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Sectas Oscuras de Africa

Por Nigel Blackwell, 1921

Descripción:

Green cloth over paperboard, 6”×8 ¼”; 328 pages, with the title stamped on the spine.
Though the date of publication is listed as being only four years previous (1921), this book is in very poor condition. The spine is broken, the back cover is cracked, and multiple pages are dogeared. There are also some marginal notes in
pencil (preguntar).
The author is given as one Nigel Blackwell; no publisher is listed.
The end paper inside the cover bears a bookplate indicating it belongs to Harvard University’s Widener Library.
 

Sectas Oscuras de Africa
Lectura rápida:

This book collects the papers of Nigel Blackwell, a minor self-funded African explorer. No attempt seems to have been made to organize Blackwell’s work (there is no index for example) and the topics vary widely. The focus of the work is on
African cults and esoteric religious practices—the more gruesome or vile the better. Cannibalism and bestiality are some of the more comparatively tame practices discussed. The author treats the blasphemous religious claims of the various
African tribesmen he discusses with an undue and unexpected degree of credence. Regions discussed include East Africa (the Kenya Crown colony and German East Africa in particular), the Belgian Congo, and West Africa (especially the
Niger River basin).
 

Sectas Oscuras de Africa
Investigación y antecedentes:
 

This book was published with a large amount of controversy (almost any reference to Blackwell in the popular press comes from this period) after the author’s disappearance and presumed death during a 1919 expedition into the Belgian Congo. While Blackwell’s estate was contested between the author’s various heirs, his notes were compiled and published by one of the parties in an attempt to profit from them. In the resulting lawsuit the opponents of the book’s publication eventually prevailed; the presses were stopped and most of the already completed copies were destroyed. Africa’s Dark Sects (sometimes mistakenly referred to as Africa’s Dark Secrets) was then placed in a legal limbo. Apparently Blackwell’s heirs opposed publication out of the fear that the book’s scandalous contents would embarrass the family. Only the book’s semi-scholarly approach prevented it from being labeled as obscene and banned outright.
Blackwell was not affiliated with any academic organization and tended not to make public the findings of his expeditions. One exception to this trend, is an interview he gave to The African Beacon, a monthly publication dedicated to the betterment of Africa and in particular the opposition to Belgian abuses in the Congo. As part of a discussion of abuses by rubber planters near Coquilhatville, Blackwell reports that locals have abandoned the new Christian churches in favor of an ecstatic cult called “Hatoo,” which promises the restoration of maimed limbs and a painful death for Westerners. While the article’s authors focused on how this shows the spiritual damage caused by Belgian cruelty, Blackwell seems more interested in the rites of the group, which he hints he might have attended.
 

Sectas Oscuras de Africa
Estudio:

Blackwell’s interests focus on marginal or secretive tribal religions, particularly those involved in blood sacrifice and other outré rites. Generally clinical in its presentation and style, the work outlines the rites and practices (sometimes from
pre-colonial days but more often focused on the modern era) of numerous African groups and traces links between these African religions and cults in the Americas.
Blackwell’s writing style is dense and frequently refers to other authors’ works without clarifying commentary or explanatory discussion of the cited work’s connection to his topic. These cryptic references reduce the clarity of the book
and reinforce the impression that this is a raw and unfinished work that would have been well served by an editor. Blackwell’s frequently stated fixation was the notion that Africa, being relatively untouched by Christianity and Islam, held the keys to the “truth” about human religion and history grates on the educated reader as well. The text is gruesome, unwholesome, and deeply shocking.
Of particular interest to investigators is a short segment about Kenya’s “Bloody Tongue” cult, as the paraphernalia and symbols of the Kenyan cult are identical to the New York City group of the same name. The Mountain of the Black Wind is discussed, though no location is given. A marginal note mocks Blackwell’s limited knowledge of the group. Also of interest is that the book’s spine has been broken open to a section about a Niger River delta cult’s grisly necromantic rites designed to raise the dead and make them into slaves called “zambi.”

No se si quieres que haga más tiradas al libro.

Por si acaso, ahí van

éxito en las 2, la primera a la mitad, la segunda a la 5ª parte

pues ya que estoy en la biblioteca, busco "Africa’s Dark Secrets", el libro con el que lo confunden. de tenerlo, lo compro a cambio de una buena donación.

La idea es dejarlo en algún lugar más visible (tras asegurarme de que no contenga nada de interés) y dejar el bueno más escondido, para que si alguien vuelve a intentar robarnos, se quede con ese. Si no tienen African DArk Secrets, busco un tomo lo más parecido posible y mando grabar African Dark sects en el lomo y le rompo un poco para aviejarle

Sobre el libro bueno, me procuro un maletín ( se lo encargo a mis criados) "estilo médico" de la época

Con candado y doble fondo.

Imagino que en la biblioteca no tienen ejemplares de "The African Beacon". si los tubieran, me intereso por las fechas en cuestión.

Se sabe de que nacionalidad era el señor Blackwell?

Habíamos oido hablar de los Hatoo? (no recuerdo si lo habíamos oido con lo de la lengua) si no, intento buscar en la biblioteca que son ( o en el propio libro si se habla más de ellos)

Por último, desde luego que me pondré a estudiar el libro en detalle cuando estemos en el barco que imagino que tendré más tiempo libre. tan solo intento adelantar si para el ritual es necesario algún tipo de "ingrediente" para tenerlo ya preparado.

Buenos días señor Westworth,

Puedo responder a alguna de sus preguntas:
Nigel Blackwood era de nacionalidad inglesa. 
No tenemos ninguna referencia sobre los Hatoo, ni ejemplares del African Beacon, es una publicación muy pequeña y ya desaparecida, raramente publicaban nada de interés.
No tengo noticias de ningún tomo llamado Africa's dark secrets.

Espero haberle sido de utilidad.

Ingredientes para el "liquido ritual":

Higado de pez globo
Trompeta del demonio (China, India)
Estramonio
Grano de terciopelo 

El maletín y conseguir el libro falso se lo encargo a algún criado

Eso no es problema.

Educadamente pregunto a la señorita atwright si existe alguna emeroteca en nueva York donde se pueda encontrar ese periódico

Lo lamento, pero lo desconozco.

Mi idea es ponerme con mi vida como un dios y pedir a California q me pida citas con psicoanalistas

Con el nombre falso de John doe, q en la época todavía no tiene implicaciónes

La vida como un Dios
de Montgomery Crompton
 

Descripción:

White leather over wood, crown quarto, 7½”×5”, unnumbered but about 160 pages; a holographic (i.e., handwritten by the author) account by one Montgomery Crompton bearing the title “Life as a God” within a poorly rendered frontispiece of
faux-Egyptian styling. The text is sloppy and erratic in brown, and sometimes fading, black ink. The book was mateurishly bound and the spine is separating in places.
 

La vida como un Dios
Lectura rapida:

This work purports to be the diary (though it functions more as an autobiography) of Montgomery Crompton, a British soldier and artist. Its first few pages recount his life as member of the landed gentry in Northern England up until the point he is dispatched in 1801 to Egypt under General Sir Ralph Abercrombie.
Seriously wounded in battle, he recovered after several weeks of a high fever and a series of what he claims were occult visions. Remaining in Egypt to recuperate, he was inducted into a secretive cult. Claiming to have survived from ancient
times, the cult worshiped a mythical figure known as the “Black Pharaoh”, a forgotten ruler of ancient Egypt said to have possessed magical, possibly divine, powers. As a cult member, Crompton witnessed and participated in acts of torture, murder, and rape, as well as weird magical ceremonies all in praise of this Black Pharaoh (sometimes called “Nivrin Ka”). In 1805 he returned to Great Britain where, settling near Liverpool, he and a group of other British converts attempted to replicate the cult and its depraved rites before being thwarted by unnamed, but mockingly condemned, local authorities. Crompton apparently composed this work whilst incarcerated in an asylum. Even from a quick skim, it is obvious that the author was a murderously sadistic lunatic prone to megalomaniacal delusions, foremost of which is that he would achieve god-hood through his occult practices.

La vida como un Dios
Investigación sobre el autor:

An initial Library Use roll can confirm that a  Montgomery Crompton was born in Lancashire in 1774, the fourth son of a minor noble, who served as a Lieutenant in the 28th (North Gloucestershire) Regiment of Foot, and was seriously wounded at the Battle of Alexandria. A few scattered references also mention Crompton’s interest in art and his unsuccessful efforts as a painter and later a sculptor. His commission in the army, Crompton was the family black sheep — first sent down from university and then bankrupted as part of a failed investment scheme.

After he returned from Egypt he was embroiled in some sort of scandal and confined to an asylum, apparently dying some time after 1807.
Journals and diaries of the period mention Crompton in reference to his various failures and how he obtained his commission solely through his father’s influence.
Court proceedings record his arrest in 1807, following his implication in the disappearance of a number of children from the Gilbert’s Union workhouse where he was employed. Newspapers and commentators from the period allege that the
staff of the workhouse in West Derby (near Liverpool) were overworking their wards and had attempted to conceal a number of deaths from the authorities. Several note the establishment’s unseemly reliance upon its Egyptian servants and
aides as well as Crompton’s own erratic public behavior. For reasons unclear the case was dismissed (though the workhouse was closed down and its buildings soon demolished), and after a brief stay at the York Retreat, an early asylum, he was given over to the custody of his family.

Fallo en las dos. Pero si traduzco bien el texto, el lomo está despegado, miro a ver si por casualidad has algo debajo

Coges el libro con interés, pero el hecho de que esté escrito a mano se te hace pesado, así que empiezas a juguetear con la encuadernación, que parece estar un  poco suelta. Lamentablemente no ves nada destacable. 

Carta abierta a los supervivientes Sepan, amigos, que ante la vorágine de acontecimientos sucedidos, sus consecuencias, pero sobre todo sus causas, he decidido volver a Nueva York si es que alguien no lo evita antes. Así pues, cambiaré mi billete para volver a casa tan pronto como este maldito pais me devuelva mi pasaporte. Cualquiera de ustedes que quiera volver, tendrá pasaje, o mantengan su pasaje a la autodestrucción, hasta ahí llega mi seguir sufragando muertes, aunque por el tiempo vivido juntos, también correré con los gastos que ocasione la repatriación de los restos de aquellos que no lo consigan. Por supuesto, si necesitan de consulta y asesoramiento no duden en buscar mi conocimiento, que supera el de todos ustedes, no se ofendan, aun que no tienda a ser escuchado. En cuanto a mi, refundaré la sociedad Icaro, en pos de miembros más afines y menos osados. Puedo imaginar que alguno considerará que la sociedad icaro no es de mi pertenencia y no puedo refundarla, permitan que discrepe, pero si lo prefieren la llamaré... dédalo, por ejemplo. Sepan que había localizado a un joven... adquisidor en Egipto, eufemismo para un salteador de tumbas (mi futuro personaje) que quizá les pueda resultar útil por el precio adecuado, reside en la calle de la Mangosta Feliz en la ciudad del cairo, en el numero 666, debe ser una calle muy larga. Buena suerte.