The Castle was a private, spiritual community active during the latter half of the 20th century. They briefly established a permanent residence near Eureka Arkansas, before dissapearing altogether in the spring of 1998. Spiritual duties included veneration of a concepts reffered to as as their "Task". This Task was meant to inform all of one’s actions and choices, which one could only do with certainty by following the guidance of a figure known as the Gargoyle, affectonatley called Goyle by their followers.
Active long before settling in the foothills of the Ozarks, member testimonies allude to those who first joined being initiated sometime in the mid to late 60s. The Castle then began a roughly 20 year journey all across North America, finding new members everywhere- slowly, but steadily increasing their numbers. As a means of supporting themselves the Castle made a variety of health and hygiene products. Once stationary, they were known to use ingredients grown on their own compound. They sold their goods throughout Northwest Arkansas during much of the 1990s.
A former employee of Information Galore visited their compound to connect them to the internet in '94 and said that they provided wonderful hospitality, but noted an odd quietness to the group. Their numbers were believed to sit near 60 just before they dissapeared.
You may be wondering what my vested interest is in this group. Well I have a gap in my memory. One that curiosity's cat bites down firm upon the very knape of whilst I lay awake at night, or in the wee small hours of the morning, or anytime I smell tea tree oil. You see, in the early 1970s I briefly joined the Castle. I had recently been discharged from the army, and found myself on somewhat of a wayward path. The Castle patronised a bar I had been visiting religously. This memory lives in the penumbra of my mind's eclipse by the Castle. I know that I joined, I know that I enjoyed myself quite thoughoughly, and then one day it all collapsed. Collapsed probably isn't the best word choic, it implies a drama that did not exist. My exit from the Caslt was quite uncerimonious actually. The Castle has only a handful of rules, one of them being a very strict limit on consuming sugar. I accidentally broke this rule one afternoon, and without hesitation or grief I was removed from the Castle. It was a rather odd experence; suddenly, as I held the glass in my hand, resin-colored liquid spitting, sticky residue schellaked upon my molars, I felt it, I knew that I was out. The flame of my connection to those around me snuffed out. I felt shoved from reality in a way, like being awoken from a soft dream by harsh alarm. They were kind to me still, the Castle. Dropped me off somewhere I could get a job, save a little money. Eventually I decided to go back to school. I became employed by my alma mater and found knowledge a very satsfying drug. I've taken a class every semester that I've worked at the University and frequently attended guest lectures hosted on campus, at the library. That is how I met my peer and confidant, my Toad. Toad gave a seminar on the Caslte and his theories regarding ther involvment with a missing person's case. We do not always see eye to eye when it comes to the Castle or Goyle, but we do both have an insatiable desire to answer the many questons propogated by one's awarness of the group.
The Castle produced health and hygiene products using botanicals while following what were ostensibly family recipes, passed down to the Gargoyle. Frequenting farmers markets and selling roadside, they usually offered some type of seasonal produce alongside their soaps, balms, tinctures, and tea. They claimed to grow all ingredients themselves, including juniper which they were particularly partial to incorporating. In fact juniper trees were said to dot the landscape around their compound, but attempts to locate this juniper-pocked-piece-of-land have proven unfruitful on my personal trips to NWA. During their nomadic years the Castle still peddled goods, but they had no land to grow ingredients, and relied on what was locally and readily available. What may seem like a capital pursuit, was likely meant to somehow further goals associated with the Task.
It is of minor note that the Castle did not just sell their goods in person, they also fulfilled custom orders received via email (gargoyleofthecastle@aol.com)
There is an initiation process for joining the Castle, it has not changed since the beginning. The "ritual" (let it be noted that Castle members did not use this term) involved ingesting a liquid known as the "Tonic" that was allegedly a family recipe of the Gargoyle's. The initiate would fast for three days, drnking nothing but Tonic. At the end of the 3rd day they would take a small black supplement known as a "seed". I endured this process, but can not recall my experience with clarity, as is the case for most of my time with the Castle.
Toad believes that the tonic was merely alcohol, and the seed some type of hallucinogen. At one point in my life I would've been very inclined to agree. After all, there is evidence that the Castle were brewing their own backwoods gin. And at first, as a confused, former member I was ready to accept this. Wouldn't it make sense that the Gargoyle, like so many before them, used the influence of drugs and alcohol to not only keep members close and dependent, but contrive some esoteric, spiritual, bonding experience? Sure. The overwhelming intoxication of the Eleusinian Mysteries' initiation rites have, by many, been attributed to ergot in the kykeon. A Millenia of divine intraction nothing more than fungus in the barley. It would make sense that a contemporary approach to religious occultism might intentionally rely on such a tried-and-true method of convincing practitioners. But it would fail to account for very insidious loose ends that defy such an explanation.
The Gargoyle's origin is subject to speculation, as very little can be confirmed about them. "Gargoyle" is not a position that can be passed down or awarded, but is rather the specific indivdual. This individual was very private, not a total recluse, but quite precious with their time. We also know that they used an alias, Avery Wormwood, sometimes Avery E. Wormwood. This name first popped up during my investgations when I received a tip to chat with a mechanic in Lancing Michigan. His father had serviced the Castle's van in the late 70s and still had a document on file with the name handwritten upon it. I have since come across this same pseudonym several times, sometimes with slight variance such as "Wurmwood" rather than "Wormwood", and on older documents instead of the "E" a full name, Etidorpha, was used.
As part of the Castle, we only reffered to the Gargoyle as such or, like I mentioned before, an affectonate "Goyle". I wish that at the time had thought to press for Goyle's name, but the thought was so irrelevant to me then.
I have a few memories of the Gargoyle myself from the early 70s. Photos of the Gargoyle also appeared in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette during the late 90s. That person pictured appears quite young should we assume they are the same one I met, the same one who was initiating their first followers in the late 60s. Other first-person accounts of the Gargoyle consistently describe an individual who appears in their mid to late 20s, even when these interactions took place 15, 20, 30 years apart from one another. There is also an image Toad found on one of his escapades that is most definitley Goyle, but the photo (according to Toad) is from 1947. I can not confirm this detail with hard evidence, but Toad is deftly methodical in his approach, would be hard to slip something past him. And so this, to me, is the greatest mystery. Who is this ageless being:
I have heard numerous recountings of experiences with the Castle wherein the witness notes that any members of the Castle they met appeared relatively youthful. Claims have been made that the Castle's homeopathic approach to health contributes significantly to this peculiar vigor. But even the strictest of regimes coupled with complete abstinence from harmful substances will not allow one to escape time and gravity completely.
The Gargoyle, while not eccentric or overtly religous in their approach, did keep a certain aethetic when it came to their apparel. There was a consistent nautical quality to the outfits they were seen in, a somewhat juxtaposing contrast to their landlocked position in Arkansas, but likely a strong visual metaphor whilst stil nomadic; leading the "crew" on their "voyage".
I have decided to share my ideas as to who, or what The Gargoyle really was.
Despsite disparaging remarks from peers regarding these hypotheses, for example discrediting them as "pet theories", I believe that something paranormal was afoot.