Son of Stan(ley)

Wild speculation, just for fun

    I started the blog being in part inspired by the work of Jay Weidner who I was lucky enough to correspond with for a brief period. The impetus to build on his work was inspired by a memory of something Weidner said in a podcast interview. It dealt with the concepts from Eyes Wide Shut, that the character, Ziegler's name meant bricklayer or Mason in Yiddish and that the mansion used for the exterior of Somerton was the Rothschild mansion, Mentmore Towers. 'The Usual Suspects' Moment If you have ever seen the movie 'The Usual Suspects' (and if you haven't, what's wrong with you?), you'll recall a scene at the end (spoiler alert) where Agent Kujan, portrayed by Chazz Palminteri, has the realization that the story that he was told by Verbal Kint (portrayed by Kevin Spacey) is a complete fabrication.

                                                                                                             

(Courtesy Google images)

    Kujan begins to piece together random elements of Verbal's story and associate them with various items in the room where the interrogation takes place. Essentially, Verbal spins a narrative based on different elements of his environment including creating a character named from the manufacturer of  Kujan's coffee cup. Agent Kujan realizes all this in a beautifully edited scene of frenzied illumination.

   I take this detour to use another film to give the analogy of what I experienced as I listened to the podcast. It resonated with me for some time. Then it dawned on me. I had read a similar description, unrelated to EWS, years ago. "The Children's leader was further said to be a Mason, rank unknown..." "The abandoned church (site of rituals) in central Westchester... was immediately identified by Captain Gerry Buckholt... as the nearby 'burned out' mansion, which turned out to be the former Warburg-Rothschild estate." 

  These quotes are from pages 411 and 416 of the hardback edition of Ultimate Evil by Maury Terry. Many are now familiar with Terry's work after the Netflix documentary Sons of Sam. It did a very competent job of giving a high level overview of Maury's research revealing that the Son of Sam murders were perpetrated by others beside David Berkowitz. 

  Basically, Terry uncovered evidence of a Satanic cult operating in NYC and Westchester county which was headquartered in a mansion on Long Island, possibly run by a prominent doctor (Harford? Recall Kubrick's father was a homeopathic doctor). The cult sponsored the Son of Sam murders and even created snuff film videos from some of the murder scenes.

  I started to find synchronicities between Weidner's work, Kubrick's films and Maury Terry's work on the Son of Sam killings. Eventually I came to believe Kubrick may have had knowledge or even been part of a cult or 'the' cult on Long Island. 

  I recommend watching Weidner's first Kubrick's Odyssey film for context. The crux of Weidner's research is that The Shining is a movie that reveals Kubrick's complicity in faking the Apollo 11 film and photos. Note that Weidner never says that landings didn't take place, but that the film footage and photos we have are faked. The documentary Room 237 includes and interview with Weidner as well as a nice summation of his theory.

  The Shining or EWS have one multiple messages and meanings. I do believe in that matrix, they contain Kubrick's revelation of involvement in a Long Island cult that eventually caused him to escape the labyrinth and move to the UK.

  The opening sequence of The Shining shows Jack Torrance, having packed his family into a yellow VW, driving to the Overlook. Stephen King in hos novel has Torrance driving a red VW. In Kubrick's Odyssey 1,Weidner attributes the change to Kubrick asserting his dominance over King and letting him know that it is he, Stanley, telling the story. Possibly, probably.

  Maury Terry, in his research to the Son of Sam case, found out that there were witness reports of a yellow VW in connection to several of the Son of Sam shootings. Particularly the Donna Lauria and Stacy Moskowitz murders.

  Lawrence Klausner wrote a book, Son of Sam , subtitled as being 'Based on the Authorized Transcription of the Tapes, Official Documents, and Diaries of David Berkowitz".

I would like to quote an excerpt from page 227, emphasis mine;

OFFICER LOU MARCHINI was on patrol in the Bronx, operating out of the

43rd Precinct. He completed his tour at midnight and left the station house at

12:30 A.M. Going down the stairs in front of the building, he commented to

one of the sergeants, “Looks like a good night for a shooting. this Son of Sam

hasn’t struck in some time.” It was a morbid joke. In the back of his mind he

knew that his longtime friend, Officer Mike Speros, was suspected of being the

Son of Sam by other cops of their own precinct. the fact irritated both men,

perhaps Marchini more than his partner, for he knew the absurdity of it all.

Marchini made his statement, believing that Mike was still away in Cape

Cod on vacation with his family. “If anything were to happen this night,” says

Lou Marchini, “at least Mike would be nowhere near New York City.” Three

hours later, while watching an early-morning movie on television, Officer

Marchini’s hands went cold. A news flash broke across the screen telling of the

shooting. His premonition had come true.

POLICE OFFICER MIKE SPEROS had lived under extreme mental pressure for

months. Speros had seen other officers look at him with suspicion. they felt he

had all the characteristics of the killer as depicted by the police sketches. He

had been off duty when all the killings were done. He was left-handed. And

the fact that he was an artist didn’t help. the Son of Sam was supposedly

artistic. 

“I just couldn’t understand how the guys at work could believe I was the killer. they knew me—or at

least I thought they did,”says Speros. “I knew there was nothing I could do to change their minds. So I

hoped he would be caught while I was away.” But the Son of Sam was not.

Finally, a week before schedule, he decided to return. He packed his family

into his yellow VW bug, with its peculiarly ominous license plates GRK 44

(GRK stands for Greek), and drove back to his home in the Bronx.

 (Son of Sam, Simon & Schuster ebook edition)

  The movie Copycat tells the story of a serial killer who copies the modus operandi of the most infamous serial killers. Dr. Helen Hudson, portrayed by Sigourney Weaver and FBI agent M.J. Monahan played by Holly Hunter deduce he is following the order of serial killers listed in Dr. Hudson's book. When he goes to mimic Son of Sam, his victims are seated in a car (similar to SOS victims) and in the sideview mirror, the killer is seen as emerging from a yellow VW.

  Coincidence? Probably. If it's not, I would like to share this timeline of the yellow VW, in case anyone might think of Kubrick being influenced by a work in print.

Lawrence Klausner's Son of Sam - Published January 1, 1981

Maury Terry's Ultimate Evil - Published 1987

Copycat - Released October, 1995

Jay Weidner Kubrick's Odyssey 1 - April, 2011

The Shining - June 13, 1980

All wild speculation and just for fun.

Till next time.