Answers From the Poobah
On occasion, I receive questions by e-mail on various topics. For lack of anything better to put up, I'll post the answers here. Lucky you!
The first question is from Suzee, who asks:
"I just found out something and wanted to see if you could answer a question.
I was talking to a friend about the Abbott Mansion. He said oh you mean the
Crowley House and I said yeah some people call it that. He said well you
know where they got the name from? I said no I just saw on the internet
that they said it is also known as the Crowley House. He said Aleister
Crowley owned it. He then proceeded to tell me who Aleister Crowley is. I
had no idea. I had never heard of him before. Is this true? Do you know
if Aleister Crowley ever owned this house? Did he ever live there?"
Dear Suzee,
Yes, I know who Aleister Crowley was. He was born in England in 1875, and died bankrupt in Scotland in 1947. I did some research, and while Mr. Crowley was a world traveler (while he still had money), the closest he ever got to Oklahoma was New Hampshire in 1919. It is doubtful that he ever owned or heard of Abbott Mansion. Besides, if he had, it would be a major tourist spot...controversial as he was (and is!), everyone knows of him and would probably pay at least a $5 entrance fee.
On a related note, I'd like to mention that while Mr. Crowley was a Satanist, he did not actually worship Satan. Satanists use that name for the shock value...and most of them are Atheists. More accurately, they are Humanists who want attention.
A devil worshipper is someone who actually worships the incarnate of evil, yada yada blah.
I'm sure you already know this stuff, but you sounded so horrified about Mr. Crowley that I had to wonder what your friend was telling you...
I'm not sure how the Abbott Mansion picked up that misnomer, but I'm *pretty* sure it came from silly teenagers trying to spook other teenagers with a creepy-sounding name. Very few people, unfortunately, take the time to do their research, and so they don't know the house's name.
A famous person *did* stay the night there, however. Washington Irving (who wrote 'Legend of Sleepy Hollow' and 'Rip Van Winkle') camped on Observation Point while on his tour of Indian Territory. This would have been in 1833-34ish.
Ok, I'm sure that's more information than you ever wanted.
Second Question
Well actually, more like questions 2-58...every e-mail I've recieved has been asking basically the same thing...what do I know about Aleister Crowley?
Not much! Everything I know comes from a Google search and a few respected websites. I'm not an expert on Crowley, and to be honest, I don't care to be. I read the Book of the Law, of course (who hasn't?), and while I know how fundamental his writings were and blah blah blah...I disagree with the man on too many points to want to *study* him. So, before you write to me about Crowley, let me tell you...I am not a ceremonial magickian, I am not a Humanist, I am not a Satanist, I am not an Atheist, and I am not a Crowley historian. Do your own research, please! It isn't hard, really.
Anyone else? Anyone? I'm Queen of Useless Knowledge, ya know...mail me, preferably with "Website Question" in the subject line. Or at least something that I won't mistake for pr0n spam. Remove the "nospam" before sending.
