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James Shelby Downard (March 13, 1913 – March 16, 1998)^[1] was an American conspiracy theorist. His works focus on analyzing perceived occult symbolism, twilight language, and synchronicity in relation to historical events of the 20th century. Downard gained recognition for his contribution to Masonic conspiracy theories; specifically his belief that the Freemasons orchestrated the assassination of President John F. Kennedy through a ritual referred to as "Killing of the King".^[2]^[3]

Biography

Vankin and Whalen write of Downard:

Some conspiracy theorists question not "the facts" so much as reason itself. James Shelby Downard is one of those mad geniuses with a talent for making the most improbable, impossible, ludicrous and laughable speculations appear almost plausible. A self-described student of the "science of symbolism", Downard peels away the rational veneer of history and exposes an abyss of logic-defying synchronicities.^[4]

Downard is known for his essay “King-Kill/33: Masonic Symbolism in the Assassination of John F. Kennedy,"^[5] originally published by Adam Parfrey. In the first edition of the book, Apocalypse Culture, he speculates that the Freemasons were responsible for the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The essay was removed from the second edition of the book and replaced by another essay by Downard, "The Call to Chaos." Apocalypse Culture II contains another Downard essay, "America, The Possessed Corpse." Jim Keith, editor of yet another Feral House publication, Secret and Suppressed: Banned Ideas and Hidden History, included "Sorcery, Sex, Assassination," the original article of which King Kill/33 is an abridgment.

Included in Cult Rapture is "Riding the Downardian Nightmare," a piece written by Parfrey concerning a visit to Downard in Memphis, Tennessee.

References

^ Obituaries, the Daily Ardmorite, March 18, 1998.
^ Cook, Monte (2009). "Lee, Harvey, and the Rest". The Skeptic's Guide to Conspiracies. Avon, Massachusetts: Adams Media. p. 71. ISBN 9781605501130. Retrieved December 19, 2012.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
^ Vankin, Jonathan; Whalen, John (2004). "The Sorcerers". The 80 Greatest Conspiracy Theories of All Time. New York: Kensington Publishing Corp. pp. 290–294. ISBN 9780806525310. Retrieved December 20, 2012.
^ Vankin, Johnathan and John Whalen; “The Sorcerer's Apprentices. James Shelby Downard and the Mysteries of Americana” 2001; URL accessed 4 June 2007.
^ "King-Kill 33: Masonic Symbolism in the Assassination of John F.Kennedy". 2007-03-18. Archived from the original on 2007-03-18. Retrieved 2022-07-28.

Sources

Brandon, Jim. Dunlap, Ill. The Rebirth of Pan: Hidden Faces of the American Earth Spirit, Firebird Press, 1983.
Downard, James Shelby, The Carnivals of Life and Death, Feral House, September 2006.
"Sorcery, Sex, Assassination", in Keith, Jim ed. Secret and Suppressed. Portland, Or.: Feral House, 1993.
"America, The Possessed Corpse", in Parfrey, Adam ed. Apocalypse Culture II. Venice, Calif.: Feral House, 2000.
"Riding the Downardian Nightmare", in Parfrey, Adam. Cult Rapture. Portland, Or.: Feral House, 1994.

[1] Obituaries, the Daily Ardmorite, March 18, 1998.

[Cook-2] Cook, Monte (2009). "Lee, Harvey, and the Rest". The Skeptic's Guide to Conspiracies. Avon, Massachusetts: Adams Media. p. 71. ISBN 9781605501130. Retrieved December 19, 2012.^{[permanent dead link‍]}

[Vankin-3] Vankin, Jonathan; Whalen, John (2004). "The Sorcerers". The 80 Greatest Conspiracy Theories of All Time. New York: Kensington Publishing Corp. pp. 290–294. ISBN 9780806525310. Retrieved December 20, 2012.

[4] Vankin, Johnathan and John Whalen; “The Sorcerer's Apprentices. James Shelby Downard and the Mysteries of Americana” 2001; URL accessed 4 June 2007.

[5] "King-Kill 33: Masonic Symbolism in the Assassination of John F.Kennedy". 2007-03-18. Archived from the original on 2007-03-18. Retrieved 2022-07-28.

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+{{Short description|American conspiracy theorist (1913–1998)}}
-{{advert|date=December 2012}}'''James Shelby Downard''' (March 13, 1913 &ndash; March 16, 1998)<ref>Obituaries, ''the Daily Ardmorite'', March 18, 1998.</ref> was an [[United States|American]] [[conspiracy theorist]] whose works, most of which have been published in various anthologies from [[Feral House]], examined perceived [[occult]] symbolism, [[twilight language]] and [[synchronicity]] behind historical events in the 20th century. Shelby is known for his addition to [[Masonic conspiracy theories]] with his belief that the [[Freemasons]] were responsible for the [[assassination of President John F. Kennedy]] through a ritual known as "Killing of the King".<ref name=Cook>{{cite book|last=Cook|first=Monte|title=The Skeptic's Guide to Conspiracies|year=2009|publisher=Adams Media|location=Avon, Massachusetts|isbn=9781605501130|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=uemoH83ku4cC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false|authorlink=Monte Cook|accessdate=December 19, 2012|page=71|chapter=Lee, Harvey, and the Rest}}</ref><ref name=Vankin>{{cite book |last1=Vankin|first1=Jonathan|authorlink1=Jonathan Vankin|last2=Whalen|first2=John|authorlink2=|title=The 80 Greatest Conspiracy Theories of All Time|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=LytoPRCDFF8C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false|accessdate=December 20, 2012|year=2004|publisher=Kensington Publishing Corp|location=New York|isbn=9780806525310|pages=290-294|chapter=The Sorcerers|chapterurl=http://books.google.com/books?id=LytoPRCDFF8C&lpg=PP1&pg=PA290#v=onepage&q&f=false}}</ref>
+{{advert|date=December 2012}}'''James Shelby Downard''' (March 13, 1913 &ndash; March 16, 1998)<ref>Obituaries, ''the Daily Ardmorite'', March 18, 1998.</ref> was an American [[conspiracy theorist]]. His works focus on analyzing perceived [[occult]] symbolism, [[twilight language]], and [[synchronicity]] in relation to historical events of the 20th century. Downard gained recognition for his contribution to [[Masonic conspiracy theories]]; specifically his belief that the [[Freemasons]] orchestrated the [[assassination of President John F. Kennedy]] through a ritual referred to as "Killing of the King".<ref name=Cook>{{cite book|last=Cook|first=Monte|title=The Skeptic's Guide to Conspiracies|year=2009|publisher=Adams Media|location=Avon, Massachusetts|isbn=9781605501130|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uemoH83ku4cC|author-link=Monte Cook|access-date=December 19, 2012|page=71|chapter=Lee, Harvey, and the Rest}}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name=Vankin>{{cite book |last1=Vankin|first1=Jonathan|author-link1=Jonathan Vankin|last2=Whalen|first2=John|title=The 80 Greatest Conspiracy Theories of All Time|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LytoPRCDFF8C|access-date=December 20, 2012|year=2004|publisher=Kensington Publishing Corp|location=New York|isbn=9780806525310|pages=290–294|chapter=The Sorcerers|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LytoPRCDFF8C&pg=PA290}}</ref>
 == Biography ==
-[[Jonathan Vankin]] and John Whalen have written of Downard:
+Vankin and Whalen write of Downard:
-{{quote|Some conspiracy theorists question not “the facts” so much as reason itself. James Shelby Downard is one of those mad geniuses with a talent for making the most improbable, impossible, ludicrous and laughable speculations appear almost plausible. A self-described student of the “science of symbolism”, Downard peels away the rational veneer of history and exposes an abyss of logic-defying synchronicities.<ref name=Vankin/>}}
+{{blockquote|Some conspiracy theorists question not "the facts" so much as reason itself. James Shelby Downard is one of those mad geniuses with a talent for making the most improbable, impossible, ludicrous and laughable speculations appear almost plausible. A self-described student of the "science of [[symbol]]ism", Downard peels away the rational veneer of history and exposes an abyss of logic-defying synchronicities.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20021220165636/http://www.conspire.com/downard.html Vankin, Johnathan and John Whalen; “The Sorcerer's Apprentices. James Shelby Downard and the Mysteries of Americana”] 2001; URL accessed 4 June 2007.</ref>}}
-Downard is probably best known for his essay [http://www.revisionisthistory.org/kingkill33.html “King-Kill/33: Masonic Symbolism in the Assassination of John F. Kennedy”], originally published by [[Adam Parfrey]] in the first edition of the book ''[[Apocalypse Culture]]'', which speculates that the Freemasons were responsible for the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The essay was removed from the second edition of the book and replaced by another essay by Downard, “The Call to Chaos”. ''[[Apocalypse Culture II]]'' contains another Downard essay, “America, The Possessed Corpse”. [[Jim Keith]], editor of yet another [[Feral House]] publication, ''Secret and Suppressed: Banned Ideas and Hidden History'', included “Sorcery, Sex, Assassination”, the original article of which King Kill/33 is an abridgement.
+Downard is known for his essay “King-Kill/33: Masonic Symbolism in the Assassination of John F. Kennedy,"<ref>{{Cite web |date=2007-03-18 |title=King-Kill 33: Masonic Symbolism in the Assassination of John F.Kennedy |url=http://www.revisionisthistory.org/kingkill33.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070318013027/http://www.revisionisthistory.org/kingkill33.html |archive-date=2007-03-18  |access-date=2022-07-28 }}</ref> originally published by [[Adam Parfrey]]. In the first edition of the book, ''[[Apocalypse Culture]]'', he speculates that the Freemasons were responsible for the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The essay was removed from the second edition of the book and replaced by another essay by Downard, "The Call to Chaos." ''[[Apocalypse Culture II]]'' contains another Downard essay, "America, The Possessed Corpse." [[Jim Keith]], editor of yet another [[Feral House]] publication, ''Secret and Suppressed: Banned Ideas and Hidden History'', included "Sorcery, Sex, Assassination," the original article of which King Kill/33 is an abridgment.
-Included in ''Cult Rapture'' is “Riding the Downardian Nightmare”, a piece written by Parfrey concerning a visit to Downard in Memphis, Tennessee.
+Included in ''Cult Rapture'' is "Riding the Downardian Nightmare," a piece written by Parfrey concerning a visit to Downard in Memphis, Tennessee.
-Downard was assisted in many of his earlier works by his good friend, [[William N. Grimstad]]. Grimstad is better known as [[Jim Brandon]]{{dn|date=December 2012}}, author of the [[Fortean]] classics, ''[[Weird America: A Guide to Places of Mystery in the United States]]'' and ''The Rebirth of Pan: Hidden Faces of the American Earth Spirit''. In the early 1970s he was assisted in his writing and editing by John and Darlene Cox in Lake Havasu; then, later in the early 1980s he resided with John and Karen Bissell in Estacada, Oregon where Karen typed his manuscripts and John assisted with research.{citation needed}
-It is in "Weird America" that we find this entry by Grimstad (as Jim Brandon) for the Dallas - FT. Worth Area; the first published piece on Downard's theory:
-{{quote|Would you believe John F. Kennedy as a ceremonial king-who-must-die? I'm afraid there is a certain body of opinion, undoubtedly the farthest-out brain wave of assassinology yet, that maintains the killing was pulled off, not by the Russians, the Cubans, the CIA, or the Mafia, but by alchemists. As I understand the hypothesis, President Kennedy was for some reason chosen as The King (remember ''"Camelot,"'' ''"Macbird"'' and all that?) after the fashion of [[James G. Frazer]] and [[Mary Renault]] whose ''"The King Must Die"'' he had been given to read before his death.
-This killing of the king in Dallas was related somehow to the touching off of the world's first atomic bomb at the Trinity Site in New Mexico 18 years earlier. Apparently the Bomb was the "destruction of primordial matter" stage of the grand alchemical working, but these conspiracy buffs aren't much more specific on details than were the early alchemists in their recipes. Anyway, Kennedy represented the next stage of the process - the "Death of the White King" - when he was immolated on a trinity site of his own. For, aren't Dealey Plaza and the ill-famed Triple Underpass on the bank of the old Trinity River?<ref>Brandon, Jim, ''Weird America: A Guide to Places of Mystery in the United States'', New York, NY.: [[E. P. Dutton]], 1978.</ref>}}
-Downard died in 1998 while working on his [[autobiography]], the first volume of which, ''The Carnivals of Life and Death'', was published in 2006 and deals with his childhood in the [[Oklahoma Indian territory]], where he was first exposed to Freemasons and the [[Ku Klux Klan]]. He was a lifelong opponent of Freemasonry, as well as the Klan which he referred to as "the Invisible Empire."<ref>William N. Grimstad, ''Sirius Rising'', audio cassette 1.</ref>
 == References ==
@@ Line 27: / Line 18: @@
 *Brandon, Jim. Dunlap, Ill. ''The Rebirth of Pan: Hidden Faces of the American Earth Spirit'', Firebird Press, 1983.
 *Downard, James Shelby, ''The Carnivals of Life and Death'', [[Feral House]], September 2006.
+*"Sorcery, Sex, Assassination", in [[Keith, Jim]] ed. ''Secret and Suppressed''. Portland, Or.: [[Feral House]], 1993.
-*Gorightly, Adam; ''James Shelby Downard's Mystical War'', Virtualbookworm.com Publishing, November 2008.
+*"America, The Possessed Corpse", in [[Parfrey, Adam]] ed. ''Apocalypse Culture II''. Venice, Calif.: Feral House, 2000.
-*[[Hoffman II, Michael A.]], ''Secret Societies and Psychological Warfare'', Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.: Independent History and Research, 2001.
-*“Sorcery, Sex, Assassination”, in [[Keith, Jim]] ed. ''Secret and Suppressed''. Portland, Or.: [[Feral House]], 1993.
+*"Riding the Downardian Nightmare", in Parfrey, Adam. ''Cult Rapture''. Portland, Or.: Feral House, 1994.
-*“America, The Possessed Corpse”, in [[Parfrey, Adam]] ed. ''Apocalypse Culture II''. Venice, Calif.: Feral House, 2000.
-*“Riding the Downardian Nighmare”, in Parfrey, Adam. ''Cult Rapture''. Portland, Or.: Feral House, 1994.
-==External links==
-*[http://www.revisionisthistory.org/kingkill33.html King-Kill/33 - Masonic Symbolism in the assassination of John F. Kennedy]
-*[http://forteanswest.com/lowfiguesteditorial-DrRichardBSpence0612.php Searching for James Shelby Downard]
-{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
-| NAME              = Downard, James Shelby
-| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
-| SHORT DESCRIPTION = American xonspiracy theorist
-| DATE OF BIRTH     = 13 March 1913
-| PLACE OF BIRTH    =
-| DATE OF DEATH     = 16 March 1998
-| PLACE OF DEATH    =
-}}
 {{DEFAULTSORT:Downard, James Shelby}}
 [[Category:1913 births]]
 [[Category:1998 deaths]]
-[[Category:Conspiracy theorists]]
+[[Category:American conspiracy theorists]]
 [[Category:Anti-Masonry]]
-[[Category:Researchers of the assassination of John F. Kennedy]]