Adam Gorightly - Happy Trails to High Weirdness: A Conspiracy Theorists Tour Guide

While Happy Trails to High Weirdness may seem to be a pleasant-sounding title for a conspiracy book, don't let those good vibes go completely to your head. While indeed humorous, these wide-ranging field journals by Adam Gorightly also touch on some of the darker aspects of Forteana. Like those contrails that "protect" you from evil, HAARP-like signals coming from "Russia" yet poison you with all manner of U.S. biowarfare gunk, the life of the interdimensional crackpot historian is double-edged. It is a difficult life, a path some say is only meant for heroes, medicine men, and madmen. And they may be right... There is no one else like Gorightly. His doppelgnger (see below) may come close but, in order to say for sure, we would need to have the actual doppelgnger on hand for examination.

For those who might be newcomers to the Gorightly universe, he is perhaps the conspiracy field's best hope for bringing the truth to the common man. He can recall obscure conspiracy facts yet deliver them in a laid-back, "California-cool" kind of way that gets the average person thinking, "Hey, this stuff isn't nerdy or weird." And to the intellectual geniuses among us, he offers shocking new theories and evidence at an increasingly alarming rate. With his thick moustache, flowing hairstyle, and expansive knowledge of unusual sound recordings, Gorightly makes conspiracy journalism seem downright sexy. It is not uncommon in Hollywood to hear the names "Gorightly" and "Captain Kirk" whispered in the same sentence. Lest you think I am mistaken, Gorightly recently released his own record album, Transmissions From A Dying Planet . It has a flying saucer on the coverone of the grooviest you will ever see. At least one "anonymous" insider claims that William Shatner plays the CD when psyching himself up for public appearances, but firm evidence of this has not yet surfaced publicly.

But as I mentioned, all is not fun and games when sharing truth in "the Matrix." In addition to the everyday difficulties faced by those investigative researchers who dare to regularly collate and "process" conspiracy material (which can sometimes trouble the soul and make it hard to sleep at night), Gorightly has often had to make his reports while under the not-so-subtle threat of surveillance and intimidation. We are not talking about harassment from shapely, bikini-clad groupies here, but from the dreaded Men in Black! I can personally attest to this aspect of Gorightly's plight, having been with him on a couple of occasions when such weirdness blossomed. Luckily however, we often make inroads into solving tough conspiracies when the MIB happen to be watching. Like a photon in a supercollider, being "observed" or spied upon by the Men in Black may actually trigger responses at the subatomic level; nature's synchronistic mechanisms kick in, increasing the "juice" of any investigative discovery process.

What this means, ultimately, is that Gorightly may actually have some sort of supernatural access to data beyond the reach of ordinary researchers. He clearly hints at this in the first chapter of Happy Trails . This link to the interdimensional vortex structure explains not only the quality of his research, but also the strength of his cultural presence. Just about everyone digs real men whose stance is wide enough to exist in more than one dimensionwho can swim with dolphins and put out a forest fire in the same day...

As one continues to read further into Happy Trails , one sees that Gorightly is not afraid to brave the matrix of widespread and often deadly occult activity that has turned Californiawith its intersecting ley lines of unimaginable powerinto the capital of the weird. Not only that, but he effortlessly breezes into this web of deceit with a jaunt in his step. Gorightly moves like a martial artist, casually redirecting the momentum of any foe. Whenever the pleasant tinkling of a martini glass changes to the swish of a poison-tipped blade sliding out of a walking cane or Oxford shoe, Gorightly is ready. Yet, even then, he is still relaxed. Even though he seems to take his time, deliberately examining and appreciating every new lead, he still manages to penetrate the veil of California deeper than most anyone else. Such alchemical bona fides suggest that Gorightly is a wizard of the highest order. His religion is a tent that includes all the others. Yet it flaps alarmingly when evil comes, like the Umbrella Man in Dealey Plaza.

Things heat up fast when Gorightly goes into the field, to the Weird California enclave of Santa Clara. There, he attends Conspiracy Con, hosted by longtime scenester Brian William Hall. At "Con Con," Gorightly seeks funk and adventure with conspiracy pioneer Kenn Thomas, of Steamshovel Press , and Skylaire Alfvegren, the energetic L.A. writer and founder of Forteans West. In one scene, the trio "go Masonic" and bust a move on Santa Clara's famous Rosicrucian Museum, where they pierce the veil separating us from our Egyptian ancestors. Along the way, Gorightly turns an incisive eye towards the various speakers at the convention, including Anthony Hilder, Ted Gunderson, Jordan Maxwell, Stanley Montieth, Dave van Kliest, and Stewart Swerdlow. Are many of the regulars on the conspiracy circuit really spooks? Probably... Does it really matter? Probably not, unless you happen to be a struggling conspiracy writer trying to get onto the circuit and put food on the table. Gorightly is not in that category, of course, having long ago shot to prominence with his unflinching investigation of Charles Manson, an investigation that continues to uncover fascinating new leads linking Manson to "spooky" religions like Scientology, The Process Church, and, perhaps, even Aleister Crowley's OTO.