82 CASE HISTORIES 



friendly. " If Garland and Engel would do this instead of fight- 

 ing the spirits, they would be all right. The spirits are company. 

 It's impossible to be lonely when you can talk with them. I 

 answer them noiselessly by making silent movements in my throat 

 and larynx. Like a medium I get messages from God as over a 

 telephone. He is interested in me like a father in his son. Father, 

 mother, son, that is religion. At first the voices were insulting 

 and sounded as if coming from some distance outside me, but I 

 coaxed them closer and closer till now they're inside my head 

 completely. 



" I've always been able to mimic girls and women. I've gone 

 to fancy dress balls disguised as a girl and fooled everyone. 

 (For my benefit he mimicked a woman very well, and it was 

 evident that he enjoyed doing it immensely.) But it's dangerous 

 to act ladylike, for some fellows jump to the conclusion that 

 you're a pervert. In the navy I was always on guard against 

 other men's suspecting me of being a pervert and for that reason 

 I kept alone some. When a fellow feels lonely it's a comfort and a 

 pleasure to hear his own thoughts as you call them, to hear these 

 spirits. They talk to each other and I listen, or I join in and talk 

 with them." 



When told these spirits were splits of his own mind and that 

 he should try to reunite them, the prospect didn't attract him at 

 all. "I prefer to keep them as they are, they're so comforting 

 and interesting. I don't want any change. I have seven of these 

 spirits inside me. They are like my children. I wouldn't 

 want to lose them any more than a father would wish his children 

 to die. Besides, I don't see how they can be splits of my own 

 mind for sometimes I'm sure they tell me interesting things that 

 I never knew before." 



General observations: The first day he entered my office he 

 looked around suspiciously and admitted he feared a dictaphone 

 was secreted somewhere. He began the talk by boasting of his 

 adaptability, saying he could pass as tough or refined at will. He 

 had always been much interested in religions and believed they 

 originated in fear; fear first, then worship of the thing feared 

 ( recall his worship of the lighted cigaret, a frequent potent penis 

 symbol). 



