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Jul.24,2007
RigInt has scared me shitless once again with the terrifying story of what happens when you cross the wrong (ultraconservative, rich, powerful) people.
Writer/filmmaker Theresa Duncan mysteriously “killed herself” earlier this month. I’ve rarely seen a person who looks less like a candidate for suicide. She was madly in love with her boyfriend, ran a successful blog and was dedicated to social justice and progressive causes. Nevertheless:
Later that day, Theresa’s boyfriend of 12 years, Jeremy Blake, discovered her body in their East Village apartment, an evident suicide. (“A bottle of pills and alcohol were found near Duncan’s body [and] she left a suicide note saying that she was at peace with her decision and loved Blake and her family deeply.”) A week later, a man was seen walking into the ocean at Rockaway Park, and not walking out. Blake’s wallet and clothing, and his suicide note, were found beneath the boardwalk.
Blake’s suicide, while suspicious, could be a response to Duncan’s. However, I find Theresa’s supposed suicide totally unconvincing. This was murder.
Am I paranoid? I suppose most people reading this will probably think I am. In turn, I think they’re fucking sheep. Paranoia is a natural defense mechanism and it’s kept us alive this long as a species.
I guess I’m just pissed after reading some of the comments here and here. Are people so numb and stupid that they don’t see something suspicious when two deeply paranoid people die mysteriously within a few days of each other, shortly after posting paranoid rants about MKULTRA like this one?
Paranoia is meant to keep you alive, people! If you’re suicidal, you’re not very paranoid, are you? The emotions are pretty much mutually exclusive.
Maybe this is hitting too close to home for me, so let me make this abso-fucking-lutely clear: I am a paranoid nut, but I am as far away from suicide as I could possibly get! I intend to live to be 120 years old, and nothing’s going to stop me. If you find me dead mysteriously one day, and there’s a suicide note and thirteen people saying I was depressed: It’s a lie! I was fucking murdered!
Just wanted to make that crystal clear.
Anyway, there are a lot signs pointing back to Jim Cownie, a powerful Des Moines businessman that Theresa recently attacked on her blog as the source of harassment she and Blake were receiving. Interestingly, a man named Frank Cownie is the mayor of Des Moines. What a coincidence.
This is not the first strange thing to happen in Des Moines. Kidnapped child Johnny Gosch hailed from there. That wouldn’t be so odd if Jim Cownie hadn’t spoken of molesting children to achieve total obedience, like is required for Project MKULTRA to work:
To add the final dessert topping to this apocalyptic art world sundae, Mr. Wit says that normally dour Cownie frequently made jokes about child molestation as a “training” tool.
And of course, the Church of Scientology is involved. Since cults are already masters of mind-control it only makes sense that the CIA would turn to them for clues.
Much of the harassment of me and Mr. Wit was also conducted by the Church Of Scientology in L. A., who Cownie also no doubt also “does business with.” U.S. Intelligence “black ops” and “psy ops” have long relied on (or just outright invented) religious cults (including the Manson Family–Charles Manson received 150 hours of in-prison Scientology “auditing”), biker gangs, and the like in Federal Counterintelligence prorgrams in order to disrupt the counterculture since the 1960s. Read more about the CIA and cults here and couch jumping, Katie kidnapping mind controlled [sic] movie star Tom Crusie’s meeting with Scooter Libby and State Department head Richard Armitage here.
Here I am quoting a dead woman’s blog to prove my point that paranoia is not a mental illness. Paranoia keeps you alive, it lets you see the awful truth that the sheep can’t see. The price is heavy, but it’s not a curse. Instead, “Paranoia seems to us an absolute patriotic duty at the moment.”
Damn right, Theresa. May you and Jeremy rest in peace.
You can screech back, or trackback from your own site.
Very strange indeed, however let me tell you a little something about depression. Many of the men in my family committed suicide. Most exerted a calm and cool outward demeanor. Clinical depression can be hidden very well, especially for someone’s whose career is about casting a critical light on others. Ever heard of the “sad clown?” Suicide is hard for anyone to believe. I was devestated when my father committed suicide. Everyone was so shocked, but it had been something that had been boiling in his mind for years. Thats how depression works. Its not a sudden crumbling of your world. Its not a bad break up, or an over due bill. Its a hundred million things that pile up, and pile up, and pile up, until the person does not believe they can handle it.I appreciate the fact that the death was strange, but as bad as it sounds, there have been stranger. Suicide is very complex and is the result of someone rationalizing unrational behavior because they believe there is no answer.
anon: I totally agree that suicide is a hidden and dark world, and that a person’s outward appearance may hide a turbulent and self-hating core.Is that the case this time? I didn’t know Theresa or Jeremy, but this doesn’t seem to describe them. You say “Thats how depression works. Its not a sudden crumbling of your world”, but isn’t that exactly what happened to Jeremy after Theresa’s death? We’re left to believe he would just snap and walk into an ocean. Very strange way to do it, first of all, but as you point out, people don’t go from happy to suicidal in 8 days or less. There’s usually years of depression and struggle and isolation.Who was this witness to his suicide-by-ocean, anyway? And what do the suicide notes say? Are the police doing a full investigation? Did either have a history of depression or suicides in their family? Were they on medication? There are so many unanswered questions. I don’t think I’m in denial to ask these questions since I didn’t even know these people. I’m just a paranoid guy, I guess.
Good observations, Vemrion, as usual.You are right to listen to that little mental voice that says “something here is not right”, it is indeed an evolutionary survival adaptation.
Theresa was a self-centered, insecure and grasping woman. She clung desperately to Blake’s small fame to validate herself. Her last pathetic act was to try and capture the imagination and glamor that was always just out of reach. RIP Theresa.
To Anonymous #1: I’ve been veering back and forth between the thought that there’s no possible way she could have done this and the recognition and comfort in the conspiracy-free truths of what you’ve said. Thank you for those words, they are a pillar for me right now.To Vemrion: By the same token, I would like to know these things as well, just to know. Humans need closure, and facts certainly help. And there are not enough of them just yet for me to feel fully comfortable with the story. So, thank you for asking the right questions. To Anonymous #2: Exactly what valuable contribution are you making — to the discussion, to the circumstances, to the world at large — via your snark? The irony of your posting anonymously about my friend’s insecurity is sufficient proof of your cowardice and irrelevance.
one can conceal depression.and no it is not sudden.but people come to a breaking point. and don’t look back.they are looking for something better
I really like you. Although this is a very serious matter and not a laughing matter you made me laugh quite frequently with your quips. I have been following up on the Theresa story and I find it all very fishy. From one paranoid person to another…live long =)
Thanks for stopping by, Blake. Also, thanks for the kind words, Melissa.There have been < HREF="http://rigint.blogspot.com/2007/07/thursday-july-26.html" REL="nofollow">some new developments in the case<>. Jeff over at Rigorous Intuition is doing a good job of staying on top of this. I’ve been trying to keep up, but I’m too busy to devote as much time as I’d like.Still, I managed to read a bit more over at < HREF="http://beautifulcandy.blogspot.com/2007/07/wit-is-dead-requiem-for-blogger.html" REL="nofollow">Charm School<> today, and I must say, the pattern of anonymous comments over there is really disturbing. I’ve never seen anything like it before. I hate to sound like a nut, but it looks like a coordinated Church of Scientology campaign to discredit Theresa and Jeremy, and tamp down on the rumors circling around their suspicious deaths. What do you guys think? Were Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake secretly hated by most of their friends? Were they lashing out at anybody who looked at them funny? Were they truly “mentall ill” as so many of the posters at CS have stated as if it were a medical fact? So many questions… so few answers so far.
I really got a kick out reading your humorously logical piece here, EMP!A very close friend of the Wit’s named Blake aka Baron Von Luxxury the recording artist DJ posted about them on his MySpace Blog. There are pics of of them and the blogger. http://www.myspace.com/baronvonluxxury I do not doubt his word. He confirms the harassment and hostilities they encountered.This post of his and Theresa’a blog comments back up your cnclusion EMP. Here’s a link to the piece:http://tinyurl.com/38tk46Here’s an exerpt:July 25, 2007“i don’t know where else to put this i need to say how sad i am to have lost two of my best friends in the worldtheresa killed herself on july 10 just three blocks away from where we are staying in the east villagejeremy is missing he was last seen walking into the ocean at rockaway beach on july 18i have known theresa for 13 yearsshe was like an older sister to mei was there the night she met jeremy who became like an older brother to meif you’ve read theresa’s blog ‘the wit of the staircase’you’ll know how erudite, witty and gorgeous her writing and thinking werewell, so too was she as a personhyper-intelligent, hyper-beautiful, hyper-ambitiousnot to mention generous and loyal: fiercely loyalbut she scared the hell out of some people with her sharp tongued rapier witi’ve seen so many people turn on her i’ve seen so many people afraid of her and i’ve seen how they harrassed her literally to deathyou people should be ashamed of yourselves theresa had no powershe just wanted her art to be in the world that’s allbeyond their friendship and artistic mentorship i was so so proud and honored to have been able to work with themtheresa did my liner notes and jeremy did my album cover arttheresa’s words are so evocative and accurate and personal and wittya perfect summary and introduction to the music(you see, theresa is really sable starr. now you know.)and jeremy’s cover is so striking and gorgeous and perfect 70s filtered through the 80s the sexxy babysitter in a day glo future retro disco daydream and its kind of her too(i’m not going to link to anything, you can google whatever, its everywhere…this is just me needing desperately to put my version and anguish somewhere)”…….[..]—————-Thanks for bringing out the absurdity of the paranoia = suicide theme. You did it with humor and thoughtful conviction.
“Jeff at RI” is NOT doing a good job “keeping up”. In fact, the lid has been slammed there. I suggest you look into Dream’s End blog. And that Luxxury guy is fishy to the bone.
Anon. 07:47 said:—“Jeff at RI” is NOT doing a good job “keeping up”. In fact, the lid has been slammed there. I suggest you look into Dream’s End blog. And that Luxxury guy is fishy to the bone.—Bullshit. Jeff put the “lid” on it because Dreams End decided to accuse numerous people @ RI of being part of some ARG – INCLUDING JEFF! – and decided to put his faith in someone who claimed to have dated Johnny Gosche. As for Blake Robin, all you guys have done is manage to alienate the only guy (apparently) on the planet who knew Theresa well enough to be sympathetic to her concerns. Christ, DE didn’t even know what Nolita was. Wiki it and you’ll see just one example of DE’s misdirected enthusiasm. I have no doubt in my mind that DE’s intentions are good but his behavior has been reckless in the past few weeks. He’s taking cues from seriously unreliable folks and suffering greatly. They’re going to destroy him.
Thank you for writing this piece. Finally an intelligent blog message that gets the information right. I do know paranoia can a false emotion and a sympton of mental illness, but I don’t think both Jeremy and Theresa, madly in love and brilliant artists, were paranoid for nothing. This should get way more coverage than it currently gets.
And that anonymys discretiting: isn’t there a way to track down the ip adresses to scientologists? I thought that was possible. But even if they were bad persons, I have the feeling good persons who fail at everything would be more likely to commit suicide than bad persons that desperately try to get the glamour. And since everything points toward them being good persons who could do everything, it vertainly is a fishy story.
Cos has had a long history of violently threatening/stalking Hollywood scriptwriters who have included light parodies of The Church in their scripts…demanding immediate removal of any satire.
Scientology Faces Criminal Charges By CONSTANT BRAND – 3 hours ago BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) — A Belgian prosecutor on Tuesday recommended that the U.S.-based Church of Scientology stand trial for fraud and extortion, following a 10-year investigation that concluded the group should be labeled a criminal organization.Scientology said it would fight the criminal charges recommended by investigating prosecutor Jean-Claude Van Espen, who said that up to 12 unidentified people should face charges.Van Espen’s probe also concluded that Scientology’s Brussels-based Europe office and its Belgian missions conducted unlawful practices in medicine, violated privacy laws and used illegal business contracts, said Lieve Pellens, a spokeswoman at the Federal Prosecutors Office.“They also face charges of being … a criminal organization,” Pellens said in a telephone interview.An administrative court will decide whether to press charges against the Scientologists.In a statement, Scientology’s Europe office accused the prosecutor of hounding the organization and said it would contest the charges.“For the last 10 years, the prosecutor has been using the media, trying to damage the reputation of the Church of Scientology and not being able to put a case in court,” Scientology said. “As a consequence, this created a climate of intolerance and discrimination” in Belgium.It added that the prosecutor’s recommendations suggested Scientology was guilty even before a court could hear the charges, making it “difficult for the Church of Scientology to recover and properly defend (itself) before the court.”Scientology has been active in Belgium for nearly three decades. In 2003, it opened an international office near the headquarters of the European Union to lobby for its right to be recognized as an official religious group, a status it does not enjoy in Belgium.A Belgian parliamentary committee report in 1997 labeled Scientology a sect and investigations were launched into the group’s finances and practices, such as the personality tests conducted on new members.Investigators have spent the past decade trying to determine how far Scientology went in recruiting converts after numerous complaints were filed with police by ex-members alleging they’d been the victims of intimidation and extortion.Justice officials seized financial records, correspondence, bank statements and other papers in their decade-long probe to track the flow of money to Scientology. Police also raided the offices of several consultancy firms linked to the Church of Scientology.Pellens said that prosecutors expect Scientology to mount a strong legal challenge to the charges at a court hearing, which could come in the next two to three months. She acknowledged that could delay the case for years.Belgium, Germany and other European countries have been criticized by the State Department for labeling Scientology as a cult or sect and enacting laws to restrict its operations.The German government considers Scientology a commercial enterprise that takes advantage of vulnerable people.The Los Angeles-based Church of Scientology, which is seeking to expand in Europe and be recognized as a legitimate religion, teaches that technology can expand the mind and help solve problems. The church, founded in 1954, counts actors Tom Cruise and John Travolta among its 10 million members.
Scientology Faces Criminal Charges By CONSTANT BRAND – 3 hours ago BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) — A Belgian prosecutor on Tuesday recommended that the U.S.-based Church of Scientology stand trial for fraud and extortion, following a 10-year investigation that concluded the group should be labeled a criminal organization.Scientology said it would fight the criminal charges recommended by investigating prosecutor Jean-Claude Van Espen, who said that up to 12 unidentified people should face charges.Van Espen’s probe also concluded that Scientology’s Brussels-based Europe office and its Belgian missions conducted unlawful practices in medicine, violated privacy laws and used illegal business contracts, said Lieve Pellens, a spokeswoman at the Federal Prosecutors Office.“They also face charges of being … a criminal organization,” Pellens said in a telephone interview.An administrative court will decide whether to press charges against the Scientologists.In a statement, Scientology’s Europe office accused the prosecutor of hounding the organization and said it would contest the charges.“For the last 10 years, the prosecutor has been using the media, trying to damage the reputation of the Church of Scientology and not being able to put a case in court,” Scientology said. “As a consequence, this created a climate of intolerance and discrimination” in Belgium.It added that the prosecutor’s recommendations suggested Scientology was guilty even before a court could hear the charges, making it “difficult for the Church of Scientology to recover and properly defend (itself) before the court.”Scientology has been active in Belgium for nearly three decades. In 2003, it opened an international office near the headquarters of the European Union to lobby for its right to be recognized as an official religious group, a status it does not enjoy in Belgium.A Belgian parliamentary committee report in 1997 labeled Scientology a sect and investigations were launched into the group’s finances and practices, such as the personality tests conducted on new members.Investigators have spent the past decade trying to determine how far Scientology went in recruiting converts after numerous complaints were filed with police by ex-members alleging they’d been the victims of intimidation and extortion.Justice officials seized financial records, correspondence, bank statements and other papers in their decade-long probe to track the flow of money to Scientology. Police also raided the offices of several consultancy firms linked to the Church of Scientology.Pellens said that prosecutors expect Scientology to mount a strong legal challenge to the charges at a court hearing, which could come in the next two to three months. She acknowledged that could delay the case for years.Belgium, Germany and other European countries have been criticized by the State Department for labeling Scientology as a cult or sect and enacting laws to restrict its operations.The German government considers Scientology a commercial enterprise that takes advantage of vulnerable people.The Los Angeles-based Church of Scientology, which is seeking to expand in Europe and be recognized as a legitimate religion, teaches that technology can expand the mind and help solve problems. The church, founded in 1954, counts actors Tom Cruise and John Travolta among its 10 million members.
Ya know? I’m a little bit “paranoid”, but not more than the average intelligent thinker who asks questions about things rather than accepts them as they’re told to me. Since reading about Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake I have been a bit consumed by their lives and their death. It irks me that I feel as though I could have related to Theresa. Even if she was ornery at times and her passion to express got the better of her too many times since LA. I have been posting all over the internet about how I am haunted by Theresa’s obsession with Scientology. My research only has confirmed my questions of the truth. I’m NOT convinced Theresa killed herself. YUK! There I said it.
God what are people so afraid of? Huh? Theresa Duncan was very much definitely suicided. Period. So? Shit happens all the time. And you know what? Why not just try thinking that belieiving that doesn’t have to make you a loon who has to defend her/him self? God I am tired of this. It’s been almost a year. Instead of writing about her, why not spend some time reading about the sh*t she had decided to really get into and research? Like the Franklin coverup. Like Jim Cownie, etc. Yeah their deaths are a major bummer but wow would it be f*cked if those of us who are sympathetic did not choose to (hardcore-style) *challenge* the official story of what happened. Come on now, the problem is always the same – when you research anything where there is 1) disinfo and 2) someone’s vested interest that you *not* find out the real deal, you are forced to sort out reality from fantasy, not always get it right, and thus be slandered for not getting it all right. but can we be honest about this? let’s say they got *undeniably* stalked only a single time by someone fromt scientology. would we then hold it against them if they started to see that sh*t everywhere? i sure wouldn’t. sigh.