Hearing Voices
In 1932 a factory worker named Richard S. Shaver thought he heard distant voices whenever he turned on his welding machine. Hearing these voices sent him along a strange path that led to the publication of more than three thousand pages of strange stories about the deros, degenerate survivors of an ancient civilization who dwell in caverns deep inside the Earth. The deros, according to Shaver, wield powerful weapons that broadcast thoughts and commands to humans living above ground. Beginning in 1945, Ziff-Davis science fiction magazines like Amazing Stories and Fantastic Adventures published this material either as true accounts of events or as fiction based on a true story--and increased their circulation by doing so.
The Shaver Mystery
Shaver began this body of work, known as the Shaver Mystery, with a letter to Raymond A. Palmer, the editor of Amazing Stories. In the letter Shaver claimed to have discovered the alphabet of Mantong, the original language. In 1943 Palmer published the letter and was astonished by how much it interested his readers. When Shaver sent him another manuscript, the enterprising editor rewrote it as a fact-based novella titled "I Remember Lemuria!" Enlisting the aid of other writers to help Shaver, Palmer continued to publish stories of the Shaver Mystery in issue after issue.
Hostile Fans
Not all the readers of Amazing Stories found the stories believable or even amusing. Many science fiction fans, notably Harlan Ellison, decried the Shaver Mystery stories as hoaxes and publicity stunts. Raymond A. Palmer brushed off the criticism by the science fiction faithful because his magazine was receiving numerous letters from new readers outside the in-group. The Shaver Mystery stories provoked little interest outside the readership of science fiction magazines until the controversy surrounding them spilled onto the pages of Life, at the time the leading magazine of photojournalism in the US.
In 1951 in the May 21 issue, Life ran an article, "Through the Interstellar Looking Glass," that covered the rise of the science fiction genre in magazines and movies. Written by music critic Winthrop Sargeant, the article identifies science fiction as a fad. Sargeant characterizes science fiction fans as members of an in-group with their own aesthetic standards and jargon. In the article he suggests science fiction fans might be "a manifestation similar to the jitterbugs of the hot jazz era."
The Shaver Hoax
Sargeant devotes several paragraphs to "the most celebrated rumpus that rocked the world of science fiction--the Shaver hoax." Shaver and Palmer, according to Sargeant, blame everything that is wicked--or even inconvenient--on the interference of the deros on humans. Sargeant says Shaver Mystery believers blame flying saucers, the disappearance of Judge Crater, infestations of fleas and stuck typewriter keys on the deros. He also reports that some science fiction fans, angered by the publication of fiction as fact, tried to scuttle Amazing Stories by bringing the Shaver Mystery to the attention of the Society for the Suppression of Vice as a danger to sanity, by petitioning the Post Office to forbid the mailing of Amazing Stories and by bringing their complaints to the publisher. This last attempt may have succeeded.
Sargeant's humiliating attack prompted Shaver to reply. He wrote letter to the editor, which Life printed in its issue of June 11, 1951. Life redacted the letter, inserting two sets of ellipsis periods. We may never know the full text of the original. In the letter as it stands, Shaver writes:
Sargeant's humiliating attack prompted Shaver to reply. He wrote letter to the editor, which Life printed in its issue of June 11, 1951. Life redacted the letter, inserting two sets of ellipsis periods. We may never know the full text of the original. In the letter as it stands, Shaver writes:
Sirs,
In your recent article on science fiction you describe the "Shaver hoax." ... Deros are a fact, and one does have to be a cavern dweller to be one. Dero is an ancient word from Mantong meaning detrimental robot, or, in English, "habitual thinker of evil thoughts" (which naturally result in only in evil deeds). Hitler was a person whose thoughts and actions resulted only in harm.... The hoax began as an attempt by me to get Mantong (that language which is the mother tongue of most earth languages) into the hands of men able to force its recognition and study for the important key to the past which it is. Before Egypt the origin and history of the human race is still exclusively in darkness. I cannot help it if you will not make the effort to understand. It takes perhaps an hour's honest study and thought to begin to realize that Mantong is not a silly invention but something very, very big.
Richard S. Shaver
Amherst, Wis.
Outsider Artist
Today Shaver is remembered more for his outsider art than for his writing. Outsider art is a term used by critics for the work of artists who are insane. Richard S. Shaver concealed part of his life by claiming he spent years in the caves of the deros. Prior to his writing career, he had in fact spent time confined to a mental institution. After his career as writer came to a close, he began to make paintings based on the images he "read" from rocks he broke. He thought these rocks were books from the ancient civilization he wrote about in the pages of Amazing Stories.
Influential Writer
Richard S. Shaver was an outsider as a writer as well. He was never a member of the science fiction in-group Sargeant described, and at least some members of the group called Shaver a paranoid schizophrenic. His contribution to science fiction is now undervalued. Shaver had an original paranoid vision that continues to influence books, movies, and television. He's used as a source of ideas by other writers in the science fiction genre. For example, Harlan Ellison, Shaver's fiercest critic, borrowed the idea of elevators that travel below the basement of building in "From A to Z, in the Chocolate Alphabet," which he wrote in 1976, the year after Shaver's death.
Despite Sargeant's attempt to humiliate Shaver, the Life article may have increased his influence. Life magazine was mostly pictorial. Most readers skimmed the articles. Sargeant's article is illustrated with still shots from the science fiction movies then in theaters: "The Man from Planet X," "The Thing," "The Day the Earth Stood Still" and "When Worlds Collide." The only cover of a science fiction magazine pictured in the article is the June 1947 issue of Amazing Stories. The cover bears the words "The Shaver Mystery." Shaver and Palmer continued to publish Shaver Mystery material for two decades after Sargeant’s article.
Despite Sargeant's attempt to humiliate Shaver, the Life article may have increased his influence. Life magazine was mostly pictorial. Most readers skimmed the articles. Sargeant's article is illustrated with still shots from the science fiction movies then in theaters: "The Man from Planet X," "The Thing," "The Day the Earth Stood Still" and "When Worlds Collide." The only cover of a science fiction magazine pictured in the article is the June 1947 issue of Amazing Stories. The cover bears the words "The Shaver Mystery." Shaver and Palmer continued to publish Shaver Mystery material for two decades after Sargeant’s article.
Sources, Asides, Notes and Further Reading
The 21 May 1951 issue of Life is available on Google Books.
In the same Life article, Sargeant makes fun of another system of beliefs first published in a science fiction magazine. This other system of belief became a religion of Hollywood stars.
A good place to start reading about Richard S. Shaver is the Wikipedia article Richard S. Shaver.
For a look at Shaver's artwork see "Shaver Declared a Master Surrealist"
A slightly shorter version of this article appeared on Triond's Booktove website:
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