Book announcement: THE PRANKSTER AND THE CONSPIRACY: THE STORY OF KERRY THORNLEY AND HOW HE MET OSWALD AND INSPIRED THE COUNTERCULTURE. By Adam Gorightly and with a Foreword by Robert Anton Wilson.
An Overlooked Life Linked to the JFK Conspiracy
The Prankster and the Conspiracy details the life of one of the 1960s counterculture’s most fascinating characters — Kerry Wendell Thornley, a writer, philosopher, Zen dishwasher, enlightened prankster, and, possibly, an Oswald double with disturbing ties to the Kennedy assassination.
A lifelong provocateur, Thornley was linked to many of the fringe elements of the time. He helped create the spoof religion called the Discordian Society and its tract, the Principia Discordia. He coined the term “paganism” to describe various nature religions. And he befriended Robert Anton Wilson, inspired the Illuminatus, and gave his anarchic support to the Bavarian Illuminati, a brilliant prank.
But Thornley’s path also crossed Lee Harvey Oswald’s. It’s a fact that the two served together in the Marines. But did they keep in touch later, in New Orleans? And were they both used by foes of JFK? Jim Garrison investigated their relationship — and so does Adam Gorightly in The Prankster and the Conspiracy, an account of Thornley’s tragic yet hilarious life, the JFK conspiracy, and the chaos caused by worshipping the goddess of discord. With a foreword by Robert Anton Wilson.
About Adam Gorightly
Adam Gorightly is the author of The Shadow Over Santa Susana: Black Magic, Mind Control, and “The Manson Family” Mythos. His articles have appeared in zines such as The Excluded Middle, Crash Collusion, UFO Magazine, Paranoia, SteamShovel Press, Pills-a-go-go, Dagobert’s Revenge, and Saucer Smear.
The Prankster and the Conspiracy
by Adam Gorightly
Paraview Press, 2003
ISBN: 1-931044-66-X
Pub. Date: November 1, 2003
9×6 inches, 292 pages, $16.95/£11.50