lovecraft's readers who got the idea that The
Necronomicon might be real, and various opportunists took
Lovecraft's idea of a forbidden book, and ran with it like
a football. In his own lifetime, readers would occasionally
write to Weird Tales asking where they could find a
copy of The Necronomicon. The editor of Weird Tales,
Farnsworth Wright, would pass such letters along to Lovecraft,
who would dutifully write to the misguided seeker, and explain
that there was no Necronomicon. Lovecraft said he always
felt guilty when he heard that someone had wasted his or her
time looking for his imaginary book.
In a world filled with strife and violence, does any of this really matter?
Daniel
Harms
It may not matter as much as what's on the front page of the
newspapers, but the phenomenon's been out there for some time,
gathering steam. Looking at The Necronomicon is a microcosm
of many pertinent issues for our culture - the friction that
develops between fact and fiction, belief and doubt, reason
and emotion. We raise those issues quietly, but we leave them
for the reader to sort out.
John
Gonce
It matters precisely because this is a world filled with strife
and violence. Our research has shown that The Necronomicon hoax has added significantly to all that strife and violence.
When solid evidence points to the fact that the most well-known Necronomicon forgery has become a "bible" for countless
destructive dabbler cults, and may have inspired several sociopaths
to commit murder, I'd say that it matters very much indeed!
If it were only an issue of readers wasting their money and
energy on a forged spellbook that has become an occult bestseller,
this would still be a topic worth addressing. But the repercussions
of this hoax go far beyond fraud. This hoax has a body count.
Your book may seem to be an attack on some people's beliefs. How would you answer those who are offended?
Daniel
Harms
Anyone who's offended by our book needs to sit down and think
about why it does so. They're free to try to refute us. We've
given the reader everything they need to construct a counter-argument,
if they so choose.
John
Gonce
Get over it! (laughs) Yes, Daniel and I have been accused
of being rather intolerant on the subject of the Necronomicon hoax. I think the offended "true believers" should try to
put themselves in my shoes for a moment. I try to honor other
people's beliefs, and to promote freedom for people to indulge
in whatever kind of behavior they enjoy, as long as it doesn't
hurt anyone else. But whenever I try to be indiscriminately
tolerant of anything and everything, I eventually run smack
into a moral/ethical brick wall that makes me say, "I can
tolerate anything but this!" For example, I am a great believer
in sexual freedom. The sexual revolution that started back
in the 60s was basically a good thing: it allowed gays to
come out of the closet, it opened dialogs between people,
and it gave people more freedom of self-expression.
Unfortunately, child pornography became more readily available as a result of this revolution. I can't just tolerate the sexual abuse of children in the name of freedom. So instead of saying "I tolerate everything," I have to say, "I tolerate everything but this." By the same token, I try to be a pluralist and tolerate other people's beliefs: "All paths are valid," and all that rubbish. But when I encounter a so-called "path" built on a foundation of lies that is used to deceive and manipulate, and causes harm wherever its influence is found, I have to say, "I tolerate everything but this." I would love to quote Cole Porter, and say, "anything goes" as my policy, but I just can't. I would also like to point out that some of the Necro-nerds and the "true believers" don't exactly take a live-and-let-live policy themselves, as is shown by a couple of death threats that have been left on the guest book of our website www.necfiles.org.
What impact do you think your book will have upon the Pagan community?
Daniel
Harms
It's not as if this book will shake the Pagan world to its
foundations. Most people knew The Necronomicon copies
that are on the market were hoaxes, though they might not
have been able to say why that was true. The general response
has been, "Thank you! Now I know what to say to the people
who think it's true!" On a broader level - not just the Pagans,
but the occult world in general - the book raises questions
about the ethics of mystification. Occultism thrives on mysteries
and questionable origin stories. What the book forces people
to ask is whether this is a proper attitude in the twenty-first
century. I'd say mysteries can do some good and help people
in their mystical pursuits, but they're tools that should
be used carefully and with consideration, especially when
people are putting their resources (time, money, emotional
energy) into a teacher or group.
John
Gonce
Daniel doesn't seem to think its impact will be all that great,
but then, he suffers from terminal pessimism and chronic humility.
(laughs) Frankly, I hope it will make the Pagan community
more aware of the way in which the various Necro-hoaxes have
been used for anti-Pagan propaganda. There are idiot preachers
with talk shows out there trying to convince people that the Simon Necronomicon is standard reading for Wiccans.
Of course nothing could be further from the truth. Beyond
that, I can't say with any certainty, but I hope it will have
some positive influence on both the Pagan world and the occult
community at large. I hope it will have some influence on
Pagan scholarship, which is usually conspicuous by its absence.
(laughs) I hope it will make Pagans and other occultists more
skeptical in evaluating metaphysical literature. In Necronomicon
Files, we deconstructed the hoax and we explained our
methodologies so that others can use our techniques. Necronomicon
Files is not so much a book as it is a concept or a world-view
of enlightened Fortean skepticism. I suppose you could call
it Fortean Paganism or Fortean occultism.
Why has nobody else done this kind of work before?
Daniel
Harms
The book falls into one of those curious areas in belief.
The people who believe in it are sure they're right, and the
people who don't are sure as well. I'll admit we came in with
the latter group, but we decided to sit down and examine the
arguments of both sides closely. We didn't change our view,
though we did find a great deal of surprising information.
John
Gonce
I think there are three reasons why nobody ever tried this
kind of thing before: fear, laziness, and lack of knowledge.
The main "fear" I'm referring to is fear of pissing off other
people in the occult community. Since Daniel and I were newcomers
to the field of metaphysical writing, neither of us had the
good sense to be afraid of making other occultists angry.
Nobody had the balls to do this kind of work until two fearless
idiots named Harms and Gonce came along. (laughs) I think
other authors were also afraid of taking the risk that this
kind of work involves. Not just the risk of having Necro-nerds
throw black magic at them, but the risk of writing something
that might not sell well. I guess you could say Necronomicon
Files is "cutting edge", but the problem with being on
the cutting edge is that you tend to get cut. (laughs)
It's dangerous to write stuff that is genuinely unconventional, or to take an original approach to a familiar subject. That's why many writers stick with the same old safe, worn-out formulas. Laziness was also probably a big factor; because deconstruction of a complex hoax requires a great deal of hard work! Even dismantling a simple Necronomicon forgery, like the de Camp version, can require a daunting amount of research. Lack of knowledge was probably the main reason no one has ever done this kind of work before. Many aboveground Pagans and occultists have no idea how seriously some people take Necronomicon forgeries. Though they may normally be fearless about stating their views, many conventional, traditional occultists have never addressed The Necronomicon phenomenon because they just didn't know how important it was.
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What types of crimes are associated with The Necronomicon, and what makes this hoax so dangerous?
Daniel
Harms
Assessing the impact of The Necronomicon on crime is
a tough problem. Most police officers aren't trained in understanding
the occult, or (worse) are trained badly. When they encounter
a crime with strange aspects, they just try to do their best
to figure out what's going on. They pass their interpretations
on to journalists, who are also not trained in understanding
the occult. By the time it reaches us, it's a mess already.
John and I get plenty of reports of crimes where a hoax Necronomicon is found on the scene. We usually just sigh and toss those
in the files, because there's no occult motivation behind
them. Still, we've got a couple of cases in the book that
we feel are Necronomicon-inspired, and I think I've
heard of one or two more. I hope the book raises awareness
of these issues and encourages people to examine them more
closely. What makes The Necronomicon lead to crime?
I'm not sure we can blame any book for a person's actions.
However, one of the hoaxes - the one written by Simon - may
encourage people to commit violent acts. You have a philosophy
- helping the Old Ones return - and a blueprint - ritual sacrifice
- for that procedure, and I wonder why the authors weren't
more wary about handing that out on the streets.
John
Gonce
As I mentioned in our book, I think the Simon Necronomicon may encourage the homicidal inclinations of certain individuals,
because it encourages certain types of sacrifice, including
human sacrifice. But I think we must refrain from holding
a book entirely responsible for some sick individual's behavior.
In the Middle Ages, it was not uncommon to hear of a spellbook
being tried in court alongside the sorcerer who used it. I'm
trying to avoid that inquisitional mentality, and I'm trying
to avoid censorship as well. However, I will not minimize
the possible role of The Necronomicon in violent crimes.
Certainly we cannot blame a book entirely for a person's actions,
but we cannot ignore the influence a book may have had on
his actions. Many of the "crimes" related to The Necronomicon actually involve behavior commonly found in destructive cults:
extortion, sexual harassment, mind-control, and so forth.
For reasons I explain in the book, the Simon Necronomicon lends itself easily as a "bible" for small dabbler cults.
Do you think the magick in The Necronomicon actually works, and if so, why shouldn't people use it?
Daniel
Harms
John, this one's all yours.
John
Gonce
If the magic in The Necronomicon works, it only works
because the user believes in the book, and believes its magic
will work. If the history of occultism has taught us anything,
it has taught us that anything can work if powered by enough
faith. The problem with the magic in the Necrohoaxes in general,
and with the Simon Necronomicon in particular, is that
the magical rituals themselves are structured poorly. In the
case of the Simon book, the rituals are deliberately designed
to backfire on the user. While enough blind faith will make
any magical system work, you'll get better results if you
are using a good system. Any job goes better if you use the
right tools. If you are strong enough, you can smash a tree
down with a sledgehammer, but it is wiser to cut it down with
a sharp axe. Why shouldn't people use The Necronomicon to practice magic? Why shouldn't a proctologist use a chainsaw
to remove hemorrhoids In the case of the Simon book, they
shouldn't use it because [1] the goals of the rituals are
stupid, and [2] the rituals are deliberately designed to backfire
on the operator - for reasons I explain in our book.
Historically, there has never been much in the way of literary criticism and debunking in occult and metaphysical literature. Would you say that The Necronomicon Files represents a new genre of occult literature?
Daniel
Harms
Have we started a genre? I won't touch that one - it's far
too early to tell. Still, I think that the occult has been
a difficult subject to debunk. Almost all of the people who
care enough to study it at any length are usually sympathetic
to it, and either are emotionally invested or don't think
anyone would really be fooled because they're not. Don't get
me wrong - most occultists are concerned with particular charlatans
and predators. They don't want to see these people take advantage
of anyone, and they often work to prevent it. On the other
hand, few have questioned what techniques and philosophies
these people use to set themselves up, and how the broader
occult community fits into it. I don't seek to condemn anyone
with these doubts. I want people to ask the questions, though.
John
Gonce
Yes, I suppose you could say Necronomicon Files represents
a new genre of metaphysical literature. But I hate the term
"debunking"; it makes me think of the Amazing Randi taking
cheap shots at Yuri Geller. What Dan and I do is not "debunking"
(whatever that is). It's deconstruction. We deconstruct occult
hoaxes, and subject occult works to a kind of textual criticism,
and a skeptical, scholarly analysis. But most readers think
"scholarly" is a synonym for "boring", so Daniel and I have
deliberately made our work as entertaining as possible. Necronomicon
Files is also a kind of cross-genre book whose diverse
elements include Lovecraft scholarship, magical practice,
occult history, Assyriology, movie reviews, crime documentation
- all of which makes it difficult to decide which bookshelf
it belongs on. The book is so hard to pigeonhole that I guess
it might qualify as a new genre by default. Nobody else does
this kind of work... yet. One book does not a "genre" make,
but if somebody else emulates what we do, then I guess we'll
have a new genre. Whether Necronomicon Files represents
a new genre or not, at least it's not the kind of fluff-headed
metaphysical book that has an outhouse symbol on the spine,
a cover stolen from a romance novel, an author with an animal
name, and sites no references to verify its "research."
Has The Necronomicon shown up in movies, or other mainstream media?
Daniel
Harms
It's hit the big time. I mean, it's shown up on The Simpsons.
We had seals from one of the hoax Necronomicons on
the cover of a Rob Zombie CD. There's not much that's in the
public mind at any time, but it is out there.
John
Gonce
Does the Pope wear funny hats? Yes indeed! It has been featured
in everything from Saturday morning cartoons to pornographic
Japanese anime. You can hardly throw a rock in the horror
section of Blockbuster without hitting a movie that shows
some conscious or unconscious influence from The Necronomicon.
The published hoaxes have also worked their way into both
mainstream and alternative culture. I've seen people with
sigils from the Simon Necronomicon tattooed on their
bodies.
What would you say on the subject of occult crimes? What are occult crimes?
Daniel
Harms
Occult crimes are crimes in which belief in the occult inspires
the criminal act itself. It should not be applied to crimes
in which one of the parties believes in the occult, or where
occult books or paraphernalia are found at the scene or in
one of the parties' possession. It's a definition I'd like
to see accepted more widely, but I'm not optimistic at this
point. There's some people doing good work in this area, but
there's a number who aren't, and some of them are influential.
I should state that occult crime is not a label with which
I'm entirely happy, but it does seem to be more accurate than
some of the others I've seen.
John
Gonce
First off, I'd like to point out that I hate the term "occult
crime" - it's imprecise, awkward, and misleading. But if I
have to use the term to be understood, I would at least like
to define it. So-called "occult crime" is criminal activity
that is inspired by occult or magical beliefs, or criminal
activity in which occult beliefs are used as an excuse or
a justification for the crime. Obviously, this excludes crimes
in which occult books, tools, or weapons just happened to
be found at the crime scene. There are a few (very few) law
enforcement individuals who are doing some very good work
in this misunderstood area. One of the best is my friend Tony
Kail (http://members.aol.com/nocults/page3.html).
From our research, it appears that most occult crime is not committed by serious adult occultists, nor by some imaginary Satanic conspiracy escaped from a Dennis Wheatley novel. Most occult crime is committed by small teenage dabbler cults composed of kids who got their ideas about magic from horror movies, Anton LeVey's books, and the Simon Necronomicon. Many of the conspiracy theorists and Christian fundamentalists back in the 80s were convinced that there was a global Satanic conspiracy performing cattle mutilations, child abuse and sacrificial murders on a daily basis. They thought they were battling the Illuminati or the Trilateral Commission. Instead, they were up against the Satanic equivalent of Wayne's World. P
Daniel Harms and John Wisdom Gonce, III are the co-authors of The Necronomicon Files: The Truth Behind the Legend, published by Weiser Books, August 2003, available in bookstores nationwide, or by phone through Red Wheel/Weiser at: (800) 423-7087, or by email at: orders@redwheelweiser.com.
The
authors website may be found at www.necfiles.org.
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