OMG! I neglected to say that William Steig who was a Reichean and cartoonist ALSO CREATED SHREK!

And I did not fully describe the orgone accumulator as it was not used on Ellen or in the cases I mention.

GREAT article by Christopher Hitchens

CONTENT WARNING!

There are some detailed and particularly disturbing accounts of child sexual abuse.

In this episode I discuss the REICHEAN therapy philosophy in relation to Private Lessons.

Who was Wilhelm Reich?

What damage was done by Reicheans?

Who was Dr. Sobey and how did he harm Ellen?

And what is the difference between trauma (Episode 15) and terror trauma and their effects upon victims.

SOURCES: (I read directly from a few of these.)

Breaking The Silence

Shrek in the Orgone Box

Victor Sobey

Wilhelm Reich (BBC)

Sylvester and the Magic Pebble read aloud

Here will be an exploration, in her words, of Ellen's feelings about her own father, and general insights and reflections on how the "father" relationship can affect future choices. George Von Hilsheimer was considered a "father figure" by many, including Billy Burroughs and women who still wish him Happy Birthday on facebook. What does that tell us about loyalty and about our own fathers?

GVH Obituary

TW: This episode contains graphic descriptions of sexual abuse and trauma. Please consider this before you listen.

Here are some resources:

TRAUMA overview

PTSD

ACES test

REACH OUT for survivors

SA TRAUMA HOTLINE: 1 800 656 HELP

About half the original campers at Summerlane in 1963 were Jewish kids from NYC... as was Ellen. By the end, almost ten years later, Green Valley was being compared to Buchenwald and George to Ilse Koch. Meanwhile, the hippie and Yippie movement, like the Beats, were also largely composed of Jewish people. What does it all mean and how does it relate to the current issues of antisemitism today?

SOURCES

BACK TO SUMMERLANE Jon Elliston

Interviews

CHAMPUS hearings

NYT obits for Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin

Background music is Jewish Longing and Jewish Sorrow by Ashot_Danialyan

Let's talk about the sixties... what were they really?

THE BERRY CENTER

SIX DEGREES of SEPARATION

THOMAS MERTON QUOTE in FULL

POINT VIERGE recording by Anna Levandoski that includes part of Merton's quote.

PHOTO: Wendell Berry, Denise Levertov, Thomas Merton at Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky.

PAUL KRASSNER obituary

CONFESSIONS book by Paul Krassner

JOHN HOLT

CHAMPUS is the acronym for Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services. In July of 1974, a hearing was held by the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Government Operations. Anyone who has worked or been involved with the federal government can imagine how much more easily this could be said! In short, the US SENATE investigated George von Hilsheimer and Green Valley. He'd been getting students/patients through this program for several years and received several million dollars. Investigations and a raid had finally led up to this hearing. Here's a link to the 220-plus page record of the hearings!

CHAMPUS HEARINGS

Here's a link to the TIME MAGAZINE article that came out about the CHAMPUS hearings. VALLEY OF HORRORS

I made a TIMELINE! Here's a link, but I expect to be adding to it. It might be helpful if you are all in on this story and trying to keep the dates and events straight!

Here's a link to my visit to the site of GREEN VALLEY in 2025. I made a few errors! GVH did not buy the property; Robert Hartley did. And it was an Episcopal monastery, not Catholic.

Music is Harmonics and the night from Mr. Smith. From Free Public Music

Stephen was a student at Summerlane and Green Valley. He started posting the true facts about George's abuse online in the early 2000s. Eventually, he and a few others succeeded in getting von Hilsheimer kicked off a few Yahoo groups where he had been "bloviating," lying, and attacking anyone who questioned his version of events. This episode focuses on some of what Stephen told me about his family of origin to help round out my look at Family Systems as it pertains to some of the victims of GVH.

There are some excellent resources for the study of family systems. In addition to those I've recommended, here are some links for others:

The first three are by Rabbi Edwin Friedman, who took Bowen Family systems and applied them to congregations, organizations, and leaders.

THE EFFECTIVE LEADER

GENERATION TO GENERATION

A FAILURE of NERVE

EXTRAORDINARY RELATIONSHIPS This one I highly recommend as a tool for understanding your own family. I can't find my copy, which means I've loaned it to someone yet again. I've found that few have been able to change their family dynamic, which points to the great challenge this work can be!

William (Billy) Burroughs, Jr, the son of William Burroughs, the Beat Generation poet and author, went to Green Valley in the sixties, developed a relationship with George, and returned many times, finally to die there at age 33. I'm looking at this through the lens of Family Systems as I endeavor to answer the questions: What kind of people ended up at Summerlane/Green Valley? AND What caused so many of these people to feel so loyal to von Hilsheimer?

I'll be quoting from GREEN VALLEY SCHOOL,

CURSED FROM BIRTH,

and using materials from The Bowen Center for Family Systems studies.

Background music is CRUNCH by Beat Mekanik sourced from Free Music Archives.

Episode photo is of Wm. Burroughs and Anne Waldman