RETURN of the PHANTOM PATRIOT

Ok. It is time now to talk about Richard McCaslin aka the Phantom Patriot aka Thoughtcrime.

This is a story that I've gotten to know since Fall of 2010. It is a complex story that I've often had a hard time wrapping my head around, but we'll look at this story in simple steps.

PRE-PHANTOM PATRIOT: McCASLIN BEFORE 2002

McCaslin was in fact one of the earlier known RLSH prototypes.

McCaslin served in the Marines and even as Batman for a Six Flags stunt show in the late 1990s. Submissions sent in to comic book letter pages show he was talented at duplicating the costumes of his favorite superheroes.

In the 1980s, McCaslin read Night Rider’s How to Be a Superhero book, a self published guide to being a RLSH written in 1980. McCaslin had mail ordered the book via an ad in the back of a Marvel comic book. McCaslin was excited about the book and drove from Zanesville, Ohio (where he was living at the time) to Morgantown, West Virginia (where the book lists a po box as its address) and spent a night cruising around, hoping to run into Night Rider on patrol.

He adopted a new persona, The Lynx, in 1985 and began patrols of Zanesville with a partner named Iron Claw. Iron Claw, still a teenager, was probably the first RLSH sidekick. McCaslin developed other personas over the years, mostly for TV, stage, or movie ideas.

THE PHANTOM PATRIOT

In 2001 McCaslin developed the Phantom Patriot persona, who had the goal of protesting the “New World Order.” Phantom Patriot’s gear featured a navy blue jumpsuit, boots, and a skull mask with an American flag wrapped bandana style on the head. An elephant decorating one arm and a donkey on the other both were cancelled with a red circle and slash.

He travelled to make a series of “symbolic appearances” on the east coast, leaving literature he had written about the New World Order government conspiracy at the Minuteman statue, the White House, and the Boston Tea Party Ship. A trip to the Statue of Liberty was aborted because of security.

Back home in Austin, Texas, where McCaslin was living at the time, he saw a documentary produced by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on public access. The documentary, “Dark Secrets of Bohemian Grove,” claims there are satanic rituals held there.

The Bohemian Club, located in San Francisco, owns the Bohemian Grove, located north of San Francisco near Monte Rio. The Grove is a 2,700 acre resort deep in the redwood forest. It is members only, men only, with no media access allowed. Members include the most powerful and wealthy men in the country-- every Republican president since 1923 has been a member as has several Democrats, as well as lots of high level politicians, CEOs, businessmen, actors, and entertainers. The Grove is open year round, but the biggest event of the year happens in July, a two week long Midsummer celebration. This more or less consists of the Bohos networking, getting drunk, and partying in the woods.

What conspiracy theorists have latched onto is this elite gathering of powerful men’s opening ritual for their Midsummer meet up-- a bizarre ceremony called the “Cremation of Care.” In this production, several members of the club (McCaslin refers to them as “Bohos”) dress as druids and burn an effigy at the foot of a 40 foot owl statue, the “Great Owl of Bohemia.” There is eerie music, pyrotechnics, and the owl statue even speaks to them in some cryptic poetry (and to make things even weirder, the owl’s voice is a recording made by beloved news anchor Walter Cronkite - I can’t make this stuff up!)

Many people who have written on this suggest it’s nothing more than theatrics-- a sort of frat boy ritual for rich old men.

The Phantom Patriot didn’t think so, though, as he informed me through a series of e-mails and hand written letters. He was (and still is) convinced that live human sacrifice took place there, and he planned a raid to save the victims and expose the Grove. On Jan. 20, 2002 he slipped into the Grove with the following: a rifle, a pistol, a knife, a sword, a bullet- proof vest and a homemade smoke bomb launcher. He also had a crossbow and a baton in his truck. What he didn’t have was adequate batteries for his flashlight, so after he entered the Grove he found himself lost in the dark. He broke into a cabin and spent the night.

At daybreak he found the Owl of Bohemia, which he had planned to destroy, but found it was made of concrete instead of wood as he had anticipated. He decided to burn down a nearby mess hall instead. He lit it on fire, but the sprinkler system extinguished the blaze and sounded an alarm. After a short but tense standoff with the Sheriff’s department, he surrendered.

McCaslin was sentenced and imprisoned from 2002-2008. During this period he drew a comic book version of the events and developed a new, Jehovah’s Witness - themed superhero - The Revelator. He abandoned this persona after he dropped out of the religion.

“I quit, in front of my whole congregation after learning that their founder, Charles Taze Russell, was a 33rd degree Freemason and Knights Templar - a major player for the Illuminati!” McCaslin explained in a letter.

The Phantom Patriot was paroled in May 2011. His parole conditions stated he must stay 35 miles away from the Bohemian Grove, and informed him, “You will not possess or have access to costumes-clothing.”

POST-PAROLE: THE THOUGHTCRIME TOUR

After his parole period was over McCaslin adopted a new persona-- a George Orwell inspired hero named “Thoughtcrime McCaslin.” In summer of 2011, he hit the road traveling to all 48 lower states to hold peaceful protests against the New World Order. I actually met him and shadowed him for his protests in downtown Milwaukee and at O'Hare airport in Chicago, where he protested specifically against the TSA.

McCaslin currently lives in Las Vegas where he incorporates the Thoughtcrime persona to protest appearances by politicians and has protested with the 9/11 Truthers.

Thoughtcrime in Milwaukee during the Thoughtcrime Tour

THE RETURN OF THE PHANTOM PATRIOT

In January I was invited out to San Francisco to witness McCaslin return as the Phantom Patriot to commemorate the tenth anniversary of his raid on the Bohemian Grove. He recreated his Phantom Patriot outfit and marched to give a protest at the Bohemian Club headquarters in downtown San Francisco. RLSHs have been reluctant to reply or participate with McCaslin in protests because they don't share his beliefs, but in this case he was joined by two members of the Pacific Protectorate-- Motor-Mouth and Mutinous Angel.

Outside of the Bohemian Club, McCaslin spoke for about ten minutes, describing his beliefs about the Bohos and reading an excerpt from the book Trance-Formation of America, written by Cathy O'Brien and her husband Mark Phillips. In the book, O'Brien claims that she was brainwashed under the government's MK Ultra program and used as a sex slave by several prominent American and foreign politicians. McCaslin read an excerpt in which O'Brien describes being used as a sex slave in the Bohemian Grove.

A full video of the appearance is below. I am currently developing a book that will follow Heroes in the Night that will be about McCaslin, his life and beliefs, working title: Phantom Patriot.

THE RAY: SF Weekly Cover Story

SAN FRANCISCO NEWSPAPER PORTRAYS BAY AREA RLSH AS NAIVE, RACIST

Heroes of the Night, of course, is the source that broke the story of the arrest of The Ray, a young member of the Pacific Protectorate who was arrested at an Occupy Oakland protest in early November. I got the info from a call from Pacific Protectorate leader Motor-Mouth the day after the arrest and updated with news over the following week.

Now a cover story for the SF Weekly has reported not only on the sensational aspects of the arrest of The Ray but has also featured a number of embarrassing quotes from him on the topic of race and crime. The portrayal by writer Lauren Smiley offers The Ray as either (at best) a naive person with an immature view of race and society or (at worst) a racist in a dangerous situation.

I have not had very much communication with The Ray, just a couple very brief e-mails. I am sure he doesn't view himself as a racist, but that doesn't take the quote-marks off of those quotes. I've read (via online speculation of course) that this writer had it out for The Ray- she wanted to shoot and tag him from the get go.

I highly doubt it. It is entirely possible she started the story with best intentions but changed the tune when The Ray started saying "colored" this and "stereotype" that. If someone says stuff like that, it is pretty hard to ignore and reporting it is part of her job.

My only complaint, really, is that there is too much personal information divulged- The Ray's real name, the names of his parents, his dad's business, where they live, where he works- there is no appreciation to privacy to a subject who has brought you in and given you a good story. If someone reads this wants to find The Ray to prove something they now have got a huge lead.

If I were you, Ray, I would lay low.

You can read the article here:
www.sfweekly.com/2011-12-14/news/real-life-superheroes-the-ray-antioch-occupy-oakland-police-crime/

And I would like to hear what you think in the comments section.

Occupy Oakland Bails The Ray

The Ray at Occupy Oakland.

The last few days I've followed the story of The Ray, a RLSH and member of the Pacific Protectorate who was arrested at an Occupy Oakland protest.

The latest word- The Ray has been released on bail provided by the Occupy Wall Street legal support fund.

The Ray's parents along with his team leader, Motor-Mouth, were interviewed on the Flashpoints radio show on KPFA in Berkeley yesterday.

On the show, Mr. and Mrs. Ray maintain that nothing like this has ever happened to their 22 year old son, who they describe as a former boy scout, a college student,a "champion for the underdog" and a "peacemaker."

They said an attorney who spoke to The Ray in jail found him to be "frightened, had black eyes, and stitches on his face."

Occupy Wall Street has sent money to Oakland Occupy, whose General Assembly decided to allocate the funds to pay for the bail of The Ray and one other protestor.

The Ray was released late last night/ early this morning.

Update on The Ray

The Ray, left, and Motor-Mouth.

The last couple of blog entries have been about the arrest of The Ray, a RLSH who was arrested at the Occupy Oakland protests. The Ray had a court date yesterday and I asked Motor-Mouth to give an update on the case. Motor-Mouth is team leader of the Pacific Protectorate (a team roughly 7 members strong that includes The Ray)and he attended the hearing.

Here is Motor-Mouth's account:

Update on The Ray's case: The original charges were dropped (in part due to no PD officers coming forward, go figure) but he was charged with something along the lines of "Failure To Comply With An Executive Officer". What has surfaced, though, is that The Ray jumped in-between a riot cop & a protester being senselessly beat. At the moment, police attacked him & he defended himself but was shot in the face with an unknown projectile, fell unconscious and was continuously beaten. He awoke handcuffed, in a daze, & bloody.

He was taken to an Oakland area hospital and had his face stitched up, of which his attorney said he received 3 or 4 stitches. He was then taken to Oakland City Jail & transferred out to Santa Rita County Jail the following day.

He is going back to court on Thursday but here is how YOU can help: His bail is posted at $15,000 but he only needs $1,500 to get out. Myself & his family are by far too strapped financially to get him out but if everyone chips in, maybe we can gather enough cash to get him out.

Also, if you or anyone you know were present the night of the violence in Oakland after the General Strike when the police squads attacked, then please contribute any video or pictures you might have that may feature The Ray in them (the guy who looks like a ninja with the Captain America shield that got beat to a pulp by the riot squads).

CAI Responds to Arrest of The Ray

A scene from Occupy Oakland, captured by the San Francisco Examiner.

In a blog entry yesterday, I reported news out of Oakland that a RLSH named The Ray was arrested at the Occupy Oakland protests. The Ray is a member of the Pacific Protectorate (North Cali Division) and the news was reported via phone by The Ray's team leader, Motor-Mouth. Motor-Mouth says the Protectorate has been doing security at the protests. Another Bay Area team, the California Initiative, has also been monitoring the protests and posted this statement on the arrest of The Ray:

The CAI (California Initiative) was mentioned in Tea Krulos' recent Heroes in the Night blog entry.

We do NOT endorse the use of body armor, shields, masks or anything other than everyday street clothing while providing support at Occupy.

The CAI has spoken with heads of security at Occupy Oakland (OO), and they do not, nor have they ever asked any RLSH (or anyone, for that matter) to "gear up" for security. Further, they do not advise anyone to label themselves as "security."

We echo Occupy Oakland's stance: We don't advise anyone to come between the police and protestors that are being arrested. We are peacekeeping and do our best to teach de-escalation tactics. We believe in non-violence, especially where police are involved. We are there to provide first-aid and a helping hand in the camps.

There are other groups in northern California that will be attending Occupy Oakland and SF, as well. The viewpoints of these group do not reflect those of the California Initiative or those of the Occupy movement as a whole.

We wish The Ray a speedy recovery and are sending him our best.

In addition, CAI founding member Rock N Roll offered this advice for RLSH (or X-ALTs, an alternate term) attending Occupy protests (and I would guess particularly ones where tensions have escalated like in Oakland):

Let me preface this by saying that I give the majority of you the benefit of the doubt; that I believe your hearts are in the right places and that you aspire to make the world a better place.

It's with this in mind that I implore you - If you are heading out to your local Occupy, remember these things:

Masks (other than vinegar-soaked bandanas) are foolish. You are making yourself a target for the police. If you're that worried about people finding out your identity, wear a bandana. If you need protection, wear a bike helmet. There are thousands of other people out there who aren't drawing attention to themselves or protecting their heads, yet they've endured weeks of living there.

If you bring any type of apparatus that looks like you're preparing for a battle, the police will give you one.

If you think you can insinuate yourself between the protestors and the police, you'll most likely wake up in the hospital or in jail. Your greatest tool is a voice of reason, a cool, clear head, and a recording device.

If you are there for any reason other than to support the movement by providing assistance to the injured, or helping de-escalate any in-camp altercations, you're in this for the wrong reason.

The best you can do for the Occupy movement is to supply food, water, an extra set of hands, eyes and a calming presence in the face of possible violence.

If you're there because you need more press, or recognition, or you're itching to take someone down, for f's sake, go as yourself and DO NOT go as a representative of this community. This is not about you.

THE RAY: ARRESTED

The Ray, posing for an action shot.

Breaking News: Pacific Protectorate Member Hauled in at Occupy Oakland Protest

On my way to my day (or night is a better description) job, I noticed I had received a call from Motor-Mouth, marked "urgent." Motor-Mouth leads one of two groups of RLSH/ X-ALTS in the California Bay Area. His group is the Pacific Protectorate, North-Cal division. There is also a team called the California Initiative- a team that also includes branches in Virginia and the team's origin point in New York.

Both groups have made an effort to do security detail with the Occupy protests in the area. The Occupy Oakland protests in particular have turned very ugly as protestors have clashed with heavy handed police over the last week. Police fired tear gas, rubber bullets and flash grenades into the crowd.

Motor-Mouth called to tell me that his team mate, The Ray, had been out in the middle of it during protests Wednesday night. He says he received a text from Ray, saying he was at the protests, but was probably heading home after another walk around to check out the scene.

The next morning, Motor-Mouth received a call from family members of The Ray, saying he had not yet returned home. Later in the morning, Motor-Mouth says he watched a news report where police displayed weapons confiscated in the arrests. Among the items- a customized shield, similar in design to the one made famous by Captain America, which Motor-Mouth had lent to The Ray for his patrol.

Later, in a follow up message to me, Motor-Mouth says he confirmed with police that they had indeed nabbed The Ray, charging him with "assault" and "failure to disperse." He is being held at Oakland City Jail, but will be transferred today, and will be arraigned on Monday. Meanwhile, Motor-Mouth says the rest of Pacific Protectorate will be out in force doing security at the Occupy Oakland site this weekend.

Further developments will be posted here.

In other news:

PHOENIX JONES LOSES JOB

Phoenix Jones' day job was caring for autistic children. The Department of Social and Health Services sent a letter informing him that he was not allowed to work with children due to the pending status of “the incident." The incident I'm referring to is one I witnessed in person in Seattle- Phoenix Jones saw a group of people fighting and intervened by pepper spraying members of the group. He was taken in under charges of assault, although charges have not been filed at this point.

Jones says he will do more day time patrols in addition to looking for a job.

MDA BENEFIT

Los Angeles based RLSHs Sage and The Handler are also going up the river, but in their case it is a "bail me out" style charity fund raiser. Their goal is to reach $800 dollars to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association, and they are a little over half way there as of this posting. Check out their donation page:
www.joinmda.org/burbank2011/MyLockup/MyHomepage/tabid/249317/Participant/sage/bfimp/true/Default.aspx

San Fran Media Blitz...

...AND A SF RLSH ON THE RUN

By now, I think the readers of Heroes in the Night know how this shakes down- one media outlet goes "Hey! We got superheroes here!" and then the rest of the local press dog piles on.

We had a fair media blitz here in Milwaukee in October/ November last year. New York City/ New Jersey is a perennial favorite. London has pretty "keen" on the story the last couple of months. An of course Phoenix Jones has Energize Bunny'd the Seattle media since November.

Even smaller towns have had mini blitzes--consider for example the Bar Harbor Batman or the Viper.

Next up looks like San Francisco.

It starts with an article in a publication called The Bold Italic by Justin Juul titled "San Francisco Bay Guardians" in which the author follows around Motor-Mouth, Night Bug, Justified, and Kingsnake. Juul has a humorous and frank take on the story, dressing up as a RLSH himself ("Nightman") for a patrol and sharing the ups and downs of being on street level. The lay out of the article is pretty spectacular- it includes several illustrations of an artist's interpretation of RLSHs and a video at the end.
You can find the article here:
thebolditalic.com/JustinJuul/stories/777-san-francisco-bay-guardians

The story was then picked up by the local NBC affiliate and a website called SFist.

My only complaint is that two out of three of these sources have one very major fact wrong- they claim RLSHs were born because of Kick-Ass in 2008. That is completely false. As my well informed readers know, the term Real Life Superhero can be dated back to the 1980 secret superhero manual "How to be a Superhero," penned by the mysterious Night Rider. Other prototypes existed before him. The more modern incarnation of the RLSH began to develop in 2005-2006.

HELLPOOL ON THE RUN

Also related, this breaking news out of San Francisco: Motor-Mouth claims that his former team mate, Hellpool (formerly Hellhound), not only swiped half his name and his aesthetics from comic book character Deadpool, but engaged in actual thievery as well. Heroes in the Night did a Hero Profile on Hellpool back in early September HERE.

In a bulletin titled "RLSH WARNING ABOUT THE RLSH KNOWN AS HELLPOOL" Motor Mouth warns:

"So it was brought to my attention on Saturday by a fellow Californian RLSH that Hellpool, my former teammate, is city hopping (currently in San Diego). To give all of you fair warning, he is NOT to be trusted. He is wanted for a burglary case in San Francisco besides having a lengthy rap-sheet from Oregon to California (a journalist I know & trust investigated that via the SFPD). Again, he is nothing more then a con-man & is NOT to be trusted."

Motor Mouth also added to me in an e-mail: "(Someone)did some digging into Hellpool and discovered that he is indeed wanted by the SFPD. Any RLSH's doing work with him are for sure putting themselves at risk, both legally & reputation wise."

HERO PROFILE #54: Good Samaritan

Operates out of: Los Angeles

Activities: charity, patrols, hand outs

Group Affiliation: Pacific Protectorate, So-Cal

Author's notes: Good Samaritan recently "came out of the phone booth"(as one RLSH put it), revealing his dual identity to his Facebook friends. A bold move to make, but also a confident one.

Bay Area RLSH Workshops

Pictured: Kingsnake(L) and Motor-Mouth conducting a self defense workshop

The North Cali Pacific Protectorate has been busy lately! The crew includes Motor-Mouth, Hellpool, Kingsnake, Mutinous Angel, Citizen Change, and Mega-Rad (and someone named Inferno Wolf, I think.)

Motor-Mouth, Hellpool, and Citizen Change stepped out to do some RLSH style crowd control during a recent riot in Oakland. When I heard about it, I called Motor-Mouth and got the story recorded first hand. It is a good story and one of the last things I'm doing for the book is transcribing it for a chapter titled "On the Street."

It is paraphrased in Motor-Mouth's profile that was posted yesterday on Peter Tangen's site HERE.

The RLSHs also appeared as guests on the Creepy Kofy Movie Time show, a regional late night B-horror show.

Their most recent event was a two day set of RLSH workshops, patrols, and handouts.
Besides midwest guest Overwatch, they were also joined by a group of college students, who were introduced to RLSH via Heroes in the Night.

Watching the workshop, L-R: Two fellows from the school documentary project, an unknown RLSH (possibly Overwatch?), Mega-Rad, and Hellpool.

I talked with two of the people involved with the project by e-mail. Joseph Lambert explained the project.

"We are doing a project for our school. Basically, we [my team and I] go to a Graphic Art college near Pixar Studio's in Emeryville. We are assigned to do a Documentary to see how well we work as a Team on a film project. There are the four of us; Emma, Derryl, Ray, and Myself. The project is due in about a week, we're running way behind, but we should be fine! One or two of the RLSH's requested that we blur out their faces, when seen unmasked. An easy task. We definitely want to respect their wishes, not only for the sake of respecting them as people, but also because they've helped us out a lot on this project."

I also asked Joseph about the experience over all.

"It was cool to see. Real people, doing this. They don't have to do it, but they do it because 1. They want to. 2. They believe in it. and 3. Because if they don't... who will?" Joseph says he has a RLSH name picked out- "Super-Guy" and that another one of the guys working on the project has thought about joining the RLSH ranks.

RLSHs on a handout mission after the workshops.


Emma DuPell also is a member of the team working on the project and I asked what she thought of the experience.

"What I thought of the super heroes at first was 'Ok, they're regular human beings who get bored and patrol their areas, cool.' But as I got to know them more I learned they're not just regular human beings who dress up and patrol, they also help the homeless and keep an eye out for drunk partiers (not a word, I know) so that they go back to wherever safely. It really surprised me how dedicated and serious these guys were and I wish they were given more credit. Otherwise they were really nice guys, I loved talking their ears off and I would love to go out with them during another one of their patrols."