Ancient Rites Under the Harvest Moon

Ever been invited to a party you did not want to go to?

More than a decade has come and gone.  I finally found out what that gathering at the Econo-Eight Motel in Ontario, Oregon was all about.  Apparently, they celebrate with an annual festival:  an Octoberfest, if you will.  They drink various and sundry types of homemade, or mini-brewery favorites that local Oregonians have perfected over the years.  They don’t allow any big brewery brands at their festival.  If you even bring Yling-Ylang in there, the sergeant at arms will escort you out of the festival’s many courts.  They drink their favorite beverages all evening and all night the week of Halloween.  On All Hallow’s Eve, they begin to bring out their costumes.  The theme for each year’s festival is different.  The previous year it was Star Wars villains and there were several Darth Vaders, three Darth Mauls, about 25 Storm Troopers, a Palpatine, a Boba Fett and even a few Greedos.  This festival really lasts all month long, and the community takes this part of the festival very seriously.  The entire month of October, they go to work every day, but as soon as it is time to get off for the day, they go to the festival.  The year I happened to stay in that community overnight, the festival was in full swing.  And the theme for this year’s Halloween night celebration was mythical humanoids:  Sasquatch, and the Abominable Snow Man, Satyrs, and Fomorians.  These were the only four mythical humanoids allowed at the festival.     

Only days ago, I heard that there was something else going on there.  Something that this Octoberfest covers over, and hides from the rest of the world.  The rumors I heard, was that this event had a much more sinister purpose.  That purpose is to hide what they actually believe in, but at the same time they can worship their deity out in the open by disguising these services in late October, around Halloween, by inserting it directly into the costume festival.  They are not actually celebrating in true Octoberfest fashion, the purpose of this festival is to show their loyalty to their “White King:” El Blanco Rex.  A celebration that repeats once every ten years.  I do not believe it is true, though I think they are just out to have a good time.  And Yet I……. can’t help but recognize the images and thoughts I still have in the back of my mind to this day.  Yet I am afraid to give over to those thoughts.  I can only stay sane, if I block all that out and believe that those people are just celebrating the successes and great benefits of their harvest brews.   

I do believe that some of the celebrants went a little overboard in their celebrations, and let things get out of hand.  The year I happened to be there, several of them dressed up as Abominable Snowmen and went nuts because for some reason their festival was changed by the weather.  On the Tuesday and Wednesday before the Halloween Festival night, snowfall in the area had been between 8 and 14 inches depending on elevation.  This sort of crimped their style somewhat, but about a dozen participants decided to dress up as the Abominable Snowman, and when they were evicted from the Festival itself, they took their celebration to the large open field immediately adjacent to the Econo-Eight Motel I was staying at.  There were about 20 Abominable Snowmen, and about 14 Tellem.   The Tellem had an historical record of being quite visual and quite vicious followers of their ancient rites.  These two humanoid species are completely unknown to scientists.  They are simply the creation of men designed to scare that ancient population that someone else wanted to control.

 

Their revelries had taken a hard left turn somewhere along the way that ill-fated evening I spent in Ontario, Oregon.  They were uninhibited by their specialty beers and some say by their ingestion of certain hallucinogenic drugs they had partaken of.

The manager of the Econo-Eight Motel had called for law enforcement to come to the motel and assist with the revelers.  Several police arrived just in time to rescue me from becoming a piece of toast.  I had indeed been taken out of my room and placed in another room where I was allowed to recover.  Three days later, I was finally awake and able to drive home. 

The Ten year anniversary of my trip through Ontario, Oregon was coming up in just a few months, and I had given thought to returning to the scene to see if this year’s version of this event would look like what I had seen through that little peephole through the door of my room at the Econo-Eight Motel.  As that day drew near, I had come to realize that it was not a memory I wanted to renew.  I was perfectly content to celebrate Halloween with my grandchildren.  They were much more fun, and not the least bit interested in dressing up to look