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47+ obres 653 Membres 5 Ressenyes

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Obres de Clifford L. Linedecker

Deadly Obsessions (1995) 21 exemplars
Poisoned Vows (1995) 20 exemplars
Prison Groupies (1993) 18 exemplars
Thrill Killers (1988) 15 exemplars
Blood Money (1993) 10 exemplars
Serial Thrill Killers (1990) 9 exemplars
Scary Witch Tales (1999) 6 exemplars
To Love, Honor and Kill (1990) 5 exemplars
Truly Spooky Tales II (1999) 4 exemplars
More Spooky Tales (2000) 4 exemplars
Children in Chains (1981) 4 exemplars
Chilling Tales 2 exemplars
Truly Spooky Tales 1 exemplars

Obres associades

My Life with Elvis (1977) — Autor — 45 exemplars

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I first learned of the man who was then calling himself Dr. Ernesto Moshe Montgomery in 1998, reading Chuck Shepherd’s “News of the Weird,” in The Austin Chronicle, a column I read religiously in those days. Montgomery had just announced that a signed photograph of himself with Shirley MacLaine in his Beta Israel Temple had begun to weep. I thought it was an interesting variation on the theme of weeping icons and did a little research on Montgomery, during which found a simple website on which he was selling a book he announced he’d written, Psychic Spy: The Story of an Astounding Man, the story of his life. He did not explain on the website why the book had the name Clifford Linedecker on the cover. I had little money at the time, and so didn’t buy the book then. Late in 2020, more than two decades later, I finally made good on long deferred desires and obtained and read the book.

Psychic Spy is actually Clifford L. Linedecker’s first book. Linedecker would go on to write a number of true crime books, particularly for the St. Martin’s True Crime Library. I’ve even read one of them without knowing anything of the author, Hell Ranch, about Adolfo Constanzo and the 1989 Matamoros cult murders.

That said, I can see how Montgomery could claim Psychic Spy is his autobiography. It what Montgomery claims is his life story. With the exception of the flimsiest amount of background material, Linedecker relies entirely upon what Montgomery told him, with no reference to declassified government papers, archives, or other external documentation. So, when Montgomery tells Linedecker he was a member of Jamaica’s secret psychic police division, Linedecker just takes his word on it. There is none of the background research one would expect from an investigative journalist – no government documents are cited, no identity card is reproduced, no former colleagues or other witnesses are interviewed. This book is entirely the word of Ernesto Montgomery, with the occasional reference to Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain, Sybil Leak, Eckankar, or The Spear of Destiny for whatever corroboration you think those provide.

Part I describes Montgomery’s early life. He was born in Jamaica, and says that his psychic abilities were apparent from an early age, but that, like many psychics, he was unable to use his powers to help himself and his family. He lived in poverty, but at the outbreak of World War II he joined the Jamaican Home Guard at the age of 16. He says outwardly he served as a drummer boy, but secretly he also served as a psychic spy, using soul travel to travel through time and space to provide intelligence to the British Commonwealth. Fortunately for us, he only promised to keep his involvement secret for 20 years, unless the authorities asked him to keep it secret longer, which apparently they did not. He claims that he was the only psychic in that team, but that he did work alongside astrologers. At one point he says he met an intelligence officer whom Linedecker later identified as Ian Fleming. He claims he observed Hitler on the astral plane, but offers very little insight into his character other than to say his soul was “withdrawn” and “separate and apart from everything,” not working towards its own evolution. After the war he claims he joined the Jamaican police reserve, transitioning to a position in the police—and, secretly, worked as a psychic detective. There’s surprisingly little detail in these chapters, and even with the explicit claims Montgomery and Linedecker makes his service seems surprisingly ordinary. It is almost as though, after having made the extraordinary claim to have been a psychic spy, he lacked either the information or the imagination to develop his claims.

The book is more a memoir than an autobiography in that it leaves big holes in the narrative that are never addressed. Montgomery claims he first came to the United States on a police exchange trip and then decided to stay there permanently. One wonders how the Jamaican government let such an important psychic asset and potential liability go.

Newspaper accounts fill in some of these gaps. I have not done a through search, but here’s some of what I have dug up. In the 1950s into the 1960s, Montgomery was working at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas. He claims he was a faith healer. The medical center says he was a nursing service technician (Dallas Observer, 1/2/1997. He seems to have acquired the title doctor at about that time.

By 1962 he was in Los Angeles. After the deadly April 27, 1962 police raid on the LA Nation of Islam Temple that resulted in the death of Ronald Stokes, Montgomery held a press conference at which he announced that he was forming the Royal Negro Improvement Peace and Love Association for the Recovery of the Negro Cause, a black pro-police and anti-Muslim group (Los Angeles Evening Citizen News, 6/20/1962; Valley Times, 6/27/1962). Montgomery said he would expose Malcolm X, but offered no other information than that he was an ex-convict. He also claimed he started out speaking at NOI rallies; it seems quite likely he did attend Black Moslem events.

This was the first of a number press conferences Montgomery organized heralding the organization of various organizations Montgomery founded, usually with no follow-up. By the late 1960s he had settled into working as a psychic and Christian minister in Los Angeles, running what he called the Universal Metaphysical Church. After it was published Montgomery handed out copies of Psychic Spy at his press conferences.

Part II of Psychic Spy includes various claims of fulfilled prophecies. He claims he predicted the Kennedy assassinations, the Shannon Tate murders, and Marilyn Monroe’s death. He says there was a vast conspiracy with multiple shooters at the JFK hit, but of course gives no details as to who these people are or any details to substantiate his assertions. He does get at least one important detail wrong, claiming that JFK’s car stopped in Dealey Plaza at the exact place where he indicated on a map that the assassination would take place. In reality the car was under fire the entire time it was in Dealey Plaza and never stopped. He says he tried to warn people on Cielo Drive that hippies would murder someone there, but that all his letters to celebrities were returned unopened. One wonders why he didn’t knock on a few doors to issue his prophecies. In any event, we have only his statements to either believe or disbelieve.

Here again the newspapers shed some light. In 1979 (four years after Psychic Spy was published), Montgomery contacted newspapermen, informing them that he had predicted the crash of American Airlines Flight 161. This time he claimed he had tried to warn the airline, both by writing American Airlines a letter and taking out an ad in the Dallas Morning News. The Cassandra claims he received no answer to his letter, and that the newspaper refused to print his advertisement. He offered the newspaper’s rejection letter as evidence. But reporter Marilynn Preston contacted the Dallas Morning News, only to find out that what they had rejected was an ad for courses in developing psychic powers, not an advertisement warning about an impending airline disaster (Chicago Tribune, 6/13/1979).

Part II also contains two short chapters which show what Montgomery really spent most of his time doing. One of them gives basic instructions on meditation. It’s the sort of meditation probably taught in dozens of New Thought movements. The chapter “A Day With a Psychic” describes his life as essentially an untrained psychologist and counsellor doling out relationship advice. The only time he draws on his psychic powers is when he meditates over a photograph sent by a woman who wanted to lose weight—he also advised her to eat less. He refused to heal individuals, but did hold healing services at which God healed those who He wanted to heal. It’s probably the sort of life led by many an unordained minister and tarot reader led in Los Angeles in the period. The names of most are now known only to God and readers of old newspaper advertisements.

Part III contains prophecies. The most astounding prophecy is the claim that, shortly before the year 2000, aliens and undersea civilizations will reveal themselves and wage war on us, destroying our nuclear capabilities. This noteworthy event seems to have passed without my noticing. I was so intrigued by this, however, that I tried to follow up. I found a Micro Mag (of the sort that used to be on sale in little revolving wire racks in supermarkets) by Linedecker that included a chapter on Montgomery published in 1999 and entitled World Famous Seers’ All-New Prophecies for the Millennium. Unfortunately I found that it only reworks some of the further-out prophecies from Psychic Spy and does not mention the alien attack. It does however embellish Montgomery’s story still further by claiming that Ian Fleming recruited him to serve in Her Majesty’s Psychic Service, which is far beyond the claims made in Psychic Spy.

Psychic Spy was published in 1975, and it’s a shame that it had no sequel. Montgomery frequently pops up in the newspapers. In one case he appears with Linedecker. In 1983, model Vicki Taylor died under mysterious circumstances. The assertion was made that she had possession of a sex tape featuring prominent politicians. Montgomery alerted the press that she gave him the tape – but it was no longer in his possession. He said he mailed it to Linedecker. Linedecker never got it (El Paso Times, 7/19/1983). By the 1980s Montgomery claimed to be an archbishop running a Vatican shrine with weeping and bleeding images. I’m not sure when he decided he was a Hebrew. In 1999, Montgomery had a prophecy that Michael Jackson's son Prince would die within six months unless he sat in front of the weeping Shirley MacLaine photo (Reno Gazette-Journal, 6/22/1999). Perhaps he sat in front of the photo in secret, because Prince Jackson did not die, but I have found no evidence he sat before the photograph. Montgomery himself finally died on July 4, 2014 (Black Star News, 10/27/2014).

In short, I enjoyed reading this book. However, I find no evidence in it to support psychic claims or even to shed light on any attempts by the Allies, whether successful or not, to harness psychic forces during World War II.
… (més)
 
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marc_beherec | Jan 18, 2021 |
This book was published in 2003, so the news is a little old.
Laci Peterson was pregnant with her baby boy, Conner. She had no clue that her husband was having an affair with someone else. Laci disappears on Christmas Eve and much money and time is spent looking for her and her unborn son.
Scott Peterson should carry this guilt until the day he dies.
 
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JReynolds1959 | Hi ha 1 ressenya més | Mar 8, 2018 |
Two books--"Deadly Obsessions" and "In a Dark Place"--recommended. Adult material covering crimes of an unusual nature with an occult overtone. My complete review is available on my book review blog: http://www.tgblogger.com/?p=1302.
 
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LynBarTri | Jun 23, 2013 |
The Cornish prayer that's on the back of the book explains it best: "From ghoulies and ghosties and long leggety beasties and things that go bump in the night, Good Lord, deliver us!" This is a book of 29 stories, ranging from unexplained hauntings and unsolved murders to sightings of sea monsters, UFOs and crop circles. I enjoy learning about unexplained events and give this book an A+!
 
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moonshineandrosefire | Aug 4, 2012 |

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Obres
47
També de
1
Membres
653
Popularitat
#38,652
Valoració
½ 3.4
Ressenyes
5
ISBN
58
Llengües
3

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