About the Author

While I was growing up, I knew Charles A. Marcoux simply as Uncle Charlie. His first wife, Margaret Marie Halstead (or simply, Aunt Marie), was my father's half-sister. They moved to Arizona before I was born, which in the 60's and 70's may as well have been the dark side of the moon given that my family lived in Flint, Michigan. Contact was limited to the occasional letter or card, and the traditional Christmas morning phone call. My parents made two trips out to Arizona to visit with them; the first in 1962, before I was born, and again in 1971 when I was six years old. That was the only time I ever met my Uncle Charlie. He was recovering from a recent stroke and didn't get around much. My memories of him were that he was kind, if somewhat unsure how to have a conversation with a young boy. After he left my aunt in the late 1970's, we lost all contact with him. My aunt received a phone call from Uncle Charlies second wife sometime in the early 1980's informing her that he was dead, but we never had anything but rumors as to the how and where. That's where things sat for over three decades.

In early 2014, I was reading a book by John Michael Greer called The Element Encyclopedia of Secret Societies. The book mentioned Palmer and Shaver, which set off a bunch of itching in the back of my brain. I grilled my parents, did some searching on the Internet, and discovered a great deal of information on ol' Uncle Charlie that I never had the slightest idea was out there. I decided to start this blog mostly as a repository of what I dig up.

A couple things to make clear: First, this is not some dispassionate Wikipedia-style summary. Charles A. Marcoux was family, and this blog is intended to be my personal view of Uncle Charlie. As such, it will contain facts, rumors, opinions and observations on his work and his life. For example, I am not a doctor, but reading Uncle Charlie's own words reminds me a great deal of some of the case histories I studied in my Freshman Abnormal Psych class. People these days who report seeing visions and hearing voices in their head are assumed to be suffering from some form of mental illness. (I have often said that if modern psychiatry has existed several thousand years ago, the world's three main religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, would not exist.)

On the other hand, I remember Uncle Charlie as a kind, cheerful, energetic person who would talk anyone's ear off who would listen. When I met him, I was only six, so about 99.9% of what he said in my hearing was merely verbal noise. Besides, I was way more interested in my books and stickers and puzzles and all the other things that occupied a six-year-old in the "pre-digital" age. But everyone I've contacted since starting this little quest describes him in much the same way; an intelligent, well-spoken person with passionately held beliefs. A person who never knew a stranger, who was kind, who was loving to his family. Not generally what one would expect people to say about some crazed lunatic chasing little green men down old mine shafts.

Which brings me to my second point: From where I sit, Palmer, the mysterious person known only as "L", possibly Shaver, and others, were involved in an intentional hoax that started as a way to boost sales of the pulp sci-fi magazines that they had direct financial interests in. Like a number of other hoaxes (the above-mentioned book by Greer has several examples), it seems to have taken on a life of it's own, sweeping up the gullible and mentally ill, and seems to still be alive and well on the internet. It also resulted in at least one premature death; Uncle Charlie died from a heart attack brought on by bee stings while preparing to explore the Blowing Cavern in Cushman, Arkansas. His is likely not the only one. While researching Uncle Charlie's life, I've encountered a number of stories of people who vanished while searching caves for an entrance to Shaver's secret underworld. Those people were not done in by bug-eyed aliens or lizard people. If they were lucky, they died a relatively quick death after a fall or by drowning. More likely, they died slowly and painfully from starvation or thirst, after being injured or becoming lost, in a suffocating blackness that has to be experienced to be appreciated. Caves are no place for delusional amateurs.

If anyone has any information on Uncle Charlie, or can make introductions to those who do, please contact me. I am especially interested in tracking down Uncle Charlie's journals and drawings before they disappear for good.

[Update: I am now in contact with Uncle Charlie's second wife who is in possession of his work. She is putting together a "care package" for me as I type this. Further updates when I here from her.]

8 comments:

  1. Updated to correct Aunt Marie's last name; I never knew until a couple weeks ago that a) my grandmother was married to someone prior to being married to my grandfather, and b) that grandma's first husband was Aunt Marie's father. I swear nobody tells me nuthin'.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Charles Marcoux was my great uncle.
    His mother Florence S Marcoux was my great grandmother.
    I was born in Michigan, and I have many photos of my family, I am also a UFO believer, and I believe the caves that lead to the underground serpent races are still there. Places like Agartha is a legendary Kingdom that is said to be located in the Earth's core. It is related to the ... was imparted to him concerning a subterranean kingdom which exists inside the Earth. ... Mythological cities and towns · Hollow Earth theory.
    Antonio Murdock.
    Florence Sarah Marcoux Family,
    Pontiac, Mi, Whitmore lake Michigan,
    Ann Arbor Mi.

    Great Grandmother
    Florence Sarah Marcoux, 79, of 74 Longfellow Dr.,
    died Thursday morning at the
    St Joseph Mercy Hospital In
    Ann Arbor following a long -illness, -
    Mrs. Marcoux was born at
    Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, on
    March 13, 1880.
    She had passed the major part-of her life near Pontiac,
    Mich. For about the - past ten
    years she had spent winters In
    Santa Barbara, Calif. and her
    summers at Whitmore Lake,
    Mrs. Marcoux, whose husband
    passed away about ?9 years ago
    is survived by four daughters,
    Mrs. Ethyl Bartell and Mrs.
    Ellen ,Biackwell, both of Detroit, Mrs. Evelyn (Peddle) Fry
    at whose home she was living,
    and Mrs. Florence O’Hara of
    Pontiac; - three sons, Charles
    of Santa Barbara, Calif., Alex of
    Monteelto, Calif., and Frank of
    Ft. Lauderdale, FIn.; 18 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren, Services were held
    Saturday at staffan.Hildlnger
    Funeral home, Ann Arbor; Capt.
    Vernon Hosteiler of Salvation
    Army officiating. Burial was
    in Evergreen Cemetery, Detroit,

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have had a lot of fun reading about your amazing Uncle Charlie! My name is Douglas Graham and I maintain a database on the genealogy of all of the Marcoux of North America (emarcoux.net). I know of about 20,000 so far. All of my information is public and can be consulted (excluding information on living persons).

    I came across this Charles A. Marcoux while trying to figure out who Lorene Marcoux is (her sister just died and it was mentioned in her obituary that Lorene survives her in Arkansas). I have a fair bit of information on this Marcoux family (they are all descended from Alexander Marcoux, b. abt 1849 in MI, but I have never been able to figure out who are the parents of that Alexander). I would be happy to share with you what I have. There are many gaps (e.g., I don't know who are any of the children of Charles Marcoux although I know all his 7 siblings). I can be reached at douglas@douglasjgraham.net

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There are lots of Marcouxs--the French Canadians multiplied like rabbits. Charles Albert Marcoux was the son of Leda and Phil Marcoux. Leda's parents were Clara Emily Chauvette and Nelson Mallett(e). Nelson died and Clara married Albert Beaudoin, my grandfather. I'd like to know Lorene's full name. Don Beaudoin Grand Rapids, MI

      Delete
    2. Unfortunately, I know very little of Lorene's history. It was pure accident that I was able to contact back when I started this project. I lost contact with her several years ago when she stopped responding to correspondence. I was never able to learn wat had happened. Sorry I can't be of more assistance.

      Delete
  4. Dear sir,
    I copied the blog on PDF to enable me listen to it with text-to-speech app offline.
    Can I save it online sir.
    Thank you for this great read.
    I am still reading it though.
    Thank you once again sir
    chidiajaka100@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hello! I am part of a research group based in northwest Arkansas. We are working on a project on Blowing Cave and the Shaver Mystery. Do you know where Charles was buried?

    We hope to hear from you soon!

    Best,
    Kylee

    ReplyDelete
  6. The last time I had contact with his second wife, she still lived in Cushman. She never told me where he was buried, but I would have to assume not far from where she lived. I didn't have any luck searching for his name in the three Cushman cemeteries. I'm not familiar with the local geography so, I guess I'm not much help.

    ReplyDelete