Volume 8, Issue 8, page 7
Yes, There Was a Book Called
bg In
IM GOING to try to tell something of
"Excalibur" - as much as I remember
without having the manuscript by me
If its author, L. Ron Hubbard, told
me the truth, I am the first person
to read "Excalibur". If it is true
that the first half dozen who read it
went crazy, then I've been crazy for
a long time and I just haven't gotten
caught at it. There is some Qqestion
as to whether there was such a manuscript,
but I assure you there was, and probably
still is, somewhere. It was a source of
considerable disappointment to Ron Hub-
bard that he didn't get it published.
I think the time was about mid-1938 - maybe a little earlier, May
or June. I had known Ron off and on for six or
seven years. We'd gone thru part of the depression together; he
came to New York from his home near Seattle,
Wash. I had met his first wife, Polly. and both his parents.
I'd read a lot of material by Ron, and didn't especially like
it-and he'd read a lot of material by me and didn't
particularly like it. I wouldn't say we were very close friends,
but I knew him, I guess, as well as anybody. ]For
instance, I knew Ron was a night owl- he d sleep all day and work
all night - and didn't pay any attention to your
working hours at all . He was ant to call you at 4 o'clock in the
morning and hold you in conversation for an hour
or more until you felt like you could break his neck. Then he 'd
pull down all the curtains and sleep all day.
Ron called me one day -the strange thing about this was that he
called during the day_ and said, "I want to see
you right away. I have written THE book." I never saw anybody so
worked up - and he was disturbed over a lot of
angles. Apparently, he started to write the book, and had
writtenit without sleeping. eating, or anything else-and had
himself literally worked to a frazzle.
He was so sure he had something"away out and beyond" anything
else that be had sent telegrams to several book
Publishers, telling them that he had written "THE Book" and that
they were to meet him at Penn Station, and he
would discuss it with them and go with whomever gave him the best
offer.
Whether he actually didthis or not, I don't know, but it is right
in line with something he would do. For
example, Pon would send stories to various magazines without a
return address (and if you know anything about the
publishing business you would know how this would irritate
people), and then call up and ask for a report on it. He
used very heavy paper, which made it very expensive to mail
stuff, and he'd mail his manuscripts, not in
professional envelopes, but say in alight blue one so that it
would stand out from the others.
Also, he was a little careless occasion
DECEMBER, 1961
The fIBERRE
EDITOR* S NOTE--One of the 01 anet I c "ghosts"
that has haunted au d , ting and training rooms
is ru mors of a super-super book by the author
of . 'Dianetics", which. in the telling. gained
such monumental proportions that at one time,
th: unpublished manuscript was offered to any-
0 n anx i ous I o satiate their curiosity I o r
$1 .500 - s pecially printed, bound, and boxed,
with a key to protect its precious contents.
There were many inquiries, but no takers. and
th: Editor knows of only one bargain seeker
wh thought his rights as an"Associate Mem-
ber"entitled him to buy"Excalibur" for half
price. as he could other books in the Hubbard
word factory.
But the sale never was made, and the wouldbe purch
t:s I
.~, maseadv sed that If he was seek-
ing -da . r could be found in "B-80"
than In the"mystery book". and we know of
none o ther wishin g to risk $1,500 - or even
$750 - to see if they, too. would"go Insane"
as rumor claimed happen:d to the first half-
dozen who read the manu cript an "Excalibur".
Actually, we began to discount the exist. ence of any manuscript
by this name, classifying it with the many
claimed "clears" Whose actuality and/or identity have been and
still are as transient as the seasons. We didn't DENY
its existence - we just remained skeptical. And there is a
difference.
That skepticism now has been punctured by the accompanying story,
written from a tape made by our,trusted writer.
Arthur J. Burks, which he sent toanother skeptic, Art Coulter.
and whi c h was forwarded to us. Since Mr. Burks
edited the manuscript when it still was"hot" from the typewriter,
we feef that his analysis and report are more
acceptable than the 99,867.234% rumors which have been more or
less in existence for the past decade.
We have no illusions that publication of this data will stop the
deftly-planted rumors concerning"Excalibur".
since those most susceptible to the "mystery" are not ABERREE
fans or subscribers. But forposterity's sake, we offer
this evidence that there actually WAS a book called"Excalibur",
and that ALL of the first six persons thru whose
hands the manuscript moved didn't have happen to them what rumor
says happened to them.
4 4 4 jv~
Dr. Blanche Pritchett, of Marcap Council, Lakemont. Ga., reports
she has finished about 12,000 words of a
manuscript. to be entitled " Exca I i bu r ". T h i s is the same
book. Mrs. Pritchett claims, psychically dictated to
L. Ron Hubbard a couple decades ago. and never publicly released.
The head of Marcap Council gives no date for the
completion of her manuscript. involved as she is with the
reorganizing of the Council following their recent move
from Fort Myers, Fla.
ally -and his stuff needed editing, but he didn't want anybody to
edit it. He had a lot of
odd ideas about writing. For example, he didn't feel he had to
write a certain stint, so when
he would do a manuscript, he wouldn't number the pages-just pile
them up beside his
typewriter. Thus he couldn't see how much he had done so might
kid himself into doing 13
pages when be only intended to do 10. He didn't
