Jackson Elias

Jackson on assignment in Egypt

Jackson Elias was born in 1888. He is of medium height and build, and dark-complexioned. He has a feisty, friendly air about him and, as an orphan in Stratford, Connecticut, he learned to make his own way early in life. He has no living relatives, and no permanent address. For his friends, months and sometimes years separate one meeting from the next. Still, he is well liked and respected wherever he goes. The world is better for having Jackson Elias in it.

Curtis Blakely, Dr. Victor Lester, Mary Elise St. Dennis, and Jack Falcon originally met Jackson in 1920 during an investigation of a death cult in Queens, NY. The Church of Our Lord, Granter of Secrets. The cult was started by a Catholic priest, Father Walter Corbitt. Together with Elias they gathered evidence to stop the cult and the kidnappings that plagued the surrounding neighborhood.

Jackson turned 35 in 1923, and sent a telegram to gather the group of 4 friends together again to head to Mexico to investigate the Ah Puch Cult. Curtis, Victor, Mary Elise, and Jack arrived in time to rescue Elias and capture Walter Kimble before heading back to the States. Elias left with a great story and his thanks for pulling him out of that steaming jungle that would have been his death.

His writings characterize and analyze death cults. His best-known book is Sons of Death, exposing modern-day Thuggees in India. He speaks several languages fluently and is constantly traveling. He is social, and enjoys an occasional drink. He smokes a pipe. Elias is tough, stable, and punctual, unafraid of brawls or officials. He is mostly self-educated. His well-researched works always seem to reflect first-hand experience. He is secretive and never discusses a project until he has a final draft in hand.

All of his books illustrate how cults manipulate the fears of their followers. A skeptic, Elias has never found proof of supernatural powers, magic, or dark gods. Insanity and feelings of inadequacy characterize death cultists, feelings for which they compensate by slaughtering innocents to make themselves feel powerful or chosen. Cults draw the weak-minded, though cult leaders are usually clever and manipulative. When fear of a cult stops, the cult vanishes.

Jackson and his friend and publisher Jonah Kensington

• Skulls Along the River (1910) — exposes headhunter cult in Amazon basin.
• Masters of the Black Arts (1912) — surveys supposed sorcerous cults throughout history.
• The Way of Terror (1913) — analyzes systematization of fear through cult organization; warmly reviewed by George Sorel.
• The Smoking Heart (1915) — first half discusses historical Mayan death cults. Second half instances present-day Central American death cults.
• Sons of Death (1918) — modern-day Thuggees; Elias infiltrated the cult and wrote a book about it.
• Witch Cults of England (1920)— summarizes covens in nine English counties; interviews practicing English witches; Rebecca West thought some of the material trivial and overworked.
• The Black Power (1921) — expands upon The Way of Terror; includes interviews with several anonymous cult leaders.
• The Hungry Dead (1924) — exposes the modern-day survival of a Peruvian and Bolivian death cult from the time of the conquistadors: the Kharisiri.

All of these books are published by Prospero Press of New York City, and all were edited by owner/editor Jonah Kensington, a good friend of Jackson Elias.

Jackson Elias's Travels researching the Carlyle Expedition

Jackson Elias was found dead in room 410 of the Chelsea Hotel in New York, NY, USA on Thursday, January 15, 1925.

Jackson was found dead by the investigators