paul twitchell & eckankar in 1969 - an interview with

PTHA Doc 2013-08-22 © Paul Twitchell Historical Archive

Disclaimer: This archive file is presented strictly in the public interest for research purposes.All the copyrights of materials reproduced here are the properties of their respective owners

2013 Feb-Mar Email Interview with Wanda Sue Parrott

Recollections about Paul Twitchell and Eckankar

COPYRIGHT By Sean Arundell PTHA (published with permission) 2013-06-16

We had collected on the Paul Twitchell Historical Archive an undated newspaper article written about Paul

Twitchell and Eckankar by journalist Wanda Sue Parrott that appeared to be around late 1968. I did an online

search for her and found this site information.

She is a former investigative reporter and feature writer with the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner

http://amykitchenerfdn.org/wbiox.html

This 1968 photo shows Wanda Sue Parrott being named Honorary Chief of the White Buffalo Tribe, an all-tribe

workshop in Los Angeles. The photo appeared in “Medicine Power: The American Indian's Revival of His Spiritual Heritage and Its Relevance for Modern Man” by Brad Steiger (Doubleday; 1974) www.bradandsherry.com

https://plus.google.com/105619724241890779905#105619724241890779905/posts

It appeared that Wanda was contactable through the Amy Kitchener site, so I wrote them an email.

------

February 25, 2013

Dear Wanda,

I found your email address on this site: http://amykitchenerfdn.org/wbiox.html

I am researching the life of Paul Twitchell and was hoping you may be able help with a few unknowns this end.

In 1968 you wrote an article on Paul and Eckankar for the LA Herald Examiner.

This is a scanned copy I have

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-M0yAR0UPhPRGFYX1JScHNUT1E/view?usp=sharing

Wanda, would you recall what DATE this was published? Do I have the complete text of the article in this

scan? And would you like to share any recollections you have about Eckankar or this meeting with Paul?

Warm Regards,

Sean

Disclaimer by Wanda Sue Parrott: "I hope the matters I have discussed about individuals or AMORC that are made public now will not get anynegative responses. Any opinions I give are solely my own conclusions based on my own experience, not statements of blanket fact, and are not intended to make accusations of a libelous or slanderous nature against any person(s) or institution." Dated June 14th 2013

http://amykitchenerfdn.org/wbiox.html

http://www.bradandsherry.com/

https://plus.google.com/105619724241890779905#105619724241890779905/posts


https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0KObtCQpPKbY2ViYzk3M2ItMWJmYS00ZWM4LWI5YWUtNjA4ZmJmNzcwMWJk/edit



To Sean Arundell 2-25-13

REMEMBERING PAUL TWITCHELL: MY INTRODUCTION TO ECKANKAR

Thank you for your e-query about Paul Twitchell's interview which I wrote when I was a staff writer with the Los

Angeles Herald-Examiner between 1968 and 1973. I do not have access to the original copy, which you show as

having been published in 1968.

That date seems a bit early for me, but I could be wrong. Here is why.

In fall 1968, I covered some psychic experiments conducted by Richard Spurney, a teacher at California State

University in Long Beach, in which a housewife from West Covina named Joyce Partise could tell what was inside

closed brown paper bags merely by touching the sacks. This story about object reading ran in conjunction with

local TV appearances by Spurney-Partise in which demonstrations were given on live television.

In those days the religion and women's sections were linked in the second section of the daily newspaper, and the

story ran in that section as a feature.

All over So.California, and subsequently across the country, interest in such psychic phenomena was starting to rise

as a new field of psychology was evolving on college campuses. It had been kicked off at Duke University by Dr.

James Banks Rhine, who, along with his wife Louisa, invented a deck of Xener cards that contained five symbols

that were used in ESP testing and the scientific world was paying attention.

The person running the test shuffled the cards, then looked at them, one at a time, while the subjects wrote

impressions about the symbol on each card. A score of one out of five correct answers was normal; a score above

that indicated psychic ability beyond "chance." Symbols were: circle, wavy line, triangle, square and cross.

This was the start off the new branch of psychological science known as parapsychology, or "psi" for short.

I actually began in 1969 to seriously cover the parapsychology movement and psychic explosion. In the early 1970s

it spawned such popular movements as transcendental meditation, Eckankar and other schools, ashrams and

churches blazed into glory and then fizzled like falling stars. A few of them caught on and continued to grow.

Eckankar was one of them.

I am not sure exactly when Paul Twitchell and I had lunch together, but I remember that meeting. It was at Corky’s Bar and Grill on W. Seventh Street in downtown Los Angeles. He had a youngish baby face with amazingly clear

blue eyes and a soft-spoken Southern manner. He was one of many so-called psychics and seers trying to get me

to run interviews that would promote their programs.

Among those I refused an interview was Uri Geller, a young Israeli who could bend spoons using telepathic powers.

The only reason I agreed to meet with Paul Twitchell was because his name was familiar to me through

publications I had read.

Although I knew nothing about Eckankar, I was familiar with Paul’s name because of small ads he’d run throughout the sixties in Classified sections of magazines like ORION and FATE that catered to people interested

PTHA Doc 2013-08-22 © Paul Twitchell Historical Archive Disclaimer: This archive file is presented strictly in the public interest for research purposes. All the copyrights of materials reproduced here are the properties of their respective owners

in everything unorthodox and metaphysical, as opposed to scientifically proven facts, from UFOs and aliens to

near death experiences (NDEs), out of body projections (OBEs) and spirit communications.

Many of these small-press publications were spiritually slanted and religious in nature—just unorthodox by

content, meaning they were not mainstream. They catered to truthseekers interested in everything from

astrology to soul travel. It was a genre of quasi-reports and true confessions about everything from contacts

with angels to prophecies revealed by God or his ministers about the future and of the world.

The whole movement at that time was like a set of railroad tracks running from coast to coast. One track was

comprised of orthodox psychological science and established religions and the parallel track was made up of

unorthodox psychics, contactees, mediums and ministers of every faith but mainstream!

The orthodox, or scientific, track was being laid slower than its counterpart. On the orthodox track were

institutions that experimented again and again, with tedium, to prove their experiments got the same results time

and time again before they could be called true, valid facts or laws. Among institutes on this track were the U.S.

military, which was covertly experimenting with remote viewing as a means of psychic spying from long distance.

The counterpart, or fast track, quickly bypassed the other, since it was comprised of those who did not present

verifiable proof of the validity of what they were practicing or preaching, or selling; they sold what they had to

sell and let others decide the truth to their claims.

I sat across the table from Paul Twitchell and looked deep into his baby blue eyes and said “Paul, don’t try to bullshit me.” He was a salesman. Among things he’d sold were shoes. Paul knew I had his number, or suspected I had it, so the lunch was brief and pleasant, and we parted with no sense of having bonded. He did not sell me on

Eckankar as an ancient science under that icky name.

He told me that as a youngster in the south, he’d had an encounter with a being like an angel. My reporter’s nose for news sensed this was true. Whatever else he and a man named Darwin Gross were selling under the name of

Eckankar was their twentieth-century product in which I wasn’t convinced he fully believed.

Paul gave me a beautiful white leatherette book that had been written in calligraphy by a woman friend he called a

chela in Las Vegas. I think her name was Helen, but could be wrong. It seems the title was “In My Soul I am Free.” [more likely The Anitya booklet] I had no doubt Paul had spiritual experiences, but also sensed he was trying to

use my newspaper to promote his project and get rich. I liked Paul. I just didn’t trust him.

Metaphorically speaking, the train running on that uneven track crashed when President Richard M. Nixon

resigned his presidency in 1974 and America went into a cultural tailspin that was marked by pocketbooks being

tightened and minds following suit. The entire psycho-spiritual movement that was exploding across the country

suddenly and abruptly imploded.

In other words, the great sweeping liberal open-minded psychic/spiritual explosion that coincided with the ending

of the Vietnam War did an about-face and conservatism captivated the country and kept it prisoner until the

Clinton era in the 1990s. Many upstart organizations died in the crush, but Eckankar, to my amazement, caught on

and survived, reaching its foreshadow of success before Paul’s untimely death in 1971.

I wonder, but cannot know, whether he died without realizing the fabrication he sold as truth was actually the

real thing.



I am not sure of the exact date we met. I do know in 1969 the first ESP Symposium spearheaded by Dr Thelma S.

Moss was held at the Neuropsychiatric Institute on the campus of the University of California at Los Angeles

(UCLA). Prior to that, whatever small writing I did on psychic subjects was published in the women's section. My

major news feature of the weekend UCLA event in, I believe, July 1969, marked the debut of PSI as information

worthy of publication in the news section of any major metropolitan newspaper in America, as far as I know.

In other words, psychic and spiritual phenomena came out of the closet of religion, myth and superstition where

the news media had relegated them, and attained a modicum of "legitimacy" when academia sponsored the

conference which included educators who spoke on everything from the human aura and experiments with

playing music for plants to documenting out of body experiences for participants in sleep lab investigations. Mind

and potential soul were being taken seriously! But the soothsayers and propheteers/profiteers who rushed in

flattened academia. Squashed it flat! Politics finished the job.

The war-weary public leaped onto the ESP [PSI] bandwagon and soon a spate of quasi-religious movements was

spawned, not by universities and colleges, but from grass roots people like Paul Twitchell.

What Paul sold worked, because countless practitioners of Eckankar around the world today can claim that in

their souls they are free—and I believe them. After all, during that era when I interviewed Paul, I was known by

1971 as California’s Psychic Reporter!

Wanda Sue Parrott

February 25, 2013

Here’s a photo of Paul about the time of this interview: 1968-11 2nd Eck World Wide seminar Las Vegas

https://docs.google.com/file/paultwitchell/

I replied to Wanda Sue Parrott

February 26, 2013

Hello Wanda,

Firstly, thank you very much for replying. More than that I really appreciate the time and effort you

have clearly put into giving me this information and your personal insights.

[…] in the article it mentioned "mushrooming in 3 years" from Oct 1965 .. which places this circa Oct 1968.

the book In my Soul I am Free was published in 1968 before Oct.

Helen Baird says in the article she had been in Eckankar for 2 years ..... and I

thought she had joined in 1966 from other hearsay info.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-M0yAR0UPhPWTJkNU81RkluVEE/view?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0KObtCQpPKbZWIzYTE1MGQtNzQ5Yy00N2MwLTk2OGUtNTUyZTVjMThmNTc1/edit?usp=drive_web


But the 300,000 members made no sense for 1968, even as an exaggeration, for things didn't grow until 1969 as

far as numbers are concerned. By early 1970 Eckankar had shifted to a non-profit religious org as well ... (and was

never as many as 300,000 members or even books sold before 1971)

So your comments tend to confirm my "feelings" that this was published circa early to mid-1969 instead.

Seems doubtful it was in 1970, given the timing info in the article itself. If you can narrow the time frame by the

Season in 1969 even that would be helpful.

[…]

===

Wanda Sue Parrott responded with

February 26, 2013

Sean, I am on deadlines and must be swift, but I am glad we connected, and I thank you for letting me express my

feelings about Paul, because I never had anyone to whom I could say those things and even tried writing a fiction

piece about a guy who began sincerely, created an organization and got involved in internal structural problems

and politics and, in effect, sold his soul hypothetically, and while he was a physical success, he died feeling like a

phony, never realizing that what he had phonied up to sell as truth actually was truth, although the trimmings

were fabulous or non-fabulous fakes.

I was never able to pull the piece together. Now it is out of me. When I told Paul not to pull any bs on me, he

didn't. I respected that. And he knew I had his number.

Between the time I lunched with Paul and his death, I know he was involved with beautiful women and think he

was married at that time, and Darwin Gross took on some kind of eastern-sounding title and I believe was called

Sri, plus took an eastern pasha-style name... my memory is what I am relying on and I am nearly 80 so could be

wrong... was it Rebezar Tarz? (sic) I have vague recollections of some internal problems in the organization and

Darwin Gross becoming Paul's successor or contender for control.

My memory of our meeting places Paul in a lightweight suit and tie. The suit was of light color, such as a gray or

blue, and this would make it a spring or summer suit. In those days men wore seersucker and other light-hued

fabric in the warmer months.

I am sorry, but I tried to blow up the article on my computer so I could read it, but only could get the top, so I am

not able to comment on contents below the top because I don't remember exactly what I wrote. It was clipped

and filed in the morgue in those pre-computer days and the date should have been stamped or written at the very

top. In your example, it appears to have been blanked out.

Helen Baird was a volunteer artist, a devotee called a chela, I believe, who helped kick off the Eckankar

movement and who seemed devoted, and I sensed she was in love with Paul. I never met her.

The Los Angeles Public Library might have a file. The old Los Angles Herald-Examiner files must have been stored

somewhere, since you got access to this clipping. I have not been so lucky. My last contact with the management

from that Hearst Corp. newspaper was George R. Hearst, Jr., from whom I got a Christmas card each year until last

year. He died last July.



Let me know if I can be of further help. Good luck. Are you writing a history of Eckankar?

Are you a member?

I am a Rosicrucian. Have been for 50 years!

Wanda

===

I replied to Wanda

February 27, 2013

Hi Wanda,

Attached a copy of the article here for you to read.

Changed the title to 1969 … seems more likely to be correct.

Warm regards,

Sean

1969-01 Herald-Examiner LA Paul Twitchell interview - Soul Travel Thousands Join Up by Wanda Sue

Parrott.jpg

URL



https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0KObtCQpPKbY2ViYzk3M2ItMWJmYS00ZWM4LWI5YWUtNjA4ZmJmNzcwMWJk/edit?usp=drive_web


Wanda Sue Parrott replied to me later that same day.

February 27, 2013


Sean, thanks so much for attaching the article in the paper in a format I can read. I note in the lower right corner

an ad for mink at a January sale, so this piece probably ran at the end of December 1968 or early January 1969,

and my thought that it was in spring could have been wrong. I had forgotten a lot of info in the piece. Judging from

the sound of the feature, it could have run on a Saturday in the religion section.

Much of what Paul said about Eck applied also to the Rosicrucian Order, to which I then belonged, having joined

in 1963. Each such movement had its own terminology. Years later when I attended my one and only Eck meeting

in Springfield, Missouri, the intonation of vowel sounds in a circle was just like a ritual in which we participated at

our annual conventions in the 1990s.

I must sign off until later,

Wanda

====

February 27, 2013

OMG Wanda,

January sale .. that's so funny. Well we missed that completely. <smile>

I am happy to call it as January 1969. It still makes sense about his suit though, may well have been mild weather

in LA at that time.

[…]

The main focus I had was to locate all kinds of original (historical) materials, and compile these on a public website

so people could *look for themselves* and make their own decisions of what xyz might mean to them without

being "told". The late 2000s explosion in digitised books, journals, archives and old items for sale on ebay etc all

online meant myself and my friends interested in this project soon were finding more and more historical

materials.

Your article is one that popped up along the way published online back in 2003. I believe it is a digital scan of a

photocopy of a photocopy of the original newspaper. I doubt the date was intentionally obscured. These kind of

things are like gold. All tiny pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. The second goal was to make a Timeline of "verifiable' events.

Much more evidence of his plagiarisms has come to light as well. I suspect the Rosicrucian materials could also be

some of his sources.

The archive now has over 2100 files from original book cover photos to whole ebooks. 3200mb all up, and a

website that I am trying to finish off now as a directory to this material. Way too much work involved, many long

hours. […]

[end email]

===

Wanda’s reply


February 27, 2013

Sean, I loved your e-mails, but am old and am zonking right now. My webmaster has cancer, and this fact alone

stymies me, since I am an e-klutz. So I will be real brief now and will go into more detail when the sun is high in the

sky!

First, you are definitely a Rosicrucian, whether or not you ever joined an org by that name. How do I know? You

are a walking question mark.

Second, yes I know Brad Steiger. I am 78 and he is a couple of years younger, so you need to subtract a few years

off his life. He is not 90 yet. His original birth name was Eugene Olson or Olsen but he changed it after having past

life experiences in which he was a German aviator in or around World War One. Before becoming a fulltime

writer, he was a school teacher in Iowa, where he still lives. He changed his name legally. Brad is an honorable,

private and spiritual man, and one who stays out of controversy, which is probably why he declined an interview. I

have never known him to say a bad word about any human, even if he knows someone might not be quite

"kosher" or qualified for the honors bestowed on him or her.

In journalism, this is known as protecting one's sources.

He also has a great sense of humor, which he shares occasionally with friends. He and I have been friends since

1973 when I interviewed him for the Herald-Examiner. He was a giant of a writer in his day... was with the major

publishers. We did a few things together; that is, I contributed to his books. The last one was a couple of years ago.

It was a paperback in which people's true Christmas memoirs were published. My pay was a free copy of the book.

By daylight, as time permits, I will answer your points more fully.

Thanks for sharing and for your zeal. In the RC Order, such a person is known as a Zelator! It means one with

enthusiasm and energy!!

Time to zonk. I am very glad we met!!

Wanda

====

I responded to Wanda:

February 28, 2013

Thanks Wanda :-)

You take it easy .. at the end of the day, this topic isn't that big a deal in itself.

[…] I was disappointed in Brad not even being interested in clarifying a few things and giving a hindsight 2012 version

of his personal knowledge.


Many had made various claims about what Brad had said to them ... many eckists *blamed* him personally for all

the disinformation in IMSIAF book and not Paul.

I simply wanted to clarify Brads own view for the *record* vs the myths and rumours.

[…] Thank you again!

Sean

====

A while later Wanda Sue Parrott emailed with the following social religious history summary in America.

Twitchell—continued

March 3, 2013

Sean, my subtle impressions about Paul were a combination of familiarity with his name, social class in the south

and civil rights, and the tempo of the times... or perhaps "cycle" would be best.

About every one hundred years, there is a major breakthrough of a spiritual/religious nature. In the mid 1800s it

resulted in Spiritualism being born along with a bunch of offshoot religions and movements, which included

Theosophy. This happened right after the Industrial Revolution and continued after the Civil War.

There were religions that caught on, like Mormonism and Unitarianism. The Jehovah's Witnesses and Seventh Day

Adventists also were offshoot cults of Christianity.

The deep south of the US was and still is quite fundamentally Christian, with the Southern Baptists ruling--and they

basically were and possibly still are highly prejudiced against blacks. In the deep south, from which Paul Twitchell

came, lowest-class whites were considered superior by those who were most prejudiced to the most refined and

elegant blacks. There were deep class divisions among southern whites, from the lowest level called "crackers" of

"poor white trash" to the southern belles and colonels of lore--and I have no way of knowing, but sensed

intuitively, that Paul Twitchell did not come from the upper crust class.

He impressed me as being more from a family of share croppers than former plantation owners.

I also sensed he had a genuine spiritual awakening/initiation at a young age, the same kind of phenomenon that

caused countless people like you and me to seek movements like Eckankar and the Rosicrucian’s. .. and that

gave people like the Amish or Mormons a holier-than-thou glow of spiritual beauty that made them look

younger than their years. It is called an aura or halo of sanctity.

It is the same sort of inner radiance an elderly person suffering the final stages of dementia expresses--a line-free

glowing face that has a saintly look... like translucence... although the mind behind it is blank. Spirit is ubiquitous

and, therefore, ageless and people with that look appear ageless.

Paul was probably about fifty, or maybe a bit older, but he had that sort of glowing look about him. [He was 59yrs]

I know he said he had sold shoes. I think, but cannot swear, that he also sold bibles, but that might just be an

paul twitchell & eckankar in 1969 - an interview with

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