Hello, my name is Eleanor Tert, a therapist and doctor. Perhaps you’ve read my books or seen me on TV with my good friend Winnie Moprah, another doctor. Through my work, I try to help people reach a better understanding of themselves and others, and make a better life.
You’ve just read the diary of Flannery Culp, the famed teenage Satanic murderess who led her cult, the Basic Eight, to notoriety this year with the murder of Adam State. Adam isn’t really presented fairly in Flannery’s version of the events, so I hope that through the integrity of our media you all know the real Adam. Adam State was one of the most popular boys at Roewer High School, and at the time of his murder he was on the cusp of a dazzling future: college, and then undoubtedly a brilliant and lucrative career, perhaps raising children of his own. From all I know of Adam he would never have done some of the things Flannery talks about.
I must object, too, to the presentation of myself and my work in the diary, particularly in the first speech I make at Roewer’s all-school assembly. To try to dismiss me merely because of my past addictions is to do me a grave injustice; the writer Edgar Allan Poe, Flannery notes, took absinthe and yet is still a respected novelist and short story writer in America and elsewhere. What particularly angers me is that the sixth-period Advanced Shorthand class at Roewer was instructed to take complete notes on my speech as a classroom exercise; Flannery easily could have obtained a copy of the word-for-word transcription rather than relating it from memory, tailor-made to her own point of view. And I won’t even comment on her presentation of my all-school survey without the statistical justification and analysis which precedes and follows all such surveys I do. I will just say that to deny me my full say on the matter is what I consider to be Flannery’s other great crime. Like James Carr, who remains in a coma, I have been blocked from telling my side of the story. For more of my thoughts on this matter see my book, Crying Too Hard to Be Scared, which is much more thorough on the subject.
I was asked to write this epilogue to explore some of the more remarkable things to be found in what is regarded by Dr. Moprah and myself to be one of the most important documents on teenage Satanic murder to appear in this century. First off, of course, is the matter of Flannery’s parents. David and Barbara Culp are well-respected members of their community and were considered to be model parents by all who knew them. David is a radiologist and Barbara teaches networking, so they were able to provide for Flannery all the comforts of an upper-middle-class Jewish home in San Francisco. Both of them have many hobbies and insist that they have had no more than a passing interest in the occult. We all saw the coverage of this event and will always remember their somber faces as they supported their daughter through the trial, and nursed their private grief at home. Having moved to Florida after the verdict, they ask that their whereabouts not be disclosed.
There is also the much-maligned Flora Habstat, whom I have met and counseled many, many times. Due to client confidentiality I cannot discuss Flora at any length, but suffice to say that she is a bright, beautiful, thoughtful, intelligent, attractive, creative and life-loving human being. There is nothing at all in her personality to suggest that she is a “bitch,” and with a good fitness and diet program she keeps quite thin. All in all I am very proud of her and only hope that she will be allowed to tell her side of the story once this book is published, perhaps on television.
Lastly, of course, is the mysterious Natasha, Flannery’s confidante. Who is she, really? In researching Flannery’s life as part of my position as creative consultant for the TV movie Basic Eight, Basic Hate, I researched Flan’s early life and found two prospective “Natashas” to whom Flan may have found an extreme attachment. One is Natasha “D.” (her last name has been changed), a girl in Flan’s first-grade class. A janitor at Pocahontas Elementary School (which was then Martin Van Buren Elementary) remembers that Flan and Natasha “D.” were “unusually close, almost best friends,” for at least the first few months of first grade, whereupon the “D.” family moved to Plano, Texas, due to her father’s position as an executive. Natasha “F.,” nee “D.,” said in a brief telephone interview that she does not remember Flannery, nor did she know who I was.
The other Natasha, Natasha “V.,” may be closer to the mark. Natasha “V.” worked at Camp Boyocorpo during one of the two summers Flan attended as a camper and was assigned to Flan’s bunk as a counselor-in-training. Who knows what whispered confidences or other activities may have gone on during those starlit nights? In any case, Natasha “V.” became a lesbian with serious self-esteem issues. Shortly after I appeared on the Winnie Moprah show, Natasha “V.” sought me out for professional help, and during one of our early hypno-imaging sessions this revealing connection rose to the surface.
Whatever her source, Natasha’s importance cannot be overemphasized. What Natasha did, Flannery did–Adam’s murder, Carr’s poisoning, the drinking, talking back in class–so Natasha’s actions can be seen as an imaginary manifestation of Flan’s dark side. Like a shadow, Natasha performed the actions Flannery was afraid to admit wanting to perform. Luckily this whole sequence of events was put to a stop before it was too late, and hurrah to Flora Habstat for that.
In conclusion, I wish to draw your attention to a passage from the end of Flan’s diary: “More kids were arriving, and not just at Roewer; every moment, all over the world, more and more kids and what are you going to do about it?” Flan’s desperate question is obviously a cry for help, though despite several letters I have written to her, she refuses to see me even for a minute. But it is also a call to action. Indeed, more and more kids are arriving, and not just at Roewer; high schools everywhere report dramatic overcrowding. In short, teachers and administrators are getting more and more overworked and unable to deal with the myriad of problems that challenge today’s teens academically, athletically and socially. So the responsibility falls on you. Peter Pusher, in his remarkable book What’s the Matter with Kids Today?: Getting Back to Family Basics in a World Gone Wrong, suggests that the answer lies in prayer, but I would suggest (with all due respect to Peter) that we take our solution one step further: Moral Watchfulness.
Moral Watchfulness is a combination of different concepts, and each one needs further explanation. “Moral” because society is nothing without morals. Teach your children–and other people’s children, if you have no children of your own–the importance of right or wrong.
To do so, you need to arm them with the weaponry of morals. In addition, you need to be “Watchful.” Be Watchful for signs of Satanism. Be Watchful for absinthe abuse, even casual absinthe abuse. Perhaps you need to give your children my all-school survey, and interpret it accordingly. I may be creating a workbook. Finally, you need to combine both “Moral” and “Watchful” (ness is just a suffix) into an aggressive strategy to make sure our children don’t end up hanging out with the Basic Eights of this world.
Remember, our world is at the equivalent of first semester senior year–the most important semester for our future. Read this diary, not for the true-crime thrills all of us crave deep within us, but for the important lesson it teaches us all: Flannery Culp, and people like her, are neither fish nor fowl but are living, breathing human beings, as real as I am. Thank you.
Vocabulary:
CUSP
MUCH-MALIGNED
THOROUGH
MORAL
RADIOLOGIST
WATCHFULNESS
Study Questions:
1. Dr. Tert says: “To try to dismiss me merely because of my past addictions is to do me a grave injustice.” Write one paragraph agreeing with this statement, and another paragraph disagreeing with this statement.
2. Which model for Natasha do you think is more likely, Natasha “D.” or Natasha “V.”?
3. Do you, deep within you, crave true-crime thrills? Why or why not? Do you think you would be a better person if you used Dr. Tert’s strategy of “Moral Watchfulness?” Why or why not? Do you think Flannery’s version of the story of the Basic Eight is correct? Why or why not? Do you think Dr. Tert’s version of the story of the Basic Eight is correct? Why or why not? Was Dr. Tert even there? Why or why not? Why or why not? Why or why not?
4. Ness is a suffix. Name at least four other suffixes.