William Buehler Seabrook (February 22, 1884 – September 20, 1945) was an American
occultist,
explorer, traveler, journalist and writer, born in
Westminster, Maryland. He began his career as a
reporter and City Editor of the ''
Augusta Chronicle
''The Augusta Chronicle'' is the daily newspaper of Augusta, Georgia, and is one of the oldest newspapers in the United States still in publication. The paper is known for its coverage of the Masters Tournament, which is played in Augusta. The ''C ...
'' in
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
, worked at the
New York Times, and later became a partner in an advertising agency in
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
. He is well known for his writing on, and engaging in,
cannibalism
Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is well documented, bo ...
.
Early life
Seabrook graduated from Mercersburg Academy. He then attended
Roanoke College
Roanoke College is a private liberal arts college in Salem, Virginia. It has approximately 2,000 students who represent approximately 40 states and 30 countries. The college offers 35 majors, 57 minors and concentrations, and pre-professional p ...
, received a
master's degree from
Newberry College
Newberry College is a private Lutheran college in Newberry, South Carolina. It has 1,250 students.
Accreditation
Newberry College is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) to award ...
, and studied
philosophy at the
University of Geneva
The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centur ...
in Switzerland.
In 1915, he joined the
American Field Service
AFS Intercultural Programs (or AFS, originally the American Field Service) is an international youth exchange organization. It consists of over 50 independent, not-for-profit organizations, each with its own network of volunteers, profession ...
of the
French Army and served in World War I. He was gassed at
Verdun in 1916 and was later awarded the
Croix de Guerre
The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first aw ...
. The following year, he became a reporter for the New York Times and soon became an itinerant.
Besides his books, Seabrook published articles in popular magazines including ''
Cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan may refer to:
Food and drink
* Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo"
History
* Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953
Hotels and resorts
* Cosmopoli ...
'', ''
Reader's Digest'', and ''
Vanity Fair''.
Family life
In 1912, Seabrook married his first wife, Katherine Pauline Edmondson. They divorced in 1934. Soon after, he married
Marjorie Worthington in 1935. The marriage ended in 1941. This was followed up by his marriage to Constance Kuhr, which began in 1942 and ended with his death in 1945.
Cannibalism
In the 1920s, Seabrook traveled to
western Africa and came across a tribe who partook in the eating of human meat. Seabrook writes about his experience of cannibalism in his novel ''Jungle Ways'', however, Seabrook later admitted the tribe did not allow him to join in on the ritualistic cannibalism. Instead, he obtained samples of human flesh from a hospital and cooked it himself.
Later life
In autumn 1919, English occultist
Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley (; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pr ...
spent a week with Seabrook at Seabrook's farm. Seabrook went on to write a story based on the experience and to recount the experiment in ''
Witchcraft: Its Power in the World Today''.
In 1924, he travelled to
Arabia
The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plat ...
and sampled the hospitality of various tribes of
Bedouin
The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert and Ar ...
and the
Kurdish Yazidi. In the first part of the book, Seabrook seeks out
Mithqal Al-Fayez and lives with him and his tribe for several months. When the topic of religion came to them in conversation, Seabrook admitted to Mithqal that he did not believe in the
Trinity, but rather in the oneness of god, and that god sent many prophets including
Muhammad; on hearing this, Mithqal asked if William would like to enter Islam and William agreed, with him repeating the
Shahada after Mithqal shortly after. His account of his travels, ''Adventures in Arabia: among the Bedouins, Druses, Whirling Dervishes and Yezidee Devil Worshipers'' was published in 1927; it was sufficiently successful to allow him to travel to
Haiti, where he developed an interest in
Haitian Vodou and the Culte des Mortes, which were described at length in his book ''The Magic Island''. The book is credited with introducing the concept of a
zombie to popular culture.
Seabrook had a lifelong fascination with the occult, which he witnessed and described firsthand both in
Third World
The term "Third World" arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Western European nations and their allies represented the "First W ...
countries, as documented in ''The Magic Island'' (1929), and ''Jungle Ways'' (1930). He later concluded that he had seen nothing that did not have a rational scientific explanation, a theory which he detailed in ''
Witchcraft: Its Power in the World Today'' (1940).
In ''Air Adventure'' he describes a trip on board a
Farman
Farman Aviation Works (french: Avions Farman) was a French aircraft company founded and run by the brothers Richard, Henri, and Maurice Farman. They designed and constructed aircraft and engines from 1908 until 1936; during the French national ...
with captain
René Wauthier, a famed pilot,
and
Marjorie Muir Worthington
Marjorie Muir Worthington (1900 – February 17, 1976) was an American writer of novels and short stories.
Life
Worthington was born in 1900 in New York City. She was inspired by the arts as a child, and studied at New York University School of J ...
, from Paris to
Timbuktu
Timbuktu ( ; french: Tombouctou;
Koyra Chiini: ); tmh, label=Tuareg, script=Tfng, ⵜⵏⴱⴾⵜ, Tin Buqt a city in Mali, situated north of the Niger River. The town is the capital of the Tombouctou Region, one of the eight administrati ...
, where he went to collect a mass of documents from Father Yacouba, a defrocked monk who had an extensive collection of rare documents about the obscure city at that time administered by the French as part of
French Sudan. The book is replete with information about French colonial life in the Sahara and pilots in particular.
In December 1933, Seabrook was committed at his own request and with the help of some of his friends to
Bloomingdale, a mental institution in
Westchester County
Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population o ...
, near New York City, for treatment for acute alcoholism. He remained a patient of the institution until the following July and in 1935 published an account of his experience, written as if it were no more than another expedition to a foreign locale. The book, ''Asylum'', became another best-seller. In the preface, he was careful to state that his books were not "fiction or embroidery".
He married
Marjorie Muir Worthington
Marjorie Muir Worthington (1900 – February 17, 1976) was an American writer of novels and short stories.
Life
Worthington was born in 1900 in New York City. She was inspired by the arts as a child, and studied at New York University School of J ...
in France, in 1935, after they had returned from a trip to Africa on which Seabrook was researching a book. Due to his alcoholism and sadistic practices they divorced in 1941. She later wrote a biography, ''The Strange World of Willie Seabrook'', which was published in 1966.
Death
On September 20, 1945, Seabrook committed suicide by drug overdose in
Rhinebeck, New York. He left behind one son, William.
Popular culture
''The Abominable Mr. Seabrook'' is a
graphic biography of Seabrook by
Joe Ollmann.
Bibliography
Books
* ''Diary of Section VIII'' (1917)
* ''Adventures in Arabia'' (1927)
* ''The Magic Island'' (1929)
* ''Jungle Ways'' (1930)
* ''Air Adventure'' (1933)
* ''The White Monk of Timbuctoo'' (1934)
* ''Asylum'' (1935)
* ''These Foreigners: Americans All'' (1938)
* ''
Witchcraft: Its Power in the World Today'' (1940)
* ''
Doctor Wood: Modern Wizard of the Laboratory'' (1941)
* ''No Hiding Place: An Autobiography'' (1942)
Short stories
* "Wow!" (1921)
Etext of the story, The Genesis of "WoW!", and A Note on the Text.
References
External links
*
*
*
*
*
Pictures
Undated pictures of William Seabrook are available:
* Cites the Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek.
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seabrook, William Buehler
1884 births
1945 suicides
20th-century American journalists
20th-century American male writers
American cannibals
American Field Service personnel of World War I
American male journalists
American occult writers
American travel writers
Drug-related suicides in New York (state)
Editors of Georgia (U.S. state) newspapers
People from Westminster, Maryland
The New York Times writers
Writers from Maryland
Writers from New York (state)
American Muslims
Converts to Islam from Christianity