BookX – The Michael Yon Campfire Series
I am an author, photographer, war correspondent, and former cannibal hunter. Stick with me, and you might find this to be the most interesting fundraiser you’ve ever seen. The best parts are near the end.
According to Los Angeles Times, my simple website was once one of the busiest in the world. This success was accomplished with only a laptop, camera, and willingness to swim deeper into war than practically any correspondent.
According to the New York Times,
“…[Michael Yon] has spent most of the last three years in Iraq, writing prolifically and graphically, and racking up more time embedded with combat units than any other journalist, according to the United States military. He has been shot at, buffeted by explosions and seen more people maimed — fighters and civilians, adults and children — than he can count.”
I was just getting started when that article came out in 2008. The ‘best’ is yet to come. Readers who invested in me always got their money’s worth.
These days, with many authors giving away free e-books, funding for ongoing research, writing, publishing, and PR to present findings to the public, can be challenging. I have never actually hired a PR firm, but this would be a good idea for some important upcoming books.
Throughout time, serious artists and creators have needed patrons. Museums and fine bookshelves are filled with work funded by patrons.
Today, with book price competition often starting at $0.00 per copy, most publishers cannot afford to invest in serious work. Few readers will pay $29.95 for a serious book, and so naturally publishers invest into the book equivalent of fast food:
The quality of new books has never been lower, while mainstream media is abysmal to the point that experienced journalists have been laid off from sea to shining sea. Traditional publishing and media are dying a slow death.
Back in 2005, when I went to a reader support model in Iraq, some journalists made jokes. They were laughing at someone who with a mere laptop and camera had more readers than the vast majority of newspapers and magazines across the world.
They had newsrooms filled with journalists, editors and support staff. I had this:
Today, many of those journalists are laid off. With ongoing support, I will publish far more about Iraq, Afghanistan, Japan, Thailand, and cannibal stories you never would believe if not for the evidence, and proof, some of which is below in this fundraiser.
In these books, I will also reveal secrets of my success.
One secret is to work hard, but hard work is not enough. This is the number of unopened emails in just one of my boxes:
My total unopened email has reached 154,655. Unfortunately, that’s not all junk mail. I cannot handle or even open everything, but I answer patrons when they can be identified.
Giant media companies have adopted my model. Today, many can be seen asking readers for donations that allow others to read for free. The Guardian:
Subscription numbers have plummeted so low that former media powerhouses have little choice. Most have dramatically reduced or even terminated investigative journalism.
CNN has reached a point that they no longer can afford the best:
A top CNN reporter in Iraq got so drunk that she attacked and bit two medics, earning the epithets, “The Vampire,” and, “Dracula Damon.” CNN did not fire her.
Just recently, two American journalists from two separate papers contacted me for information about stories they were writing. Both were laid off before completing their work.
Low media standards precipitated the crumbling MSM while the internet helped flatten the playing field.
Recently, I spent several years investigating the Chinese information war that is cover for their earthly expansion. I have researched their efforts in 11 countries and would do more with adequate funding. This is massively important to Japan, USA, and to the world. No media company would afford this.
CNN and other major outlets have bought into parts of the Chinese narrative and repeat the false information endlessly. I will lay out clear evidence in upcoming work.
Many people who have read the results of our team’s findings have seen the light. They include key journalists in various countries who themselves cannot afford to do such research.
We have seen a change in their coverage due to our efforts to reveal Chinese subterfuge techniques, much of which revolves around planting stories, building museums, erecting monuments, sculptures, funding books, musicals, movies, and staging press events with little or no basis in fact. China funds the Confucius Institute which has successfully infiltrated universities around the world.
Serious information campaigns can be so large and heavily funded that it is difficult to realize we are actually in a manmade information storm.
Nothing is easier to sell to a desperate buyer than a comfortable lie.
Often, it is impossible to know if journalists are intentionally spreading disinformation or fooled into spreading misinformation. Either way, we end up with wrong information.
We present verifiable evidence, and oftentimes actual proof of Chinese goals and deceptions, such as by using World War II comfort women claims to drive wedges between key allies in Asia. This may sound trivial but those paying attention realize this has serious implications for the USA, Japan, and beyond.
In addition to Iraq and Afghanistan, I covered conflict in Thailand, Philippines, and elsewhere. All patron supported.
I made the photograph above in Mosul, Iraq after a suicide car bomb. Farah, the little girl, would soon die. She was four.
The bomber aimed his car at our Soldiers, which was fair game. It was war, after all. But he detonated his bomb when children were around. He could have waited just a couple blocks and still hit his target.
Iraqis love their children as much as anyone. This photograph made the entire country angry. Intelligence officers said the photograph generated information that was successfully used to target al Qaeda.
Many people around the world were angry after the photograph, saying al Qaeda was not in Iraq before we came. They were right. Many stories do not begin or end happily.
Patron support can generate immediate results that save lives.
How did I get here with this Yazidi child in Iraq?
My life is unlike those who study journalism and join a firm. Firstly, I am not a journalist. Just a writer with a camera, and I am a serious researcher.
The general trajectory of my life started with being born and raised in Florida and guarding my baby sister with toy guns, which was great practice for alligator hunting.
Naturally, I went through an alligator hunting phase as most boys probably do. This was great practice for cannibal hunting (described below), and cannibal hunting was great practice for al Qaeda hunting (also described below).
By 19, I was a Green Beret and was randomly attacked by a dangerous man, resulting in his death and charges against me. This is widely known. The self-defense was justifiable, and I was released. The entire story is recounted in my first book:
https://www.amazon.com/Danger-Close-Second-Michael-Phillip/dp/096751231X
I mention this incident because it often has been used against me without bothering to check the facts. My own case is what first alerted me at the age of 19 that not all journalists check facts before publishing. I never forgot, and this was great training to become a serious writer.
After the investigation, charges were dropped. I spent four more years as a Green Beret, mostly in language training or training to parachute into Poland to help kill Russians and probably die in the process. Total kamikaze mission. Chances of survival were practically zero. Great training for cannibal hunting.
After five years, I was honorably discharged, went to school, and was heading in the direction of studying physics. I always loved physics.
While in school in California, a man on Michael Jackson’s security team heard about my background and offered a security position at his Neverland ranch.
I took the job. It was great. Mainly, I just sat at Neverland and did calculus homework while getting paid.
Obviously, I would not have kept my secret clearance while on active duty, and then get a job guarding Michael Jackson if there was anything bad in my background.
Nevertheless, some mainstream “journalists” still bring this up without bothering to check. Amazing. And this is why some media companies struggle.
While at Neverland, I taught Michael Jackson’s baby chimpanzee how to turn on my flashlight. The chimp was very cute, but alone, so I would sometimes sit with it to keep it company.
The Soviet Union crumbled. The Berlin Wall fell. I flew back to Europe and started a business in Poland, and then took part ownership in two other businesses in the USA.
I got tired of business. What was I going to do?
I decided to become a writer but had never taken any writing classes, and still have not. But, then, I never took classes in cannibal hunting before getting on their trail. I never let ignorance stop me, so I wrote a book anyway: Danger Close.
At the time, my book was the only work on the market with the title Danger Close. Today, at least eighteen more grace the shelves:
Danger Close got surprisingly good reviews.
So, naturally, I landed in India, and that’s where I stumbled across cannibals. I suspect they may be involved in the disappearance of some western and Japanese travelers. This was before I joined the wars.
The entire cannibal carnivore cruise is difficult to believe.
I will lay out clear proof and a great deal more checkable evidence. Of any books you ever read, I guarantee my cannibal series Mother River will be something unforgettable. After years of combat I never got PTSD, but I sure got PTID: Post Traumatic India Disorder.
Even for one of America’s most experienced combat correspondents, the cannibal cruise bordered on unbelievable.
More on the cannibals and al Qaeda below, but first a diversion.
I will tell a secret. Most of my work that gained millions of global readers is unedited. Or, at least, edited only by me. My apologies for drifting tenses and any wayward commas. I guarantee only one thing: accuracy.
In a push to get more serious work into your hands without delay, I am taking a hint from SpaceX. Streamline everything.
Cut out remaining editors, agents, the works. Just write, publish as print-on-demand and as e-books. The information will be accurate. No editors are needed for accuracy. That is my job, as is writing.
Sufficient patronage will permit me to hire a PR firm to promote our work. It is our work, after all, when patrons fund the endeavors.
Ongoing work requires much financial support for research which includes travel, interpreters, gear upgrades and all the rest that goes along with serious effort, and then sitting down to write.
For instance, just now I could use about $25,000 for camera and computer upgrades, and that does not include any operational costs, or any PR for upcoming books.
Battle damaged cameras add up. There were many expenses in the wars. I needed night vision, satellite communications gear, expensive combat insurance, not to mention travel and expenses running the website including helpers and fixers.
During just a single two-week period, I once ran up a $5,000 satellite communications bill transmitting photographs and other data for publication. It was either that, or pigeons. I had no pigeons.
Please consider donating. There are many methods such as Patreon, PayPal, Thai-US-Japanese accounts, and more.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/MichaelYon
For Paypal,credit cards, and transfers: https://www.michaelyon-online.com/component/com_jdonation/Itemid,117/view,donation/
In some parts of the wars there was more flame than other parts. I saw people burned to death on occasions. It was horrible.
I started wearing two layers of fire retardant trousers and shirts, flame retardant gloves, and the sort of balaclava that race car drivers wear. I would do this in the blazing Iraqi summer. Along with body armor, things got toasty but not as hot as the fires.
During bombings, many people were flash burned or trapped in burning vehicles. If you could get through the initial flash, you might be okay if the frags or blast did not get you. The bombs were often preludes to big firefights. Bullets flying everywhere.
I had seen so many arms and legs blown off that I started wearing clothes with built in tourniquets.
I still have dreams about children and the bombs. The other night, a bomb exploded in my dream and killed 11 children in front of me. Very detailed dreams. Terrible. And then you wake up and go back to work.
When I left the wars, there was a big push to bring all the interpreters to Europe and USA. I urge caution. People often called that “racism.”
Not racism. Experience.
The interpreter wearing the blue helmet above turned out to be a spy for al Qaeda. I did many dozens of combat missions with him. The spy was courageous during the bombings and firefights, but he was the enemy inside our wire and on the American payroll.
I was never against bringing ‘terps’ to USA and remain positive for this…after proper vetting. You learn things in the wars that can only be learned by going. This is the sort of raw information patrons want.
I am not sure which was more perilous: combat, al Qaeda spies, Afghan Soldiers shooting up the camps, or cannibal stalking. Weirdly, I do not ride motorbikes. Too dangerous.
At least with the military in the wars there would be no secret what happened. But had things gone wrong with the cannibal work, I may have just vanished. It was spooky at times, out there alone with them, and no Army helicopters rumbling overhead. Just me and some cannibals by the fire. Maybe that was not the best thing to do, but I got the information.
As an independent who relies on patrons, I can do things that top journalists never could do. The New York Times would not in a million years permit a star reporter to track cannibals and possible serial killers alone into the darkness while the cannibals drink whiskey from human skulls. Just not happening. And, it took much time. Time always means money. I had no patrons at that time.
During the Iraq war, there were reports that we were running out of ammunition. We ran low during firefights sometimes. There is only so much a Soldier can carry.
Somehow this got exaggerated that we did not bring enough ammo to the war. We had enough ammunition in Iraq to invade Europe again, and ships were always on the way.
Media: Most were back home just repeating each other. Of the few who came to the wars, only a small percentage spent enough time to begin to understand the situation.
Readers demanded quality. I delivered a steady supply of accurate information and photography that was not available anywhere else.
In 2006, I was in Afghanistan without the military. I was publishing that the war in Afghanistan was going in a bad direction. This crashed against the narrative that we already had won.
Some folks confuse the idea that publishing that we are losing means the writer wants to lose. The opposite was true.
Today, in 2018, it is no mystery that the war went badly, but in 2006 my dispatches bordered on heresy and created a big stir. Yet even today some military thinkers believe we are “turning a corner” in Afghanistan.
My dire predictions on Afghanistan that bucked the narrative caused many patrons to stop reading my work. After about three years, and a lot of coffins, my work turned out to be accurate and some patrons came back.
I could not have gone against the prevailing consensus while working for a major paper in 2006. My dispatches that we were losing seemed out of touch. Even while publishing, I recall thinking that few will believe this. Everyone ‘knows’ we won the war already. Was this just a political attack on President Bush? No. I wanted to win the war.
My correspondence from the battlefields has withstood the test of time. Anyone can audit this claim by going back and randomly reading my dispatches. Start in January 2005 when I began.
An audit will reveal enormous amounts of two things: combat, and accurate predictions based on study and being there.
Of the 19 hijackers who kicked off the “war on terror,” 15 were Saudis. The other four were Emirati, Lebanese, and Egyptian.
None were Iraqi or Afghan. So, we invaded Iraq and Afghanistan. And terrorism increased.
On 9/11, when the second airplane crashed in New York, I knew instantly who was behind it. I knew that al Qaeda operatives were tooling around AfPak. While keeping a finger on them, I had read the book Taliban by Ahmed Rashid just months before 9/11.
His last paragraph was prophetic:
“But if the war in Afghanistan continues to be ignored we can only expect the worst. Pakistan will face an Islamic-style revolution which will further destabilize it and the entire region. Iran will remain on the periphery of the world community and its eastern borders will continue to be wracked by instability. The Central Asian states will not be able to deliver their energy and mineral exports by the shortest routes and as their economies crash, they will face an Islamic upsurge and instability. Russia will continue to bristle with hegemonic aims in Central Asia even as its own society and economy crumbles. The stakes are extremely high.”
Ahmed Rashid’s book came out six months before the attack. After the wars kicked off, I called Ahmed in Pakistan. He said the original print run was only about 3,000 copies from Yale University Press. Maybe Ahmed said 5,000. I do not recall.
Practically nobody cared until 9/11. Practically nobody had interest other than academics, and likely a short list of intelligence professionals in various countries, or people who dared to do business in Afghanistan.
After the attack, Ahmed’s book skyrocketed to #1, selling more than a million copies. Too late.
We could have killed bin Laden many times and practically nobody would remember his name.
Just months after the 9/11 attacks, I found bin Laden t-shirts on sale in Bangkok.
Instead of pressuring Washington to address growing terrorism, the US had spent years concerning itself with trivial scandals such as the Clinton/Lewinsky affair. This may have seemed big at the time, but on the scale of war the scandals were dandruff compared to cancer.
Nothing has changed.
Today, the Chinese menace and other issues grow while a great part of MSM focuses on Trump vs. Stormy Daniels the porn star. Cannot make up this stuff.
Before 9/11, no publisher would have fronted Ahmed Rashid a sufficient advance to research his masterpiece Taliban but rest assured that someone sitting on a sex scandal with a President could land a big advance with PR backing.
It was reported that Monaca Lewinsky got $12 million for just one book, and that was not the extent of Lewinsky’s take. The publishers nor Lewinsky are to fault; customer demand drives the market. We get the media and books we pay for.
Ahmed’s book proved incredibly valuable as the war kicked off. It was a gold mine for understanding the history, organization, and daily operations of the Taliban and their relationship with al Qaeda.
Page by page, the book was like a targeting packet complete with names, associations, and locations of main Taliban and al Qaeda players.
I would like to see a follow up story about all the Taliban, al Qaeda, and other associates described in Ahmed’s book. Bets are on that most were killed, and some ended up blindfolded in one of our numerous torture facilities locked in the small coffin boxes, sleep deprived, water boarded, and otherwise handled until some went insane. They may have celebrated 9/11 but that did not last long.
Please consider donating. There are many methods such as Patreon, PayPal, Thai-US-Japanese accounts, and more.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/MichaelYon
For Paypal,credit cards, and transfers: https://www.michaelyon-online.com/component/com_jdonation/Itemid,117/view,donation/
Before the towers had even fallen, I called a military intelligence officer saying I know someone who knows where Mullah Omar is right now. Mullah Omar was the Taliban leader.
I said Omar is in Kandahar right now. You can have the specific location if you call such and such. I handed over the name and contact information. They never called.
We could have killed Omar. Mullah Omar never was caught. He apparently died of natural causes a dozen years later.
My source was solid. We later spent much time together in Afghanistan during the war. By the time the intelligence community took him seriously, many opportunities were missed, but others were not, most of which I never have written about.
But we did bomb Mullah Omar’s home.
Omar had layered the roof with truck tires and a false roof. The bombs did not even penetrate the real roof. They exploded above the house, scattering tires around the yard. My source visited after the bombing, walked inside Omar’s home, and saw that the bombing had merely spalled some of the ceiling. No hole.
In 2011, I was in the area of Omar’s home, and the mosque he built. We attacked the mosque by air after the 9/11 attacks. We refurbished the mosque in 2011!
Why did we refurbish Omar’s mosque?
The war had reached beyond mere strange. The war had reached “insanity level Apocalypse Now.” Even the Iraq war did not get that insane.
New American Generals would say we were turning a corner in Afghanistan. We always are turning a corner when going in circles.
In 2010, I was so tired of seeing people killed while we were losing that I published on Facebook that two Generals should be fired from Afghanistan. They were losing in their battlespaces.
This caused uproar and relentless attack on me, but then both Generals were fired. One was reduced in rank to Colonel and kicked out of the Canadian Army due to my Facebook posts.
The Telegraph would report:
No mainstream journalist would have been afforded space to make frontal attacks on two of the most popular Generals in the war. Patron support allowed me to go rogue and to act. Keyboards can be useless without courage.
I wanted to win the war so badly. After years of combat, I had become mean like Joe Galloway and would take on anyone who was losing, including the “water-walker” Stanley McChrystal who was wildly popular, and wildly inept outside of special operations.
But again, this made many people angry, and they stopped supporting my work. I did not give up a perfectly interesting journey stalking cannibals to come watch us lose a war and say nothing.
The wars taught me hard lessons that the Vietnam Veterans were right all along. They warned us. We did it anyway in Afghanistan, then Iraq.
Most of the young troops who were in combat could see it.
Some of the bombs our folks stepped on were so big that our men just vanished. You might find some pieces of body armor far away, or pieces up in a tree. The point man often was not hit. You might be number 10 or 20 in the patrol and BOOOM! Gone.
Ridiculous combat without clear goals is the sort of experience that makes young people become lifelong voters. Fighting al Qaeda was a noble cause. Fighting Taliban was a waste of time, and life, and our people are still out there fighting Taliban.
Amazingly, after decades of nearly continual wars and conflicts so frequent that they border on continuous, the last time the United States declared war was 1942.
Our troops professionalism was an inspiration not just to me, but to many of our Coalition partners, and even to Iraqis and Afghans.
I also spent much time in combat with the excellent British, and I can say with great confidence they were amazed at the stamina and professionalism of Americans that was far higher than they expected. Many Brits started to emulate American troops, a total surprise to me. Lady Camilla told me she would send a bottle of whiskey for my excellent writing, but I never got it. The troops loved her.
I realized in the wars that Canada and the UK have no chance of defending themselves against serious enemies unless we stay with them. These are things that cannot be learned from reading or their own propaganda. You must see them in combat.
They are professional, well trained, and courageous, but that is not enough. Canadians, Brits, and Aussies, are not sufficiently resourced and their militaries are too small. Without US backing, Chinese could sail right down to Australia and just take it. This could go on for pages.
The Iraqis and Taliban were at first amazed at the US military. We humbled them. Until we started fighting mostly by their rules on their timelines. Then we suffered.
There were no al Qaeda in Iraq until we invaded.
Al Qaeda and other terrorists were extremely cruel. Brutality often worked against them. They were a one-trick monster. The only tool in their bag was terrorism. They had no idea how to govern. They would seize a town and then the lights would go out and the water would stop flowing.
They truly were idiots, but they had guns and knives, and were not idiots when it came to the simplicity of fighting with no after plan. Sort of like us, in Iraq. We invaded and won the invasion phase. Now what? Got plan?
Taliban have more sense than al Qaeda and the other assorted monsters. Also, for Taliban, it does not matter that they cannot run an electrical grid or waterworks. Most villages have no infrastructure to operate or maintain.
Taliban will have long lasting power in AfPak. This was obvious after even just some months in Afghanistan. Taliban are there to stay and are just a fact of life, whereas groups like al Qaeda can be smashed and shredded.
I spent most of my time in combat with combat troops. They inspired confidence and to the chagrin of the previous Iraqi military, our people were simply better fighters. Even if we all had the same gear, we still would have beaten them. Our people are just better at war.
In the photograph above, the hogtied al Qaeda man shot my friend LTC Erik Kurilla three times. Then, CSM Robb Prosser, seen above with al Qaeda blood on his leg, shot Mr. al Qaeda four times, then ran out of ammo, tossed his rifle aside and started hand-to-hand combat and strangled Mr. al Qaeda almost to death as he kept fighting, even biting Robb’s watch. I grabbed Robb’s rifle, loaded it and fired, and accidentally hit a propane canister, which was pretty embarrassing. I did hit it right in the middle, however.
Must give the al Qaeda guy credit. He was a good fighter but he’s dead now.
The whole story is here: https://www.michaelyon-online.com/gates-of-fire.htm
Our military people were courageous. They were incredible. As were the Brits.
Though the wars were misguided, military leadership was mostly solid. Morale, especially among American infantry, was high, mostly. There were exceptions, but media often would have us believe they were down and out. That was untrue.
Please consider donating. There are many methods such as Patreon, PayPal, Thai-US-Japanese accounts, and more.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/MichaelYon
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Reality: I saw countless troops wounded who wanted to return straight to battle, or who became angry when they learned they were being sent home. They made me proud to write their stories.
Our people would have made you proud if you were there to see it. I was there as witness, with my cameras, paid for by readers.
It was not enough to merely be there: one needed requisite experience to tease sense out of the confusion. Both of those wars were extremely confusing.
Though I am American, I have spent more than half my life outside of the United States. Work and travels have taken me to 48 United States and 75 countries. I learned much during the journey.
I have been in intense combat many times, sat with cannibals in the dark by fires, and learned some dangers of democracy, which many Thais call “democrazy.”
I sometimes chatted with several CIA directors, four-star generals, Taliban, watched al Qaeda die at my feet many times, and learned a thing or two about immigration, and bad policy. And I still think Michael Jackson was cool, but I think crazier than the cannibals who mostly seemed normal except for drinking out of human skulls.
Many Afghans loved Michael Jackson. Please do not believe the reports that Taliban never listen to music. Just not true. I saw village kids moonwalking and doing Michael Jackson dances in places that likely will not have electricity for several more generations. Where did they learn this?
Almost as a joke, I started asking village leaders if they heard about Michael Jackson passing away. Amazingly, they knew him. In village after village they would say things like, “Yes, this is very sad news. Tell your people we weep for Michael.”
Taliban sympathizers who love Michael Jackson, Americans refurbishing Mullah Omar’s Mosque – this was the Twilight Zone.
I have many things to write and must have reader support to continue the ongoing research and processes.
The most interesting books I ever will write will be about the cannibal hunting. The cannibal hunting was not the most important. The most important deals with wars, Japan-Korea-China, and eventually about uncontrolled immigration issues that can lead Europe to war, and many problems in the USA.
But the cannibal stories of my pre-war years are by far the most interesting. Many people have heard parts. Only I know the entire journey. You have not lived until you’ve seen a naked cannibal sitting atop a human skull.
Journalists sometimes contact me, but there is too much to explain. Some have seen a few of the most graphic photos, and lost sleep after viewing.
Tracking the cannibals was an unbelievable journey that took me six times around the world: India. Nepal. Tibet. Thailand. Italy. France. Germany. Sonoma, California. Hawaii. Florida. Numerous trips back to India and Nepal. It was amazing. And San Francisco, of course. No crazy cannibal journey would be complete without diving into San Francisco.
After many months of hard tracking across India, I finally located a specific cannibal of interest. He was from Houston. I tracked him to a Muslim restaurant in Varanasi. It was amazing that Muslims let him in without killing him.
His name was Gary Rayburn Stevenson. In Honolulu, he changed his name to Giridas Rama Sitanatha, keeping the same initials: GRS. Maybe that saved money on new cufflinks.
Eventually, I secretly “borrowed” his passport, copied every page and memorized by heart all of his travels. When we spoke, I could audit his claims on the fly.
I made this spreadsheet of his travels and memorized it from top to bottom:
He went by the name “Kapalnath,” which loosely means way of the skull. I called him Kapal, or Gary. He sometimes became angry when I called him Gary, or Gary-the-Cannibal. He did not mind talking about cannibalism but did not like when I would call him GtC or Gary-the- Cannibal.
When I introduced him to others as Gary-the-Cannibal he said that was rude, like introducing someone and saying, “And he’s a vegetarian.” He was mostly a vegetarian other than the cannibalism, and he said why don’t I introduce him as, “Gary-the-Veggie.”
He had sex with his horse. I asked if he was homosexual and this made him angry again. “Do you think I’m a *** just because I love my horse! My horse is female!” By the time I got to the wars and the suicide bombers, they seemed almost normal.
Of all the cannibals I found on that journey, GtC was by far the funniest. He knew every cannibal joke and could easily have written his own joke book. He was far from insane, and far from “normal.” In Varanasi, India, he was perfectly normal. He would have been normal in parts of San Francisco or Seattle, but not in Houston.
Please consider donating. There are many methods such as Patreon, PayPal, Thai-US-Japanese accounts, and more.
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GtC had an amazing memory. After endless fact-checking by me, it became obvious he was telling the truth about everything I was able to check, which was a great deal, including finding his American and Canadian families.
GtC said he had been in the Merchant Marine. I asked how he got in with his polio-shriveled leg. He insisted that he had been in the Merchant Marine and presented the ID. I photographed the ID when I borrowed his passport.
Heck, he might have gotten that ID in Thailand where you can buy just about any ID imaginable from street vendors. They present entire books of ID options, such as press credentials. The seller takes your picture and 20 bucks and five minutes later you are a New York Times journalist. Or a Merchant Mariner.
So, I sent the photograph of his Merchant Mariner ID to the US Coast Guard for confirmation. Response:
A cannibal food handler. Lovely…
His passport was also legit.
I flew to Hawaii, got his name change records, and visited the addresses and names listed in the documents. I found many of his friends and associates. It helps, too, that I gained access to his email account. I was monitoring him monitoring me.
Why all the effort? I thought and believe that the cult is involved in murders and missing people.
Long after I stalked him down, GtC used a knife and tried to kill a man in Varanasi, India and was sent to prison. FBI Special Agent Susan Pruitt contacted me about this with concern about his deportation back to the USA.
After GtC tried to stab the Indian man, police found a woman’s arm in his hut. That was not illegal. He was not charged for the arm, or even for trying to kill the man. GtC was charged only with a visa violation.
He was in prison and I wanted more information from him about some possible murders, and real missing people. I flew back to India. Somehow, I negotiated his release from prison.
Special Agent Susan Pruitt of the FBI knew a great deal about it. She called me saying the cannibal had been arrested, but I think Agent Pruitt was unaware about the human arm and that he tried to kill a man.
Alex Perry from TIME Magazine bet I would never get him out of prison. I also thought chances were low.
If not for so many witnesses such as Alex, this would sound too incredible to be true. Yet Alex was there when I got GtC released from prison. Alex said journalists had been searching for him for years and asked how I found him. I said it was hard and time consuming and a long story, but I got him.
Incredible witnesses include Dr. K.S. Pratap Kumar, the Varanasi Police Chief at the time. A well-respected man and very interesting to talk with.
Also witness, TIME Magazine photographer Prashant Panjiar who photographed GtC beside me when GtC took a rifle from a police officer after being released from prison.
GtC did not force the rifle from the officer’s hands but used his normal Jedi Mind Trick. He was very persuasive.
When he took the rifle, I nearly punched his lights out, but the police returned to his senses and took back his rifle. It’s all in Prashant’s photos, which I have but will not publish without permission which may require a fee.
After a judge ordered his release to me, Indian police escorted us to the airport and waited until the door closed on the airplane.
GtC was so thankful that he offered to give up cannibalism for me. I said on the airplane something like, “Would you stop cannibalism for me? I would appreciate that. Thank you. I’m not being judgmental, Gary. Just saying that these days some people sort of do not accept the practice any more. And no more horse loving.”
He asked if I were trying to put him in prison. I said I just got you out of prison. But yes, I thought he should be in an American prison and there was good cause.
I took GtC to Kathmandu, then to Thailand for some months, then to Massachusetts. I would put him in places that were easy to watch and difficult to find me. I would sometimes rent two or three hotel rooms at once so that it was hard to find me, and I might meet him at a decoy hotel where I rented but never really stayed.
There’s nothing like traveling with a traveling cannibal who loves knives to keep you on your toes. He loved guns. Gary drank out of a human skull, kept a horn made from a human femur, and a damaru drum made from baby skulls and baby skin. That’s just how the Aghoris roll.
GtC had searched me up on the web and realized I had worked for Michael Jackson. GtC loved Michael Jackson and often listened to his music. And so, when GtC realized I had been to Neverland, he thought that was pretty awesome.
He tried to kill me in Thailand, but we got over our differences and I continued to interview him after he cooled off.
Finally, I had him flown to Boston where I had alerted law enforcement before putting him at the Capri Motel in Dartmouth. That hotel was its own story and was a biohazard. The Indian owner seemed to have brought India to Dartmouth.
The journey is so unbelievable that if not for the thousands of photographs and hundreds of hours of video and audio, third party witnesses, and many documents, I could hardly believe it myself. I might think memory is playing tricks.
The quality of eyewitnesses to the journey is incredible, including numerous journalists, law enforcement members in various states, including FBI. I will name them all.
The places and dates that I describe will be real, and in most cases verifiable. For instance, when I write that he lived for months at the Capri Hotel in Dartmouth, that is checkable.
When I publish that GtC had photographs developed at a Walmart on 29 July 2004, I mean here is the proof. There it is. Store W2157. Store 2157 is the North Dartmouth Walmart Supercenter, 1.1 miles from the Capri Motel, and just near UMass Dartmouth.
If the Indian man who owned Capri knew I stuck a cannibal in his roach motel, he might not like me.
On the other hand, GtC was probably one of their better clients. Client was the more apt word – the place looked like something normally rented by the hour. Gary stayed for months and paid his bills.
Law enforcement were apprised by me and kept good watch.
Maybe I should have told anthropologists at UMass that we have a live one in Dartmouth they may want to study.
Today, I have his photo albums and his Samsung Galaxy Tab with full access to the data.
This is the sort of detail that made my combat stories and war analysis credible and accurate, but the sort of details that are so often missing with today’s journalism. Demonstrable details from verifiable sources that are available for audit.
Researchers must go to the source and dig, dig, dig, which costs, costs, costs.
GtC had gotten a new passport at the US Embassy in Bangkok on 16 January 2004. Back in the USA, India issued him another 10-year visa. Incredible.
After months in Dartmouth, and my interim trip to stalk some cult members in Italy, I drove GtC back to the Boston airport and he flew back to India.
People have asked how he got another India visa. My only answer – It’s India!
Remember, they also released a known cannibal from prison to me, and I have no official capacity. Indian police knew he was dangerous. They wanted rid of him, and then their Embassy let him back in. Cannot make up this stuff.
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On 22 November 2004, after his last American supper at Boston Market restaurant, I drove GtC to Logan airport, for his trip back to India. He was American by birth, but he was no longer American, nor was he Indian, though India was his place. He was just GtC.
GtC is only a sub-portion of the main cannibal trail in which people really die, and others go missing. It is a story I must tell, and I will tell their names and what happened to the best of my knowledge and evidence.
There we were, at Logan airport. I was sending the cannibal back to India.
Logan was the departing airport of United Airlines Flight 175, and American Airlines Flight 11, along with ten al Qaeda members.
They took control of two aircraft, crashed into the World Trade Centers and changed the world.
I said goodbye to GtC and headed for Iraq, where I would see plenty of al Qaeda die before me, along with courageous US troops and innocent Iraqi children. And then off for more of the same in Afghanistan, and then more of the same in Thailand, but without the al Qaeda part, just local terrorists.
There are many stories that should be told. But there is no use in writing if people do not read the work. Sufficient support will help in funding advertising and PR to spread important stories that often are also entertaining.
Books in progress or planned:
1) The Bomb Boys: Mostly completed. Needs a final edit by me, a cover, and PR funding. This book can save lives across America and will help teachers, parents, and police detect children and are making explosives.
2) Written in Stone: A series of books describing a fascinating and immensely important Chinese campaign to undermine Japan, South Korea, USA, and other countries. This series is more interesting than one might imagine.
3) Deuce Four : Iraq book on the 1-24th Infantry Regiment, the most decorated battalion in the war. I spent five months in combat with this excellent battalion. Heavy combat.
4) Written in Sand: Afghanistan book covering 5/2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, and more. 5/2 was wrongly maligned yet was one of the best outfits I went to war with.
5) Mother River: Series of books on the most intense cannibal hunting you ever have seen. Mother River will be a mindblower. The information above is merely a cracker before a feast.
6) A book in Japanese language that is nearly completed, along with an English version, which goes into detail about some World War II and current issues in Asia including the information war.
These books may not come out in the order described above, and the working titles are subject to change.
I have more than 400,000 photographs made by my hands. This incredible archive spans years of combat, travels, cannibal hunting, and more. With sufficient funding, I can hire someone fulltime to help assemble these into some magnificent books that many people will want to see, such as my first photo book, Inside the Inferno, published years earlier.
My first three books have received many great reviews. There is a lot more in my head and archives, and I have access to incredible sources.
I need your support. This is a team effort. Please join the team.
Ta ta,
Michael Yon