[Part of Law & Lawlessness Week]
Location: Formerly New Orleans, last rumored to be heading north.
Battle wounds: Rumored to have lost vision in one eye due to an altercation with criminals.
Weapons: Rumored to be packing heat in addition to other weapons.
About his name: As posted on a website comments section in July 2007 by Nostrum himself:
“For your reference: Nostrum (NASH-trum): a scheme, theory, device, etc., esp. one to remedy social or political ills; panacea.”
Symbol: Nostrum’s symbol (as pictured), whether intentional or not, is very similar to the international squatter’s symbol.
Author's notes: Nostrum is the first (and probably) last person profiled who I haven’t actually contacted in person. Not that I haven’t tried- no reply to a message sent to his MySpace page, which hasn’t been logged into since December ’09. When I first started on the book last April, I e-mailed a couple of people who knew him.
“Nostrum has been MIA since early January. But he wasn't one who liked being interviewed much.” One person told me. This appears to be a true statement. The only write up I found on him was not based on an interview, but on info found in a publicly available profile at the outdated World Superhero Registry.
“Unfortunately, I haven't heard from Nostrum in some time. No one's been able to get in contact with him since the beginning of the year.” Another person e-mailed me.
Additionally, other people told me things that they heard, but not things that they knew as fact.
Therefore, I can’t report any facts. I can only report that I’ve heard he was one of the only people involved with this scene that carried a firearm.
I have also heard he had damage to one of his eyes following an altercation with criminals. I’ve heard this range from temporary blindness to actual loss of eye. There is also different speculation on where he is now and what he is doing.
Nostrum- real life superhero fact…or folklore?
Folklore.
ReplyDeleteHis eye is intact, a report strangely enough from Tothian, who was the only one to ever meet him.
Every conversation I've ever had with the man has been him talking about how crazy he is, or how powerful. He told us all a story about him witnessing a man slapping his wife, in which case Nostrum claimed to beat the man half to death, and then lift his head up and bite half his ear off.
The guy has always done nothing but antagonize anyone that questioned him in any way, often using racist or bigoted terms, or joking about rape.
Trust me, I have a sense of humor, and it's pretty dark, but this guy is freaking questionable at best with the things he's talked about. I don't know how he's garnered any sympathies or friends at all.
Hey if anyone is interested I'm in slidell louisana and I want to be a superhero but a real one I want to fight for Wats right no matter the cost I have every skill needed I'm Marcel contact me on Facebook Marcel Haynes and we can get started I hope
DeleteContact me on facebook Marcel Haynes
DeleteOh, and btw... here's what the dictionary says about Nostrum.
ReplyDeletenostrum |ˈnästrəm|
noun
a medicine, esp. one that is not considered effective, prepared by an unqualified person.
Very fitting.
I heard a rumor he is in China. Doubt it is true though.
ReplyDeleteVictim
Yeah, psychopathic. Keep'em out of my backyard, please.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I've read in the past, Nostrum did have some degenerative ocular problems in one eye which he then recovered from with therapy. He retained 80% of his sight back in his eye. I don’t know where the eye stabbing rumor came from. But the community was still very young back then and rumors fly all the time. And sometimes rumors are started simply to build mystique about someone else. That has happened a few times as well. It’s sort of like playing telephone I guess. In fact I made a joke that my real name was Dave Zetaman and people called me Dave for a while. I should of stuck with it.
ReplyDeleteZ: Bit off his ear? Nostrum even making that claim is pretty effed up. I found a couple of similar definitions as well.
ReplyDeleteVictim: I think I saw a movie about that. "Big Trouble in Little China."
Dave Zetaman: "Playing telephone" is exactly how I described this story to someone before I posted it. I'm sure in New Orleans, he has a scratched cornea and keeps a pistol in his glove compartment.
By the time the story gets to California or Canada, though, he's missing an eyeball and walking down Bourbon Street with two uzis and a sawed off shotgun strapped to his back.
Yeah, I thought it was, too.
ReplyDeleteI look at this way, he's a douchebag if he made it up, and he's a psycho if he didn't. Either way, sharing that information was just looking for attention.
Which is my biggest problem with the community. It is so easy for these guys to be like "hey, I'm just doing this publicly to get some attention to my cause." But it's easy to see that some are doing it for more selfish reasons.
What I don't understand is what kind of fame they think they're getting.
He really did make the claim of biting the guys ear off. I can't understand why anyone would think he's such a great guy, yet some do. Every online comment I've ever read of his makes the gorilla on here seem very respectable by comparison.
ReplyDelete@Watchman: gang assassination last night on Center St. in Riverwest.
ReplyDeleteWhy does Nostrum us a squatter's symbol, and where did the photo come from? Is it supposed to be him for real?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous- Do you have any more info on that? Where on Center Street? How did you hear about it?
ReplyDeleteI don't know why Nostrum uses a squatter symbol. It may be that he designed it and it just happens to resemble a squatter's symbol. But my understanding is there is (or used to be) a big squatter population in New Orleans where he is from.
I should have noted that the photo was pulled from his MySpace, which still exists but has been dormant. It is supposed to be him, but then who knows.
Just to let everyone know, Nostrum's last MySpace blog states that he was stabbed through his goggle into his left eye.
ReplyDeletePosted August 14, 2007:
"A good few weeks ago, had a struggle few blocks from Burbon with some punk. Resulted in a harsh fight and him jabbing a knife through my left goggle and into my left eye.
A more recent doctor's appointment has confirmed I will not be getting sight back in that eye.
None too pleased about this."