The Three Christs of Ypsilanti (19 page)

[
1
] Carlson has shown experimentally that a subject's attitude toward an object undergoes modification when he perceives it as instrumental toward the achievement of goals he shares in common with others. E. R. Carlson: “Attitude Change Through Modification of Attitude Structure,”
J. Abnormal and Social Psychology
, Vol. 52 (1956), pp. 256–61.

[
2
] Cf. Chapters XIII and XVI for a discussion of changes under certain experimental conditions.

O
F ALL
the changes that were initiated by the rotating chairmanship, the most profound were those that occurred in Leon. During the first two months of storm and stress in daily confrontation, there had been only one very trivial change in his delusional beliefs. But within three weeks of the calmer atmosphere of the rotating chairmanship, his beliefs began to undergo major alterations. This process of change continued for four months, and culminated, in the middle of January 1960, with his adoption of an entirely new name.

The changes were, however, gradual and at times almost imperceptible. We suspected that they proceeded at a slow pace because Leon himself thus hoped that neither he nor we would notice any change at all; the gradualness may well have served the purpose of preserving Leon's image of himself as a consistent, rational being. This need, as far as we could tell, was no less strong in Leon than in any normal person. We had no idea of what these snail-like changes meant as they occurred, nor did we suspect that they would culminate in a change of name. Their meaning emerged only months later as additional events unfolded and could be related to what had gone before. In the meantime we were in a position, by virtue of our observational procedures, to trace precisely the chronology of the changes that Leon underwent.

We first became aware of these changes through “announcements” Leon made at the daily meetings; he managed somehow to create the impression that these “news items” were not really a part of the meeting, but were parenthetical remarks which really required no comment from us or response from Clyde or Joseph.

These news items were not, however, our only sources of information. Leon also carried on a busy correspondence with various figments of his delusional system; this correspondence also pointed toward change.

On September 10, 1959, Leon invented a foster “light brother” and “light sister,”[
1
] Prince Charles and Princess Anne of England. As far as we knew, this was the first time that England had ever figured in Leon's delusions. Its appearance was clearly traceable to Joseph, who was obsessed with England; it was almost as if Leon wanted to “chisel in” on Joseph's territory and crowd him out, thus gaining undisputed possession of Joseph's domain. Three days after he had invented them, Leon wrote a long letter to his light brother and sister, in which he gave them a great deal of advice on how to adhere to the “straight and narrow path religion”; essentially it boiled down to advice on avoiding sinful sexual thoughts and behavior. “If you are asked by nosy criticizing individuals why your ‘Old Man' is at a mental hospital in the United States tell those persons that our dear guardian Uncle Dr. George Bernard Brown has “Ordered” me as an inside Dr., government agent to see how people are treated there. Concerning my coat of arms and public ensignia it is as follows: a white dove sitting far forward on a rectangular shape opened at the bottom pertruding into the picture of a dunghill, and on the dunghill is written, Dunghill of Truth and in the open rectangular shape is written: Domino dominorum et Rex rexarum King of Kings and Lord of Lords … respectfully your loving light brother.” To this, Leon
signed his “full name,” and in addition tacked on at the end, “the Old Man.” This proliferation was also added to his calling card. The “Old Man” was, of course, Clyde; both Joseph and Leon had frequently referred to him in the past as the “Old Man.” Thus, one change traceable to Joseph is evident, and another traceable to Clyde. Subsequent changes in Leon's system are detailed in the chronological account which follows:

September 15. Leon says: “With me in the Philippines and Prince Charlie in England, we'll span the world.” He says he remembers something in reference to Dr. Darwin: “One of my uncles says to my other uncle: ‘Do you think there are people who have not yet been discovered? Their bodies are more rugged in appearance than a human person's body, but that's above an ape.' I believe my uncle made a comment that the Yeti are those undiscovered people.”

A few days earlier the men had read about the Yeti in a magazine article on the Abominable Snowman; the introduction of this material marked a brand-new tack, about which we were to hear much more in the months to come.

September 16. Leon repeats that the Yeti are the missing link, and goes on to announce that he is looking forward to presenting his wife, the “Queen of Queens,” to Queen Elizabeth. This, too, is a new idea. Leon is not referring to the Virgin Mary, whom he had previously described as his present wife, but to a new wife whom he will marry shortly. He muses over the castle that will be instantaneously created for his wife. The biggest banquets ever seen will be held there. Then, through translocation, Leon and his new wife will vacation in any part of the world, or have that part of the world brought to them. Apparently Leon is anticipating a wedding banquet and a honeymoon.

September 20. Leon informs us that the Yeti are formed by the cross-fertilization of a human and a plant or an insect, for the purpose of creating a bigger, stronger human. They prefer to live
from day to day, eating and drinking what they can find; they choose to let the rest of the world go by. The Yeti are extremely strong and dense because of an additional cross-fertilization with teakwood; this explains why they can pick up a “1400 to 1800 pound living yak over your head and throw it like a sack of flour with ease.”

September 26. In a letter addressed to “Respected Sir; Madam,” Leon manifests the first trace of ambivalence toward his present wife. “Neither I nor my wife Dr. Blessed Virgin Mary of Nazareth the
instrumental
Lordess of Lordesses and Queen of Queens is the boss, but Truth is the Boss.”

October 10. In a long letter addressed to “Respected, Righteous idealed light brothers, light sisters,” Leon writes: “I have accepted the Devine Habeas Corpus's Righteous Ideal Planned marriage of the ‘righteous idealed light sister's' marriage to her foster son a ‘righteous idealed light brother.' With the help of our heavenly Father I will see you at that great banquet in due time.”

October 12. At the group meeting, Leon elaborates on the wedding banquet. There will be all types of food, including undertaker's food, which is cut-off penis and testicles. He says he plans to keep an “open table” when he joins his wife in Hawaii. Day and night, people will come to visit and eat at this table.

October 25. Leon writes the longest letter to date to his “light brothers”; it contains ideas we have not previously encountered. It begins: “In the spirit of ‘truthful energetic happiness' I joyfully will to say some important things which will come to pass concerning myself,” and goes on to make the following points:

October 30. I ask Leon if he is married. He replies that he is betrothed, but not married to the Virgin Mary. He adds that his uncle said he could get a wife from the Yeti if he wanted to. Leon is unusually relaxed as he discusses his relations to the Yeti people.

November 8. Leon announces that his home town is in the Himalaya Mountains, home of the righteous idealed Yeti people.
November 10. Leon's preoccupation with his identity and his gradual identification with the Yeti people again emerge in a letter:

November 21, Leon begins another long letter, which he finishes on December 20. It is addressed to his Yeti people and opens with his thanks for their visit to him when he was thirteen years old and near death because the “Old Witch” had put arsenic into his food and drink. His foster father, who had previously been a white dove, becomes a rat in this letter: “Some people started calling me a ‘rat' not differentiating my human soul from the fact that my human body is a part evolution conception through the seed of our foster father a ‘Righteous idealed Jeriboa rat.”' He associates the Yeti people with royalty, England, and tremendous power. “Our beloved couple royal Yeti light brother and sister, I mean Sir Prince Charles the commoner and his foster sister wife Madam Princess Anne, of England, as I read in the paper that they let off some healthy instinctive steam typical of Yeti blood and wrecked part of Bukingham palace. As for me I know that—that—healthy—instinctive steam shall be brought out of me during your Olympic festivities—lifting and shot put throwing, of mountain boulder rocks.”

This is the last we are to hear of Leon's English light brother and sister. The delusion does not come up again. Neither does the idea that the Yeti people have royal blood. The Yeti delusion
itself, however, persists for many months. Leon elaborates on the Yeti.

The Yeti people are accustomed to eating raw rat meat and their body hair has a lustrous sheen “because of the organic gelatin plastic substance in rodent fur and bones. Our heavenly Father certainly has packed a lot of organic energy heat into the body of the rodent rat. I understand why our home town is located in the high cool mountains.”

What do the Yeti people stand for? “I am heartily sorry for speaking against and deploring our ‘Righteous idealed Tribal Law'; I now say it is the best ‘Law' because it is a hundred per cent plus in favor of the Ten Commandments of God Who is Spirit without a beginning, without an end.”

Who are the enemies of the Yeti people? Leon's answer—Joseph Cassel.

Also undergoing change is Leon's attitude toward his mother. The same projection mechanism that enabled him to explain away his sickness as due to “duping” now enables him to explain away his mother's behavior on the same grounds. He now finds excuses for her rejection of him—she was sick and under the influence of duping. “The Old Witch when she was a girl dented the top of her head when her head hit a rock while diving in a pond, and after that she suffered severe migraine headaches and climax of it epilepsy at various times. She dupingly infused such against me as a boy and I thought such came from my head.”

Moreover, Leon now has three mothers: “The Old Witch has been, is disowned and replaced by Dr. Blessed Virgin Mary of Nazareth and by-through my Righteous idealed Yeti mother.”

November 23. Today, Leon announces in the letter he began on November 21, is his wedding day. His bride is the “righteous idealed Yeti woman,” and on his honeymoon, “instead of sowing ‘wild oats' I sowed good idealed seed that shall grow up a credit, leaders for the four quarters of the world of righteous idealed society.”