Gwai Lo: A Novel by Jehu Fèng

Context and Minutia (contextual minutia):

Of facts and Factoids:

This will be one of those sections of the existing website
that will see the most growth. In it, Weber will offer tidbits of
information gleaned from his exhaustive research process
that, while not at all critical to a GL reader's enjoyment, are
interesting nonetheless.

So along that line of thinking, below are just a few facts you
may find interesting.

During the Boxer Rebellion, one of the Boxers'
"signals for assembling" involved the use of red
balloons, hence the use of the motif throughout the
Gwai Lo novel.

In both the novel and in the historical record, the
Boxers engaged in a kind of martial dance that might
resemble the martial art styles now known as
"drunken WuShu" or possibly "DiTang Chuan."

In Gwai Lo, supporting character Dr. Harris
Spectricson--while giving a speech before a class of
high schoolers about psychiatry--disparages the
psychological guru Carl Jung. Jung is said to have
lied about his research, including his linchpin case,
the so-called "Solar Phallus Man" mentioned by
Spectricson. This case became the basis upon which
much of Jungian archetypal theory is based.
However, contrary to Jung's claims, the patient was
not under his direct care; the man was actually
assigned to Jung's assistant, Dr. Johann Jakob
Honegger, Jr. There are other inconsistencies in
Jung's account as well, calling into question both his
character as well as his professional credibility.

Dr. M. Scott Peck, widely acclaimed psychiatrist and
writer, mentions the phenomenon of possession in at
least two separate books. In the first (People of the
Lie, 1982), exorcism is only briefly mentioned as
having efficacy in this phenomenon. Later (2005),
however, Peck published a book entitled Glimpses of
the Devil, in which he states that he himself attempted
to exorcise two of his own patients.

Chief exorcist of Rome Father Gabriele Amorth,
(author of the book An Exorcist Tells His Story)
speaks of "seers" and "sensitives," individuals who
are specially attuned to the spiritual dimension and
can intuit various facts that prove useful in dealing
with demonic possession, obsession, and other such
cases.

More to come!