Marvel "Jack" Parsons (1914 - 1952) was an early and influential rocket engineer as well as a noteworthy occultist. In addition to developing a revolutionary solid rocket fuel and having a crater on the dark side of the moon named after him, he was also a major figure in the occult. He corresponded with the infamous Aleister Crowley and performed strange rituals with pre-scientology L. Ron Hubbard.
There is a new TV show featuring a partially fictionalized account of the bizarre but impressive life of Jack Parsons, called Strange Angel. The short video presented here features theoretical physicist Dr. Michio Kaku and spaceflight historian Amy Shira Teitel discussing the real history behind this enigmatic figure. Source:
https://twitter.com/StrangeAngel/status/1009828296761081856
- StrangeAngel
Back in the 1930's Parsons was a founding member of a rag tag group of mad scientists and innovators nicknamed The Suicide Squad. While this is completely unrelated to the popular comic book based movie, Parsons was such a strange and impressive individual that it isn't much of a leap to imagine him leading a crew of exceptionally skilled anti-heroes, particularly considering his birth name was Marvel! His original, real life Suicide Squad was the very first rocket research group to be sanctioned by the U.S. government. Initially formed under the auspices of the California Institute of Technology's Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory (GALCIT), their experiments with dangerous and exotic explosives quickly earned them the iconic nickname. Their headquarters and field lab were located in an area of California appropriately called the Devil's Gate.
Under Parson's leadership, the Suicide Squad developed into the more respectable and still extant Jet Propulsion Laboratories (JPL) which eventually became a part of the NASA family of organizations. In recognition of the contributions Parsons made towards developing a solid rocket fuel that eventually made the iconic Apollo 11 manned mission to the moon possible, an impact crater on the dark side of the moon was named after him.
Parsons also led a local lodge of the Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO) in California. The OTO is an organization of occult Co-Freemasonry founded by the notorious Aleister Crowley which still exists to this day. Parsons would occasionally bring groups of occultists to the Devil's Gate site for the purposes of engaging in occult ceremonies. Jack owned a mansion on Orange Grove Avenue in Pasadena which became known as The Parsonage. This was in a posh area of town and Parsons regularly scandalized his neighbors with wild parties and bizarre rites.
He became close friends with L. Ron Hubbard who would later found the Church of Scientology. Hubbard assisted Parsons in some of his more experimental ritual workings, including the infamous Babalon Working. There are some today who attribute this magickal operation with opening an interdimensional vortex that triggered a wave of UFO sightings and alien abductions that continue to this day. Hubbard eventually swindled Jack by stealing his money, his yacht and one of his girlfriends. As the story goes, Jack performed a magickal working to summon a storm which forced the yacht back to harbor, allowing Parsons to recover at least some of his property.
Tragically Jack's life was cut short on Tuesday June 17, 1952 at the age of 37 when an explosion occurred in his home lab. This explosion remains shrouded in mystery, with some claiming it was a simple accident while others (including his widow, artist Marjorie Cameron [shown with Jack in the photo below]) insist he was assassinated. Regardless, it cannot be denied that Jack Parsons lived his short life to the absolute fullest and left a powerful legacy that continues to influence our world to this day. It is my hope that one day he will be held up as one of the great innovators of history alongside the likes of Nikola Tesla, Johannes Gutenberg, Alexander Graham Bell and Satoshi Nakamoto.
Additional Resources
If you are intrigued and feel inspired to learn more about Marvel "Jack" Whiteside-Parsons, here are a few suggestions:
Books:
- Freedom Is a Two Edged Sword - Collected Essays of Jack Parsons
- Sex and Rockets - Biography focusing more on Jack's Occultism
- Strange Angel - Biography focusing more on Jack's Rocketry
- Wormwood Star - Biography of Marjorie Cameron, Jack's widow
Television:
- Strange Angel - Partially fictionalized television series on Jack Parsons (loosely based on the book of the same name)
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