Tamper! You haven't heard much about that lately, have you...well, other than in U.S. elections and especially not since Richard Shaver went to his reward in 1975. Tamper was a key issue in the Shaver Mystery, and explained, at least to Shaver why the Mystery was nipped in the bud. It also explained why Shaver was blacklisted from Amazing Stories magazine; why he couldn't sell the timber on his Wisconsin farm; why he was the patsy of a porno publishing ring and why there is neverending war, poverty and famine.

Tamper, by definition is to "interfere with something or make unauthorized alterations." In Shaver's world, tamper is caused by deros using the fabled telaug, a thought-augmentation device that can put thoughts in people's minds while making them think it's their own idea.

Being an expert, Shaver wrote extensively about various kinds of tamper. So here you go...unfiltered 100% pure Shaver (maybe). Check out "Tales of Tamper" to find out whether Shaver HIMSELF was being rayed, and what he had to say about the "non-existent so-and-so's" who continued to pester him after he was blacklisted from Amazing Stories magazine.

Continuing in this vein, we've decided to reprint subworld researcher Charles Marcoux's 1981 self-published epic I SEARCH FOR THE PORTALS. It is a glimpse into the mind of a hardcore Shaver Mystery fan who died on a quest to find Shaver's Underworld. Shaver would have said Marcoux was murdered because he was getting too close to the subworld...that it was dero tamper. Marcoux's tragic endgame played out near Blowing Cavern, Arkansas. His story fits perfectly the archetype of first generation Shaver Mystery researchers. As Riley Crabb wrote in 1959, "...where does Marcoux get his obsessive drive to rend the veil of the Shaver Mystery?" That obsession ended at Blowing Cavern. The psychic manifestations of his demise were related in Shavertron #20 June 1984 (available from the Shavertron store).

As we were putting this yearly update together, Tal Levesque sent us a link to a site called "Ufo Casebook." He was pointing out a forum on the Shaver Mystery. As we read the article titled "The Legacy of Richard Shaver," posted by "arizonaranger" in 2005, it started to look familiar. It should have! Ye Shavertron Editor wrote it! It appeared in FATE magazine back in '99 or 2000. Funny how this stuff takes on a life of its own once it's on the web. It's a good story, too! It ties in so well with what we are discussing here that we've decided to reprint the web posting of our own article. We've renamed it "Bury Me at Blowing Cavern."

Many of you will be happy to see some familiar names from the early days of Shavertron, the fanzine. Those would be W.G. Bliss and Vaughn M. Greene. This year we've included gems from W.G.'s research files on Rok Fogo, as well as a few surprise inclusions.

While rummaging through the REALLY dusty Shavertron files we came across Vaughn's "Was Kennedy Killed by Deros?" Fred L. Crisman has been a favorite subject of Vaughn's for many years. He points out that there IS a connection between the SM and the Kennedy assasination. Find out who, or what, that connection is in this issue.

We are pleased to announce that reviewer Figbar Tobar from Shavertron's Lithuanian Bureau is back. Figbar reviews two movies: Marebito and Beyond Lemuria. We also want to state that opinions of the reviewer are not necessarily those of Shavertron, so be forewarned.

Did Shaver conceive the idea of the world wide web in 1973? It sure sounds like it. He called it a "world wide network of communications." But instead of today's Internet, he postulated that Rock Books would become the world wide network of information.

Still no sighting of the Emerald City over Bodega Bay. This has been a sore spot of ye editor's for a long time. As reported in previous issues, the Emerald City is California's version of the Fata Morgana...the fairy city in the sky reported so throughly by Charles Fort. As far as we know it hasn't re-appeared since the 1980s. We've taken many trips to that area since then with nary an emerald to be seen. However, we will continue in search of and will keep you posted.

Shavertron © Richard Toronto

Shavertron history for new readers:

The original Shavertron was a fanzine devoted to the Shaver Mystery and the life and times of Richard Sharpe Shaver and his editor, Ray Palmer. This leaves the playing field wide open since the Shaver Mystery is rife with ufos, a race of evil weirdos living inside the earth, mind control, a high-tech Elder Race pre-dating our history, abductions, conspiracies and, of course, the sci-fi pulp zine scene of the late 1940s.

The "mystery" began in a 1945 issue of AMAZING STORIES magazine with an article titled "A Warning to Future Man." Editor Ray Palmer and writer Richard Shaver collaborated from there to bring Shaver's unusual cosmology into the world of sci-fi pulp zine literature.

The Shaver Mystery gasped its last breath when Shaver and Palmer died within two years of each other in the mid-1970s. We stopped publishing Shavertron in 1992 since most Shaver Mystery readers were gone (mostly dead) with few leftovers to take their place.

Writers like Jim Pobst, Brian Tucker, Doug Skinner, Tal, Timothy Greene (Mr. UFO) Beckley , Mary Martin (The Hollow Hassle), Branton, Bill Bliss and Gene Steinberg did what they could to keep the Mystery going.

The scene eventually merged with watercooler chit-chat about UFOs, abductions and government conspiracies, all of which were a big part of the Shaver Mystery. Back in 1947, the Shaver Mystery was a bizarre topic of household conversation (probably at cocktail time). Today it's obscure sci-fi history...though it is now being rediscovered by a new circle of oddity seekers and outsider art buffs.

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