CANNIBALS BOOK IV:
CA N AL
OR
THE SEEKERS OF VALKYNNE
INTRODUCTION.
In 1924, August Schiller, a noted scientist, disappeared. The movie Cannibals was a fictionalized version, or perhaps a documentary, of this actual event.
The circumstances of August Schiller’s disappearance have fascinated the public, prompting conjecture and debate. His wife’s equally mysterious disappearance six months later fuelled the controversy even further. Did she murder him? Did the government give them both new identities? Did they fall victim to the conspiracies of a mystic cabal?
As part of his research, Zeke Ringo compiled numerous historical documents concerning the Schiller matter. The court files and police reports contained letters and diaries, the authenticity of which had been contested even when they were first introduced into evidence. The prosecution contended that Annabelle Schiller had forged many of the documents in an effort to prove her innocence, while Hugh Ansibal, her defense counsel, introduced them as proof of her madness.
There have been numerous efforts to recreate a semblance of the original release of Cannibals by correlating known surviving stills with the assembled historical documents. Some of the resulting interpretations were based on intuition or dreams; these are the products of authors who believed that a kind of magic was at work that would lead them to fidelity. Other versions were based upon assiduous research, either into accounts of the film itself, or into factual accounts of Dr. Schiller’s disappearance.
The following compilation was found among Zeke Ringo’s papers after his death. Ringo kept most of his work in a state of disarray. It has been said that Ringo turned to mysticism because he was too disorganized to get things done any other way. The sequence of events remains in dispute, even to this date, as well as the authenticity of certain passages.
The reader has been provided with suggested alternate routes through these documents, with the authority credited, and the reasoning given for the authority’s choice. And so, the reader may choose between various interpretations by skipping to designated pages.
Zeke Ringo himself held the conviction that all of the following documents are authentic, regardless of the source, and the work should be read from beginning to end, in regular sequence, following the numbered pages in order, and ignoring any instructions to the contrary. It is also my feeling that this route is best understood when taken last– which is to say that the reader should sample competing interpretations before following Ringo’s. To put it simply, Ringo believed that the story of Cannibals is a tale of science and sorcery in unison; a resolution of contradictions. The story is many stories.
Everything is true. All of the findings, opinions, beliefs, and points of view held by friends (and opponents) are all true– even those that contradict each other. Even the contradiction of the preceding statement is true. Appreciating the truth in things we believe to be false is the key to having a deeper self and a harmonious and diverse culture. It is a quantum point of view. The universe is like Schrodinger’s cat– a simultaneous experience of contradictions. Xyr– which is part of Cannibals– is a myth to demonstrate that truth– a collection of lost silent film fragments that can be read in a variety of different sequences. The meanings of the fragments change according to the order in which they are read. You can steer your way through different versions of Xyr using the hyperlinks provided– or you can read all the assembled documents in ordinary numerical sequence. The choice is yours.
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