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“I HEAR HURRICANES A-BLOWIN”…

(Line from the 1969 Creedence Clearwater Revival hit song, “Bad Moon On The Rise”)

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So now it was about 11 days or so, since my woes began.

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For about the last 4 days or more, since getting out of Ward 3600, my torment returned: yes, I had really been put through the proverbial, “meat-grinder”, as the saying goes! (Not saying that the first 7 days were any “picnic in the park!”)

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And in this pulverized condition, I went down to the restaurant and walked into the office. My brother was at the desk, and looked up and said… “Well, the weather-man says this next week is gonna be just ‘one storm after another’ !”

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When he said this, I instantly interpreted it to mean that I was going to go through one torment after another this week. And even though he was merely talking small talk…about the weather, nevertheless, I figured that some spirit was sending this warning to me.

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But my troubles had already begun! For the past four days, I had, “no rest, day nor night”. It was truly one storm after another! Many terrorizing things, such as the terror of the “Born Free” song (see Chapter 8 ) in my dad’s car…to the “Last Passover” of being terrorized with the thought that I had been left behind (which fizzled out, fortunately! See Chapter 10.)

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(Of course, these few experiences mentioned are just a small sampling of the myriad of horrifying experiences I was going through! These mentioned, are merely the most memorable.)

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I never much liked roller-coaster rides as a kid. And this Roller-Coaster-Ride-from-Hell was no exception! The perfect storms were coming my way! And it didn’t look like there was gonna be any break in the weather!

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Jukebox – Wikimedia – cropped image – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 Global license

Typhoon_saomai – wikipedia NASA – public domain

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CHAPTER 11:

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“WELCOME BACK, HOTTER!—TO UNIT 3600!”

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MORE PRESUMPTUOUS FAITH…

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The next day, after the “Rapture…One Tin Soldier”, the previous afternoon, I tried to go down to work. I knew I was walking on very thin ice at this point. And so I decided to do just some little job to keep busy. I went to the kitchen and began washing pots. “Maybe back here in the kitchen, I can be out of trouble”, I thought.

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But before long, the spirit urged me to “show your faith” by me sticking my head down into the pot sink. Now I fully realized that this was a horrible (and stupid) idea! But this spirit compelled me so strongly and overwhelmingly, I had no other choice but to obey. And so I just stuck my head in the empty sink.

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And so, there I was, doing what I knew looked insane! Just standing in front of the pot-sink, leaning over with my head down inside. Nevertheless, I remained in that ridiculous position. After all, I had to “show my faith!” Fortunately it was only a minute or two until the cooks found me like this. Well, they called for an ambulance and before long I was put on a stretcher and driven to the hospital, I think, in an ambulance. It may have been a car. No, I think it was an ambulance. Or perhaps it was some sort of hybrid type of vehicle, half ambulance, half automobile. I don’t know. Anyway, it had windows I could see out of.

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Yeah it was some sort of “station-wagon” (an old-school version of an “SUV”, or “utility-vehicle”)

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The Scream – by E. Munch – Wikipedia – public domain by edvard munch c.1893

Hand wash dishes – wikimedia – share-alike license.

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“WHITE LACE AND PROMISES”…

(lyrics from the 1970 Carpenter’s song, “We’ve Only Just Begun”)

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On the way to the hospital, I was taken by my house. They stopped and went in to get some clothes or things. And as I was riding in this vehicle, I was laying down. And I looked out the window at a big party, like maybe a wedding reception just across the street from my new house. And just then I remembered that my ex-girlfriend, with whom I broke up, about 18 months earlier, was getting married that very weekend! The house belonged to a friend of her new husband. So this big event I was being driven by, was probably their wedding reception! And I looked at that happy occasion. And then I considered my own present situation. Their life just beginning. My life seemed to be over! They had only just begun. I was headed south. WAY DOWN SOUTH! No, not ‘way down south in the land of cotton’! No, I guess you could say, this was “way down south in the land of ‘caught-in’ “! (as in, “Caught-in Hell!”)

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After a brief stop at my house, the ambulance or what ever it was, delivered me back to the hospital mental ward.

(Note: I’m a little cloudy on the timeline of this event. But it happened exactly the way I’m telling it, so I’m fitting it in right here)

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Jukebox – Wikimedia – cropped image – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 Global license

Long Wedding Dress for Couple with Flowers – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Lic.

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“THE SOUNDS OF SILENCE VIOLENCE!“

(Word-play on the 1964  Simon & Garfunkel mega-hit song, “The Sounds of Silence”)

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“Well Chuck, this time is not going to be so fun. This time you’ve got work to do.”  (The Admittance-Nurse said this in a rather school teacher’s authoritarian condescension.)

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If ever there was an ominous comment and understatement, this opening remark by one of the nurses was it! “Well Chuck, this time is not going to be so fun! This time you’ve got work to do!”

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Oh yeah, it definitely wasn’t going to be fun this time around! But the spirits did have a lot of “fun and games” planned for me, as the old saying goes!

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The entire ward was filled with “excitement”?

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No, that isn’t the right word. “Mayhem”.

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No that’s not it either. “Agitation”. Yes. Agitation. That’s closer! Everything and everyone was agitation! “Confusion” too! It wasn’t calm and quiet like my first hospital visit, the previous week!

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First, there was a series of blood-curdling screams coming from one of the patient sleeping-rooms. As I fearfully approached the main sitting area, a few of the patients were bickering. The TV was blaring, and so was the stereo, both at the same time! The terrifying thought swept over me that this agitation/confusion was the spirit’s way of greeting me back. As I walked into the ward it all seemed very surreal! It almost looked like I was walking onto some stage-play set! As if everyone was an actor in some nether-world hellish stage-drama! The ward even seemed to have a very slightly dark crimson aura to it!

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Jukebox – Wikimedia – cropped image – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 Global license

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 MINI-ME!?!

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As I made my way over to the living area, I heard shouting coming from the Multi-Purpose Room (Where I often went to pray during my first visit). The door was slightly ajar, and so I cautiously approached the room. As I tipped the door slightly open, I saw a teenage boy kneeling, just as I did during my first stay, a week earlier! The teen was crying out something like, maybe, uh… “Oh please, oh please, oh please…!!” I wouldn’t say he was exactly praying. It was more like he was simply mocking how I prayed during my first visit! Although I couldn’t see his face, him kneeling and begging, kind-of looked like a caricature of me: a corrupted version of me praying. He was on his knees, just kind of rocking forward and back. His hands weren’t in praying position. Maybe just outstretched.

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The boy realized someone was watching him, he stopped his…uhh…prayer, or whatever, and looked my way, with a slight grin. When I looked closer at him, I was startled to see his face! This teen looked like a younger version of—me! I was shocked beyond what words can describe! As the expression goes, this was a real Mini-Me! And I instantly realized that this was some sort of hellish taunt against me. So in essence, this teenage boy was a mere devilish caricature of how I was praying in that room during my previous visit a few days earlier!

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Now, I have to emphasize that, experiences like this are things you would only expect to see in some horror movie or read about in some horror novel. But never in the real world! So I cannot emphasize enough, just how terrorizing all this was! It was totally off the charts!

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It seemed as if I was in Hell, but I couldn’t tell for sure. Regardless, I knew I was in for serious trouble. I knew this hospital visit was gonna be “no picnic”! And I realized that “Hell from beneath is moved…to meet (me)”, and was gonna take me on a wild rollercoaster ride, to say the least! (Isaiah 14:9 for the Bible quote, “Hell from beneath is moved…to meet thee”)

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This scenario was so cutting, so devilishly satirical! The irony was overwhelming and absolutely devastating!

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And as I said often, I began to suspect that I was actually in Hell! This whole satanic scenario seemed so unreal, so surreal! Even the very room number on the door of this ward troubled me. Unit 3600! And as I’ve already mentioned in previous chapters, it was the very same as the address of our restaurant! (Our restaurant was located at 3600 South Sixth Street.) 

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Here’s a Bible verse that seems somewhat appropriate… “…I cried by reason of mine affliction to the LORD… out of the belly of Hell I cried.” Jonah 2:2. As far as I knew, I was in “the belly of Hell”! I just wish there were words I could write, to convey the horror and unreal-ness of the moment!

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“It’s NOT a beautiful day in the neighborhood…NO…it’s a HORRIBLE morning in Ward 3600!”

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A ray of the sun shone through my window. I opened my eyes on this new morning. Nevertheless, I dreaded facing this new day in the ward.

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Maybe through many of these nights I had unbelievably horrible dreams. “When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my troubles; Then You scare me with dreams, and terrify me through visions…” Job 7:13, 14

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MR. APPLEWHITE…

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But on this first morning, there were no loud noises. No screams, like last night. No bickering. All was calm, once again, in Unit 3600.

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Nevertheless, I cautiously walked out of my room, to see what might be laying in wait for me.

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I went to the dining room and sat down. Across the table was a kindly looking gentleman with seemingly, a perpetual smile, and big wide-open eyes. This kindly-looking old gent, I soon found out, was the source of the blood-curdling screams the previous night. For whatever reason, the staff had him in the lock-down room last night, in which he was screaming. But this morning, they had obviously let him out.

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He looked very similar to that fellow, Marshal Applewhite. Remember him? Applewhite was the leader of a cult down in LA. “Heaven’s Gate, Hale-Bopp”.

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But that “Hale-Bopp” cult incident was years after this, my experience, so I did not make this connection to this old man now sitting here in the mental ward. But looking back on all this, I’ll just call him “Mr. Applewhite”, anyway.

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Marshall Applewhite – Wikipedia – Fair-Use Rationale. Click here for Fair-Use Rationale Guidelines and justification for use.

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APPLEWHITE WARNS OF WORLD’S END…

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As I sat there at the large kitchen table, I believe he talked about having a giant bomb. I can’t remember exactly what he said about it. Maybe something like, it was his bomb. Yeah, I think he said it was his bomb. And it would blow up the world! Anyway, as far gone as I was at the moment, I still wasn’t buying into his story.

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As myself and several others were sitting at the kitchen table, Applewhite was playing a game with a deck of cards. He showed me the cards, and it actually was pretty amazing to me how he had them arranged. I can’t remember exactly how. I think they were in a circle with some in the middle. But every card was perfectly displayed. I thought to myself, “How could this man do this? He must be being helped by one of the unseen powers!” This made me fearful that he was being controlled by the spirits.

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Marshall Applewhite – Wikipedia – Fair-Use Rationale. Click here for Fair-Use Rationale Guidelines and justification for use.

Comet Hale Bopp – wikipedia – share-alike license

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“YA GOTTA…KNOW WHEN TO FOLD EM”…

(lyrics from the Kenny Rogers hit, “The Gambler”)

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Sometime later, the same man (Mr. Applewhite) asked me, “Do you want to play a game of cribbage?” I said, “Great!”. This is just what I needed! Something to take my mind off my troubles. Cribbage! Yeah! That’s my game! I used to go across the shopping center where our restaurant was located, to play cribbage with another shop owner. So I knew how to play cribbage. I also went through a period of time when I played 5-Card Stud Low-Ball at a tavern downtown on my afternoon breaks. And occasionally I’d go across the border (25 miles away) to an all-weekend-long card game in the smoky back room of a certain old bar in Tulelake, California. And about twice a year I’d go down to Reno. So what I’m saying is, I knew cards. And though I wasn’t much of a poker player, I was fairly decent at cribbage.

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We began playing our little cribbage game. It wasn’t long before I began to get far ahead of Mr. Applewhite. My pegs began a steady advance over his. I was a player! I was competitive! “YES!!”

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The game proceeded. It was about mid-way in the game. I was far ahead. It looked as if I was a “shoe-in” to win. Then, all of a sudden, Applewhite triumphantly laid down a rather mediocre hand and began to take points. I was looking down at him counting. He began counting. Me watching. 15-2, 15-4…and all of a sudden, he started moving his peg up the board (My eyes following)—and then back down the board (still my eyes followed) until his peg went over the finish line. He must’ve moved a hundred points or more, it seemed! I looked up at him stunned! No doubt, my mouth open in jaw-dropping wonderment!

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A big bright smile flashed over his face! He jumped up, and said, “I won—see ya later!” I just watched him happily walk away. And then, at some point, he turned to me, and gleefully exclaimed, “I’m going to Salem ya know!” I took that to mean he was going to the State Mental Hospital in Salem (The infamous Cuckoo’s Nest!). I sat there for a moment, then probably shook my head in unbelief. “Ay yi yi!!”

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Jukebox – Wikimedia – cropped image – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 Global license

Marshall Applewhite – Wikipedia – Fair-Use Rationale. Click here for Fair-Use Rationale Guidelines and justification for use.

cribbage board by Aerion for wikipedia – share-alike license

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THE CUCKOO’S NEST…

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I began to worry about his comment, “I’m going to Salem!”. The last place I wanted to go, was Salem! After all, I grew up living about a mile or two from The Oregon State Mental Hospital in Salem. I remember, as a kid, riding by that old creepy-looking place one day with my Grandma. I saw a man sitting on a park bench on the hospital grounds, feeding the birds, and maybe even talking to them. The only problem was—there weren’t any birds I could see! So from that moment on, the place gave me the creeps!

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My Grandma (her strong personality, by the way, was somewhat like that lady in “Driving Miss Daisy”), not nearly as cranky, though. A very proper lady! But stern.

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She also lived very close by the Oregon State Mental Hospital, though I never connected her closeness in proximity to that spooky place.

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One day, to my utter shock, she slowly pulled her shiny Buick into the parking lot of the Oregon State Hospital (the same hospital in which the man was feeding the seemingly invisible birds!)

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As she got out, I asked her why she was going into that place. But with her brown leather purse, in her black gloved hand, she turned her face sharply toward the hospital, simply telling me, “I have some business to take care of here.”  I knew better than to push an issue with my “Miss Daisy” Grandma, so I just had to bite my tongue and wonder. “What was this mysterious visit to the Oregon State Mental Hospital by my Grandma?” (I found out much later, that she had an unknown, mentally-disturbed sister, who spent her entire adult life as a patient/resident in that same mental hospital! I now guess that this unfortunate circumstance is why she lived so close to that Sanitarium)

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Oregon State Hospital – c. 1900 – Courtesy of The Oregon State Hospital – Wikipedia – Public Domain

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APPLEWHITE GOING TO THE KOO-KOO’S NEST

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But now, here in Ward 3600, in Klamath Falls, as I heard Mr. Applewhite (Marshal Applewhite’s look-alike) cheerfully chirp about going to the Oregon State Mental Hospital, I became really uncomfortable. After all, I grew up in Salem. I went to school in Salem. I knew many people in Salem. Many of my old high school buddies lived in Salem. My old girlfriends too! So the thought of my being committed to the State Hospital in Salem, was a horrible idea! I envisioned myself in that mental facility, being locked up there, while the rumor spread to all my former Salem crowd, “Have you heard? Chuck’s in the Cuckoo’s Nest!”

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Not good! Not good!

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“BORN FREE”

(Title of the 1966 Matt Monroe song)

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It wasn’t long until I heard those horrible words once again…

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“Born free…

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“as free as the wind blows

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“As free as the grass grows…

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“Free to follow your heart…”

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I whipped around to see where that song was coming from! In the main living area a somewhat tall guy with dark hair and a mustache, who looked about my age (29), was sitting by the large console stereo, loudly playing that song; the same song that tormented me in my Father’s car!

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While I sat there suffering through this song (Which song I didn’t particularly like anyway. After all, I played dance music down at the clubs around town. And “Born Free” was…just…not…well, you know…), “Is this song going to haunt me all through eternity?”, I possibly wondered. And he just kept playing that creepy song over and over, seemingly numb to the loud protests of those trying to watch TV! He nevertheless, just kept playing it over and over again, in spite of the TV watchers telling him to shut it off!

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Jukebox – Wikimedia – cropped image – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 Global license

Born Free Poster – wikipedia – fair-use-rationaleClick here for Fair-Use Rationale Guidelines.

Record player – wikimedia – share-alike license

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“COMETH THE WICKED ONE”…

Matthew 13:19

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At some point in time, a nurse came over and announced to me that the good doctor who was assigned to me last week, was on vacation (You know, the one who looked like a kindly college professor, similar to this drawing). And she further informed me that I would have a new doctor.

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A little later I met my new doctor. Doctor Bacchus! (Not his real name).

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Dr. Bacchus was from out-of-town. He didn’t look like a college professor. No, he looked like…Satan!! He had big bushy eyebrows which maybe curled up into “little horns”. He had big eyes, so big, you could see the whites all the way around the pupils. And as I recall, he had a somewhat pitted face and a long pointy nose. And to top it all off, he was wearing a deep red cardigan sweater with animals embroidered on it. (I associated red with the Devil. You know…the Devil is always seen wearing a red suit and has a long forked tail). About the only thing my new psychiatrist was missing was the forked tail and horns! I really wondered if this was the Devil. And if he wasn’t the Devil, he certainly was doing an excellent imitation of the Devil. I then suspected that he was possibly just a “representative” of the Devil. Like a “Mini-me” of Satan or something (I’ve slightly embellished this drawing of him, by adding the goatee!)

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Upon seeing this individual, I once again, quite possibly, suspected I was actually in Hell!

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And I absolutely feared about just what terrors were awaiting me in my immediate future!

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To go to the next Chapter, just click here…

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Ch. 12: Chess-Game From Hell!

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The spirits had all sorts of “fun & games” planned!

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