Days of research at Leonard’s didn’t get us very far. I found three references to the Hermetic Order of Owl: one passing mention in an encyclopedia, a news report from 1983, and a caption in a book about witchcraft.
The encyclopedia mention comes not in its own entry, but in the entry about owls:
While owls are often considered spiritual creatures and respected by a number of cultures on a variety of levels, the Hermetic Order of Owl (pg 443) is perhaps the most earnest in its belief that owls are the watchers of the soul.
The encyclopedia points to page 443, but there’s nothing there about the order. Which is a weird mistake to make for a book dedicated to chronicling everything, but it’s not the first time I’ve seen this in an encyclopedia.
The second mention is in a newspaper report from August 22, 1976:
Bowling Alley Construction Unearths Vault of Secret Society
by Richard Yearns
Flagstaff—Early on Tuesday morning, construction workers digging out the grounds for the foundation of David Sexsmith’s newest bowling alley unearned what local authorities are calling a vault of a secret society. It is too early to confirm but researchers suggest it may belong to a long dormant group called the Hermetic Order of Owl.
Little is known about the Order of Owl, but Melinda Bakersfield, professor of history at the Northern Arizona University and author of the book, Six Secret Societies: The Untold Story of the Groups Nobody Wants You to Know About, was the first to suggest the Hermetic Order of Owl, pointing out the ruins on the vault resemble the owls connected to the order in earlier works.
The vault is locked down currently, and it’s unclear what it will take to open it. National History Museum coordinator Alexis Farns tells The Daily the museum is working to preserve the vault while protecting its contents.
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That’s it, there’s no other mention in any subsequent issues of the paper, but it does at least get us four names to follow up with, the article’s author, the professor, the museum coordinator, and the bowling alley owner. Finally, there is one short caption in Margo Linet’s Catastrophes Caused By Witchcraft, which reads, “The members of the Order of Owl sit peacefully and have a picnic,” but an error in the print of the book leaves a large blank space above the caption. I confirmed this is the case in other printings as well. I suppose I should try to reach her too, even if the title of this book doesn’t give me much confidence in her worldview.
I take what I’ve learned to Gus on Thursday after work.
“Well I think we should start with the professor from the newspaper article,” he says, “She might know at least some high level stuff to get us started, and then we can go from there.”
“That makes sense to me,” I pause, “Though I might as well try to track down everyone and at least get some phone calls and see if any of them have email. It’s been 25 years since that article was written, we’ll be lucky if I can track down a single one of them.”
“Sure, sure, sure,” he says, clearly not listening to any of my boring logistics details.
“Gus, is this a waste of time?”
“Well sure, yeah, probably. But,” he let’s that ‘but’ float in the air for what feels like an eternity. Has Gus always had this sort of dramatic timing, or is it new? “I don’t see any harm in wasting a bit of fun on research, do you?”
“No, I suppose not.” It is just research. And what else would I be doing with myself? Drawing more maps. Might as well try and learn about this weird cult group or whatever they are so I can decipher the maps they’ve already made.
